Elvis Presley’s favorite roller coaster is a Green Bay attraction

Thousands of people have flocked to Green Bay to take a ride on Elvis Presley’s favorite roller coaster. Thursday, the city received some national recognition on the 35th anniversary of the death of the King of rock and roll.

The Trip-Adviser website named Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay as one of the nation’s top Elvis attractions. That was after the city spent $3.8 dollars to buy and rebuild the Zippin Pippin roller coaster. The city got it from a park that closed in Memphis.

It took a year for Green Bay officials to get the roller coaster ready. When the Zippin Pippin opened last summer, it attracted two and a half times the number of riders they expected, about a half-million in all.

Trip-Adviser said Elvis rode the Zippin Pippin only a week before he abruptly died from a heart attack due to prescription drug abuse. He passed away at his Graceland mansion in Memphis on Aug. 16 of 1977 at the age of 42.

Elvis had performed only twice in Wisconsin in his final years, both times in Madison. His last show was in late June of ’77, less than two months before he died.

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