ORLANDO, Fla. — John Arie Jr., owner and CEO of Fun Spot America parks, doesn’t hold back about his expectations for ArieForce One, the roller coaster opening this week at his attraction near Atlanta.
“This is truly going to put that Atlanta park on the map,” Arie said recently in his Orlando office.
The thrill ride, with white lattice supports for a distinctive one blue rail/one red rail design, opened to the public at Fun Spot Atlanta in March.
“I’ve ridden the coaster dozens of times already. It is the most thrilling coaster I’ve ever been on,” Arie said. “There’s not a dull moment. I mean, you’re either going down, up, left, right, upside down, out of your seat, in your seat. You don’t have any time to recover.”
ArieForce One was announced during IAAPA Expo in Orlando in 2021, but it took root during the coronavirus pandemic. Arie’s parks were closed for two months in 2020, time he spent evaluating what to add to Fun Spot Atlanta, located in Fayetteville, Georgia, about 20 miles south of the capital city.
The Georgia park, once known as Fun Junction USA, was purchased by Fun Spot in 2017, joining the lineup with Arie’s Orlando and Kissimmee parks. Their first big coasters were opened in 2013 (White Lightning and Freedom Flyer in Orlando) and in 2017 (Mine Blower in Kissimmee).
“It put us on a totally different level. It probably tripled our attendance,” Arie said of those Orlando rides. “It really started showing that, hey, people love these roller coasters and they will come to you.”
For the Kissimmee park, they went more extreme with Mine Blower, a wooden coaster with a dramatic barrel-roll inversion. It paid off, Arie said.
“We took out two Go-Kart tracks to put a roller coaster in and increased our revenue by over 30%,” he said.
He wanted to give Fun Spot Atlanta a boost, too, so he thought big, or, as he says in many TV commercials, “HUGE.” He’s long wanted to have a coaster manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction, based in Idaho, he said. Arie reached out to RMC co-founder Fred Grubb, and he did personal ride research.
“I went on road trips, started riding all their coasters, making notes saying, I like the barrel roll. I like this drop. I liked the whoop-dee-do’s. I like this and that and all the aspects that I just loved about other coasters and went back to RMC and I said, ‘This is what I want on this coaster. How much would it cost to build it?’” Arie said.
“They go, ‘Oh, my goodness. You’ve taken every single good aspect of every other coaster we’ve ever built and put it all in one,’” he said.
“We negotiated back and forth. … It ended up being a $13 million coaster,” Arie said.
ArieForce One stats: The coaster goes 64 mph. It has a 146-foot drop at an 83-degree angle. It has 3,400 feet of track that will lead riders through four inversions. There are multiple airtime moments spread over the 100 seconds of ride time. Arie said he got everything he wanted from his coaster tour in the new ride, plus a new maneuver called a raven truss dive.
The front end of the train sports a silver, pointed piece that brings fighter jets to mind. Orlando-based Falcons Creative Group helped fashion that look.
It’s the kind of coaster that has built confidence in RMC from parks and thrill-ride fans.
“It’s one of the best builders, and they’re almost 100% American-made,” Arie said. “They are thrilling. They have a following that’s like no other.”
Chris Kraftchick, operations director with American Coaster Enthusiasts, agreed.
“There’s a huge devotion because pretty much any RMC is going to be a wild, out-of-control experience,” he said.
“I don’t know if you could find what we would call a dud coaster (from RMC) in the world. They build worldwide,” Kraftchick said. Beyond the U.S., its products are in Sweden, Holland, Mexico and Japan. “RMC as a company and as creating amazing experiences? They are top of the heap.”
The sole RMC coaster in Florida is Iron Gwazi, which opened at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay last year. The next closest ones are Twisted Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia — about 25 miles from Fun Spot Atlanta — and Lightning Rod at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
“We had, literally, roller coaster paparazzi hanging out at the fence, over the fence, trying to get into the ride” at the Georgia park, Arie said.
“It’s like a cult of roller coaster, and they know every aspect,” he said. “They knew more about that coaster than I did as we’re building it.”
Additions at any Fun Spot location help lift its two sister parks, Arie said, and he expects publicity from ArieForce One to give a bump to his Florida attractions.
And now he’s thinking about something new for the Orlando park, which marks its 25th anniversary this year.
“It’s on the radar. It’s in my mind. … I just have to make sure, financially, it’s a smart decision for us,” Arie said. “My goal is to get something there soon. I don’t know when it’s going to be. I don’t know what it’s going to be. I know what my dream is.”
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