Dinn Corporation was started by Charles Dinn in 1983. They specialized in relocating, designing, and manufacturing wooden roller coasters. Finally in 1991 because of a dispute over a project the company was disbanded.
Dinn Corporation History
Charles Dinn was at the time Director of Construction for King’s Island in Mason Ohio when they were designing and manufacturing in-house the Beast. Taking what he learned from that project he set his sights on his own company. The Dinn Corporation became of the go-to companies for anything dealing with wooden roller coasters. Which was a slightly easy thing to do since at the time there weren’t many companies that did specialize in that kind of thing.
Dinn Corporation and Phoenix
Starting off they helped relocate defunct coasters to new homes. Most important to the theme park community was the relocation of a coaster named Rocket at Playground Park in San Antonio, Texas. What was once Rocket become what we all know as Phoenix at Knoebels in Elysburg Pennsylvania. Relocating Phoenix is one of the lasting legacies that Dinn Corporation has. Considered by many to be one of the best operating wooden coasters in the world.
New coasters
While Phoenix is considered a major success most of their new coasters have not aged well. Out of the eleven, they built only four still operate. Additionally, four more have been removed completely. Lastly, three of them have been giving the RMC conversion. Which is a process that takes aging wooden coasters and converts them into modern steel hybrids. Mean Streak for Cedar Point is one of those that got converted.
Mean Streak to Steel Vengeance
When Cedar Point builds coasters they build them big. With Mean Streak they were trying to build one of the best wooden coasters ever. The end result wasn’t the smash they were hoping for. While it certainly had its fans it just never was a smash hit. Being located at the back of the park certainly didn’t do it any favors. That is when RMC stepped in and converted it to the masterpiece called Steel Vengeance.
Dinn Corporation’s Legacy
They had a solid hit with the relocation of Phoniex. Yet most of their new designs never seemed to produce a big hit. Most that think of them as a company think that they made good coasters to improved on by Alan Schilke at Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC).
While they did close many of the people that made up the core of Dinn went on to form their own company which has its own storied legacy. It was actually the daughter of Charles Dinn that like a Phoenix raised Custom Coasters International from the ashes of Dinn Corporation.
List of Coasters they Designed
| Year Opened | Name | Park | Status |
| 1988 | Wolverine Wildcat | Michigan’s Adventure | Operating |
| 1988 | Raging Wolf Bobs | Geauga Lake | Removed |
| 1989 | Timber Wolf | Worlds of Fun | Operating |
| 1989 | Hercules | Dorney Park | Removed |
| 1990 | Georgia Cyclone | Six Flags Over Georgia | Converted into Twisted Cyclone |
| 1990 | Texas Giant | Six Flags Over Texas | Converted into New Texas Giant |
| 1990 | Predator | Six Flags Darien Lake | Operating |
| 1990 | Thunder Run | Kentucky Kingdom | Operating |
| 1991 | Psyclone | Six Flags Magic Mountain | Removed |
| 1991 | Mean Streak | Cedar Point | Converted into Steel Vengeance |
| 1991 | Pegasus | Efteling | Removed |
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