Think about how big your life would have to get before you could not ride a roller coaster anymore. Not because you were afraid of it, but because the second people spotted you, a crowd would form and the night would be over. That was normal life for Elvis Presley.
By the time he was the most famous man in America, Elvis could not do the small things the rest of us never think twice about. A trip to the movies or a fair would turn into chaos within minutes. So he found a way around it that only someone like him could pull off. He waited until everyone else went home, then had the whole place to himself.
His favorite spot was Libertyland, an amusement park right in his hometown of Memphis. Late at night, after the gates closed to the public, Elvis would show up with a few close friends, and the lights would stay on just for them.
One ride meant more to him than all the others. It was the Zippin Pippin, an old wooden roller coaster that rattled and climbed and dropped the same way it had for decades. Elvis loved it. He would ride it over and over, sometimes for hours, laughing with no stage to get to and no crowd to perform for.
There is something quietly sad underneath all of this, though, and it is the part most people never stop to think about.
Elvis had Graceland. He had the cars, the planes and more money than he could ever spend. Yet the thing he seemed to want most on those nights was the one thing all of it could not really buy. And the story of the very last time he came to ride the Zippin Pippin is the part that stays with you long after you hear it.
See the ride he kept coming back to:
Zippin Pippin: Elvis’s Favorite Roller Coaster at Libertyland
Here is what surprises most people. That same roller coaster is still running today. When Libertyland finally shut its gates for good, the old wooden coaster was in rough shape, but it meant far too much to too many people to tear down and forget. So it was saved, rebuilt piece by piece and given a second life hundreds of miles away from Memphis.
You can go and ride it yourself right now, in a completely different state. Watch what it looks like today:
You Can Still Ride Elvis’s Favorite Roller Coaster Today
For a few hours on those quiet Memphis nights, the biggest star in the world got to feel normal again. The lights were on, the coaster was running, his friends were nearby, and nobody needed a single thing from him. Press play and go for a ride with the King.