Fun Spite Atlanta & Lake Winnie

[Hutch]

After doing a bunch of traveling in the first half of the year, I decided to take a break from planning things and more or less keep my summer open. Well, it’s a good thing I did that as it meant I could book an emergency trip to Atlanta on a few weeks’ notice to grab ArieForce One. Once word got out that Fun Spot Atlanta was cooked, I knew I needed to get down there. Hadn’t been yet and there was no way I was gonna let a major RMC be a missed cred.

I ended up going down during the park’s final weekend of operation, which was far from my first choice, but my friend who I was planning this trip with couldn’t do any other weekend in July. So such is life. We also made plans to do Lake Winnie and Alabama Adventure, rounding out the weekend of sh—tty little theme parks.

Of course, a couple weeks ahead of the trip—after we had booked everything—my friend had to change his plans and could only join me for Alabama Adventure on Sunday, so I wound up on my own for the first two days. Well, not entirely alone as I ran into some familiar faces.

Day 1 - Fun Spot Atlanta

Last Friday I flew down early in the afternoon and landed at around 3:00. I decided to hit up Fun Spot that afternoon, thinking it wouldn’t be as busy as Sat/Sun (spoiler alert: wrong!). After grabbing my rental car, I was tempted to go straight from the airport to the park, but it was HOT, and I needed to change out of my work clothes. So I swung by my hotel first, did a little regroup, and ended up arriving at Fun Spot Atlanta around 5:00.

I picked up a wristband—which unfortunately was not needed—and went straight to Arie Force One. The parked looked ROUGH. There was actually somewhat of an atmosphere thanks to extra crowds, but I’d imagine a typical day would look kinda sketch.





I joined the queue of ArieForce One—already a bit of a line—and immediately saw it was broken down. A train full of riders were stuck on the brake run with a ride op walking down to hand them little paper cups of water. Shortly afterward they got them out, put one of the trains into storage, and cycled a few empties on the other one.





Soon it opened back up, confirmed by the cheers in the station, and I got on in about another twenty minutes. I wound up sitting in front of @ECG, who was accompanied by none other than Joe Draves and Alan Schilke (the latter of which was his first ride!).

As expected ArieForce One is (edit: WAS ) amazing. Unlike Intamins, which obviously deliver, RMCs tend to hit immediately on the first ride, giving me a pretty good idea of where it’ll end up in the rankings. It’s not gonna be my favorite but it ended up barely cracking the Top 10. No element is wasted.



I really enjoyed the finale for the sheer brutality of it, but I understand why not everyone likes it. It does toe the line of being too much, and slamming into the brakes requires you to brace with your arms or engage your core.

Couple other surprise highlights: the bunny hill after the dive loop had actual ejector airtime that always caught me off guard. There’s also a powerful corner before the last inversion which pins you in your seat.

My favorite moment was the top of the double up though. The ride is chock full of sharp ejector moments, but this is a nice sustained one that keeps you out for a bit. It’s amazing in the back seat, made even better with the arcade roll following up.



I wasn’t quite ready to get another ride yet, what with the queue getting longer and the ride down to one train, so I checked out the other creds. Hurricane Coaster’s line also looked rough, but I grabbed Sea Serpent. Some other goons had the same idea, so at least shame was limited/shared.



I braved AF1’s queue again, this time taking an hour. Yes, it was on single train ops, but it was still spending way too much time in the station.











I stayed near the back again—still incredible—but I wasn’t in the best mood considering it was a pain to get on. I realized I shouldn’t have bothered with the wristband. I went back to finally suck up the queue for Hurricane. This was extra painful considering it was one train for a capacity of six, but I got on after about 25 minutes when the ride op asked for a single rider. Thank god!



Heard nothing but janky things about this one and it was pretty bad. Some of the drops are kinda fun but the turns were sooo bad. I don’t know what it is, but it felt like it was going to tear itself apart.



I was gonna grab another ride on AF1 but I cringed when I saw the state of this line:



Well it turns out they closed the line early (this was around 8:45 at this point), and honestly I was kinda relieved since I didn’t want to wait for that. And I needed food. Apparently they opened the line back up at around 9:30 when they realized they were gonna empty the queue too soon, but I couldn’t have planned for that.









After grabbing a few more photos, I hightailed it outta there, grabbing a Dominos pizza on the way back to the hotel.

Honestly, it wasn’t a great visit. ArieForce One is an easy 10/10, but waiting in that line with one train is rough, especially when I was pretty much on my own. I also felt bamboozled on the wristband—definitely didn’t get my money’s worth. And considering this park (well, coaster really) was the motive behind the trip, it wasn't a great start to the weekend.

But don’t worry, I’ve got more s—tty parks coming up next.

 

[ECG]

...Soon it opened back up, confirmed by the cheers in the station, and I got on in about another twenty minutes. I wound up sitting in front of @ECG, who was accompanied by none other than Joe Draves and Alan Schilke (the latter of which was his first ride!)....

