Amusement Park Models

I have been fooling around with making some models to create an amusement park type area for part of a game . This would be a non-functioning park (rides would not run). For things like gift shops, concession stands, and queue shelters, I would obviously use difs. However, I am having trouble determining what to use for the actual rides. Their structure seems to suggest using dts files, but their size might suggest using dif files. I suspect, however, that i might not be able to attain the level of shape detail i would want if I used difs.

Even with using dts files, I would expect that I would have to create each ride as components and fit them together in the level. This is for smaller rides of course (rotational type rides). Something like a roller coaster seems to suggest difs again though, at least for the structure itself....the coaster trains would be dts.

Any thoughts or suggestions on this are appreciated.