PKI Jizz Man's Diamondback Photo Thread!

[mike541x]

Awesome night shots. Diamondback looks great at night.

[PKI Jizzman]

Talk about a TPR weekend at KI!

 

Friday - Joe (ginzo) and Liz

Saturday - James (jamesdillaman)

And today I got off early and went to Diamondback...single rider line. And I was paired up with Mike (Voyager) for the front seat of DB!

 

We got another ride in back row, 16. It was really nice meeting you, Mike! I hope to see you at KI sometime soon!

 

What a great weekend at Kings Island!!! Next weekend should be just as good!

 

-Zach

Me and Brad on the frontseat of DB!

[jamesdillaman]

^ I haven't seen Brad in years. Sorry I missed him. Beast Crew '03 rules!!

 

Thanks for riding with me Saturday, Zach. I had a good time. diamondback really surprised me. I didn't think it would be that great, but in the back it's a solid ride. Nice photos, too, Zach! Hopefully I'll see you this Saturday. I'll give you a call!

 

-James Dillaman

[Voyager]

And today I got off early and went to Diamondback...single rider line. And I was paired up with Mike (Voyager) for the front seat of DB!

 

We got another ride in back row, 16. It was really nice meeting you, Mike! I hope to see you at KI sometime soon!

 

Likewise, I had a great time meeting you and talking in line - it was an amazing coincidence that we got paired up. (I wanted a front-seat ride, so that time I waited in the full line instead of using the single rider line.)

 

I've been enjoying all of your great DB photos in this thread. You're motivating me to get off my butt and bring a REAL camera to the park, not just my point-and-shoot pocket camera.

 

I'll be updating my TR thread with some photos, including the one of you that I'm including here. Hope to see you for Ride Warrior weekend.

PKI ManJZ waits for our front-seat DB ride, which was awesome, as usual. On warm days (like this one) the ride really flies!

[Erik Johnson]

It looks like some rain this weekend, anyone know what KI's rain policy is?

[PKI Jizzman]

It looks like some rain this weekend, anyone know what KI's rain policy is?

 

 

The other Sunday it was raining/sprinkling the whole time...(see DB trip report) and everything stayed up. Umm...thunderstorms.. rides go down pretty fast. I don't know if indoor stuff is still open, but I think it's 20 minutes from when the lightning/thunder stops. After watching Vortex while working in the games during a thunderstorm, I'm pretty sure that's how it went.

[BamBam36]

Ok, to the person who said raging bull is better than Diamond back:

I havent rode DB yet but plan to at the end of may. But still, I hope you rode RB before they put the trims on cause its just awful with them on. Its like driving down the highway in a minivan.

[ghost007jas]

^ Err, I don't really think that's a valid claim... Someone should be able to judge a ride on how it was the day they rode it. Not how it ran over five years okay (or however long ago it was, I don't remember to be honest).

[tedten]

^ I agree. I rode both Raging Bull and Diamondback in there opening years.

Raging Bull was great in '99. And Diamondback is great in '09. You have to compare them when they're at their best. Otherwise its like asking an aging ball player to go out and play a young hot shot. The trims on RB kill it before it even crests the first airtime hill! For me it's really hard to choose. I wish Diamondback's first drop was into a tunnel. For me that's what makes a perfect hyper coaster. I also love Raging Bull's perfect hilly yet twisting layout with a fantastic helixy finale. It's a hard coaster to beat.

 

Diamondback obviously performs better than Raging Bull does now, but back in the day I'd say they would have been neck and neck. They are tied for my number 2. And my number one is wood making them my favorite steelies. It's impossible for me personally to choose because of my fond memories and that first drop into RB's tunnel is one of my all time favorite coaster moments!

[MarkB]

Thats me in the red on the last seat of the train on Vortex. As for DB...eh. I is a good ride don't get me wrong, but I didn't find it to be all that special. The air was all right, but it seems rather weak. Still one of the best rides in the park, but its near the bottom of my list of all the hypercoasters out there (that list includes Ragin bull, Nitro, S:RoS NE & SFA,the cedar point rides, Steel Force and maybe another one or two). Just my two cents.

