Diamondback

Diamondback is a steel coaster located in the Rivertown section of Kings Island. It opened in 2009 as the second coaster built under the park's ownership of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, and is the second tallest coaster in the park. It is also the third most expensive project the park has built at $22 million, surpassed only by Banshee, and Orion.

History
Construction began on Diamondback towards the end of the 2007 season, and was teased throughout the 2008 season. The ride opened in 2009 and instantly became a popular choice with fans of the park. As of 2022, Diamondback  is the second tallest coaster in the park, and is also notable for being the first hypercoaster with a splashdown effect.

Story
Diamondback's backstory is not made clear by any official sources, but it is assumed to be similar to fellow Rivertown coaster, The Beast, but with venomous rattlesnakes replacing the role of The Beast, seeing how much of the souvenir merchandise features the namesake snakes, in addition to the design of the ride cars.

​Ride Experience
​​The cars immediately begin to ascend the lift hill as soon as they leave the loading station. They travel up the tallest lift hill in the park, and descend with a steep drop, going up and down numerous hills before turning around near the building that formerly housed The Crypt. After circling around near the Rivertown Arcade, the cars then splashdown at Swan Lake, before preparing to reenter the loading station.

Trivia

 * The ride cars of Diamondback respectively resemble a snake.
 * Much of Diamondback 's track can be seen in the back areas of Rivertown, especially near the entrance to White Water Canyon and the Rivertown Potato Works food stand, as well as part of the ride experience on the Kings Island and Miami Valley Railroad.
 * It's possible that the ride's name and theme are a tribute to King Cobra, a defunct coaster that originally operated in the Action Zone area that was also themed to a specific species of snake.
 * Further supporting this theory is the design of the ride cars. While Diamondback is not a stand-up coaster like King Cobra was, the cars do not feature any surrounding structures like walls that similar coasters have. Stand-up coaster cars also tend to lack walls that surround the passengers.
 * It is worth noting that the ride opened just one year after the area's local MLB team, the Cincinnati Reds, traded a popular player, Adam Dunn, to the Arizona Diamondbacks. This is most likely a coincidence, and has not been given as the official reason of the rides' name.