Green Bay council votes to purchase Zippin Pippin roller coaster from Memphis for $3 million

After Americana's Screechin' Eagle and Geauga Lake's Big Dipper were considered, it seems Green Bay had its heart set on a John Miller ride and found one. Nice to hear the coaster will be preserved in some form. Now I have another reason to eventually plan a trip to Green Bay, along with Lambeau Field.

Finally a coaster for me to enjoy that isn't 2 hours away.

^^Screechin' Eagle, in its prime, was the best ride of the three by a pretty decent margin (although I expect some disagreement from the BD afficianados). BD was a really solid ride with good airtime and some good butt-thumpin' in the back seat - also probably in the best condition of the Millers considering its last operations weren't THAT long ago. ZP, for all its (questionable?) historical value as Elvis' favorite...was clearly NOT the best ride.

I have always wondered about the claim by Libertyland that the Zippin Pippin was the "favorite" roller coaster of Elvis Presley. Yeah I know just before his death Elvis had rented out the park in the middle of the night, rode the Pippin..etc....but the claim by Libertyland that the coaster was his favorite. Proof? Did Libertyland just "assumed"? Did Libertyland get the OK from Lisa Marie/Elvis Presley Enterprises ( EPE )to make the claim?

The latter would be interesting since I can remember back in the 80's when I lived in Colorado when a local now-defunct restaurant in Denver Jim Dandy's was making all of these claims on local TV about how their restaurant was "the favorite of the King.....ELVIS PRESLEY". Even though Jim Dandy was able to prove Elvis had ate there they couldn't prove that the restaurant was a favorite of Elvis so as a result they got that C&D from Lisa Marie/EPE to stop making that claim. I also seem to recall not that long ago some motel in Virginia ( maybe it was Tennessee ) where they too claimed to be a favorite of Elvis...as with the Denver restaurant, they couldn't really back it up so they too got that letter from the lawyers of EPE/Lisa Marie.

Just wondering how Libertyland was able to make the claim that their coaster was a "favorite" of Elvis Presley?

Maybe that hotel near Six Flags St. Louis was also Elvis' favorite hotel!

So excited to hear this news. I rode ZP back in 1990 (after a week of riding the brand new Texas Giant, shew!) and it was a great classic ride.

^^^True, the least of the 3 John Miller's mentioned. I think one reason for that was that there was a semi-permanent skid brake on the back turn. It was operated with a hand crank near the ground. Still a great ride. I remember the ride ops letting us take our ice cream cones on.

It has a nice build up with some decent air time. I can't remember precisely at the moment, but it was part of a previous coaster. The first 2 drops/curves were built in an oval - and that was the older coaster. The bents were different there as well - they had a slight A-frame/angle to them.

Can't wait to ride this in it's new spot - luckily close to me!

I'm a little disappointed. Granted, Zippin Pippin wasn't saved via online petition, but it was saved...and I never got my bran muffin.

I still don't quite understand how rebuilding something is 'saving' it.

Saving the design? Maybe. Saving the coaster? Ummm, sure, if you say so.

And if saving the design is the point, then simply building a coaster to the same (or very similar) specs as another is, in theory, saving it.

How much material must be reused before something is 'saved' and not 'rebuilt' or a clone? And if the original still exists (even in ruin) but the 'saved' version also exists, then what? And are all Vekoma Boomerangs really 'saved' versions of each other and not clones? And will Vater ever get his bran muffin?

These are the concepts that haunt me in my sleep!

(not really, but I have a flair for the dramatic :) )

^Geek, party of one: your table is ready.

Lord Gonchar said:
I still don't quite understand how rebuilding something is 'saving' it.

Saving the design? Maybe. Saving the coaster? Ummm, sure, if you say so.

Yeah, I actually meant to say it was 'sort of' saved (I know you weren't directing that at me, specifically). If that's the case, I'd settle for a bran muffin recipe. Not for 3 mil, though.

Vater said:
I'm a little disappointed. Granted, Zippin Pippin wasn't saved via online petition, but it was saved...and I never got my bran muffin.

I really was pulling for you and that bran muffin, man. Believe it or not, I'm really invested in your fiber needs.

Carrie M. said:
I'm really invested in your fiber needs.

That's awesome. :)

When Vater isn't regular, no one is! ;)

So for those still confused about the $3 Mil for Pippin, this article states that the city is only paying $35K to acquire the name, the design, and the history of the Zippin Pippin. And they’ll spend $3 million to re-create the classic ride.

New article today at themeparks.about.com. Nothing in the article that we don't already know, but it scores points for having the coolest headline of any of the Zippin Pippin stories so far.

edit: Okay, so the article was yesterday. I just found out about it today.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I wish someone would buy my name for thirty-five grand...