| Theme Park: | Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (since 1907) |
|---|---|
| Address: | 400 Beach St |
| 95060 Santa Cruz | |
| https://beachboardwalk.com/ | |
| Operated by: | Santa Cruz Seaside Company |
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a seaside amusement park located in Santa Cruz, California right next to the Pacific Ocean. The park is famous for its 100 year old wooden roller coaster Giant Dipper.
Giant Dipper
A true classic
Rock-O-Plane
The interactive looping ride
Undertow
A fun spinning coaster
| Theme Park: | Belmont Park (since 1925) |
|---|---|
| Address: | 3146 Mission Blvd |
| 92109 San Diego | |
| https://www.belmontpark.com/ | |
| Operated by: | San Diego Coaster Co. |
Belmont Park not far from SeaWorld San Diego is a small Seaside Amusement Park in San Diego, CA, which opened its doors in 1925. A lot has changed here over the years, but the park’s main attraction has always been the wooden roller coaster Giant Dipper. Other attractions in the park include an ice cream-themed Tilt-a-Whirl, the Chance Rides Fireball Beach Blaster and the interactive looping rides Octotron and Flip Out.
After leaving the station on a bend, we immediately enter a long tunnel, at the end of which the ride’s lift hill awaits us. This takes us to a starting height of around 22 metres. Once at the top, we immediately ride down a tight steep curve, which is a little too steep in the valley and shakes us back and forth a little, just before we take on a big hill. After a long double down, we reach the other end of the rollercoaster and change direction in a big turnaround, just like the first drop. Well shaken, we hurtle over a series of hills to the other end of the ride, where another steep turn awaits us. This is also followed by a series of classic airtime hills. Finally, the track takes us through a long Bavarian curve before we reach the ride’s braking section.
The Giant Dipper at Belmont Park has a pretty daring layout for a wooden roller coaster that is almost 100 years old and, unfortunately, it rides accordingly. The steeply inclined valleys are somewhat reminiscent of the French funfair rollercoaster The King, but we don’t necessarily have to expect to get a wipeout on this one – instead, we either make an uncomfortable acquaintance with the side wall of the train or our seat neighbours. I therefore decided not to go on another ride.
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The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a pretty cool amusement park. Located directly on the Pacific Ocean, the park exudes a lot of charm, which is mainly due to its 99-year-old wooden rollercoaster, which takes up almost the entire park. The individual rides are located to the right and left of the boardwalk.
The Zamperla Disk’o Shockwave and the Maurer Spinning Coaster Untertow are located on the roof of a larger arcade. As always, it’s worth getting on the SC2000 backwards, which means you actually experience the first drop backwards before the spinning function is released after a climb and a short curve. Thanks to the subsequent hairpin bend, you’ll be well set in rotation so that you can usually experience the Immelmann Turn with a view of the sky or the ground. The subsequent track consists mainly of smaller bends and a fun straight with lots of swerves before you hurtle down a helix for the grand finale. All in all, a really great rollercoaster, especially if the waiting time is kept to a minimum.
A ramp and stairs take you down to the boardwalk. Here you will find access to the Sky Glider chairlift – which was unfortunately not in operation on the day I visited – and three larger rides. In addition to the Typhoon looping ride, you can also take a ride on the classic Pirate Ship boat swing, before the more daring can take a ride on the S&S Double Shot, which is a great way to shoot yourself in the shoulder restraints.
Passing the fantastic façade of the Haunted Castle ghost train, we now move on to the park’s 99-year-old wooden rollercoaster, for which I had to adapt the tour over and over again, as the park unfortunately only rarely opens its rides in September; the Giant Dipper.
The ride on the Giant Dipper begins immediately with the entrance to a slightly longer tunnel, after which the ride’s lift is reached. After the first descent, which is around 20 metres high, we head straight into a large turning curve, which, however, offers a fairly steep entry and exit. Immediately afterwards, we race over a large hill and straight away over a double up. With the best view of the Beach Boardwalk, we now ride over a straight just above the braking section before gaining momentum again in an increasingly steep bend. Parallel to the track we have already experienced, we now race over a series of the finest airtime hills before changing direction again. At a constantly high speed, we race through the beams again and over a number of excellent airtime hills before coming to a halt in the braking section.
Even though I had already heard beforehand that the Giant Dipper is a really first-class wooden roller coaster, I didn’t expect it to mercilessly steal the show from my favourite 100-year-old wooden roller coaster to date – the Big Dipper from the English amusement park Blackpool Pleasure Beach. This ride is simply a class of its own and my favourite wooden roller coaster in the United States to date.
Passing the Afterburner Fireball, the path now leads us to a gem of American engineering: the Eyerly Rock-O-Plane from 1954. This ride is very reminiscent of a classic American Ferris wheel; however, thanks to the locking brake, you can hold your gondolas in position here, which also makes looping rides possible, or you can use the brake and shift your body a little to rock the gondola further and further, whereupon it is also possible to perform several successive somersaults. Great fun, which unfortunately cannot be experienced like this in Europe.
The second major attraction on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the large Arrow log flume Logger’s Revenge, which acts as a kind of backdrop for the rear area of the park and plays a key role in shaping it. There are several rides below the elevated track, including the Moby Dick and the Round-Up Cyclone. The entrance to the Sea Serpent children’s roller coaster is also located directly below the log flume ride.
The small Sea Serpent roller coaster is a real thrill ride, mainly due to its sloping location and the ride being adapted to the terrain. Typical of American children’s roller coasters, the track mainly consists of tight bends and pretty crazy hills.
Interestingly, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is home to many dark rides, two of which are located one level below the boardwalk. In addition to the classic Cave Train, the interactive dark ride Ghost Blasters can also be found here. Access to the indoor Break Dance WipeOut is also located on this level.
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was a pretty cool start to my rollercoaster tour through California and Nevada this year. The park has a similar vibe to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and a pretty cool atmosphere, which made me really like the park. While I unfortunately only used a few tickets on this visit, I would love to come back for a day at the beach with a wristband for the theme park.
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