For years I had heard about a wooden roller coaster at a park called Bay Beach in Green Bay called Zippin’ Pippin. I heard how the original Zippin’ Pippin in Memphis was Elvis’ favorite roller coaster. I heard how the one in Wisconsin was almost an exact replica of that ride and was an airtime machine.
Others in the coaster community have said Zippin’ Pippin is worth experiencing if you’re ever in the area. Well, we were sorta in the area. We were three hours away after finishing up at Santa’s Village. Living in the Baltimore region, however, three hours away is kinda “in the area” when you take that into account.
With the park closing at 8 p.m., we’d only have two hours to enjoy the park. My plan was to marathon Zippin’ Pippin, but if any other rides tickled our fancies, we could hit them up too.
Elvis Had Good Taste in Coasters
When we arrived at the park, I bought us $25 worth of tickets and scooped up some Zippin’ Pippin merch just in case the gift shop was closed by time we finished riding. I wanted to be sure to support this park as much as I could in the short time we were there.
With Zippin’ Pippin costing six ride tickets, which cost 25 cents each, it meant that Zippin’ Pippin only cost $1.50 to ride. What a bargain. I just hoped it lived up to the hype so we’d want to ride it over and over again and use up those tickets. All the other rides at the park cost even less to ride. So Zippin’ Pippin would help us eat up most of our tickets.
Spoiler… We loved Zippin’ Pippin and managed to get in seven rides before the park closed for the day. We had just enough tickets for one more ride too, but oh well.
Zippin' Pippin'
After only one ride Jen and I knew that we were going to stay put and ride this until we either ran out of tickets or the park closed. It was a fun ride and we ran right back around after each ride to do it again and again. And with each of those rides, we came off loving it even more.
What I loved most about this coaster was it included a little bit of everything I love in a good wooden coaster, with the most prevalent element being floater airtime. On the initial drop and airtime hills that followed, my butt left the seat for a good few seconds each time. It was certainly stronger in the back, but it was good in every row.
Speaking of airtime, however, floater isn’t the only form of airtime you’ll find on this coaster. As the ride heads back to the station, there is a tiny airtime hill that doesn’t look like much of anything. Looks, as they say, can be deceiving. This little airtime hill throws you violently up before the train drops back down from under you. It is super intense and is like nothing else on the ride. It comes out of nowhere and will surprise you the first time riding it. I had heard about it before our trip and was still shocked on how powerful it was.
Filming Zippin' Pippin'
I shot a POV on my first ride in the front row. I haven’t posted it yet and don’t know if I will. Sadly I had no idea how the ride experience would be and what I shot makes the ride look rough, which is NOT the case. The ride is packed with tons of airtime and laterals, but since I was all over the place not knowing the coaster’s nuiances, the footage looks misleading. I should have rode it a few times and then jumped back into the front seat to film. My concern was getting in the best footage I could before the sun began to go down. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now.
Even though I’m not happy with my footage, I did grab some still from the POV to add to the Bay Beach Photo Gallery. They can also be found in the gallery below.
Final Ride Counts
Zippin’ Pippin (7)
Totally Worth the Drive
With our limited time and only getting to ride Zippin’ Pippin, I still found myself thankful that we made the 3 hour drive to Green Bay to Bay Beach. I do wish that I had some time to enjoy some of the other rides at the park, but after just one ride we fell in love with Zippin’ Pippin. We couldn’t walk away.
I do hope to return one day with more time to do more, but I know I will surely marathon Zippin’ Pippin again. It is just so fun and was definitely a highlight of this trip.
Bay Beach Photo Gallery - July 3, 2025
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): Zippin' Pippin
Jen
Captain
New Credit(s): Zippin' Pippin