 Welcome back to yet another review from Kings Island. This review has been a long time coming, and it is for the 2009 Bolliger and Mabillard hypercoaster known as Diamondback. Diamondback is one of only two B&M hypercoasters I have currently ridden, the other being Intimidator at Carolins. Diamondback is a very unique hypercoaster in that it is the only hypercoaster in North America to feature a splashdown element. This is quite a humongous ride as it stands at a whopping 230 feet tall, features a 215 foot drop with a top speed of 80 miles per hour and has a track length of 5,282 feet for a drop to brake ride time of 1 minute 5 seconds. As you will notice, this is quite a long ride that really takes you through a journey along the woods of Rivertown as it is right in between beast and mystic timbers. Upon boarding these awesome looking snake trains, which do feature the unique staggered seating as found on Intimidator and Behemoth, you will immediately ascend up the 230 foot tall lift hill. You are taking up to the top pretty quickly by the chain before you are plummeted down the 74 degree 215 foot drop reaching 80 miles per hour. This drop is pretty awesome in the backseat, although not one of the more notable drops I've experienced. Still, it is fun and provides decent airtime. Following a bank to the right, you go up into the first of many huge floater airtime camelback hills where you get some really strong floater, then you bank to the left and pass under the structure and go up into another huge floater airtime camelback, getting more great sustained floater air. You then hit a hammerhead turnaround to the left, and after dropping back down, you will go over yet another huge floater hill which is very lightly trimmed. Following this hill, you dive under the supports again and make a left tight helix into the midcourse brake run. This helix is actually pretty forceful as you are just flying through it still with great speed. Following the midcourse, you regain a lot of momentum and make your way over to bunny hills that have yet more fantastic floater air, not quite as strong as the big camelbacks though. You will then go through a tight upwards helix to the right, and then into the ride's magnificent finale, the splashdown. Following this, you pop up into the brakes where you will experience a brief pop of air to finish off Diamondback. One thing I noticed about Diamondback is that it is such a long ride. Personally, I felt like Intimidator at Carowinds, which has a very similar layout and actually the slightest bit more track length by less than 50 feet, was a ride that felt over too quick. With Diamondback however, the experience feels so full. It just feels like such a long, fulfilling ride despite hitting 5 miles per hour faster and being the slightest bit shorter in track length than Intimidator. The finale is also pretty good on Diamondback. One thing I really didn't like about Intimidator, which as a whole I found to be underwhelming, was that after the midcourse, the ride was essentially over. The Diamondback delivers throughout the ride, with plenty of great floater airtime and the beautiful splashdown. I should note that even sitting in the very back row, I never felt any water at all. This splashdown is just designed for visual effect. Diamondback is also very smooth, as is to be expected with a B&M hyper. No complaints of any kind of rattle for me. One complaint I do have about Diamondback is the helix right before the splashdown. This is one moment where the ride just kind of meanders and doesn't really deliver any kind of force. Another pretty weak moment is the hammerhead turnaround after the second large camelback, but you have the speed going through it and it is pretty fun still. These types of transitions typically aren't designed to be super intense anyway. Speaking to the layout of the ride, it is pretty uninspired I have to say. Just a really typical B&M hyper style layout with basically just a whole lot of floater airtime hills, a pretty bland helix, and a hammerhead turnaround. The one unique thing going for this ride's layout is the splashdown at the end. Since the splashdown isn't made so you really get wet though, from the ride this element is really just a short straight section to get you to the brakes. The real beauty of it is watching from off-ride as it makes a huge splash behind the train. It is quite astounding just to watch as you are walking on the midway through Rivertown. And Diamondback as a whole is just one of the most beautiful looking coasters I've ever seen, and I love the color scheme. It has red track with tan supports, very similar to Maverick's color scheme. Addressing the trains on this coaster, I must say that I have come to the conclusion that I do enjoy these staggered seating trains. I have experienced the typical four-cross seating on Fury 325, and I don't think I'd say I prefer one style of seating to another, but the staggered seats are very unique and I do really like being able to choose between two different ride experiences. One thing that makes the style of seating interesting to me is that if you want to get a front seat ride, for example, the second row can also serve as a great alternative front seat ride experience. When I decided I wanted to ride this in the front, I actually opted to sit in row two, as I knew that ride specifically would be my last ride of that visit, and my other rides that day were in the back inner seats. However, I also really wanted to experience this ride from the outer edge, so I was able to get row two, which was an outer seat, but also still very much feels like a true front seat ride. So I was able to get both a front row and an outer seat experience in one ride, since you don't have anything directly in front of you with the outer edge seat. The final thing that I really want to go in depth about with Diamondback before I give my final score is the one thing that I believe this ride truly excels in leaps and bounds with. That is the huge amounts of great sustained floater airtime that you experience on the many camelbacks and bunnyhills. Of course, these B&M Hypers are known for those huge floater airtime moments, and Diamondback is a prime example of that. It delivers great floater that is so strong that I dare even say borders on being flowjector, and that it seems like when you start to come out of your seat it is quite strong, and then you are just floating in the air as you are getting pulled slowly over the huge curves of those beautiful parabolic hills. I love the clamshell restraints on this ride, too. As on every single ride I got on Diamondback, it was scary how much room I got. I never once got stapled, a lot of times having what seemed to be about 4 or 5 inches at least of space between myself and the restraint. And it doesn't come down at all throughout the ride either. Due to this, the amount and strength of floater airtime I got was so ridiculous as I was just being pulled over the endless airtime hills that this ride provides. In case you couldn't already tell, I absolutely fell in love with Diamondback. Over several rides I was able to get on it, I came to the conclusion that this is right at the very top of my favorite coasters at Kings Island. This is a long, phenomenal airtime-packed ride that provides an endless buffet of huge floater airtime moments. So if you like that, then Diamondback is for you. One knock on this ride is actually its biggest strength, however. With the airtime, it is so good, but that is pretty much all this ride has to offer. There really isn't any variety with the layout, but that's okay because it pulls off the airtime very well in my opinion. Diamondback really impressed me after getting many rides on Intimidator earlier in the year, and overall being very underwhelmed by that coaster. Whereas Intimidator just misses my top 20 overall, I have Diamondback placed in a very strong spot in my lower top 10, and it is one of my favorite coasters. My personal score for Diamondback is a very solid 9.5 out of 10. Thank you for watching this review. Leave your thoughts about Diamondback in the comments if you've ridden it, and be sure to check out all of my other coaster reviews and a playlist on my channel. Subscribe for more content like this and unique videos about roller coasters and amusement parks uploaded regularly. Like my page CoasterDaddy on Facebook, and follow me at CoasterDaddy official on Instagram. This is CoasterDaddy, bye.