The Zippin Pippin re-created...
Posted on 09/23/2010 3:36:53 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Green Bay, WI — It was the King's favorite.
Elvis so loved the Zippin Pippin roller coaster that he sometimes rented out the Memphis amusement park where it rose 63 feet into the air and stretched out 740 feet, riding it for hours. Just him and his posse. In fact, he did that eight days before he died.
Eventually the historic wooden coaster met its own demise, succumbing to the killer of many old amusement parks - real estate development.
Rescued by the city known for its gridiron team and brutal winters, the Zippin Pippin will be reincarnated at a small amusement park in Green Bay.
Now under construction at Bay Beach Amusement Park, the Zippin Pippin is scheduled to be ready for its first screaming passengers when the park opens for the season May 7. Cement footings are being poured, and the first load of lumber began arriving last week. From atop the nearby giant slide, it looks like a fossilized dinosaur jawbone with concrete teeth placed in a V-shape and rebar sticking up like cattails.
Soon the bents - wooden vertical braces - will be installed, and more wood slowly will be pieced together to create the support structure and the track where five-car trains carrying 30 screaming people will rumble and clackety-clack.
None of the Zippin Pippin torn down in Memphis is being used for the ride in Green Bay. The city purchased the Zippin Pippin design and naming rights for $10,000 and will use some of the original wood for signs and possibly a ticket booth. Otherwise everything will be new wood and machinery.
Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt figures a family-friendly wooden coaster is just what the city-owned park needs to boost attendance and attract older kids who aren't interested in Bay Beach's kiddie rides.
"You have to go to the Wisconsin Dells to ride a wooden roller coaster, and nowhere can they ride for a dollar," said Schmitt, adding that a 90-second, jaw-rattling ride on the Zippin Pippin will cost four 25-cent tickets at Bay Beach.
The $3 million project is being paid for through private donations, fund-raising efforts that include the sale of T-shirts and $2.4 million in bonds. Soon, possibly by the end of this month, visitors to the Zippin Pippin website will be able to watch construction from a webcam.
Built on land recently used for parking, the Zippin Pippin is being laid out in such a way that riders will get a nice view of Green Bay on the first turn right before they make their first bone-jarring, thrilling plunge. For coaster enthusiasts, the Zippin Pippin is what's known as an "out and back" coaster, meaning it stretches out with camel-like humps before turning back to finish the ride, said Bill Landvatter, director of the city's parks, recreation and forestry department.
Bay Beach has been amusing residents since the 1890s, when it was a beach resort where swimsuits rented for a dime. The first roller coaster, dubbed Jack Rabbit, went up in 1901, was torn down and replaced in 1929 by the Greyhound, which was dismantled in 1936. The park is tied for the 21st oldest amusement park in the world, according to the National Amusement Park Historical Association; the 101-year-old pavilion has hosted dances, movie nights and politician visits ranging from Franklin Roosevelt to Al Gore.
The city does not track attendance because there is no entrance or parking fee. But last season 400,000 25-cent tickets were sold for the 17 rides, which cost either one or two tickets. The Zippin Pippin will be the first to cost four tickets. At some point, the park's train will be rerouted to travel underneath the roller coaster, Landvatter said.
A retro feel
In keeping with the nostalgic feel of a retro amusement park, Schmitt said, officials wanted a wooden roller coaster. Because it was cheaper to buy an existing one than to start from scratch, he scouted a few and settled on the Zippin Pippin at the now-defunct Liberty Land in Memphis.
Originally called simply the Pippin, the roller coaster was designed and built in 1923 in Memphis by John Miller, a coaster architect and inventor considered the Thomas Edison of roller coasters. Miller's patented safety devices are still standard equipment on most coasters.
Not many Miller-designed wooden roller coasters are still operational, which will make the Zippin Pippin a draw for coaster fans, said Scott Heck, regional representative for the western Great Lakes region of American Coaster Enthusiasts. Among roller coaster nuts, many of whom travel great distances for their passion, wooden roller coasters have a special appeal because of the roar of the cars hurtling down wooden tracks. Also, each ride is different because temperature and humidity affect the wood, which makes for faster rides on warm, dry days, said Heck, who lives in Sheboygan.
Seventh in state
With five wooden roller coasters at two parks in Wisconsin Dells and one wooden coaster in Marshall, the Zippin Pippin will be the seventh wooden roller coaster in Wisconsin.
"It seems like every couple of years we lose a historic coaster," said Heck, who has visited Bay Beach weekly since construction began last month to shoot photos and track its progress for the coaster enthusiast website. "Any time you can save a coaster, whether it's a reconstruction or a copy, that's a good thing."
Green Bay's Zippin Pippin acquisition also has been closely followed in the Memphis media. A couple who married on the roller coaster in 1994 even e-mailed their wedding photo - of the happy bride clutching her bouquet in one arm and raising the other with the ecstatic groom - to Bay Beach officials, said Tina Westergaard, special facilities manager.
"We're getting e-mails from people in Tennessee saying 'If we couldn't have it, we're glad you'll have it,'&ensp" said Westergaard, who has worked at Bay Beach for 29 years.
Because of the connection to Elvis, Bay Beach officials are considering bringing in an Elvis impersonator to perform at the grand opening in May. Schmitt attended a contest of Elvis impersonators recently at Oneida Bingo and Casino and met Elvis' former drummer, D.J. Fontana.
"I was wearing my Zippin Pippin T-shirt and he said 'Oh man, that was Elvis' favorite ride.' He signed my shirt," Schmitt said.
The Zippin Pippin re-created...
You beat me by a few minutes!
*SHIVER* I was on ONE roller coaster in my life, an old wooden one, about 150 years ago at Six Flags in IL. Never again. No, Thank You!
But, I do love me my Elvis! :)
I rode it many times...the first drop was a doozy...but of course there are much larger and wilder coaters than this one...but it was all wood (great sounds as you rode it),
Sorry, but YAWN!!
” an old wooden one, about 150 years ago at Six Flags in IL.”
That would be the American Eagle. It’s still there if you get nostalgic, I rode it a few months ago :)
On a similar note, Great America bought the Little Dipper wooden coaster from the Kiddieland park that was just outside Chicago, and they have that up and running now. I wish they would have saved the Big Dipper though, that was more fun.
I am a once proud Memphian, born there in 1944.
The once great city has really taken a dive over the last 20 years, with a complete reversal of the racial makeup.
I have one daughter still living there.
I have fond memories of the old fair grounds, The Amusement Park and the Pippin. I do not recall what year they added “Zippin” to the name. It was probably when they renamed the park “Liberty Land”.
As kids, we lived for the fall Mid-South Fair.
I loved the Pippin. Nothing made me prouder than finally getting the guts to raise my hands in the air for that first large drop. I rode this every year from the time I was large enough to ride until we moved. It’s good to see someone build a replica but it was a shame to tear down the original.
Lance 'Fat Elvis' Berkman
IIRC the Thunderbolt at Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh was built from an old Pippin wooden coaster. Wonder if they are related? I rode the old Pippin at Kennywood when I was a kid, but I don’t much like coasters - don’t like heights.
Before I die...I will ride kingda ka. 400 feet? My God.
I live about two hours south of Memphis and have ridden the Pippin many times. When I was a kid it was really special to go to Memphis and Liberty Land.
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