The 1991 Dinn Coaster That Never Was.

[gforce1994]

I was going through material, and found a particularly interesting find. Embedded within the documentation for the old FT Rattler documents, there is a section stating Kings Island was to receive a Dinn Wooden Coaster for the 1991 season. I find several things peculiar about this doc:

1.  A deal had been signed between Dinn and KI for the manufacturing and Construction of a new coaster.

2.  The project was announced, and known to the industry. Therefore the project must have been well underway by the time it was canned.

3. There are repeated references that KI was to receive a Playland Airplane clone in the old Swan Lake area (where Diamondback stands today).

 

[Tera Ryzing]

I can assume it would have been 150-170' as Texas giant and mean streak were record breakers.

[teenageninja]

That's pretty interesting.  Very cool layout if it was an Airplane clone.

[McSalsa]

I've heard about this rumor before- I would expect it was probably gonna happen, but around this time, Dinn Corporation fell apart and closed before the ride was built. Due to this, Kings Island shelved the wooden coaster idea, and went to Arrow instead to take a 2nd swing at the Suspended Coaster. Rumored names I have heard from this before Paramount bought the park and re-named and re-themed it TOP GUN include Thunder Run and Swoop. If you look close at what is now Bat's lift and first drop, you will notice right after it ends, there is a huge valley. If the woodie was supposed to be built here, I think the first drop would have been into that Valley, which would have given them the ability to have a huge 150+ foot drop with only say a 100-foot tall lift hill, much like the defunct Hercules at Dorney Park. I am not sure if a coaster like that would have stayed great for very long, given what has become of most of the other large Dinn woodies, including Hercules, but if it had made it to at least 2013'ish it probably would have made a great RMC candidate.

The Aeroplane Coaster rumor is also a interesting one, but if Dinn had built it, I do not think it would be around today as it would have opened. The Aeroplane Coaster from Rye Playland had tons of sharp twists, turns, and curves and I don't think a coaster using PTC trains would have aged well with those elements. It probably would have been amazing its first few seasons but after a decade, it probably would need lots of maintenance every single off season. GCI is probably the best company out there right now if someone is serious about rebuilding this coaster, as their Millennium Flyer trains would handle it much better. However, this would probably have at least lasted to the era when RMC showed up, and RMC seems to be great at re-making twister coasters like this. A RMC'd Aeroplane would be very interesting and probably a incredible ride.

I also don't think of this coaster as if it "never came", because IMO, it did. It was shelved for a few years while Paramount worked on other projects like Flight of Fear, but when Kentucky Kingdom began to threaten Kings Island with the addition of Chang in 1997, it came off the shelf (as well as the shelved Drop Tower idea Paramount had looked at around 1995'ish) for the new Action Zone area. However, by this point, Paramount had decided they wanted a looping woodie, which caused CCI (then the leader in wooden coasters) to turn down the project. GCI was not yet a big name (Lightning Racer in 2000 is when they got more popular) and probably would have turned the project down as well. Intamin's pre-fabricated track, which would have made such a large wooden coaster smooth and feasible, was still in the works for another season. So Paramount hired RCCA, who suggested they also break the 200-foot barrier, which Paramount agreed to do...and Son of Beast was born. And we know how that ended up. Six Flags bought Kentucky Kingdom, ruined their pants when they saw Kings Island add Action Zone (they could not match it due to the lease with the fair board being restrictive), and decided to add tons of stuff to Geauga Lake instead (compete with Cedar Point), which ended up killing that park eventually from over-expansion. If Kings Island got its Dinn woodie in 1991-1993, who knows how much of this would have changed.

[westcoaster]

Very cool read

[upstop]

Yes. I’ve heard this before as well, but i heard it was rumored to go where the Race Track in Action Zone ended up going.

However, The background in the video looks an awful lot like Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

[gforce1994]

5 hours ago, upstop said:

Yes. I’ve heard this before as well, but i heard it was rumored to go where the Race Track in Action Zone ended up going.

However, The background in the video looks an awful lot like Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

Yes. Companies use static park backgrounds to help make promotional materials more realistic.