Amusement Park News

Fun Spot America has three theme park locations: Fayetteville, Ga., and Kissimmee, and Orlando, Fl. All three showed great growth in 2021 and 2022, resulting in some big plans for the family-owned park.

Park owner and CEO John Arie, Jr., reinvested in his attractions, adding new rides and other perks to the parks. In the Atlanta-area location, Rocky Mountain Construction has been working on a $13 million coaster, which was originally scheduled to open at the end of 2022, but now appears to be on a soaring track to open in early spring of 2023.

The ArieForce One roller coaster has experienced a number of delays. In 2022, Arie said the project was about 8 months behind, due in part to adjusting construction to suit Fayette County. Last August, Arie said that the park had to invest an additional $5 million dollars to accommodate these adjustments. The required changes included building a new parking lot and storm drain capabilities. To accommodate the latter change, the park had to remove a mini-golf course, a removal that unfortunately eliminated a source of income for the park, according to Arie.



But ArieForce One should draw a crowd that will make any such sacrifices more than worthwhile. Fun Spot describes the 64-miles-per-hour coaster as having the biggest zero-G stall in the U.S. The ride has been operating test runs since the end of December.

ArieForce One will include 16 different moments of airtime, as well as four inversions and two zero-G rolls, one of which will take place with a stellar view of the amusement park's arcade. A dive loop called the raven-truss is another impressive feature included in the 100-second-long ride.

The roller coaster's first drop will be taken at an 83-degree angle from 146-feet. The lift hill will be a massive 154-feet. The ride's track will stretch over 3400-feet of steel-box track, a custom  track that's patented by RMC. It will utilize two, sleek, 20-passenger steering axle trains. Each train has five cars per train with riders seated two across in two rows for a total of 20 riders on each train. Queue lines are themed to elements of flight.



The ride was named and themed to honor Arie's now-retired father, who founded Fun Spot America.

Arie Jr. says that the company has high hopes for their big coaster, expecting it to be one of the top five coasters in the country.

The initial groundbreaking for the ride took place January 6, 2022, so it will be just over a year until it thrills all park attendees. The company just revealed an exciting test ride, however, in late December.  It's now scheduled to open to the public March 3rd, 2023, with a media preview the preceding day.

Arie relates that any date change will be posted as soon as possible. Having taken his first ride, he attests that “The addition of ArieForce One is a huge milestone for our company…” He describes the ride as the first in a wide range of new rides and attractions planned for the coming months in Fayetteville, and stresses that this unique ride was chosen as a tribute to his father's passion for flying, with its airtime moments creating the sensation of flight along with weightlessness.  

Jake Kilcup, Rocky Mountain Construction Director of Design and Engineering explains that the coaster is “one of a kind.” It was designed specifically to fit the “topography and layout of Fun Spot Atlanta.”

Along with its site-specific appeal, Kilcup adds that the combined elements which the coaster offers are unique, with the Raven Truss Drive and Zero-G roll major firsts of their kind in the amusement park world. “In both ride elements the train travels through the center of a uniquely designed truss bridge while twisting at Zero-G,” he says.



While the wait for the coaster continues to build suspense, some changes have already come to Fun Spot America. The Georgia location has opened a new Tilt a Whirl that features a spinning floor as well as spinning individual cars. The ride came from Larson International. From the same company, Larson Flying Scooters makes another family ride addition.

And there are new food trucks in place, respectively selling fried chicken and funnel cakes, both via Tecstar Mobile Kitchen.

At the Kissimmee Florida Fun Spot location, the newest arrival is the Bertazzon Rock and Roll ride, a Himalaya  the hurtles guests around to blasting music, both forwards and backwards.



Also new at Kissimmee are Shaller Go-Karts and a new food truck, another Tecstar location for crispy fried chicken. And there's been a thrilling upgrade to the park's SkyCoaster as well, offering a new Sky Sled harness for great views from 300-feet up in the air.

Fun Spot's Orlando location also has some new experiences. The Firecracker from Moser is a spring ride with an impressive lighting experience. And there's dazzling lighting installed in 2022 on the park's new ARM Vertigo ride, as well.  New Shaller Go-Karts debuted there in late 2022 as well.

Aside from the new rides, a staff office building was added in Orlando, and at all three parks, there was the addition of new shade structures from Creative Shade Solutions. The park spent lavishly to create these spaces too, with Arie indicating costs were between $300,000 and $400,000.

Despite the delays, ArieForce One looks to be well worth the wait, with test run videos building excitement across the Internet. And, with all the Fun Spot America park upgrades, combined with the coming coaster thrills, 2023 should be an even bigger year for the family-owned parks than last.