Diamondback's splashdown element at Kings Island amusement park
Splashdownvery wet on all 3 last-row rides

Kings Island, Mason, Ohio

Diamondback

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“It was so worth the wait.”

POV
Ride it: back row POV
Back row
What riders love
  • Sure, there are certainly more aggressive moments of airtime in the world, but there's just something so beautiful and addicting about dreamily floating in the air.
  • Had one of my favorite coaster memories on this when I got about 6 inches between me and the restraint on my last ride of the night.
  • However this is definitely my favorite because you can get some ridiculous room and enjoy all of the amazing extremely sustained floater and then violently slam back down in your seat.
  • The drop lasts forever and you get yanked over every hill in the back row.
  • The first drop feels more like a giga than most other B&Ms under 300ft, and the 5-second hill that follows is immaculate.
  • Easily one of the best first drops of all time, somehow outdoing the significantly larger Orion right next door.
  • You haven't lived until you've put your arms out, Rose from Titanic style, in the back row. The splashdown is exhilarating when you do.
  • Location is perfect, using the hills and woods to extract more than the sum of the mechanical parts.
  • Also, this is placed beautifully in the park. Being able to walk under the drop is so cool.
Diamondback Watch Performance Should I ride it? Where to sit Specifications Reviews Planning History

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Performance

Vs. other coasters at Kings Island

With Diamondback you get the ride you exactly see, a fast pace machine with floater airtime packed to the brim all within its humble layout.

Christian Elliott

The first ride was awesome, it gave excellent airtime, speed, and a smooth and comfortable ride and the other two rides were no different.

derek9312

I just really wish that it had something more than just floater airtime that I could get excited about.

Limitless Park

It’s almost flawless, and could almost be floorless or seat-less thanks to the amount of floater airtime it delivers meaning riders’ seats are scarcely necessary.

Theme Park James

It seemed pretty slow in the morning, and I didn’t get much air at all.

Dvo

The track was butter smooth, the seats were free and open, really accentuating the sense of speed, and it doesn’t suffer from downtime!

Izaiah Bess

The seats were very comfy as well.

SOBFOF

B&M delivers the usual smooth ride, and while it has some fun elements, it rates about 7 on the thrill scale.

Coaster Nut

Some people complain about the rattle on this ride and while I do find it noticeable I don’t think that it effects the ride whatsoever.

HockeyNinja

It has a little vibration (I was on a outer seat) but the duration is awesome and I love the sustained airtime, it feels like flying.

Alessandra

Every hill gives great airtime, there are impressive moments of positive gs, and the setting and theme further elevate the experience.

Eric Esty

Speed and G forces - obvious beyond all belief when you ride it. Airtime - I was not a fan of airtime before this ride.

Tom76257

The midcourse brakes slow the ride down a bit, but you get two more huge airtime hills before the surprisingly forceful helix and into the splashdown.

Elijah Bacelieri

Now I was kinda dissapointed that the MCBR was actaly pretty strong, but it didn’t bother me much.

skaterboy22101

By that I mean it is liquid smooth, but it lacks intensity.

Brian Sheldon

Speaking of mild, this ride is not intense.

A Wild Walter

You don’t really notice the dip into the ravine as you’re going too fast to notice! I didn’t get as much air on the third hill as everyone else.

gad198

However, I got a night ride and the sensation of speed you got in the valleys was still a ton of fun and made this ride feel great.

Liam Cox

The 5th hill trim is sadly used, but not bad at all as with the MCBR, and I’ve gotten very wet from the Splashdown on all 3 of my last row rides!

tigellinus

It was very rough, they braked the hell out of us and the layout felt very slow because of it, and I wasn’t expecting to get drenched from the water down.

Niko Banfield

well worth the 1 year wait for this crazy thing! Fav.

HTCO

Well, it was worth it. We waited 48 minutes.

iChase

I loved it, very much worth the wait.

coasterville

It was so worth the wait.

lil_one20016

Oh well, it was well worth it and then I rode it two more times and didn’t wait more than 30 minutes for either.

Diamondback FOF

We rode it twice and had no desire to ride it again--even with less than 5 minute wait times.

Brian Sheldon

...awesome ride and I rode it 3 times the whole park is amazing really because there are like no lines at all and I love the water splash and its so awesome no cons this is a masterpiece and it...

Harrison Larr

It looks very pretty, the lines move quickly...even with a two train op. Diamondback has lots of airtime, and a very...very steep drop that might rival Millennium Force.

Ki Man

Lines can get long so try to do your best and get there before the park opens then go straight to Diamondback and ride it before the lines get long.

Isaiah White

DB was down for only about 10 minutes today.The wait from under the sign is about an hour.Maybe a little less.

Beast Man
Height fear

I was really scared, but it was great!

Izaiah Bess

I was actually a little nervous when I got about 1/2 the way up the lift.

flightoffear1996

Should I ride it?