 

BTW, did any one else notice some vibration on the ride especially at the tops and bottoms of the hills? It wasn't bad but it seems to be worse than most B&M coasters. Watching the wheels, I could see them bouncing around a bit. Also I know the ride and crew are new, but when I was there on the 24th they were consistently stacking all three trains with 6 people checking restraints. For a ride that according to RCDB has a 3 min cycle, 6 ride ops (they only had to check 5.3 restraints each with no seat belts) I found that to be a little extreme.

[PKI Jizzman]

BTW, did any one else notice some vibration on the ride especially at the tops and bottoms of the hills? It wasn't bad but it seems to be worse than most B&M coasters. Watching the wheels, I could see them bouncing around a bit. Also I know the ride and crew are new, but when I was there on the 24th they were consistently stacking all three trains with 6 people checking restraints. For a ride that according to RCDB has a 3 min cycle, 6 ride ops (they only had to check 5.3 restraints each with no seat belts) I found that to be a little extreme.

 

Not on the tops, but on the bottoms...just a bit. Nothing bad. But it worries me. New? The ops on DB are the best in the park, supposedly.

 

Well, I've seen a lot of times where the crew had to stop and recheck hights, larger people in the seats, and time to take bags to the boxes. I haven't sat in the station for more than a minute or two, tops. Stacking or not, they keep the trains moving.

 

While working the other day, it seemed they move a train out of the station every 45-60 seconds. Because the timer at 3 Point Challenge is 40 seconds...and about spare 10-20 between games..seemed everytime I said "GO" ...there was a train on the lift going over the drop! And that was consistant all afternoon.

 

Just my speculation..

-Zach

[MarkB]

I did notice that the in many cases it wasn't the ride ops fault of the slow load times, but rather the passengers. Those lose item boxes seemed to be the biggest hindrance to load time. I didn't seem to notice any lockers outside surprisingly which I figure might help even if the were not mandatory to use. But at best from what I noticed there was a train on the lift, one moving into the station and one entering the brakes after the water splash. The ride ops seemed to be rather tired and sluggish most of Friday, almost as if they were out of shape. I would assume to some point the loading times will improve throughout the year as there are more repeat guests and the ride ops "get in shape" and learn to deal with guests better.

[BrownStreak]

Man, I can't wait for Pride Night and the 5 minute wait for this baby!

[chef kitchen]

Glad to see the trains at full capacity in almost every picture i've seen.

[angryemobeaver]

Man, I can't wait for Pride Night and the 5 minute wait for this baby!

When is that? I'm not gay, but I had a friend who went last year (He's straight too) and he said the park was empty cause everyone was in Festhaus watching some Drag Queen thing.

[PKI Jizzman]

"I'm not gay, I'm here for the big steel erection."

 

So you're gay, right?

 

 

[BrownStreak]

Man, I can't wait for Pride Night and the 5 minute wait for this baby!

When is that? I'm not gay, but I had a friend who went last year (He's straight too) and he said the park was empty cause everyone was in Festhaus watching some Drag Queen thing.

 

It used to be in September but I think it got moved to late August when CF took over. The last time I was there was when Italian Hand Job was new- but since I only have 54 weeks until I move to Chicago for Grad School I am planning on going this year.

[Voyager]

The air was all right, but it seems rather weak. Still one of the best rides in the park, but its near the bottom of my list of all the hypercoasters out there (that list includes Ragin bull, Nitro, S:RoS NE & SFA,the cedar point rides, Steel Force and maybe another one or two). Just my two cents.

BTW, did any one else notice some vibration on the ride especially at the tops and bottoms of the hills? It wasn't bad but it seems to be worse than most B&M coasters. Watching the wheels, I could see them bouncing around a bit.

Yeah, I noticed it too, mostly in the back of the train, whenever I was off my seat! It was the train hitting the upstop wheels or floating between them and the main wheels. After all, if you're floating, so is the train! The main wheels then bounce around a little while it's not running on them. I could feel and hear the train come back down on the main wheels.

