Parks Diamond Heights

[Kinderly]

Thank you for sharing your amazing recreation of Diamond Heights! Including an enjoyable storyline! You're doing an incredible job! :kingcoaster:

Thanks! I'm glad to be sharing it with the community.

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Diamond Heights, Entry 12
“A Storm Approaches”​

1987 was the year that ended the long expansion gap the park suffered since the demolition of Force Nine. The area to the east of the previous ride site was built upon, however inefficient the design was. There was a single pathway branching off from the existing park loop, one that would take guests to the newest expansion.

The Storm was a Dinn Corp. woodie, which opened in 1987 to positive reviews. It stood as the tallest coaster in the park at 91 feet, with an 81 foot drop. It had a few airtime moments, but the draw to this coaster was it's high g-force turn immediately after the drop.

From what I’ve found, the station took design cues from that of Force Nine. It was themed to be more run down and dilapidated compared to the rest of the park, as were the rest of the structures

Because of the many trees that had to be cut down for Force Nine, the former ride area appeared more barren. Seen above was the Shuttle Loop, an Intamin Looping Starship, which stood on the former site of Force Nine’s station. If you look closely in the background, you can see the Loop-O-Plane, which was the second new flat ride added to the area.

The Shelter was the main restaurant in the eastern section. Much like The Storm's station, it had a more run down look to it

While The Storm was a successful addition to the park's lineup, getting to it wasn't pleasant. It stood on the end of a long walkway that had no services, and no shade. There were rumors that Tybee wanted to save this land for a coaster to replace Force Nine, rumors that ended up being true.

 

[Kinderly]

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Diamond Heights, Entry 13
“Vitis Vinifera”​

In 1990, Diamond Heights unveiled their newest attraction, a final attempt to fill the empty space that the long gone Force Nine once occupied. Stand-up coasters were a brand new and exciting development, popping up in parks all over the world with high praise. Grapevine was one of those coasters.

The ride was an Intamin/Giovanola Standup coaster, the second of only 4 the two companies produced together. It used similar elements to the Shockwave at Drayton Manor in England, though, Grapevine came first. It had the same turning drop, along with a loop, but instead of transitioning into a zero-g roll, it traversed a couple of elevated turns.

The zero-g roll came later, along with a single corkscrew. The ride took up the former space of Force Nine, providing a nice substitute to the empty field that stood there before. The two flat rides that stood here were also removed to make room for the new coaster, though they may have been in storage, because the Shuttle Loop eventually returned to the park.

Another major addition came in 1992, unfortunately replacing Cloud Nine. They called it the Triple Evil tower, applying the story of the three wise monkeys to name each tower. Two of the towers, See and Speak No Evil (Orange and Yellow respectively), were drop towers. The third, Hear No Evil (Red) was a launched tower.

While the two new additions to the park were great, there was just so much competition in the Midwest that Diamond Heights couldn’t keep up. Being owned independently, they didn’t have the money for the biggest and best attractions, and their sub-par ride line up combined with the bad design of the eastern section hurt the park’s reputation. Seeing how little impact these two new attractions made to the park’s popularity and in effect, its income, Tybee had to make a decision moving forward.

 

[mechanikos]

Too bad the new rides don't attract a big crowd. Those triple towers look really cool!

 

[Vampiro]

Wow, really looking amazing!

 

[Kinderly]

Too bad the new rides don't attract a big crowd. Those triple towers look really cool!

Nope, being in the same zone as Kings Island and Cedar Point, a simple stand-up and power tower won't cut it.

Wow, really looking amazing!

Thank you!

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Diamond Heights, Entry 14
“Removal”
​

Diamond Heights was a nice park in certain respects. It had that small-town park quality, but in the 90s, larger parks were all about the biggest, most thrilling attractions. The park couldn’t keep up with its competition and Tybee eventually decided to pull out from managing Diamond Heights. As a safety measure, he had to take some of his investments with him, which ended up angering the public.

The two newest attractions, Grapevine and the Triple Evil Tower, were removed and relocated to Tybee’s park in Denver, where competition was a lot less fierce. This was announced in the middle of the park’s 1995 season to allow for last rides, but the park itself wouldn’t go up for sale until 1997.
As the park went up for sale, potential buyers saw the park’s problems, along with the star attraction’s removal, and didn’t see much potential within it. Through the entirety of 1997, this continued with no one interested in buying. At the end of the park’s season, someone finally decided to come forward and buy the property, though they wanted to remain anonymous until they had a plan to continue forward.

