The brand new Diamondback roller coaster at Kings Island has already seen 800,000 riders since opening earlier this year, putting it on pace to become the most popular debut ride in the park's history.

The Diamondback is trying to catch the record set by the Vortex, which opened in 1987 to an hourly capacity of nearly 1,500 riders and a total yearly ridership of close to 2.2 million people.

So far in 2009, Diamondback has averaged 1,600 riders per hour, and park spokesman Don Helbig said he expects the ride to pass the 1 million mark as early as next weekend.

Diamondback is the tallest, fastest and meanest roller coaster to hit Kings Island with over 5,200 FEET of steel track. 230 FEET TALL, this monster twists and turns through 10 ACRES of terrain, wooded hills with a spectacular splashdown ending to give you the ultimate thrill.