The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.
Home  >  News  >  Local News

Kings Island banking on new roller coaster

Hot Topics

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.
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.

Related

    Suggested for you

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.

User comments are not being accepted on this article.

Breaking news by e-mail

Start your day with top headlines in your inbox and get breaking news e-mail alerts at any time by subscribing to our Headlines e-mail newsletter.

See Sample | Privacy Policy
View All

Top Jobs

National news videos: Editor's picks



About our ads

About our ads

Copyright © Mon Feb 13 06:50:16 EST 2012 Cox Ohio Publishing, Dayton, Ohio, USA. All rights reserved.

By using this site, you accept the terms of our Visitors Agreement and Privacy Policy. About our ads. You may wish to note our other business policies.