While Grapevine may have been removed from Diamond Heights, the ride still stands today. After its removal, Tybee moved it to his park in Denver, the so called “Funtopia”. Tybee no longer owns this park, at some point it was bought out by Cedar Fair. Along with that, Grapevine was given a more coaster like name, now being called “Sinister".

[video=youtube;eH_nBZIV76Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH_nBZIV76Q[/video]
I also happened to bump into a rare POV of the ride when it stood at Diamond Heights, apparently around 1993. It has a couple of nice cinematics as well.

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Little disclaimer here, the crane in Grapevine's removal shot wasn't made by me. You can find it on the workshop by DEEee. They have a cool set of construction cranes up.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=923492236

 

[wowman]

love the construction shot

 

[Kinderly]

love the construction shot

Thanks!

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Diamond Heights, Entry 15
"Revival"​

If you'll remember, last we saw Diamond Heights, its future was uncertain. The park had just been put up for sale in 1997 by its previous owner, a listing that no one seemed to want to tackle given the issues the park had. Just when all hope seemed to be lost, a buyer came forward, eventually drawing out a plan to revitalize the park and bring it back up to competitive standards. That new owner was the Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company, looking to expand their horizons in the amusement industry past their singular park in Pennsylvania.

Just like Tybee had before them, Hershey decided to renovate the park in two phases, which would allow them to open it back up to the public much sooner. Phase one was just a renovation of a lot of the aesthetics in the park, landscaping, structures, rides, stuff like that. Seen above was the new entrance building, which had a faux elegance to it shared by many other American parks.

Some rides were refurbished and recolored. In Arachnophobia's case, it got a rename as well. Now called Exterminator, the ride sported a red, green, and yellow paint scheme, a nice change from the duller red, grey, and black it used to have. The services that used to be below the spiral lift also got an upgrade, now being the Foothills Food Court.

Other rides like Whiplash kept their name with the new color scheme. Whiplash itself received a more vibrant blue, white and pink scheme from the old retro white.

RollerCoaster seemed to have been the only casualty, but in its place stood a more modern version of the same ride. Still a wild mouse, this new ride replaced RollerCoaster (which had gotten far rougher over the years), and looked far nicer as well. The ride before it was memorialized though, through the new name Doppelganger, referencing their similar ride experiences.

A new attraction stood where all the tower rides of old did. The new Fear Fall was an Intamin Gyro Drop, taller than anything else in the park at the time, and certainly far taller than either tower rides that stood in the same place before it.

The park reopened on May 15th 1998. From the map's perspective, nothing much had changed. The park still had 20 some rides (probably more), and the layout remained relatively the same. As a short term solution to the eastern infrastructure problem, Hershey connected a secondary loop, along with which they added food and other services to. 1998 was far more successful than any year under Tybee's ownership, and with what is to come, that success would continue.

 

[The Stig]

New ownership just before the new millennium? Ooooh, this is exciting. Can't wait to see what's in store.

 

[WingardiumLevicoaster]

This is such an awesome project.

 

[Kinderly]

New ownership just before the new millennium? Ooooh, this is exciting. Can't wait to see what's in store.

Indeed. There's a lot of good stuff to come!

This is such an awesome project.

Thanks!

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Diamond Heights, Entry 16
“Cathie”​

With the success of Phase One, Hershey immediately broke ground for phase two at the end of the 1998 season. Where Phase One was all about refurbishing the park, Phase Two was to add something new to its ride line up. 4 somethings new to be exact, one of which was a roller coaster.

B&M Inverts were the big new thing through the 90s, though 1999 was late in the craze. Originally, the plan was for the park to get a Batman clone, but Hershey opted for something more unique. Cathexis was the result. It wasn’t big or fast, not too intense, which made it a perfect fit for a park like Diamond Heights.

The layout had 5 total inversions, the most unique of which was a Sea Serpent Roll (basically a cobra roll without the direction change). The rest were just typical B&M elements… not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The ride also spanned the river, which the park is restricted from building on, leading to the unique support structure seen here. We also get a good view of the station from this point. People have described it as having a more “Industrial” theme, which I think is just an excuse for it being bland.

In other news, 3 more flat rides were added, one of which was the Big Wheel seen above. The other two were scattered on opposite sides of the park. One of these flats happened to be the Shuttle Loop, which was returned to the park after nearly 10 years in storage.

