This past weekend the opening of Kings Island’s Diamondback dominated theme park news sites across the Web. The ride’s opening had both the enthusiast community and likely southern Ohio in a frenzy. Since I couldn’t be there to give you my own coverage, here’s some of the best coverage I’ve found on the Web.
Kings Island fan sites like KIExtreme and KICentral had in-depth coverage of their long-awaited hypercoaster.
KIExtreme has pictures from Friday’s Media Day including a picture of Walter Bolliger from the world-renowned roller coaster designers Bolliger & Mabillard. I would have geeked out like none other if I would have seen him in person. I didn’t know that they attended media events for their rides.
KICentral has an album of pictures from Saturday, the first day that the ride was open to the public. They have a shot of the stampede of riders running to get in line. Then a picture of the first riders. Lastly, here’s an impressive aerial shot taken from the Eiffel Tower showing the ride’s 4 hour long line.
NewsPlusNotes has posted some great shots on their Facebook Page. They’ve got shots of Diamondback in action, from the entrance sign, to the the station, to multiple ride shots.
And of course, ThemeParkReview has a thread with shots of Diamondback Check it out here.
Diamondback is being compared to Six Flags Great Adventure’s Nitro and from the on ride video and pictures, that looks like an accurate comparison. It’s like B&M took Nitro’s layout, made it more interesting, and added the new trains and splash section at the end. Of course, this is just based on videos and pictures. I have no idea how the actual ride compares to Nitro, but so far all the reviews I’ve read have been very position. If you’ve ridden Diamondback and other B&M hyper coasters, please leave a mini review or any comments.
Also, check out this news story from Fox Toledo on the Diamondback:
What’s Your Take?
How do you think Diamondback looks? Are you planning on going to Kings Island this summer? Have you ridden this beast? Leave a comment below.