When I decided to add Santa’s Village to our trip’s itinerary, it ended up pushing things back ever so slightly. Thankfully I left us a day to move things around should we need it. My initial plans called for us visit Safari Land, then head to Little Amerricka, and then end our day at Bay Beach. By adding Santa’s Village, there was no way for us to do all four locations unless we rode everything once and ran off to the next spot. Even then, I’m not sure would have worked.
What we ended up doing instead was visiting Safari Land, Santa’s Village, and Bay Beach on Thursday, July 3. That night we drove to Marshall, Wisc. to be near Little Amerricka for the next day, the Fourth of July. How fitting, right? And since it closed at 5 p.m., it would also allow for us to head toward the Wisconsin Dells afterward. We could then grab a few of the extra credits close to our next major destination, Mt. Olympus Theme Park before calling it a night.
With all this said, I’m so very glad that things worked out this way and we were not rushed. You know how much I loved Safari Land, Santa’s Village, and Bay Beach. Well, add Little Amerricka to that list. I swear, this place was so charming and fun. We ran back and forth getting in so many rides and of course, I made sure to buy a Meteor shirt before leaving. I’m going to wear it proudly at some of the parks I visit back home.
Some Rare, Classic Credits
Little Amerricka features four different coasters and all four are credits you’ll be hard pressed to find elsewhere in the United States. They all have a history and having them all in a single park, in the middle of nowhere, blows my mind. There was no way I was doing this trip without stopping at this park. As much as Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) was a must do on this trip, so was Little Amerricka. And yes, that’s the truth.
Little Dipper
Whenever I see a small coaster meant for kids at a park, there is always a chance that I won’t be able to ride it, or at least without a kid. Thankfully that was not the case here.
This ride looked quite old, but in great condition nonetheless. Little Amerricka has been operating the ride since 1993, according to the Roller Coaster Database (RCDB) after acquiring it from a private party. It is also said that the park had to put in a bit of work to restore this ride.
With all this said, this ride was a fun little experience with some little airtime pops that made it worthwhile. It was also fun looking right at a graveyard coming off the lift hill. Yeah, that’s a thing. I had heard about this years ago watching a YouTube vlog on the park, but had forgotten about it.
Swiss Toboggan
Believe it or not, this ride was one of the ones I was most excited to ride during this trip. I’m lucky enough to have ridden a few of these during my lifetime. Two of those experiences came as a kid. The first was at Trimper Rides in Ocean City, Md. They used to have one next to Tidal Wave, their Vekoma Boomerang. I also rode another at a local carnival less than 15 minutes from my house sometime in the 80’s.
The third one would come years later at Lakemont Park. I was able to ride this two separate times in 2014 and 2015. The first time was with my brother, Brian, and the second came with Mindy. My brother and I also saw another one that same day, a few hours later, at Conneaut Lake Park. Theirs, however, was sitting, but not operating (SBNO) and was in pieces.
If you’re wondering why in the world I would be excited to ride this having been on three of them before, even a couple times as a fully grown adult, well… I don’t know. Maybe it was to relive some memories of my childhood? Maybe it is the fact that this is the last one in operation in the United States? Who knows. I just wanted to ride it. And I did a few times, including an extra ride while Jen was busy on the bumper boats.
As for the ride, I had fun. Yes, it’s stuffy inside that train. Yes, it’s janky coming off the spiral descent. Who cares though? Seriously. Go ride this and have fun.
Mad Mouse
This might have been one of the most comical rides of our trip. The ride operator at Mad Mouse really set the tone for our experience. He told Jen to get ready to feel like she’s been in a car accident. When I went to get into the car for my ride, I stumbled a little bit getting my leg into the car. He checked on me and said, “Usually you do that after the ride.” He was great.
During this trip Jen and I would ride several Wild and Mad Mouses. It was the most janky with its crazy ending segment where you were tossed up and down over and over. The trains and the way you sit inside them really accentuated every bit of that sharp airtime too.
Best of all, I asked Jen to ride it a few extra times to get better photos. When we first approached the ride, no one else was riding. I had Jen go first to take photos of the ride in action. When she finished up, however, I realized I had my camera’s speed setting set wrong. So yeah, I asked her to do a couple more laps for artistic purposes. And if you want to see how that went, check out the photo from one of those rides under the Final Ride Counts box below. Sorry Jen!
Meteor
Now this coaster has a bit of a backstory. Not only was this wooden coaster relocated, it was relocated twice. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a wooden coaster relocated more than once. I don’t even know how many other wooden coasters have called more than two parks home, let alone three, if I’m being honest.
According to RCDB, Meteor started its life at a park called Kiddytown in Illinois. There it was called Little Dipper and operated from 1953 to 1966. There are two photos of the ride while at Kiddyland on its RCDB page. The ride’s second home, also in Illinois, was at a park called Hillcrest Park. It kept the name Little Dipper and operated from 1967 to 2003. There are a lot of photos of it at Hillcrest on its RCDB page, if you want to see how it looked while at its second home.
In 2007, Little Amerricka opened the ride at its third home, but under the name Meteor. My guess for the new name is due to the fact that they already had a Little Dipper Coaster on site. They placed this ride dead center in the park, which makes this ride a showpiece of sorts. You can see it from pretty much every other ride in the park and it looks good too. I was able to grab a ton of amazing photos of this ride, which you can see in the gallery at this report’s conclusion.
We ended up doing a lot of laps on Meteor, although we only boarded the train a few times. On every ride, when the train was coming back into the station, people on the ride kept chanting, “One more time.” The ride op would push the lever and let us go around again and sometimes two more times. I only rode three times and got in seven laps. Jen rode an extra time while I was taking photos, getting in three extra laps for a total of 10.
The park does a great job maintaining this small woodie. I think it rides amazing comparing it to other similar sized woodies from Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC). Between the two of us, we managed to ride it in Rows 1, 2, 7, and 8. All rode great. Also, a great family ride.
Final Ride Counts
Bumper Boats (1: Jen)
Ferris Wheel (1)
Go Karts (1)
Helicopter Adventure (1: Jen)
Haunted House (1)
Little Dipper (2: Patrick, 1: Jen)
Mad Mouse(4: Jen, 2: Patrick)
Merry Go Round (1)
Meteor (10: Jen, 7: Patrick)
Monorail (2: Patrick, 1: Jen)
Parachute Tower (2: Jen)
Swiss Toboggan (3: Patrick, 2: Jen)
Tiger Slide (1: Jen)
Another Awesome Small Park
While we still had two family entertainment centers and a mountain coaster ahead of us, this was the last “small park” we’d visit this trip. Having it follow up several others made this portion of our trip one to remember. I can’t say it enough times. I love small parks and the atmosphere they have. I feel so much more relaxed at smaller parks. While the rides don’t usually compete with the flashy record breakers at large corporate parks, they don’t have to for me to still have fun.
I wish Little Amerricka, Bay Beach, and Santa’s Village were all closer to home because I would visit them on a regular basis. Since they’re not, however, I’m glad I got to go to each one of them during this trip. For those of you who live around these parks, please show them some love and visit them whenever you can. And if you’ve never been to them and find yourself within a reasonable drive, just go. Go make some fun memories like Jen and I did.
Little Amerricka Photo Gallery - July 4, 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): Little Dipper, Mad Mouse, Meteor, Swiss Toboggan
Jen
Captain
New Credit(s): Little Dipper, Mad Mouse, Meteor, Swiss Toboggan