Ridin’ The Zippin Pippin: One Of The Oldest Wooden Roller Coasters

Shae doesn’t ride roller coasters.

Well, she hasn’t ridden one since 2001 as they terrify her. We almost rode one together in 2004, but changed her mind at the last minute. In high school, she acted as designated bag looker-afterer when she and her friends went to amusement parks.

However, the prospect of riding one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the US changed that. Shawn at Miles To Memories recommended that we ride the Zippin Pippin while we were in Green Bay, so after having lunch at Al’s Hamburger Shop, we made our way to Bay Beach Amusement Park which is where the Zippin Pippin now resides.

The Zippin Pippin was built around the time of World War I, so it’s now more than 100 years old. It was originally based at Libertyland in Memphis and was apparently Elvis Presley’s favorite roller coaster. He loved it so much that he’d sometimes rent the entire park so that he could ride it without fans bugging him the whole time.

In 2010 it was dismantled and moved to Green Bay, with it reopening to the public in May 2011.

Despite hating roller coasters, Shae psyched herself up enough to go on the ride with me.

The roller coaster is located on the north end of the park and so overlooks the water.

The ride can hold 30 people at a time, so the line moved pretty quickly. Within 15 minutes we were aboard and ready to go…

The ride’s actually far more exciting than it looks. I’ve been on roller coasters at Busch Gardens that have a vertical drop, but the Zippin Pippin is a whole different experience seeing as a) it’s a wooden roller coaster and b) it’s rickety and jerky. Not in an uncomfortable way, but it’s definitely a different sensation compared to being firmly secured in over the shoulders like some rides.

Shae had her eyes closed for the first minute of the ride, but opened them later on. She even got so into it (sort of) that she raised her hands in the air at one point.

A few minutes later we were done and – more importantly – she survived!

The Zippin Pippin isn’t all there is to do at Bay Beach Amusement Park. In fact, it’s actually a great place to visit and spend a few hours.

One of the best features is that tickets only cost $0.25 each. The highest number of tickets you need for any ride is four (which is how many you need for the Zippin Pippin), so the most expensive ride only costs a dollar. There’s no entrance fee for the amusement park and parking is free, so it’s great value for all the family.

We got $5 worth of tickets each, figuring that’d be enough. That was an overestimation – we ended up having some left over, so gave our remaining tickets to a family we were waiting in line with later that afternoon.

As you can see from the list of ticket prices above, there are more than 20 rides in the park. There’s a good mix of rides for all ages – several for smaller kids…

…along with several for older kids and adults.

There are also several rides suitable for all ages:

Bay Beach Amusement Park also has bumper cars, a name I was relieved to see. I’m from the UK where they’re usually called Dodgems as you’re not supposed to bump into each other – if you can’t bump into each other then what’s the point?!

The lines for all the rides at the park were pretty short, so there was never a long wait. I think the longest wait was at the bumper cars, but even then it was only for 5-10 minutes. That turned out to be a good thing as it gave me a chance to see which of the cars seemed to move fastest, so off to car #10 I went when it was our turn.

Not only are the rides good value, but snacks and drinks are too. We bought a bottle of water, cotton candy and an ice cream sandwich; at Busch Gardens you’d probably pay ~$15, but it only cost a total of $5 here.

After going on several rides – including a couple of spinny ones that Shae loves but which make me want to throw up – we made our way over to the water. There isn’t much of a beach at Bay Beach, but that didn’t stop a couple of people from paddling in the water. Considering we were visiting in June, the water was a surprisingly reasonable temperature already.

If you’ll be spending several hours at Bay Beach Amusement Park, you might want to bring along a picnic. There are several picnic shelters as well as numerous picnic tables, many of which are shaded thanks to all the trees around. If the rides aren’t enough fun or if you’re on a tighter budget, there’s also a playground for small kids.

Final Thoughts

We spent three hours at Bay Beach Amusement Park, but you could easily spend longer there. All the rides are a bargain, snacks and drinks are great value and it’s a lot of fun getting to ride the Zippin Pippin wooden roller coaster.

If you want a fun and low cost day out in Green Bay for all the family, this is a great option.