Arie Force One Review
Opening Day at Fun Spot Atlanta
It is very safe to say that Fun Spot Atlanta was not on anyone’s list of top priority destinations to visit. Now this has changed. Opened to the public on Friday 31 March, 2023 is the latest creation by the incredibly popular Rocky Mountain Construction. This is Arie Force One!
Driving in, you will see this 154ft coaster standing tall by the side of the road. Through the gates and to a nice little woodland car park. Fun Spot Atlanta is small and so it is easy to head straight to the back to ride this world class attraction that resembles the colour scheme of toothpaste.
We head to the entrance area of the ride and being media and preview day, you start to notice faces such as Coaster Studios riding the front row on the train as it went over our heads.
I love the logo design and going in under the archway of the ride is a perfect way to increase the anticipation. A very light theme for the station as it sits inside a metal box with the odd canopy draped from the wall.
All aboard, we opted as always for first ride front row and we are off. Crazy little airtime hills out the station, Climbing the lift hill and we take this awesome graceful drop before experiencing the worlds first Raven Truss Dive, or as I still like to call it, a Dive Loop! It is a very similar feeling, one that does not require a new name, it has a little flick to the right before turning left but it was ok, perhaps I was expecting more. Next is a little bunny hop and the longest stall in North America, which is always fun, but did not hit as much as the worlds tallest being Zadra. Next the outer bank and this was another element that I was looking forward to but as I was going around, all I could think was the outer bank on Kondaa was so much better. At this point, I was really hoping the ride picked up for the second half and oh yes it did!
A double up followed by an awesome long drop down straight into an extremely powerful and very fast barrel roll, a little corner with a crazy ejector moment out of nowhere, aggressive positive g-forces around the corner, another barrel roll and now, ejector, ejector, ejector, ejector, ejector, ejector, followed by the hardest smack into a brake run I have ever experienced.
The final part was perfect, I would not change anything with that, but I understand this may be too much for a lot of people I know. It is a very intense section, and your legs will feel it in those RMC restraints.
Initial thoughts after the first ride, we need to think about this. Gabby and I both said the same thing, it felt like getting off Kondaa at Walibi Belgium for the first time and we could not rank it highly, we know it is awesome but we cannot give it a top tier status… yet!
This was also a special ride and another milestone for Gabby as her 10th RMC coaster!
Talking about the coaster I feel as if we need to talk about our day as it was great. Fun Spot Atlanta was so proud and you can easily see this so let’s talk about off ride experiences throughout. First was meeting saying hi to so many people. We rode the coaster in the morning with Instagrammer Coaster Dolphin who was awesome to meet. We then talked to Darren Torr, President of RMC who approached us for our feedback and a friendly talk, who I must say is an incredible person. This is one of the many reasons I believe that coaster enthusiasts love Rocky Mountain Construction as you can see from events like this to their presence on social media, they are so passionate about the industry. We also met Brandon from Theme Park Predictions who was also a genuine person as well.
A quick talk with Sarah and Taylor from Coaster Studios and more and more re-rides. We got the other two credits which to be honest was just filled with enthusiasts getting the +1. Throughout the day we met Brennen who is joining me on a tour later this year and Todd who is a good friend having been on a previous tour with Coaster Breaks. It felt like a mini meet up and was great hanging out with old and new faces.
Night ride time and we did many. The coaster is hauling now. With over 20 rides and now not comparing to other attractions around the world I can just enjoy the coaster for what it is worth. The outer bank is now better than Kondaa, by a long way, the Raven Truss Dive is now just a fun element along with the stall and the overdrive second half tries to kill you. That break run hits hard every time and seeing everyone fly forward hitting that with such speed is impressive.
We keep riding aiming for 26. Gabby and I achieved 25 rides on Troy at Toverland together and so this is the record we want to beat. After 25 we get in the front row queue, and it is looking like they may distribute us to other rows as the gates have now shut but… Brandon from Theme Park Predictions is behind us. An amazing person with a great YouTube Channel, Click Here to watch his latest videos. Because of this they did not distribute us and let us wait for the front and we got a zen ride on opening day for Arie Force One! How amazing is that to end an incredible event, one that I think I will always remember.
So back to the coaster… It is amazing, get out to Atlanta and ride it! I am still struggling to place it on my list of RMCs, but it is up there. For me it is hovering above Untamed and below Iron Rattler but did not compare with Steel Vengeance, Iron Gwazi and Zadra. My legs are bruised and I am so happy I attended Fun Spot Atlanta for an awesome opening event!
