FitchCoaster Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 CLAREMONT, California - What once started as a family-owned picnic spot is now turning into a major amusement park. With help from the Tuscany Amusements Entertainment Company, this huge transformation has already begun. Douglas Gardens started as not-so-well-known place for families to have picnics together. Over time, the place has added restaurants, and over the years, a few thrill rides. Five years ago, Tuscany Amusements purchased the land from the Douglas family. "We saw great potential in the land. We knew when we visited the place, that it could probably be home to a very successful amusement park", says Paul Smith, president of Tuscany Amusements. "We are a small company, and this will be our first major park. We hope that this park will launch us into the major entertainment business." Douglas Gardens will take ideas from other theme parks, and put those ideas in a lush, and beautiful environment. "Our wish is that Douglas Gardens is successful, and that we will continue to expand upon this park as time goes on." After reading this press release 2 years ago, I was very intrigued by this park. I decided to go and visit the construction site of the park, and I happened to meet the president of Tuscany Amusements there. He informed me that the park would be opening a few years later, and he asked for my address so he could send me an invite for a sneak peak of the park before its official opening. I accepted the invite, and here I am posting my trip report for you all to see. This is the main entrance, which is still unfinished. I've heard that there may be multiple entrances as the park grows. The first thing you see when you enter is this big waterfall. I forgot to take pictures of it at night, it's truly beautiful then. These buildings have been here since the park was just a small picnic spot. They call this part of the park Douglas Street. [/b]I forgot to take pictures of the frot of this ride, but this is the back spike of the shuttle loop coaster Screamin' Eagle.[/b] This is the only picture I got of the backside part of the park, which is my favorite part. Here is the parachute drop ride they have. Unfortunatley, they are having problems getting this ride to work. As a part of the special sneak peak of the park, they held a small party for us in this building. I guess it's a dance hall where they hold special events. After the party, it was already dark. Before I left, I took a spin on a ride on Douglas Street. I saw the Thrill Zone part of the park (which wasn't open when I visited), and what looks like construction of an Intamin Accelerator Coaster. Hmmm... A final skyline photo of Douglas Gardens ends this update. Stay tuned for the official opening, and new photos of Thrill Zone and the new coaster construction! Special thanks goes out to Cousterdude5 for inspiring me to build a park like this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steffen_Dk Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 This looks really good I'm especially in love with giant wheel and the shuttle coaster. They look amazing in the last pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disney Dood Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 I like that last shot of the park at night, you did a good job with the lighting. But your park stole my name.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeke11793 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 This park looks really awesome. Can't wait to see more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Thriller Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Whats that coaster behind the shuttle coaster on the light corner. It looks like an Arrow. Anyways... GREAT LOOKING PARK!!! --James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knottslover77 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Looks great, keep it up. --Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmereStars Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 looks cool! i'm surprised you could take a picture in the dark, if I want an overview picture at night my computer just about crashes btw like the waterfall! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kraken613 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Looks really nice! Cant wait to see more of the park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astroworldfan1 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Im stunned, great job! Can't wait to see more!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandon Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Wow, this is a nice looking park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FitchCoaster Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 Unfortunately, school starts tomorrow, so the next update may be a little later than scheduled.. But thanks everybody! All the comments are much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krouvi Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Nice one. Show us some more pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
America Sings Freak Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Wow! good park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FitchCoaster Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 Sorry for the HUGE delay in updates, school and just life in general have been taking over. I'll try to make up for the lack of updates since the first post, but anyways, here's the new update. EDIT: Sorry for the HUGE pictures, I forgot to resize them all. They may take awhile to load it your computer is extremely slow. I'm pretty sure they will load fine, though. EDIT2: Pictures fixed. Welcome back! It's been awhile since the first update, and it feels good to actually show you something new of this park. But here it is, the last update before the official opening of Douglas Gardens. The opening has been delayed because they want the park to be absolutely perfect for it. But without any further adieu, here's my two favorite parts of the park; Thrill Zone and Appletree Gardens. Here is the entrance of Thrill Zone, home to the bigger and 'badder' rides of the park. This section kind of reminds me of The Boardwalk part of Knott's Berry Farm. StratosScream is a 310-foot drop tower made by S&S. The view from the top is very nice, especially when you ride on the side that faces the lake in the middle of the park. The Grand Wheel is is placed at the end of Thrill Zone. Looking down all of Thrill Zone to the very end, seeing The Grand Wheel at the very end is truly an awesome sight. Here is the wild mouse coaster, which is at the moment, un-named. The park is sill deciding between two names. Tsunami Twirl is kind of a spin-off of Riptide! at the Cedar Fair parks. It even has the same colors as Riptide!. In my opinion, I think the ride looks better at Douglas Gardens. As you head around counter-clockwise through Thrill Zone and into Appletree Gardens, you can catch a glimpse of Screamin' Eagle. Here is an overview of Appletree Gardens-the