ArieForce One is the Rocky Mountain Construction creation at Fun Spot Atlanta. And this is a
fascinating coaster. I think any ride from RMC, especially one with this much airtime, would get
a lot of attention. But this one is particularly noteworthy because of where it was installed.
You would not expect a coaster of this caliber at a former FEC like this. So
just how good is this coaster? In short, amazing! Find out why in this review.
This property opened back in 1990 as Dixieland Fun Park. This had your prototypical family
entertainment center offerings with go karts, batting cages, and mini golf.
But this place had a boatload of a land available, so there were lots of opportunities to expand.
The park was eventually renamed Fun Junction USA and started to add some amusement rides.
Then in 2017, the property was purchased by Fun Spot and renamed Fun Spot America Atlanta.
Their two Florida parks each have a signature coaster.
Fun Spot Orlando has White Lightning, an out-and-back wood coaster from GCI.
Fun Spot Kissimmee has Mine Blower, an intense Gravity Group wood coaster with an inversion.
While these parks are decently popular and filled out, they both have limited land available.
Fun Spot had a giant canvas to work with at their newly acquired Atlanta park.
People expected them to add a new coaster, but no one anticipated just how big they’d go.
In 2021, Fun Spot announced they would be adding a steel coaster from Rocky Mountain Construction.
Since RMC had recently announced their family coaster model,
people assumed this is what Fun Spot Atlanta would be getting. But no, they were aiming way bigger.
ArieForce One would stand 15 stories tall and the layout would be action-packed. It
would have a series of airtime hills and four inversions.
As weird as it is seeing this ride at Fun Spot Atlanta, this may not even be the oddest location
for an RMC since Wildfire exists at Kolmarden Zoo, but that’s a discussion for another day.
ArieForce One was expected to open in 2022, but the park hit a series of delays. There were supply
chain bottlenecks and a small construction crew. But Fayette County presented the largest issues.
To get zoning permission for the coaster, Fun Spot had to remove their miniature golf course to build
a new parking lot and drainage system. This not only caused $5 million in delays, swelling the
total cost of the project to $18 million, but it led to months of delays. This ultimately caused
the coaster to open a year late in 2023. While frustrating, the coaster was
ultimately worth it and it will forever change Fun Spot Atlanta.
It is impossible to miss this ride as you approach the park. Not only is the ride taller
than anything else in the immediate area, but the first few elements run alongside the main road.
This allows the coaster to serve as an advertising billboard for the park.
And it also makes for one heck of a backdrop from within the park too.
The airtime hills run along the back midway. Then the far end of the ride has some neat
interactions. You have an inversion over the park’s western themed arcade building. Then
you have a turnaround section of sorts behind the arcade right against a pond.
Along with the interesting placement, the ride itself looks good too. It has a
patriotic paint scheme. This is another RMC with multi-colored rails. One is red and one is blue.
Then the white steel support structure completes the look.
And you even have some theming the queue line and station area. The ride was named ArieForce
One. Fun Spot is owned by the Arie family, so it was a clever play on words. Now with that name,
you’d assume the coaster would have a plane theme, but it’s more of a space theme.
The lower level of the queue has some equipment and screens about space flight. Then the station
level has some signs advertising the ride’s stats and elements plus a series
of billboards with Easter Eggs related to the ride’s construction milestones.
Fortunately, you will not be spending much time here.
There’s a very high chance this coaster will be a total walk-on for you. I have visited Fun Spot
Atlanta twice since this coaster opened, including on Memorial Day. And there was absolutely no wait
even with the coaster running just one train. I have heard the park will happily run two trains
if it gets even the smallest of lines though, which is a great show of customer service.
This is the holy grail for coaster enthusiasts. RMCs often have one
of the longest if the longest wait at their respective park. It’s a combination of their
smooth and frenetic ride experience combined with their lower capacities.
These things are not the most efficient due to the restraint design.
However, that is not an issue at a smaller park like Fun Spot Atlanta. And
given the amount of coaster enthusiasts there, it felt like an ERT session.
Honestly, I’m most worried about this park getting a proper return on investment for this ride.
Most parks build a series of smaller additions, working up to a bigger one. Fun Spot Atlanta
jumped right into the big kahuna. Given the financial success of their Florida parks,
I don’t think the park or chain is in danger of going bankrupt. But I do wonder if they’ll
see the crowds flock to the Atlanta property like they anticipate. Simply put, this ride is a major
outlier at this park. You have a ride better than anything at the nearby Six Flags Over Georgia, but
the drop-off afterwards is immense. And then the park also doesn’t look the most pleasing in spots
as you’re quite literally walking over a former parking lot with all the spaces still visible.
