Black Diamond
Specific Type: Enclosed
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Black Diamond, relocated from the popular Morey's Piers park out in Wildwood, New Jersey, is mostly an indoor type roller coaster with three different floors that riders are taken through. At Morey's Piers, this ride operated under the name Golden Nugget Mine Ride and opened for the first time in July of 1960. The roller coaster was built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company and was engineered by John C. Allen. The ride thrilled many guests at Morey's, however, on December 11th, 2008, it was made official that the Golden Nugget Mine Ride would no longer be a part of Morey's and was officially put up on sale. At one point, the park's plan was to relocate the dark ride to another pier that the park owned, and even demolishing it all together, but none of this ever happened. The demolish date was even officially set, which would have been on January 31st, 2010. However, on January 26th, 2009, the future of Golden Nugget was extended and Knoebel's Amusement Park and Resort purchased all the track and the trains from Morey's Piers and would be adding the ride to the small park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. Knoebel's also bought their Phoenix roller coaster from San Antonio, Texas, which used to be called the 1947 "Rocket." So this is not a first that the Pennsylvania park has done before when it comes to buying and carrying on a loved ride in a new location.
The Bald Eagle habitat at Knoebel's had to be relocated at Knoebels, seeing as this space is where Black Diamond resides in the park. Black Diamond is the park's fifth roller coaster, joining the wooden bobsled, Flying Turns (which still has yet to open), as well as Twister, Phoenix, and Kozmo's Kurves. The wooden structure, which is mainly the building itself, as well as the steel track, takes riders through three stories of themed adventure. The theming is completely different from the desert theme at Morey's Piers when the ride operated as Golden Nugget. The theming at Morey's consisted of a cowboy and Indian western frontier that included gold panning prospectors, the Boot Hill Graveyard, a covered wagon, cacti, as well as much more from the west. At the end of the ride, the guests run by skeletons, old miners, collapsing mine shafts, dark creatures, and other special effects. This is all going on while "falling down the gold mine" from the top of the ride to the bottom of the ride. The ride was themed again in 1996 and was called Gold Nugget Mine Rescue. Dinosaurs were put into play as part of the new theming for this. Knoebel's just ended up buying the track and trains, and nothing else. The trains consist of old style boxed-shape mine cars, with two rows each. Each car will be able to sit up to four riders. Riders will sit down in the cars, and off they go. Riders will enter into the building and go up a small lift hill. After another turn at the top of the first lift hill, riders take a left turn into the tallest lift hill of the ride, which goes up to the top of the structure. After going through lots of turns, skeletons, and whatnot, riders drop into lots of trim breaks, and then a quick turn to the left before going up lift number three, which goes up to the second story of the ride. More theming, lighting, and special effects happen on this floor, and then riders turn again into a heavily trimmed drop to the bottom floor. After more turns, special effects, and the like, riders start feeling dizzy as they go through the spinning tunnel. Then after one more turn, the train is safely back in civilization, with all riders in it safe and sound. |
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