Giant Dipper (roller coaster)

Infobox roller coaster
name = Giant Dipper


caption = Track overview
location = Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
section=
type = Wood
manufacturer = Arthur Looff
designer = Frank Prior, Fredrick Church
model =
track = Double Out and Back
lift = Chain lift hill
status = Open
opened = May 17, 1924
height = 70
drop = 65
length = 2640
speed = 55
inversions = 0
duration= 1:52
restriction = 50
rcdb_number = 204:"This article is about the roller coaster on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. For the roller coaster at Mission Beach in San Diego, California, see Mission Beach Roller Coaster."The Giant Dipper is a famous wooden roller coaster located at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, an amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. It opened on May 17, 1924 and is the sixth-oldest roller coaster in the United States; over 50 million riders have ridden it since its opening. The United States National Park Service recognized the Giant Dipper as part of a National Historic Landmark also covering the nearby Looff carousel in 1987. It is also an ACE Coaster Landmark. [ [http://www.aceonline.org/CoasterAwards/?type=3 ACE Coaster Landmark Awards] ] The ride has appeared in many television commercials and movies, including "The Lost Boys", "Sudden Impact" and "Dangerous Minds".

The Giant Dipper, which is located between walkways 3 and 4 at 400 Beach Street in Santa Cruz, California, was designed by Frank Prior and Fredrick Church with a double out and back layout similar to the Mission Beach Roller Coaster built in 1925 in San Diego, California. The Giant Dipper was built by Arthur Looff in 1924 in just 47 days at a cost of $50,000. Looff described his plans for the coaster by describing it as a, "combination earthquake, balloon ascension, and aeroplane drop." Looff's father, Charles I. D. Looff, built the carousel on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in 1911; as of CURRENTMONTHNAME CURRENTYEAR, the carousel continues to operate.

The ride originally cost riders 15 cents per ride; it now costs $4.50 or 6 tickets per ride for riders who do not have an all-day wristband. It also originally had an outdoor station; the indoor station and the tunnel at the beginning of the ride were added later. The ride has also been repainted red from its original green. It has had its trains changed several times. For instance, since February 2007, the fronts of the trains have been covered with the "100 Years" sign and the sides were painted red and blue. (As seen with images 4 and 2, before and after, respectively, below)

Image gallery

External links

* [http://www.beachboardwalk.com/02_giant_dipper.html Giant Dipper at Beach Boardwalk] (Official site)
* [http://coaster-net.com/ridegallery.php?action=display&id=234 Coaster-net]
* [http://www.beachboardwalk.com/03_giant_dipper_ride.html Go for a virtual ride]
* [http://rcdb.com/id204.htm Rollercoaster Database]

References