I have a similar relationship to g-forces. Before I alienate too many of my readers, I can perhaps relate to the sense of relief felt at having the normal forces constantly yanking on my bones and internal organs to be lifted for a brief moment and allow me to enjoy total freedom. I realize that is a crucial distinction that can only be achieved through pure, unfiltered weightlessness. Having now established the philosophical perspective from which I will critique the new-for Diamondback, it should be all too easy to draw the conclusion that the ride is nothing more than a vacuous heap of shit, albeit precision-engineered, million dollar shit.
Not so fast. Unlike Son of Beast, which playfully teases us with several dips and turns before committing to the first drop, Diamondback is not interested in such theatrics and is committed to transporting us to the apex of the first drop as quickly and efficiently as possible. Speaking of efficacy, I cannot let it go unnoted that the wait for Diamondback that morning was less than 15 minutes long, and what small line they did have moved.
It might be four seats fewer than its older speed coaster brethren, but while waiting in line Diamondback might as well have car trains based on how quickly they shipped trains out of that station and loaded new guests in.
The seats and restraints are the most comfortable imaginable without sacrificing any safety or loading efficiency. The train crests the first drop. I find myself quite underwhelmed by this initial plunge. That is still kind of true, but the long pull-over reduces the forward angular rotation normally associated with steep first drops, and the resulting sensation is one that kind of keeps on going down until you hit the bottom, with not much else to it other than that. Regardless, when Kings Island announced the ride in ft.
After the drop we surge up to crest the first hill. Seeing as the ride is not much more than a series of perfectly parabolic hills strung together with the intention of each providing the longest sustained airtime with however much speed it has, I might as well spend a bit of time analyzing exactly what kind of air this is. What are the other qualities to this air? Intamin is a classic counter-example of this. So what? It means that you go up much higher and have much steeper drops on the camelback hills.
It means that the speed is much more uneven, creating a greater distinction between the wind in your face at the bottoms and the slow sailing over the tops. It also plays with your inner-ear much more. Although physically you may be pulled at Hey, this ride almost sounds interesting! And it should get even more interesting since on the decent of this second hill is when the terrain starts to come into play.
Does this sound familiar? Just from writing that I want to put this coaster on my top ten list. Diamondback is positively brimming with potential to be one of the few truly great modern steel coasters. Did we even just drop down a natural ravine? Funny, I never would have guessed. When rumors were first gathering about Diamondback there seemed to be no limit to the possibilities. I think a ft. Keep on imagining because that coaster was never even close to being built. While it might be better than sitting in the bleak void of empty space with no points of reference whatsoever, saying that having the tree line cut back 15 yards further is just a minor disappointment is a big understatement.
On Diamondback the tree line becomes a uniform wall in the background, while on a ride like the Beast, the trees seem close enough in areas that a fundamental perception about the woods is changed; it becomes a major element of the ride, altering the sense of spatial relations and putting the eye and brain on sensory overload as it tries to process the complex and ever-changing texture to the surroundings.
I appreciate that the way out has two full camelback hills instead of just one, since one of my beefs with the generic Speed Coaster design is they only have one full hill before the turnaround, making the ride feel very short.
It seems no matter when and where I rode Diamondback, the front always offered a smoother ride than the back row, which featured some shaking on the higher-speed pullouts. Later in August, however, the entire trains had picked up some bad trembling. I think it was just a case of the wheels started to get some minor deformities after more than a half-season of use, perhaps they were parked on the track in the same position for too long, causing the contact point with the track to flatten a little bit this is partly why the storage shed parks the trains on a series of rollers resting on their undercarriage.
Does seating make a difference to the sort of air experienced? We now arrive at the turnaround, which should be rather awesome, banked well past the ninety-degree mark, but it somehow comes up a bit flat. From here it charges up into the third camelback hill, but not before passing over the rides first trim brake on the way up.
In May it let us through without a hitch, in August we got grabbed a little. On the one hand, that introduces some light headchopper effects, on the other, it only highlights how much smaller this element is than the previous one.
Now we have the spiral into the midcourse brake run. Nitro uses a midcourse spiral in a similar fashion, but to much greater effect. It does not stand as a centerpiece, taking about the same time to complete as every other element along the first part of the course, and produces next to no g-forces or dynamics contrast. We pull up into the first of the two returning air hills.
I have mixed feelings about these, and their placement after the ravine drop off the midcourse brake. However, being so much smaller they do provide a slightly different feel. Speaking of things that only e xist for layout requirements, we now have a second upward spiral. After riding this twenty times I still can find no reason for this maneuver to exist on its own, it really does nothing for the rider.
Hold your arms straight out and you can faintly feel a force pulling them downward, otherwise nothing. Looking at the overhead drawing of the layout that was first leaked many months ago these semi-helices made sense it needs to turn another 73 degrees to the left to get it to line up with the station, why not throw in a degree right helix instead?
Thankfully this one serves a bit more purpose than the previous spiral which only acts as an anticlimactic entry into the brake run, while this one at least sets up the final dive into the pond. Sit in the very back row and you can catch a lot of water that shoots up mere inches behind you in scarily impressive quantities.
A shallow, clearly artificial concrete basin is set in the middle of a cleared grassy field, a huge buffer between the splashdown and any viewable midway. If the splashdown is not going to be an interactive centerpiece like it is on SheiKra and Griffon, why is it also made to look so cheap and unnatural from a distance?
In some ways I almost think leaving the land around the ride as open dirt fields might be more beneficial in the long run. The only creative touch on Diamondback I can slightly commend is the look of the zero-car on the trains. The snake head design that even includes fangs on the underside makes Diamondback one of the few modern coasters where the trains strongly identify which coaster they belong to without the use of a single stick-on logo.
The layout is clearly designed for whatever fits best on the blueprints rather than what the riders should be experiencing at any given moment. That is not a great coaster experience! Ideally, smooth speeds, airtime and use of the natural geography. Just behind where the far hammerhead turnaround resides, there is a huge drop-off into a valley that probably totals well over feet in height difference.
Start the station farther back inside the park so the start of the lift spans the Rivertown midway, not the first drop. Accessible Rooms. Search Hotels Add Multiple Rooms. Our Favorite Cities: Orlando. Pick-up Location Required. Return Location Required. Pick-up Date Required. Return Date Required. Search Car Deals. The pick-up time is in the past, please select a time in the future. The return time is in the past, please select a time in the future.
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