Another path was connected between The Storm and Frontier Forest, which helped to further alleviate the infrastructure problems. Now that the park was back on track, its success would continue into the new millenium, bringing about many park changing attractions.

 

[Eaglefan9727]

Great stuff

 

[S100Headache]

Love the references to other RCT scenarios in this one, Force Nine at Ivory Towers was my favorite.

Also loved the little aside of Grapevine making its way to Funtopia.

 

[Kinderly]

Great stuff

Thanks!

Love the references to other RCT scenarios in this one, Force Nine at Ivory Towers was my favorite.

Also loved the little aside of Grapevine making its way to Funtopia.

I've honestly lost track of all the references to the original I've made. Thanks for noticing!

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Diamond Heights, Entry 17
“Getting Wetter”​

2000 saw the opening of Diamond Heights' second water based attraction. It was a rapids ride, nothing too fancy, but it was still another great attraction for the park to add to its lineup. It proved to be a popular addition, especially during the later summer months when guests would need to cool off.

The ride was called Thunder Rock Rapids, as seen by its entrance sign. It was perhaps the most heavily themed ride the park had to offer. Just like Snake River Falls, the ride was given rustic styled theming to go along with the runaway river journey ride experience river rapids had become known for.

The queue was where most of the budget for theming went, as it was really the only themed area of the ride. The rest was just rockwork and waterfalls, not that the guests cared. For a park like Diamond Heights where theme is a luxury, it was pretty hefty.

The station was simple. A dividing wall and building kept the entrance and exit separate. Just like all rapids rides, it had a turntable to make boarding and unloading easier.

While I couldn’t find reliable photos for specific areas of the ride itself, this overview provides a good idea for the layout. As I said, theming was kept mostly to the queue, while the rest was just rockwork.

The addition stood on the southernmost end of the park in a new area called Lightning Peaks, which was more rustic similarly to Frontier Forest. I believe this was also around the time certain areas of the park were given official names, all of which I’ve put up on the map.

 

[Big Draco]

Mind = Blown [woah]

Take my money - I just want to ride and to walk around your fantastic park!

I thought I was getting reasonable at park building. I'm not. I'm like a little kid with building blocks but that's OK when you can see stuff like this. Gives me something to aim at.

You are a meister!

 

[Kinderly]

Mind = Blown [woah]

Take my money - I just want to ride and to walk around your fantastic park!

I thought I was getting reasonable at park building. I'm not. I'm like a little kid with building blocks but that's OK when you can see stuff like this. Gives me something to aim at.

You are a meister!

Thanks, though, you'll have to wait a little while longer to visit. I'm waiting until I completely finish the park (or until my computer craps out on me) to release it.

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Diamond Heights, Entry 18
“Hyper”​

Diamond Heights was never really known to have larger attractions, but seeing as their main competition Cedar Point now had a Giga coaster in addition to their already existing hyper, the park had to step up their game. They built a hyper coaster of their own for their 2001 season, and standing at 210 ft tall, it at least beat out 1 of Cedar Point's roller coasters by 5 feet. Luckily, people didn't come to Diamond Heights for the thrills, rather the charm, but it was still a successful addition nonetheless.

The ride was named Vertigo, manufactured by D.H. Morgan, and the last one to be built in the States by the company. It was one of the only rides you could see from outside of the park, as the turnaround after the first drop stood right next to the western parking lot.

The ride took up the remaining unused space on the western edge of the property. It towered over Woodpecker, once the most thrilling ride in the park, now reduced to a family attraction.

There were a few more camel backs after the turnaround which provided some great floater air time before the ride transitioned into the much more fast paced, low to the ground second half.

The ride's high momentum propelled it through tight turns and ejector hills in the forest before screeching to a halt at the final brake run.

I managed to find a nice nighttime shot of the ride. We also see the new Nautilus Diner eatery which stood below the lifthill.

The two flat rides, the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Scrambled Eggs, were relocated to make room for Vertigo’s turnaround, now standing on the connecting path between Thunder Rock Rapids and the new coaster. As of writing this entry, Vertigo was the last roller coaster expansion to come to the park, but that could of course change over the coming years.

 

[NiceGuyAndy]

Just posting so I can follow the updates. I love this! Great work [big grin]

Made me wish there was a real helter-skelter in the game, you recreated it so well!

 

[Jettuh]

I rarely post here, just wanted to let you know that I do keep an eye on this topic everyday to see if anything new has happened ;-)