Giant Dipper, Wooden roller coaster at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, US
Giant Dipper is a wooden roller coaster at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park along the Pacific Ocean. The white wooden structure runs for more than 800 meters (2,640 feet) along the beachfront and reaches heights of around 21 meters (70 feet) with speeds of about 88 kilometers per hour (55 miles per hour).
This roller coaster opened in the mid-1920s and ranks among the oldest continuously operating wooden roller coasters in North America. Its construction took less than two months and set new standards for speed and height in this type of design at the time.
The ride's name reflects the 1920s enthusiasm for large mechanical attractions and has remained unchanged ever since. Visitors hear the rattle of cars on the wooden track from a distance and see the white wooden structure standing out against the sky.
The ride operates during the summer season and on spring and fall weekends when the entire amusement park is open. Queues tend to form in the afternoons and early evenings, while mornings generally see lighter crowds.
The structure survived several major earthquakes in the region without significant damage, which has been attributed to the flexibility of the wooden construction. Engineers later studied the roller coaster as an example of earthquake-resistant wooden design.
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