First Ride on Diamondback

[DiamondBuckeye]

I love riding the Diamondback on cloudy nights. Every drop plunges you into complete darkness!

[jcgoble3]

Through the luck of the Single Rider Line (remember that you were given cards to enter that line back then)

Out of curiosity, since I wasn't there back then, can you or someone else explain what the deal with the cards was, please?

[TombRaiderFTW]

^ I got the impression that it was to verify that you were, in fact, a single rider, and not someone jumping out of the line in an attempt to cut, I think. I'm not entirely sure. Maybe it was to discourage groups from jumping from the regular line to the SRL and then attempt to sit together? It didn't last the duration of 2009, as I recall.

[Creed Bratton]

At the entrance of the Single Rider Line, you were given a numbered card to carry with you to the top of the stairs at the station. Once there, you'd hand the card to the ride associate and be placed in a row. Once all the numbered cards were handed out, the Single Rider Line would close until the SRL was completely emptied. The cards would then be taken to the entrance once the SRL was empty to start the process again.

[jcgoble3]

^ OK, thanks.

[KI FANATIC 37]

I first rode it on opening day. I was more excited than nervous. I waited so long to ride it I just couldn't wait for it! So no, I wasnt nervous.

[Original]

Still haven't ridden it. The only member of my family willing to ride it with me is too short to get on yet, and I don't like riding alone.

I dont mind riding alone (my dad rides it). But I just dont feel ready. Yet I feel like Im missing out on a big part.

[Tanna]

On the Haunt the year it was built. I'd seen it being built the Haunt before, and due to a dream that my riding friends laughed at me about, had to ride it.

It was cold, the fog was great, the turnaround felt like glass, this was the first time I'd been on a ride where there was nothing around me, it was like flying.

It was a dream come true.

I think for the most part, we keep riding the same rides because it invokes in part the first time we rode it. I've ridden The Beast I don't know how many times, but there's still that "Oh sh-t" moment that I had with my sister on looking down the first hill.

[Joncars05]

First Ride of Diamondback: My First Hypercoaster!

(Sorry for the length, I just enjoy writing, If you can't tell )

It was 2011 HH and I was just entering my roller coaster riding phase. (Yes my first coaster I rode was merely 10 months before at HW. It was the Legend) We planed to ride every roller coaster at the park that day. So we went for it! We rode every ride (which was huge because I had only been on The Beast, BLSC, The Racer at KI before this day.) and saved Diamondback for the grand finale! We walked to the ride and Jessi was confident about riding... Me not so much... (I had not seen a POV of the ride so I was going into it completely blind) After wavering about the decision to get in line for about 5 minutes I finally decided to get in line.

While waiting in the queue the sun had set and the sky was starting to get dark. We listened to the teasers that played on the TVs in the queue stating "Diamondback is the tallest, fastest, and meanest roller coaster to ever strike KI." This did not do well for us. Jessi started to get less confident about the ride and I was nervous but we had been in line for 30 minutes already so we just sucked it up and were ready to ride.

Entering the station, the clicking of the rollbacks as the train would go up the hill made the now short wait agonizing! Each train going out meant we were one train closer to ride. Once at the gate we chose to sit towards the front third of the train (I believe it was car three row 1). We chose these seats because Jessi was nervous about sitting apart because she wanted to hang onto me if she got scared. I was super nervous as well. The lift hill was concealed by the station hiding what was yet to come. Upon entering the train I took a deep breath and sat down. While I pulled down the clamshell, Jessi asked if we were really going to do this. I said its too late I'm locked in so we will just have to do it now! I was so nervous that I didn't hear anything of what the ride ops were saying over the mic. Just like that we had the all clear and the train slowly pulled out of the station.

The lift hill went on for ages. The incline was much steeper than it looked from the ground. Laying/Reclining back and looking at the sky all I could think about was why did I get on this thing! The clacks of the rollbacks were ever present and loud. Higher and higher we went until the clacks stopped and our train teetered over the edge. The train creaked as it hung us there for a split second. Then we were OFF!!!

The first drop seemed like it would never end! My stomach flew right up to my throat, a feeling that I had never had until this particular drop. The airtime was amazing. We hit the bottom of the first hill and its positive g's and quickly shifted back to the floater air over the second hill. The ride literally threw me out of my seat. I gripped the clamshell and pushed myself back into the seat, almost as if to fight the airtime. The overbanked turn was amazing as I was on the inside. Looking down at the ground gave me a huge scare. The helix into the MCBR was powerful as I was unprepared for it as I couldn't see which way we were going because of it being dark. After the MCBR the hills seemed "fast and low." The final turn brought us back to the park the lights were a welcome sight as we knew the ride was almost over. The splashdown was a bit disappointing because I thought we would actually get wet (Glad we don't get wet now! ) and into the brakes and back into the station we came. Ride over. Ride ops asked how was the ride? Both, Jessi and I yelled and clapped out hands as the ride was just amazing (I think we actually high-fived after the ride stopped ). We walked off the ride a bit wobbly legged but still in awe of what we had done.

I think its so funny that I was so nervous to get on this ride at first and now I can ride it with my eyes closed or looking backwards from the back seat. (The looking backwards, if you can, makes the ride pretty awesome. It's cool to see the track from the back of the train zip by. Plus the fact that you aren't used to taking the forces of the ride in that position makes it more intense. Hopefully I can't get in trouble for riding like that as I am in the seat correctly just looking backwards )

[Amanda134]

My first ride was about a month ago. I loved it, it's nowhere near as bad as it looks to be. I was scared because of how steep it is, the height part never really worried me.

[tuxedoman52]

Kings Island is my hometown park and so I had never riden a "big" roller coaster like Diamondback. My first time I just held on didn't scream nor was scared. It was a lot of fun.