When it’s your turn to ride, the employees will either scan your all-day wristband or you can
pay-per-ride. Each ride on ArieForce One will cost you $12 per person. If you plan to ride multiple
times- and if you’re a thrill-seeker, you’ll want to marathon this thing- go with the day pass. This
will cost you $35. So if you ride ArieForce One at least 3 times, you come out ahead. If you plan to
visit this park multiple times or the Florida Fun Spot parks, I’d look into a season pass instead.
ArieForce One has the newer swing-axle trains from RMC.
You have a seatbelt plus a U-shaped lap bar with shin guards. I find them snug but comfortable. I
know taller guests may have an issue with a lack of legroom, particularly on the rapid-fire airtime
moments due to the shin guards though. Two notes with these lap bars. One,
they are pretty stiff, so they’re resistant to lowering from the ride’s forces. Two,
the staff oddly doesn’t push down on them. They only pull up. It’s a similar behavior to what I’ve
seen at Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa. There’s a video screen in the station,
telling guests when their restraint is at the verify position. A lot of coaster
enthusiasts use this to set their restraint at the minimum position to maximize their airtime.
Now I’ve heard several people say the finale on ArieForce One has too much airtime.
And this is coming from some coaster enthusiasts. So I’m wondering if they set the lap bar too high,
which is leading to this issue. For me, it just doesn’t feel right
to set the lap bar that high so I put it closer to where it typically goes on other RMCs I’ve ridden.
So my recommendation is to put the bar where you feel comfortable and most importantly safe.
ArieForce One has the shortest trains of any I-Box coaster. All the others feature 6 car trains.
This one has a 5 car train. My favorite seats are still the back car. But I do need to brace
myself for the finale if I ride in that seat. If you want to avoid that issue, you may prefer
the fourth car. But all rows on this coaster are excellent and deliver wonderful forces.
Once checked, an audio announcement says lift off sequence is engaged. You then roll
out of the station down a sharp little drop. If you’re in that back car, you’re tossed forwards.
You then have two little humps before the lift hill. The first of those actually gives an itty
bitty pop of airtime for all. The second sort of throws you forwards if you’re riding up front.
But it’s just the appetizer for what’s to come. You then climb the very loud 15 story tall lift
hill. If you turn around, you get a great view of the park. To the side, you see trees for
miles. Then if it’s a clear day, you can see Atlanta’s skyline looming in the distance.
The main layout kicks things off with a near-vertical plunge. This drop is
very good. It has nice sustained ejector airtime in the back cars. That being said,
the airtime isn’t quite as intense as RMC’s other drops. In general, ArieForce One crushes
Six Flags Over Georgia’s Twisted Cyclone, but I do think the latter has a stronger first drop.
I’m not sure if it’s the lack of the sixth car or the profiling. Like I said,
it’s still a great element, but it is a minor step down from what you may expect from RMC.
The pullout has decent positive Gs and then you charge through the unique raven truss dive.
This feels like a cross of the dive loop on the RMC Raptors and
the one on Six Flags Great America’s Goliath. The track dives through the supports, leading
to some incredible near-misses and headchoppers. Then the profiling is interesting too. The rise
into the element is half a camelback that starts to bank outwards. Then you rapidly twist in the
opposite direction as you dive back down to the ground. The apex gives good sustained floater
up front and that outward banking also throws in a lateral kink. Those in back get milder floater
airtime, but they’re still levitating out of their seat for the twist down. Then everyone gets
blasted with substantial positive Gs at the base. Next comes a speed hill, one of the best RMC has
ever made. It has blistering speed and also delivers an aggressive ejector pop for all.
This one hits way harder than the speed hills on their other I-Box coasters.
You then coast through the picturesque zero-G stall. I know many people have been praising
the arcade roll later in the ride, but this is my favorite inversion on ArieForce One.
You get lots of sustained inverted airtime on this element. And the profiling also throws
in some laterals too. The quick rotation upside-down gives a surge of laterals.
But I think the exit is even more interesting if you’re in back. You don’t flip upright until
you’re pretty darn close to the ground. So you’re still hanging upside-down while diving towards,
which is a trippy visual. Meanwhile, you are also rebuilding all your speed.
The 180 degree twist upright not only delivers a solid laterals, but the rotational speed somehow
lifts you even higher out of your seat for a brief instant. It’s a crazy transition.