backside of the park. The rides include an original Arrow corkscrew coaster and a few fair-like rides including a centrifuge ride and a "scrambler". This Arrow coaster is called "The Buzzer". As you can see, it has an unusual layout. It has two inversions-a regular corkscrew and a cutback. Since Drachen Fire is now history, Douglas Gardens now has the only coaster to has a cutback inversion. Another view of The Buzzer, including a view of the station and a booth where you can buy your on-ride photos. As I was exiting the park, the park owner offered me a look at the new Intamin Accelerator. He wouldn't offer any specific details, but from the looks of it, it looks pretty intense. Right after the launch, you speed into these low, highly-banked turns, then right into the tophat. I can imagine these turns will offer a similar feeling to the transitions of Maverick at Cedar Point. Thanks for your time and reading this update. Stay tuned for the official opening update and possibly an official announcement of the new Intamin Accelerator the park is constructing. Comments are greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knottslover77 Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Looks great keep it up. --Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FitchCoaster Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 NOTE: I'm posting this update in two posts to avoid major clutter. The first post is on future plans for the park, and the next post will be pictures of actual opening day. ------------------------------------ Welcome to opening day! The sun was shining, the crowds were excited, and the rides were running to the best of their abilities! Overall, the day was great! The park also released some HUGE information on a two-phase park expansion. The first phase focuses on adding more to the back of the park, from kiddie-oriented rides to more white-knuckle type of rides. Phase two adds to the Speed Zone section found in the Thrill Zone part of the park. Not much information has been released on this phase, but we do know that a large B&M coaster is planned for the park's future. More information on this expansion as follows: Phase 1 - South Expansion The park will be adding various flat rides (including a HUSS Frisbee and a Sky Swat), a large Intamin Plug & Play wooden coaster, an Intamin Mega Splash, and an all-new kiddie section. This expansion will hopefully bring more people to the back of the park, and expand the park's already large diversity of rides. Stay tuned for new details on the new wooden coaster. Phase 2 - Thrill Zone Expansion This phase focuses more on thrills and excitement. Expanding upon the park's newest section, Speed Zone, there may be a continuation of the "speed" theme. All me know for now is a B&M coaster is in the works for this phase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FitchCoaster Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 It was a great day today, the sky was clear and blue. The Grand Wheel was looking even more beautiful in this great weather! The park was really crowded today! No surprise though, considering all of the marketing and advertising the park has been doing in the area. At the main entrance plaza, they were advertising the park's major coaster, Bullet - the Intamin Accelerator coaster. Speed Zone was kind of a last-minute decision for the park. I guess they wanted something more modern and thrilling before they opened. Here in the Speed Zone, you can find some gift shops and some places to each, including Pitstop Pizza and Bullet Bakery. The entrance to Bullet. They went for a more modern and sleek approach to the architecture in this section of the park. Most of the layout for Bullet. Out of all the accelerator coasters I've ridden, this is by far the most intense. The station for Bullet very much resembles TTD's station in a way. Renaming and repainting this ride was also a last minute decision, probably to avoid lawsuits from Cedar Fair. It is now named Tsunami!. The wild mouse has received its official name; Psycho mouse. how original. Despite how common and outdated shuttle loops are, Screamin' Eagle was one of the most popular rides today. Appletree Gardens Buffet wasn't too busy. The back of the park, n general, wasn't very busy at all. Hopefully with the expansion, it will bring some people back here. While riding Bullet, I snapped a picture of the construction site for Phase 2 of the expansion. ...and I snapped this picture of the Phase 1 site while riding Stratoscream. I can't wait! Stay tuned for a major announcement of the new Intamin Plug & Play, and possibly new details of Phase 1! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steffen_Dk Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I'm not sure about the enormously tall coaster - is it too tall, or does it fit into this park ? I don't know... But the rest looks really good, and you're using NO cs at all? I think it's quite amazing if you don't - I could never build so beautifully without cs.. And btw - I really like Psycho Mouse - it's so nice and ORIGINAL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kraken613 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Not many people build without tons of CS anymore! Nice looking park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FitchCoaster Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 ^^ Well, I'm using a lot of custom scenery, but mostly for things like lighting and small details. Most of the park is made from the scenery the game gives you, though. The coaster really isn't that tall, I guess compared to all the other rides in the park, it looks pretty huge. Thanks a lot for the comments, though! ^Thank you! I appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmereStars Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 wow those are some really tall attractions. whats the shootspeed on the towers? I never managed to let the big ferris wheel stand up in a park (it's just to big) but you can, congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FitchCoaster Posted January 26, 2008 Author Share Posted January 26, 2008 Construction is going very well. Everything is completed, all we need is the theming and other details in the area. When I stopped by the park last night, I didn't have my camera on me to snap some pictures of the new coaster. Fortunately, the park has just recently released these new teaser pictures of the new ride. The picture is rather blurry... Hmm... looks kind of... toxic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knottslover77 Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Looks cool, can't wait for an update. --Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steffen_Dk Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanSe_Colombia Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 The parks looks betiful, the coasters are greats but a little intense too. Is a nice parks combines the calssic and the modern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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