Can't believe you sat in front of me without saying a thing. And Saturday was much better than Friday.

 

[Hutch]

Can't believe you sat in front of me without saying a thing. And Saturday was much better than Friday.

I must be a hard face to remember (and I'm sure you interacted with dozens of goons) because I definitely said hi and shook hands with you as we sat down on that train. Your local friend was flabbergasted that it was my first time at the park haha.

 

[Hutch]

Day 2 - Fun Spot Atlanta and Lake Winnepesaukah

I had originally planned to hit up Fun Spot on Saturday afternoon/evening, with Friday being more of a “bonus” day since I flew in early, but after ending the night off in not a great mood, I honestly considered not even bothering. Ultimately, I decided to give it another shot—would’ve been a shame to only get two rides on AF1.

I had plans to hit up Lake Winniepesukah during the day, but after seeing the rain forecast for both areas, I decided to pop into Fun Spot first thing and drive up north around midday. This worked out nicely since I ended up sleeping in and lounging a bit, while still able to arrive at Fun Spot around opening.

I was in two minds about whether or not to buy a wristband or go for individual ride tickets (something like $12 per AF1 ride), but I decided to pay for another pass to just not think about it. It is what it is.

Luckily, the coaster’s queue was much easier this time around. With two trains, the line moved much easier. Even a full queue was about 30-40 minutes. Sure, that’s nonsense for a ride that’s known to have walk-ons, but still worth it given the ride’s quality.







I grabbed three rides in about couple hours, while also running into some more familiar faces.















After that I journeyed a couple hours north to hit up Lake Winnepesaukah. A completely different region of the state, as evident by a Confederate flag hanging tall along I-75 about 15 minutes from the park.

The park was worryingly quiet for a Saturday in the summer. Perhaps the reported thunderstorms in the morning kept people away. But most of the attendees were in the water park, leaving the rides mostly empty with a lot of bored ride ops.





I was almost convinced I’d be getting bonus cred—didn’t recognize this one—but it turns out this is supposed to be new-for-2026. Clearly not ready.





That’s okay, because I’m here for Cannonball. Love to see an old school brake handle, and I kept forgetting this has buzz bars!



And it’s actually kinda great! I got a few rides on this and was liking it more and more each time. There’s a few precious moments of standing airtime (just make sure to loosen the seatbelt on the lift hill!).





I did rerides in between wandering around and doing other rides. It was obviously on one train, but it was usually never more than a one train wait. I kept my eye on the queue and basically joined again whenever I knew I could get on the next train coming in.





The only other cred here is Wacky Worm, hidden in a quiet area behind the carousel. Luckily I joined just after a small group of families left, so I had a zen ride with nobody to shame me.







Grabbed a ride on their chair swing, always a guilty pleasure. The ops at this park were very friendly too. A bit of “thank you for coming to our park” and “enjoy your day” which you don’t often hear elsewhere.



Once I was happy with Cannonball, I enjoyed myself a ride on the sky ride.













I sat down thinking I could get off next to their water chute, but soon realized I’d have to go all the way around, just to have to walk back to the front.















I think the water chute would be more fun with a group, but it doesn’t do much. There’s an obnoxiously long tunnel where the boat constantly clangs against the walls. The lift and drop are unique at least. Not too wet either… though the lake is kinda gross.

And that was it! I was only in the park for an hour and a half, but I ended up doing quite a bit. Four rides on the woodie and a few other rides. Very easy. Pretty bitter about that random Tivoli though. That might not even open this year.

This was turning into a bit of dumb day of driving, but on the way back to Atlanta I swung by an FEC which recently opened up (or at least the visa spinner recently opened). Well, I showed up and encountered some unusual traffic leading into the parking lot. Dozens of cars were parked on the grass, and police officers were blocking the parking lot entrance.



I asked one officer:
“Where can I park?”
“Do you have a reservation?”
“…No.”
“It’s currently a four hour wait.”
“REALLY?!”

That was probably BS, but I was ready to cut my losses anyway. At the very least I wanted to pull into a gas station or something for a quick break to reset my nav system. Then I found a Subway around the corner and was like “Oh lemme just park here real quick and grab the cred.”



Wandered over, found the main entrance at the back, and saw this:



Yeah f—k that.

I’m honestly flabbergasted. Is there seriously nothing else to do in Atlanta?

I ended up going back to Fun Spot. I honestly would not have bothered, but there were a couple other folks I was hoping to catch up with (including old CFer Edward M, @MartyNZ, and first time meeting @MLDesigns). I got one more ride on AF1. Could’ve done it again but ended up just hanging out. I was satisfied with my rides anyway.

In hindsight I probably should’ve stuck with my original plan of hitting Lake Winnie first, then close out with Fun Spot, but the weather forecast changed my game plan. Honestly I’m not sure if the forecasted thunderstorms ever came in—I didn’t really encounter much.

I had another unfortunately late dinner back at hotel—this time with Taco Bell.

Final park day up next before I fly home.