Backlot Stunt Coaster

The billboard that the cars "bust out" of towards the end of the ride.

The ***Backlot Stunt Coaster***, previously known as *The Italian Job: Stunt Track*, is a steel, launched coaster located in the Rivertown section of Kings Island. The ride first opened in 2005, back when the park was still operated by Paramount Parks. It was therefore themed to the 2003 Paramount film, *The Italian Job*, specifically the chase scene near the end of the film. The ride is notable for its heavy scenery throughout the ride, a feature not found in many other coasters at the park.

## History

The ride originally opened as *THE ITALIAN JOB: Stunt Track* on April 29, 2005, and was based on Paramount Pictures' 2003 film, *The Italian Job*. The ride was intended to recreate the chase scene towards the end of the film, and featured ride vehicles designed to resemble three MINI Coopers back-to-back. When Cedar Fair assumed operations of Kings Island in 2006, the ride's theme, along with other rides such as *Top Gun (The Bat)*, the former *Tomb Raider: The Ride (The Crypt)*, and *Face/Off (Invertigo)* were kept for the remainder of that season as well as the 2007 season before Cedar Fair began to remove any film references and convert the rides to generic themes. *THE ITALIAN JOB: Stunt Track* and *TOMB RAIDER: The Ride* were the most notable rides that had significant differences when being rethemed to *Backlot Stunt Coaster* and *The Crypt*, respectively.

Among the differences between the current operations and the original ride design, these are the most notable:

* All details on the ride cars have been painted over. It's still obvious that the ride cars are based on MINI Coopers, but they no longer feature details such as headlights or exhaust ports.
* Rather than each set of cars featuring a red car, a white car, and a blue car, each set of cars is now a single color of either red, white, or blue.
* The ride cars used to feature doors in order to make the vehicles feel like actual cars. These have since been removed.
* There is no water sprayed during the ride. The ride no longer sprays water during the helicopter scene, and the "splashdown" pool has been completely drained.
* The helicopter scene originally played music from the film, but now plays *Ride of the Valkyries* by Richard Wagner*.*

In 2020, the ride's location in the park was relisted as part of the Rivertown section of the park, having formerly been considered part of the Coney Mall section of the park since opening.

During the 2021-2022 off season the ride got repainted for the parks 50th anniversary.

## Story & Ride Experience

**Story**

You pose as a criminal who has just escaped from a robbery of alien technology from Area 72. The police are on your gang's trail, and you must think fast and affectively if your going to escape.

**Ride Experience**

The ride begins with an announcer instructing riders to keep hands, arms, and legs inside the car, and to keep their head against the headrests. As this message concludes, the cars are launched through a spiral hill disguised as a parking garage, before descending down a hill where several police cars are seen flashing their lights. The cars then go through a road tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, the cars approach a helicopter waiting for them at a fuel station. The helicopter begins to shoot at the riders, causing fire to erupt from the gas tanks in front of the cars. The cars then make their escape through a dark sewer drain, before bursting out of a billboard, dropping downward and returning to the ride station.

## Trivia

* Like the park's other launched coaster*, Flight of Fear*, this ride was also designed by Premier Rides.
* Clones of this ride exist at Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland. However, the original name for the Kings Dominion coaster was *The Italian Job: Turbo Coaster*.
* While waiting in line, shortly after crossing the chain-link fenced bridge, guests can see the Unload control panel for the ride that is operated by a park employee. At one point, it was worth noting that the Unload control panel had not been altered since the retheming, and still featured the original logo of *The Italian Job: Stunt Track*. This was changed after the 2016 season(The Drive Control Panel still features the original logo of *The Italian Job: Stunt Track*.
* The back of each car features a license plate number that spells out various messages, such as "RDYSETGO" or "STUNT DBL."
* Initially after being rethemed, the cars had the park logo painted on the front, as pictured in the thumbnail. These have since been removed.