Kings Island banking on new roller coaster

Water bag dummies of varying weights took the first test runs of the Diamondback Friday, Feb. 27. Marketed as the tallest, fastest and meanest roller coaster at Kings Island, the new attraction will officially open April 18.

Linda Weisenborn Water bag dummies of varying weights took the first test runs of the Diamondback Friday, Feb. 27. Marketed as the tallest, fastest and meanest roller coaster at Kings Island, the new attraction will officially open April 18.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Kings Island ready for 37th year
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Kings Island calendar At kicentral.com
Kings Island ticket prices At kicentral.com
Photos: Photos: New coaster 'Diamondback'

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By Tom Beyerlein, Staff Writer Updated 1:38 AM Friday, April 10, 2009

Diamondback is a new roller coaster that rises to dizzying heights, then rapidly plunges. The management at Kings Island, whose parent company is stuck with a sky-high debt load, is hoping the ride will attract recession-rocked patrons already experiencing vertigo from watching their investments fall off the cliff.

Kings Island opens April 18, and park managers hope 2009 will be a strong season despite the recession. Their aim is to capitalize on “staycationers” who elect to get their summer kicks close to home instead of taking expensive vacations involving travel and lodging.

“We expect to have a good year,” said Kings Island spokesman Don Helbig. “People still want to have fun and they still want to do things as a family, and that bodes well for a regional attraction like Kings Island.”

The $22 million Diamondback is Kings Island’s biggest investment and its tallest and fastest coaster, rising as high as 230 feet and traveling at up to 80 mph. Helbig said it’s also the only U.S. coaster to use “open-air, stadium-style seating” that allows an unobstructed view.

Amusement park consultant Dennis Speigel said “it’s a good time to have a ride of that nature and stature introduced. (Amusement parks) live on repeat business and repeat business lives on product introduction.”

Still, Speigel said, “it’s a mature industry now. We’re not seeing the growth at the front gate that we saw 20 years ago.”

It’s a tough time generally in the fun business. Disney reportedly cut staff last month. Six Flags announced last month it must either restructure its debt or seek protection in bankruptcy court. And Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. of Sandusky, which owns Kings Island and Cedar Point, last month hired Merrill Lynch & Co. to help it sell parks in Missouri and Minnesota to reduce its $1.7 billion debt load.

Cedar Fair overpaid when it spent $1.24 billion in 2006 to acquire Kings Island and four other parks from Paramount, said Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services Inc. of Cincinnati.

But he said Cedar Fair “is a well-run company with a great history of profitability. They will weather this situation, no question about it.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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