PW Sept 09 P42-43.qxd 8/26/09 1:32 pm Page 42
Ride Profile
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Caption
magnet for Kings Island guests. The queue line for
Diamondback on opening day stretched through the
park and the longest wait turned out to be two
hours and 40 minutes.
Diamondback's trains feature B&M's unique,
open-air stadium-style seating. "The first advantage
is the line of sight that every rider receives when
riding with no seating directly in front of you,"
Scheid explains. "Secondly, you are sitting very high
in the chair with the T-bar restraint lowering into
your mid section and eliminating the need of seat
belts. No seat belts enhances the riders' sense of
freedom and permits quicker loading and unloading
times and thus higher capacities."
Tallest and Fastest
Using three 32-passenger trains, the ride boasts
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hourly capacity of 1,620. Diamondback is also the
tallest and fastest of the park’s 15 rollercoasters.
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The ride stands 230ft at its highest point with a first
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drop of 215ft at a 74-degree angle. Diamondback
has 10 vertical drops, two helixes, a hammerhead
turn and a spectacular splashdown ending. Riders
snake their way around 5,282ft of track at speeds
up to 80 miles per hour.
Kings Island in Ohio has been thrilling guests “I had the pleasure to be on the first ride back in
this summer with a new mega-coaster by March along with one of the ride engineers from
Bolliger & Mabillard. Paul Ruben slithers on Switzerland,” recalls Scheid. When we returned to
down to Cincinnati to sample Diamondback – a the station we looked at each other and just
world class ride laughed knowing what a winner we had here with
Diamondback. I love the amount of air time this
A
fter building its reputation with the Beast and ride created along with the stadium seating which is
Son of Beast wooden coasters, there was a a first in the United States."
very sure brief for Kings Island vice-president As you may have
and general manager Greg Scheid when it came to guessed, Scheid is a
Diamondback: “It was time for a world class steel big fan of B&M.
coaster to be add to the line-up – and we certainly When asked
delivered!” about any
Although the Beast remains a highlight for many problems during
visitors, Diamondback is challenging it as the park’s the construction
MAIN PIC: Diamondback’s first most popular ride, leading Scheid to declare, “we process, he
drop as seen from the Beast now have a pair of signature attractions that make confirmed there were
ABOVE: Kings Island vice-
our park unique." "zip, zero, none! I had
president and general manager Located in the Rivertown area of the park, the worked previously with B&M
Greg Scheid $22 million (Euro.03715m) steel coaster has been a on the Hydra project at Dorney
42 SEPTEMBER 2009
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