I visited Fun Spot America Atlanta on Saturday, June 27, 2026 which was the first Saturday after the company announced the park would be closing on August 2, 2026. It was a hot summer day in Georgia, but I saw something I hadn’t seen frequently at Fun Spot Atlanta and that was lines. It was great to see and it wasn’t like the park was overcrowded in any way as you could generally ride almost anything in less than 10 minutes. There was of course a small line for ArieForce One, but it was also great to see healthy lines for Hurricane, the bumper boats and go-karts. ArieForce One has relatively huge capacity compared to other rides at the park, so it not being the longest wait makes sense.

I’ll start with the elephant in the room, ArieForce One. First, it was a hot day and the ride was flying. Operations actually closed off the 3rd and 4th rows to lessen weight, but I was on a train that was held up because of an overspeed. Even though this slowed operations in general, it was great to know we were experiencing ArieForce One at its max. Later in the day they swapped trains and then eventually ran two trains. It was great to see full train and two train activity. The operators were great and other than the occasional overspeed or train swap/addition, the ride stayed up all day. The only thing that didn’t work right were the ride photos, which was a bummer, I bet they could have sold a ton of those. If you’re looking for merch, I heard the store was essentially already cleared out except for small and 3XL t-shirts along with some hats. There were some stickers and pens left though.

The platform was filled with lots of enthusiasts, mostly local, but I imagine we’ll see more people traveling to the park from all over in the coming weeks. A good number of them were just trying to get as many laps in as they could. There was a lot of collegiality in sharing ride counts, stories and thoughts of what might come next, hoping it finds a new home. Many were wearing ArieForce One merch and a lot of people were taking pictures all over the structure. Some, myself included, were looking at things like topography and wondering if/how this could fit in another location. For me there was a personal connection too in that I won an auction to be on the first public train and it was my first ride opening media day. I met so many people that day including Astronaut Doug Hurley and a ton of people from the roller coaster community. The great memories of that day will be with me forever.

It was interesting in that we brought some neighborhood friends (casual coaster fans) with us on their first trip to Fun Spot. I had mentioned the park and ArieForce One to them several months ago and they were clueless about it prior. We live about 90 minutes north of the park and somehow the marketing that we had a World Class coaster just down the road never reached them. With the announced closure they jumped at the chance to visit with us. ArieForce One was a hit and they were so glad they didn’t miss it. In some ways though, this may be a microcosm of the issues the park faced in that enthusiasts loved the ride, but it never connected with the local GP (General Public) in the same way. Enthusiasts no doubt loved the short lines and ability to lap such an amazing coaster, but for a ride to be financially successful its greatness can’t be a virtual secret from the GP.

The park was very well staffed for the day with pretty much everything open with the exception of Spider, Sampson and Hot Seat, all of which were down for maintenance. Hopefully these will still return before the park closes so guests can enjoy all the attractions one last time. I chuckled a little bit as there were several staff with “In Training” on their name badge as well as a “Now Hiring” at the entrance. Still, it could still probably be a fun summer job for a young person, even if it was for just over a month. A huge shoutout to Fun Spot Atlanta management as operations were sincerely great, which is not a given due to the awkward situation of most of the staff unfortunately losing their jobs in a month.

Overall my visit was excellent and I’m so glad we went. I’m not sure if I’ll make it back before August 2nd, but if this is it, I left on a great visit. There was some sadness, but also a lot of joy in experiencing everything one last time. From low crowd levels on previous visits I totally understand Fun Spot’s decision, but you have to wonder if every Saturday looked like this past Saturday that we might not be here today. Hopefully ArieForce One finds a new home and I think most fans will exhale. It’s sad whenever a park closes, however most everything else is replicated at the Orlando parks, but ArieForce One is one of one. We’ll probably know more in the coming weeks, but there’s still time to get to Georgia to enjoy this park and rides. Hopefully ArieForce One will live on elsewhere, but just in case be sure to get a ride on it before it’s too late as you don’t want to miss this one.