Organize by

Where to sit

Front of trainBack of train

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Car 8, the back: 8 of 13 riders who named a rowFront row: 5 riders

Riders who said why they pick the back: 2 for the airtime.

Specifications

230 ftHeight
287 Orion 230 Diamondback 167 Banshee 131 Invertigo 110 The Beast 109 MysticTimbers
215 ftFirst drop
300 Orion 215 Diamondback 150 Banshee 141 The Beast 98 MysticTimbers 82 Racer
80 mphTop speed
Orion91 Diamondback80 Banshee68 The Beast65 Flight of Fear54 Mystic Timbers53 091 mph
74°Drop angle
85°Orion74°Diamondback53°MysticTimbers53°The Beast45°Racer45°Batdashed line: straight down, 90°
0Inversions

What riders say

Praised for

Strong airtimeRider favouriteHuge first dropFloaty airtimeComfortableLong rideGreat viewsComfy restraintsShort waitsWorth the wait

Criticised for

Rough or rattly

Diamondback is by far one of the best hyper coasters out there with a fantastic drop, beautiful setting, and strong airtime, and some intense moments!

Nicolas Mattioli, Captain Coaster review

We rode it twice and had no desire to ride it again--even with less than 5 minute wait times.

Brian Sheldon, Captain Coaster review

Some really good floater until the trim on the return run decides the party’s over.

Bryan Bonafede, Captain Coaster review

The layout is the platonic ideal of a B&M hyper, sporting a fun, floater-filled layout, intense moments, and a cool splashdown.

Ryan Armstrong, Captain Coaster review

I rode in rows 2 11 and 13 yesterday, the front gave an amaaaazing view, and some decent air. But for the best air, the back is where it’s at.

Braves0511, review

Very fun ride but nowhere near as relentless as ive found other hypers to be.

Nicholas Greene, Captain Coaster review

Photos

Diamondback during construction at Kings Island
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pointshoot/, CC BY-SA 2.0
Diamondback at Kings Island
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rollercoasterphilosophy/, CC BY 2.0
The entrance sign of Diamondback at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
The back half of Diamondback at Kings Island amusement park
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rollercoasterphilosophy/, CC BY 2.0
A complete overview of Diamondback at Kings Island, viewed from the park's replica of the Eiffel Tower
Jonathan Goble (on Commons as jcgoble3), CC BY-SA 3.0
Diamondback's splashdown from the station at Kings Island amusement park
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rollercoasterphilosophy/, CC BY 2.0
Diamondback at Kings Island
DD Lover, CC0

7 photographs. Swipe or drag sideways.

Planning your ride

History and awards

April 18, 2009Opened

A hyper coaster, built by Bolliger & Mabillard.

$22 millionTo build
4.2 gStrongest force on riders

Golden Ticket Awards, top steel coaster: ranked in 17 polls, 2009 to 2026

7th2009, its first poll
4th2014, its best placing
26th2026, most recent

Sources

Restraint types: Captain Coaster. History, incidents and awards: Wikipedia. Height requirement: Kings Island. Specifications and status: Coasterpedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Also read: Captain Coaster (converted to feet and mph). Rider sentiment and performance scores: rider reviews on Captain Coaster, kicentral.com, limitlesspark.com, themeparkjames.co.uk, read and scored by AirtimeFever.

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons: https://www.flickr.com/photos/8308527@N02/ (CC BY 2.0), https://www.flickr.com/photos/pointshoot/ (CC BY-SA 2.0), https://www.flickr.com/photos/rollercoasterphilosophy/ (CC BY 2.0), Jeremy Thompson (CC BY 2.0), Jonathan Goble (on Commons as jcgoble3) (CC BY-SA 3.0), DD Lover (CC0). Video thumbnails remain the property of their channels and link back to them.

Live wait times: Powered by Queue-Times.com.

Quote at the top of the page: lil_one20016, kicentral.com.

What riders love, by theme (themes in the order riders pick them most on Captain Coaster): Elijah Bacelieri, rider review on Captain Coaster: “You get six seconds of sustained floater before heading…”; I'm NotHere, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Sure, there are certainly more aggressive moments of airtime…”; Jack L, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Had one of my favorite coaster memories on this…”; Carter Eckhart, rider review on Captain Coaster: “However this is definitely my favorite because you can…”; Rollertoaster, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The first drop is demented in the back row;…”; holacoasters, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The drop lasts forever and you get yanked over…”; MapleFlakes, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The first drop feels more like a giga than…”; Landan Vance, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Easily one of the best first drops of all…”; Skylar, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Absolutely love the way this is integrated into the…”; Jackie ODoyle, rider review on Captain Coaster: “You haven't lived until you've put your arms out,…”; Dave Scott, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Location is perfect, using the hills and woods to…”; Blake Stoudt, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Also, this is placed beautifully in the park. Being…”.

The photo slider at the top and the fading stills: Thrill POVs's back row POV, Diamondback POV Back Row 4K 60fps B&M Hyper Coaster Kings Island (YouTube), and the page's Wikimedia Commons photographs.