Next comes the best singular moment on the ride for me, the outward banked hill over the station.
While not quite as large as the one on Steel Vengeance or Iron Gwazi, it still delivers several
seconds of very strong and super sustained ejector airtime while you’re sort of tilted on your side.
This type of airtime never gets old for me.
This is immediately followed by a double up. The first hump delivers nice ejector for all. But the
second hump is even more memorable. It delivers stronger and far more sustained negative Gs.
That’s especially true in the back car, as you have a sizable drop on the other side.
It feels like you’re being ripped skywards for the entire descent.
Then comes that aforementioned arcade roll. This is a very fast zero-G roll.
This type of element is usually nice and floaty. Not this one. The arcade roll is tenacious. You
get viscous laterals, which are made even more intense by all the supports around you.
It feels like the ride wants to chop your head off. You do get some weightlessness here,
but it’s overshadowed by the speed and lats. Then comes this outward banked bunny hill.
This element weirdly varied depending which side of the train you were seated.
On the left side of the train, you got really good floater airtime. Meanwhile the right side
of the train, which is lifted higher from the banking, gets more of an ejector pop. I tried
both seats back-to-back at different points in the day, and this behavior was consistent.
Then comes a low turn by the water. This element has very strong and sustained positives,
approaching 4 Gs. Another cool part about this turn is that you noticeably feel the temperature
drop down by the pond, especially on night rides. This is followed by another barrel roll.
This one behaves similarly, delivering excellent laterals and a smidge of weightlessness.
It’s also super disorienting since you just experienced all those positives
an instant beforehand and then find yourself rotating 360 degrees in the blink of an eye.
Then comes the chili dip on top of the arcade. This basically is half a bunny hill and it
delivers a really good pop of ejector airtime. Now it’s time for the ride’s much talked about
quad down finale. You have 4 bunny hills in quick succession, each diving a bit closer
to the ground. This feels like the finale on Steel Vengeance on steroids. You have
no time to recover in between each hump, but the airtime is considerably stronger.
The ride violently chucks you upwards. Off-ride, this section looks like its running in 2X speed,
but the train really hauls through it that fast. It’s a dream for airtime junkies.
Fun Spot lists the official max negative G force as -1, but it has been measured far stronger than
that. Some rides have hit the -2 G mark at this point in the ride according to Ride Forces.
Afterwards, you jump upwards into the brake run. This is a sharp maneuver delivering one
last burst of ejector airtime for all. Strong negative Gs too. This is perfectly comfortable
in the first few cars, but you need to brace yourself in the back row. You see,
ArieForce One has an incredibly short brake run. So this coaster needs to come to a swift stop.
The deceleration itself is smooth, but the issue is that those in the back car are still ejected
from their seat when this slow-down occurs. So their body is tossed forwards like a ragdoll.
If you don’t brace yourself, your shins and crotch will take a beating. I found it useful
to do a combination of the following- stiffen your body, staple yourself going into the brakes,
and/or hold onto the seat in front of you. This made it possible for me to marathon
the ride in the back car without any pain. The coaster has 3400 feet or 1000 meters of track,
which is middle of the pack for RMCs, and the overall ride length is more than satisfying.
So what about the ride’s overall smoothness? The actual tracking is flawless. The ride is super
smooth as you’d expect from RMC. The only possible discomfort comes from the finale. Some may find
the quad down too aggressive. Others may find the entry into the brake run excruciating.
Then in terms of pacing, this coaster is darn near flawless. You maintain your speed start
to finish. And every element seems to be a winner. It’s just a smorgasbord of forces.
So what would I rate ArieForce One? This coaster easily earns a 10 out of 10 from me.
This coaster is exceptional! I love the airtime. You have a mix of super sustained and rapid-fire
negative Gs. Then you also have 4 really cool inversions. The stall is my favorite, but the
other three are great too for their combination of speed, headchoppers, and laterals. And it’s
an absolute treat how easy this coaster is to marathon because of the park it is at.
This is a destination coaster that immediately became the best coaster in Georgia upon opening.
So where does ArieForce One rank for me? Very highly! It can’t quite top Lightning
Rod or Steel Vengeance for me, but it’s either my third or fourth favorite RMC.
It’s neck-and-neck with Iron Gwazi for me. So those are my thoughts on ArieForce One at
Fun Spot Atlanta. What are your thoughts on this RMC creation? Is it a top tier RMC for
you as well? Let me know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it
if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a lot more roller
coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!