Elvis' Favorite Roller Coaster, Other Rides to Face Auction Sale
Apr 24, 12:24 PM

By David Williams, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.

Apr. 21--Elvis Presley's favorite roller coaster and other Libertyland rides will be sold at auction June 21.

But don't expect Graceland officials to bid on the Zippin Pippin, though it took the King of Rock and Roll on many a ride.

"Theme park rides just don't fit into our master planning for the property," Todd Morgan, Elvis Presley Enterprises spokesman, said Thursday.

The Zippin Pippin, billed as the country's second-oldest operating wooden coaster, could be the prize of the auction -- if it can be moved from the Mid-South Fairgrounds and kept operational.

"That's going to be a unique challenge," said Travis Flee, marketing director of the Mid-South Fair, which closed the money-losing park late last year. "Whoever bids on it, it's up to them what they plan on doing with it."

Flee suggested "Graceland's front yard" as a new site.

Morgan said EPE is concerned about the fate of the Pippin and the park's Grand Carousel, which is being sold separately. But he added: "We have no interest in purchasing either ride and bringing them to Graceland."

He said the Pippin "will be quite a responsibility for whoever purchases that. Because that's a very expensive undertaking to dismantle it, move it, reassemble it and maintain it."