While visiting my college roommate in San Diego this week, I had the opportunity to visit Belmont Park. The park, which began operating in 1925, sits on just seven acres adjacent to San Diego’s Mission Beach. Given its small size, and limited number of attractions, I felt like it was the perfect opportunity to bring back Coaster101’s “Small Park Showcase” series.
Originally known as the “Mission Beach Amusement Center,” Belmont Park was the brainchild of sugar magnate John D. Spreckels, in an effort to help develop the Mission Beach area.
When the park opened in 1925, there were two main attractions. The Natatorium (later renamed “The Plunge”), featured a 60’x175′ salt-water pool and was (at the time) the largest such pool in the world, holding 400,000 gallons of water. The second, and considered to be “star” attraction was their iconic roller coaster, The Giant Dipper.
Featuring the same name as it’s “sister” coaster, which opened in 1924 at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, The Giant Dipper features 2,600′ of track and cost $150,000 (more than $2 Million in 2017 Dollars) to build. It was designed by the legendary design team of Frank Prior and Frederick Church. The two Giant Dippers are the only two remaining operating coasters designed by these two men.
After Spreckels passed away in the mid 1920s, his organization gave Mission Beach Amusement Center to the city of San Diego, so that the citizens of the city could enjoy it. The park was renamed to Belmont Park in 1955. In 1976, after falling into disrepair, the park closed. The Giant Dipper was privately owned at the time, and according to Belmont Park’s website, “started to become an eyesore” and people wanted it demolished.
A group of concerned citizens called the “Save the Coaster Committee,” had the coaster designated as a National Landmark in 1987 and asked the ownership to be transferred to them. The committee was given a preservation grant, raised funds locally, and donated their time to work on the coaster. However, they were not able to raise the amount needed to restore the coaster to an operating condition.
The San Diego City Council allowed new developers to turn the rest of the abandoned park into a commercial shopping center and Belmont Park reopened in 1988 with a new look.
Unfortunately, The Giant Dipper was still not up to operating standards but, in 1989, the developer of the new Belmont Park retail specialty center contacted the Santa Cruz Seaside Company, responsible for the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, to see if they might have some interest in restoring and operating Belmont Park’s Giant Dipper.
After a year of discussions with the City of San Diego and many others, the City approved a long-term lease. A new company, The San Diego Coaster Company, was officially formed to restore and operate the Giant Dipper. Over $2,000,000 was spent on the restoration of the Giant Dipper and one new train that was built for the ride. The new train had six, four-person cars, and according to RCDB, was designed by Morgan. The newly renovated Giant Dipper opened on August 11, 1990.
My lone ride of the day was on Giant Dipper, and I thoroughly enjoyed the coaster. It starts in darkness before ascending the 73′ tall lift hill. Admittedly, I was “stapled” in, so I didn’t get to take full advantage of the airtime hills that The Giant Dipper provided, but trust me. They’re there. It was highly worth my $6.
In addition to The Giant Dipper, Belmont Park has a wide variety of Carnival Style attractions, and all operate on a “pay-per-ride” basis of $3-$6 per attraction. Unlimited ride wristbands are also available.
Belmont Park features the following rides:
- Control Freak, a Moser Gyro Loop
- Octotron, a Chance Unicoaster
- Crazy Submarine, a Magic Carpet ride
- Vertical Plunge, a Frog Hopper
- Beach Blaster, a Frisbee
- Speedway, a miniature Whip attraction
- A Carousel
- A Tilt-A-Whirl
- Two types of Bumper Cars
In addition, Belmont park also has several other non-ride attractions, including a ropes course, zip lines, laser maze, rock wall, minature golf, and the new Escapology escape rooms. True to form of a seaside park, they also have carnival style games and a huge arcade featuring a good amount of ticket redemption games.
Though I didn’t eat there, Belmont Park features several restaurants, including California favorite “Hot Dog on a Stick” as well as the familiar flavor of officially branded Dole Whips. There are several shops at Belmont Park, which include typical “beach” shops and a fairly large surf shop.
If you find yourself in San Diego with a little bit of time to kill, Belmont Park is definitely worth checking out, if only for a quick $6 ride on The Giant Dipper. For more information visit their website.
This is my home park! I did a (roller coaster themed) science fair project with the Giant Dipper!