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Since everyone's been sharing their SOB memories, I though I'd share a few of mine and I'm in a writing mood so pardon this novel. I also thought I'd share a few photographs I came across. I remember the day they announced Son of Beast. I had come home from school and my dad was home from work early. Our family had been going to Kings Island regularly with passes since 1996/1997 and I had just gotten brave enough the year before to start riding the "real" rides. I remember him booting up the old dial up Netscape internet to show me the old Cincinnati.com articles, waiting with anticipation as each small image loaded of the ride's model. I remember vividly the wooden loop and how it looked on the model. I remember all the news outlets misreporting it as the world's FIRST wooden looping roller coaster. There was a book I checked out from the school library frequently that proved otherwise. When the ride finally opened, I was 11. I didn't get to ride it in its early days of one train operation before it closed down for awhile. When it did reopen, both trains were running and my uncle and I waited two hours. I remember the queueing very vividly. We were in a temporary line outside the entrance for awhile, I remember my uncle making fun of my shoes as we watched Top Gun nearby. I remember getting incredibly nervous as we waited on the ramps up to the ride station and saw the water dummies below. Never did I think while waiting for that ride that day that I'd ever work at the park let alone in the maintenance shop that worked on SOB or ever walk its rails, I was just thinking about how intimidating that hill looked. I even remember how the ride smelled and still smelled in its last operating season... all that wood. We boarded the train and the first thing I noticed was the awkward placement of the on-ride photo. Then the loud lift, the speed and view in the dip. The slow down at the first drop crest and then WHAM! You were flying. I immediately picked up on how the double helix rose bowl was a homage to the original Beast and then that loop... I made sure to look left and see the Eifel tower spin like in all the media videos. Then there was more speed and boom you were back. I was psyched. It was by far my favorite coaster. ...granted I was really thin, 11 years old and a little bit over four feet tall. My uncle on the other hand hated it and immediately complained of how rough and unenjoyable the experience was. I begged my dad to ride it again with me since my uncle declined. Another two hour wait and then I got to experience it all over again and loved it just as much. My dad hated it and never rode it again. As the years went by and I got taller and bigger I realized how painful and miserable of an experience the ride was. I stopped riding it at age 13. In 2006 the ride opened a few weeks after the regular park and a few people hinted on KIC that it would be much smoother. My friend and I actually ditched school a few periods early and headed up to the park when we heard from Boddah1994 that it was set to reopen that day. We got there and noticed they had removed the last car and that the ride was now a 5 car operation per train. We anticipated it greatly, there was a short line and we hopped in the back seat. If there was an improvement in the ride experience, we missed it cause it was still rough as hell. I didn't ride it again until after it reopened in 2007. While the first drop was great and the new trains offered more leg room... the Rose Bowl was still punishing and completely ruined any hope of the ride being good. I never much cared for it and by this time I worked at the park a lot, so I hardly ever visited in my off time. The last time I ever rode the ride was in 2008 while at the park to photograph some of the Knievel set up. Still didn't care for the ride. I have lots more experiences and cool stories about how special that ride was to me, but Ill save those for another day. Not that anyone asked, but in my humble opinion - the ride is done. I'm sure you could do something incredible with the Rocky Mountain treatment, but even if you did... EVERY news article and piece of media would include "the ride USED to be Son of Beast which was known for x y z (x y z not being good things). Browntggr brings up the best and most logical point. They haven't torn it down because it's not a threat, not falling down and not hurting anything. When they need to get rid of it... they will or they'll do it when they're ready to put something else there. And as someone who is familiar with that ride from many perspectives... you can't see anything from the midway or Adventure Express to be able to convulsively say you see it falling apart. Just throwing that out there. As for the photographs I mentioned earlier. I remembered seeing these a few years ago, but couldn't find the website. Apparently this website has been down since sometime in 2010 and even before that it reaked of early 2000's web development and hadn't been updated in some time. It is (err was) the website for Roller Coaster Corporation of America. I accessed these photos via the Way Back Machine. All of the following photographs are ©Roller Coaster Corporation of America. - Work on the loop towards the end of construction. - Aerial view towards the end of construction in 2000. Note that you can still see a lot of the landscaping for the former Wild Animal Habitat. - A train being lifted onto the track. - Work on the final brake run.* *A rumor I had always heard, but have no idea if it's true is that the brake run was initially designed to hold two trains in waiting in addition to one in the station for a three train operation. I also heard that the ride's station was supposed to be an exit station and that the area of straight track immediately exiting the station was going to be a loading station to allow for a four train operation. Obviously, the ride opened with one train and only ever ran two so who knows. - Not sure what section of track that is, but check out that extreme banking. Too bad you were too busy praying for the ride to be over to ever notice the cool element. - Construction workers. I bet these guys have a cool story. - No idea who any of these guys are, but I believe that the date reads February 17, 1999. Maybe checking out the area for where a future attraction would go? - Draw your own conclusions. - Land clearing, note Adventure Express on the right. - Construction as the sun sets. - A train on its way to the station. Note the all red color scheme that eventually was changed to Red/Yellow. - View from the block brakes while the ride was still under construction. - Not sure why the flag was raised here since I don't believe this is where they "topped off" and completed construction. - The media day in May 1999. - Mock up of the trains. Note how much more spacious/better they look compared to how they turned out. And last, but not least: - The station. Like, I said these are not my photos. They are ©Roller Coaster Corporation of America. If you want to see their old site, you can access it via the Way Back Machine here: http://web.archive.o...//www.rcca.com/ A man I once worked for, who taught me a lot, once pointed to that ride and said "To me, that thing is iconic of Kings Island." For me, it is as well. Even though I never cared much for the ride, it's symbolic of my favorite years in the park I spent with my family and for a lot of other things, but that's all another story for another day.