 

I rode Raging Bull (RB) 16 times the weekend before DB opened so I'd have a ride to compare with. It was a lot of fun, and I tried front, back, and middle seats. The air in the back seats was similar to DB, but DB had more back-seat air on the first hill due to the longer trains. The air in the front seats was MUCH stronger on DB, which seriously surprised me in a good way the first time I rode DB in the front seat. RB has more turns and more positive G time.

 

Wish I'd gotten to try RB before the trims. Hopefully people won't say that about DB in the future.

 

All of these comparisons can get complicated because rides run different depending on temperature, etc. I noticed a little more air last weekend on DB than on opening day in the parts of the ride before the turnaround, and this was simply because it was warmer. The trim (on the hill after the turnaround) and brake keep the part of the ride after the turnaround more consistent, but I had no complaints because I was still launched into the restraint going over the hill with the trim on it!

 

Everyone's got their favorites for various reasons. Some people want speed and intensity, some people want extremes in G-forces, others want elegant design and pacing, some people want a smooth ride and comfortable trains, and most of us want some combination of those. Everyone likes something a little bit different, and this causes arguments to break out on forums.

 

So, I won't argue where DB "ranks" - all I will say is that I can't get enough rides on it. -Mike

[tedten]

^ Agreed.

 

I honestly can't choose between Raging Bull's drop into a tunnel and twisty layout and Diamondback's hilly fun. I do admit that Diamondback performs better NOW than Raging Bull does NOW. But that's an unfair way to compare since RB was so evilly trimmed.

 

Keep the photos coming PKIjizzman. The night photos are the best yet!

"into the stars" is a loverly shot.

[disneygurlz2s]

Hey Zach... Last Friday night... were you wearing a blue (about the color of the bar at the top here ^) and carring a big ass camera????

[BrownStreak]

^^That's funny- I never got to ride RB until this past October and it jumped ahead of MF as my favorite steel coaster- the only reason my dog's named after MF is I couldn't think of a girl's name for RB. I wonder if I would have liked RB less before or something.

[PKI Jizzman]

Hey Zach... Last Friday night... were you wearing a blue (about the color of the bar at the top here ^) and carring a big a$$ camera????

 

Yup!

The obvious blue Fox shirt.

[disneygurlz2s]

lol... I thought that was you!! I think I saw you a couple of times, but it was when we were riding Racer that I thought I might get to speak to you, but then we got the train before you. I wanted to say Hi and introduce ourselves! I am sure we'll cross paths again. If it's not raining, we are going to try to go again tomorrow night. Last Friday was freaking awesome...it was like "Mason only night"

[PKI Jizzman]

lol... I thought that was you!! I think I saw you a couple of times, but it was when we were riding Racer that I thought I might get to speak to you, but then we got the train before you. I wanted to say Hi and introduce ourselves! I am sure we'll cross paths again. If it's not raining, we are going to try to go again tomorrow night. Last Friday was freaking awesome...it was like "Mason only night"

 

Mason Only Night was awesome, haha. I think our group got about 7-9 rides in on DB.

 

I'm more than sure we'll run into each other sometime this season, if not tomorrow. I'll be there from 3:30ish to...whenever! Probably 10. Not sure though. I'll have a yellow and blue Madagascar Penguins shirt on, and hang around Diamondback. Haha.

 

See ya later?

-Zach

[Reon]

As another resident KI freak and ride op from Cincinnati, I really need to respond more to this thread. Also since it's Jizz man's.

 

Anyways, I got about 5 rides in on opening day, but thanks to college I havent been able to make it down since. Definately a top 5 coaster, and I'd say my #2 steel behind Maverick. Then again, I'm an airtime freak, and lets just say LSHoF delivers. EVERYWHERE! Its definatly a night ride, since there is no light anywhere on the ride aside from the lift hill. Your basically floating, flying, and free falling through complete utter darkness!

 

I can't wait to go back to KI. I'm thinking next sunday after I get off work at Coney. And ofcourse theres Ride Warriors the weekend after.