Kings Island has a lot of wonderful roller coasters, and is especially regarded for its legendary woodie, Beast. For its 14th thrill machine, however, the park will be filling a void in its ride arsenal by uncoiling Diamondback, a steel hypercoaster in 2009. To build its steel monster, Kings Island is turning to the roller coaster geniuses at Swiss-based Bolliger and Mabillard. The developers of such ultra-smooth, ultra-wonderful hypercoasters as the similar Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Europe in Virginia and Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, B&M will presumably be bringing the same kind of a slick, smooth, and superb ride with Diamondback at Kings Island.
Diamondback Stats
- Type of coaster: Steel Hypercoaster
- Height: 230 feet
- First drop: 215 feet
- First drop angle: 74 degrees
- Other drops: 193 feet, 131 feet, 129 feet, 110 feet, 106 feet
- Top speed: 80 mph
- Track length: 5318 feet
- Ride time: 3:00 minutes
More Diamondback Info
- Diamondback Preview Photo Gallery
- Diamondback Point-of-View Preview Video
- Diamondback Fly-Around Preview Video
- Diamondback Off-Ride Preview Video
- Diamondback Overview Video
Diamondback will Be Slick and Slithery
The sleek ride will not only rank as the longest, tallest, and fastest at Kings Island (edging out Son of Beast), but at 230 feet, Diamondback will take a coveted spot among the world's tallest coasters. With its 74-degree angle of descent, a mere 16 degrees shy of straight down, it will also be one of the steepest.To fully experience the adrenaline rush of the 215-foot, 74-degree drop, Diamondback's trains will feature a new type of seating (introduced in 2008 on Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland) that will strip away the front and sides of the cars. Each car will include two rows of two bucket seats. The only safety restraint will be an unobtrusive lap bar. The seats in the back rows will be elevated and placed at the outer edges of the cars so that all riders will have unobstructed views of the hypercoaster mayhem. (A hypercoaster is loosely defined as a thrill machine with a height taller than 200 feet. Like Diamondback, they are generally designed without any inversions and feature extreme height and speed, as well as lots of airtime.)
And what mayhem! The out-and-back Diamondback will leave the station, climb its 230-foot lift hill, navigate the 80-mph, 74-degree drop, and then navigate enormous second and third hills that should deliver huge pops of airtime. After roaring down the third hill, Diamondback will enter a banked turnaround and deliver more soaring airtime as it flies up into a fourth hill.
After spiraling through a helix, a trim brake will tone down the momentum a bit and Diamondback will deliver still more airtime as it tackles three more hills. This hypercoaster will be so enormous, its fifth and six drops will both descend more than 100 feet--which is about as tall as many coasters' first drops. Another helix will send Diamondback soaring into a splashdown pool for its finale. Fins on the back of its trains will shoot plumes of water into the air (but not onto its passengers.
According to Kings Island, Diamondback will cost a hefty $22 million and represent the park's largest ride investment in its history. It is scheduled to open when the park opens for its 2009 season in the spring.