I think a ferris wheel would make a great addition to on the other side of where the International Showplace is. You'd see it popping up over the trees from International Street and it would somewhat replace the views lost when the 50 ft. platform closed.

My first ride on Diamondback was a pretty crazy one. It was a Bring a Friend Day in 2009 so I brought my friend Aaron with me. I had never been on Diamondback even though I told him I had. As soon as the restraints locked down on us I said, "Aaron - I lied. I've never been on this before." He about cursed when they said "all clear" and we were all set. I was very scared, because I used to be scared of any roller coaster I was new to. The whole ride from the drop to the final brakes with screamed "OH MY GOD", over and over again. We rode it another 7, 8, 9 times? (don't remember) and our last ride, Aaron puked off the side of the final brakes. Good times, good times.

Fred Eaglesmith Tom Waits Don Helbig (many would love to hear him sing)

??? The boat is round. How is there a right side?

I love Diamondback! Let me just put it out there. I've rode it at least 20 Times since opening day. BUT...I had my FIRST RIDE in the back a week ago tomorrow. Let me say it was the most exhilarating ride on a coaster I've ever been on. So good, that I rode it back to back with my teenage son and that's what we talked about all day until we got home. So, I've been back since then and rode it yesterday during ERT twice (in the back) and I think I've found my new love. It feels like you're going at least 10x's faster than everyone else on the train and the air time....OH, the Air Time is AMAZING! I love the splashdown in the back. I come out with a soaked armpit everytime.

I think I'd like to see an Option that you could, prior to your entrance on WindSeeker, have a jukebox that you pay $5 to play a priority song of your choice during flight with all proceeds going to Charity that helps families make wishes come true and so they can come to Kings Island.

1. Thousand Foot Krutch (they came to KI for SpiritSong one year, but they should come back) 2. Flyleaf 3. Mutemath

I was only hoping that I would have the "sasquatch" picture of someone walking on the SOB. But, I did get a little excited that I had these pictures to share. I'll live with my 15 seconds of fame.

I grey out on BLSC at the top of the helices.

Ohiocolts, please make a TR every time you go to the park. I love your enthusiasm, love for the park and your family, and your description. I'm glad you joined this site, or there would be something big missing. I also love that there are many Crypt items still out there! You know what I'll be buying next time I'm at the park!

...I'm pretty much done with this site....

Drop Tower has been operating for the past few weeks. It's been up and down.

