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Diamond Valley originally opened in 1908 as a National Tourist Destination and campground and was owned by Diamond Valley Resorts (DVR). For ten years, Diamond Valley operated just as a Naturalistic Campground until they were approach by Westland Ride Co., a company who specialized in portable fairs and carnivals and had an extreme interest in wanting to set up one of their carnivals on the grounds of the valley. Originally, DVR wasn't too fond of the idea of having a carnival in the valley because they felt that it would distract guests from what "really mattered" which was the natural beauty of the valley itself. After several months of negotiation, DVR agreed to allowed Westland Ride Co. to set up a small carnival which would only have five rides and a few game stalls. A contract was written stating that the carnival would operate for a total of only two weeks (14 consecutive days). DVR had doubts that this carnival would bring enough additional business to make a lucrative profit but, to their surprise, the carnival was huge success with the guests and shortly after the contract was amended allowing a 26 day extension. At the end of carnival's now 40 day period, DVR offered Westland Ride Co. a pretty penny to purchase the rides and games stalls to allow for a permanently installed and fully operational carnival, the offer was excepted on the terms that Westland Ride Co. would have full control over the operations of the rides. DVR operated the permanently installed carnival (which was later named 'CarniValley') for ten years before they installed their first thrill ride. In 1928, DVR opened their first roller coaster, "The Diamond Valley Dipper" which was designed by John C. Miller. The coaster stood 65 feet tall and had a top speed of approximately 35mph.
As time past, the DVR became increasingly involved in the amusement industry and in 1930, the decision was made to expand the small CarniValley carnival into a full scale theme park. With this decision came the announcement of a brand new attraction, The Racer; The Racer was to be the first of its kind, the world's first roller coaster to offer a racing experience. Unfortunately, the opening of this new ride didn't go as smooth as everyone would've hoped. DVR received countless complaints about The Racer's overall ride experience; this combined with the ride's downtime ultimately led to its demise. The Racer closed and was demolished after only being opened for 3 years. The Racer caused the company to take a huge financial hit and in December of 1938, CarniValley was put up for sale while the campground was remained owned and operated by DVR. Thankfully, the park wasn't on the market for long; by February of 1939, CarniValley was sold to Cool5 Amusements and after a full year of renovations, refurbishments and a couple of new installations, the park reopened to the public under the new name 'Diamond Valley Park'. Under the new ownership of Cool5, Diamond Valley Park received a plethora of new rides and attractions; most notably were, Wind Storm ,one of the world's first stand up coasters, Highway and Chupy: the Joy Coaster, all of which are still in operation today. Cool5 Amusements owned and operated the park for over 10 years before it was closed in 1949.
Over the next 60 years, the park had many different owners, including Six Flags who acquired the park 1962, renaming it 'Six Flags Diamond Valley. With the Six Flags purchase came the closure of the Diamond Valley campground. A new light shined through the park under the direction of Six Flags bringing many world class attractions to the park, including Superman the Ride (now to be known as THOR: Ride of the Odinforce), the first coaster over 200ft to feature an inversion and Power Tower, the world's tallest drop tower ride built by S&S. In 2010, Six Flags announced its departure from this park which left it in a dormant phase for the next five years. During this time, a lot of the park's rides were relocated to different parks leaving the public to think this park would never reopen... until now that is!
In 2015, Dechlave T.P Ent. included the purchase of Diamond Valley in their Season 9 Announcement. While it a full list of what will be opening with the park hasn't been released, rumors say that Dechlave will be installing a large B&M invert as well as reopening the salvageable rides that were still left in the park. Dechlave plans to reopen the park in it's 12th season.
***Stay tuned for regular updates on Diamond Valley***
