Giant Dipper (roller coaster)

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Giant Dipper
Track overview
Location	Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Type	Wood
Status	Open
Opened	May 17, 1924
Manufacturer	Arthur Looff
Designer	Frank Prior, Fredrick Church
Track layout	Double Out and Back
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	70 feet (21.3 m)
Drop	65 feet (19.8 m)
Length	2,640 feet (804.7 m)
Max speed	55 miles per hour (88.5 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	1:52
Height restriction	50 inches (127.0 cm)
Giant Dipper at RCDB Pictures of Giant Dipper at RCDB
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The Giant Dipper is a famous wooden roller coaster located at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, an amusement park in Santa Cruz, California, USA. 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. 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 December 2007, the carousel continues to operate.

The ride originally cost riders 15 cents per ride; it now costs $4.50 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.

Track from Skyglider	Train coming into station	First out loop	Loading in station, with the old trains
Lift hill	Giant Dipper with its original green color scheme.