Back in 2006 my parents bought tickets to go to Kings Island for a day. The last time I had gone to the park was in 2000 when I was still a little kid. I'd spent most of the time in Hannah-Barbera Land running away from people in costumes. So when we arrived at the park I told my parents I wanted to go to the kiddie land. My dad looked at me and told me I was too old to go there and that we were going to ride the bigger coasters. My mom told him that we would go to the kiddie land so I could ride the smaller rides that I liked. Then after a few rides she told me that we were going to ride The Beast. I told her no and continued to ride the Fairly Odd Coaster for the rest of the day. Finally I came back to the park in 2008 with a friend. We rode Adventure Express and The Racer, before he told me we were going to ride The Beast. I walked over to the entrance and ducked under the height requirement sign telling him I was too small to ride. He came over slapped me and dragged me on the ride. After getting my head stuck between the wooden posts on the side of the queue, we finally made it to the station. We waited for the front seat and once we were dispatched I started having second thoughts. Going up the slow chain was the worst because it made more nervous that I already was. Finally we made it to the top and before I knew it we dropped. I screamed the whole ride and swore that I was going to kill him. But once I got off I knew I had a new hobby, riding coasters . I also rode Vortex for my first upside down coaster. When we were going through the loops I yelled out s*** about 5-6 times. The whole train was laughing. Ever since that trip I have been hooked on coasters.

I rode The Beast for the first time in 1992. I grew up hearing about it, but my family just never went to the park. I was 19 in 1992, and it was just cool to experience something I had heard so much about for so long. It's still my favorite single attraction at Kings Island. I actually think The Beast has a great theme…and kind of tells a story…which I think has contributed to its long-time success. It was built at about the time the "Friday the 13th" movies were out, and it has just always reminded me of being in the middle of a horror movie. You're walking into the woods into something you really can't see…

The crew has many fans, as it should. It's one of the park's best crews! Oh, you meant electric cooling devices, Mister?

How many Arrow multi-loopers have you been on? I'm not saying I disagree, I'm just genuinely wondering.

I think that is a great idea. You should write them, and maybe they will listen, maybe they won't but is worth a shot.

My first Diamondback ride was in July of 2009. It was my first visit to Kings Island, and I went with my entire family from Wisconsin. Since the only roller coasters I had been on before this trip were at Mt Olympus, I had absolutely no idea what to expect and was very excited. After an amazing day of riding other rides with my brother, who has always been terrified of heights, we decided to get in line for Diamondback. We waited in line for about an hour, anticipation growing by the second. I'll admit, we were both extremely nervous getting on the ride, but by the time we got off, we couldn't wipe the smiles off of our faces. We liked it so much, were practically shaking with excitement after that spectacular ride and wanted to ride it over and over again. Our parents could even tell that we loved it by the ceaseless grinning. That one ride was the ride that got me to love roller coasters. Ever since that day, I have ridden over 100 other coasters, but no experience can compare to that one ride. It was easily the best experience I have ever had on any ride.

First ride was in August of 09. Since my last coaster ride was 19 years prior, I was nervous. First drop was with eyes closed and heart about to stop. After a couple more drops I relaxed a little and enjoyed the ride. That fear drove me to buy a pass in the spring so that I could conquer it. Since then the fear is long gone and I love riding most everything.

Does she know what they're doing with Son of Beast?!

Does she sell Dippin' Dots?

My first ride on Diamondback came in May of 2009. It was only my 2nd ever visit to Kings Island, and the first had been 9 years earlier in August 2000. Basically, I visited the opening years of the park's 2 biggest coasters ever built- SOB and Diamondback. I had conquered my fear of coasters on Beast, and had also ridden Vortex, Congo Falls, and White Water Canyon as "warm-ups". Seeing Diamondback's line at "only" 45 minutes (I considered that short for a brand-new 230' B&M Hyper) we got in line. Right before we got on the ride, it rained, and we had to wait 15 more minutes, making the total wait time one hour. We began climbing the lift hill, and I noticed the two "big" coasters I had already ridden- Beast & Vortex- start to shrink, which was quite intimidating..."wait, wait, The Beast is supposed to be huge...why the heck is it so teeny looking...uh oh..." Then came the drop, and I will tell you this: I had no idea what "air time" was at the time. I had encountered it before, on a ride on the Blue Racer back in 2000, and didn't know what it was then , either, and it scared me to death. I had, however, this time browsed KIC (I didn't join yet) and heard the term. So, when I flew out of my seat, I knew what it was this time, but it was still pretty scary! Hill after hill, Diamondback kept launching me out of my seat, and the intensity was keeping up. The MCBR barley slowed us down, which I even commented on ("The brakes didn't slow us at all!") and we finally neared the end and hit the splashdown... WOW. At the time, Diamondback had become my #1 coaster...but it would not stay there, as I took the first of several epic night rides on The Beast that very night and in 2010 visited Holiday World and discovered Voyage & Legend (I still rank Diamondback above Raven though, no slam on Raven it's still my #5 just too short....) and got a taste of super-strong ejector airtime. To make matters worse, Diamondback has, thus far, been unable to recapture that magical "Ride #1" status on any of my re-rides: probably because I now know what airtime is, feels like, and can expect it. The height still intimidates me a little bit, but I've since noticed the ride really isn't much besides airtime- no strong laterals or other g-forces besides it, no unexpected drops or turns (you can pretty much see everything on this ride beforehand), no tunnels (I enjoy them), and no crazy intensity (once you've become used to its airtime, of course). And that was my first ride on, and a summary of my feelings on, Diamondback. It's a great ride, but I don't really see it as being 10/10 great anymore...but, once upon a time, after that first ride I did. (PS: My current rating of Diamondback is 9/10...) Also, anyone else notice how well Diamondback and Beast seem to work together, even though they are total opposites? Diamondback -Steel -Little Use of Terrain -Smooth -Lots of Airtime -"Traditional" Layout with lots of hills -Splashdown Finale -No Tunnels -Heavily Visible throughout park. Dominates the skyline when viewed from parking lot. -Built by a world famous coaster company, B&M The Beast -Wooden -Heavy use of terrain -Can be rough...it's a woodie -Little to no airtime whatsoever -Odd layout with few hills or drops...lots of straight track... -540 degree tunnel helix finale -4 tunnels -Hidden in the woods with very little of the ride visible. Just try seeing it from the parking lot, that's a tough challenge! -Built by the park itself (though Charlie Dinn & co. did eventually form their own company based off their experience with KECO wooden coasters, Dinn Corporation) Wow...talk about different things that end up having a similar result- both the coasters are admired and have tons and tons of fans, yet are very, very different from one another...

She would be wise to keep information to herself, CF does not like employees who leak private information.

That concert would be over in half an hour.

There is one act that will never, ever be back at Timberwolf and that is Pretty Ricky!

Have you ever gotten beaten by a sack of hammers? It's not enjoyable.

I went from Diamondback to Son of Beast and marathoned that for awhile because it hardly had a line. Last chance I would have to Marathon SoB Thank you for not puking over the midway before the splashdown. Yes I have seen and cleaned that mess up.

That's what I was thinking. This isn't the first time we've had hotter than hell temps. What is it with Cincinnatians? We tend to forget the weather that happens. It snows: WHAT IS THIS WHITE FLUFFY STUFF? HOW DO I DRIVE IN IT!!??? It rains: ...hmmm....water...from the sky? How do I drive in it!!?? It's hot: ... I wish it were winter... it's cold: ...I wish it were summer...

While at SIx Flags the other day three or four kids came down the fast pass lane pointing and laughing at us in the regular line.

Nice report as usual! If you're out on the midway (and especially in the plaza between the front gate and the fountains) at the start of the fireworks, it'll be clear why that was. A character called "Dr. Sparks" get a couple of kids to help him set off the fireworks. Everybody counts down from 10, the kids push the button, and the first rocket is launched. After it explodes and fizzles out, the PA system then goes into the introduction to the "nightly fireworks spectacular" before the real show begins.

Really? Arrow, maybe, but Batman: The Rides don't seem to have such issues. Nor does I-305 at Kings Dominion. Or even Arrow's Tennessee Tornado or Canyon Blaster. I could go on....

I did more than see a Backlot rollback. I was in the front seat at the time. I wish I could say the same for either Top Thrill Dragster or Kingda Ka. Alas, I cannot.

That's great news. Now The Beast can retain his title.

May I have your attention please! The offensive posts by previously banned members under new names have been taken care of. If you notice any problems in the future, please do not hesitate to click the "report" button.

I have now replied to your topic. Have a nice day!

I doubt it was due to wind. WindSeeker was open all day and that goes down if someone sneezes nearby.

Plus you may want to establish a more positive presence here before you have your oldest child join...

I think we'll all be ok.

That's the longest sentence I've read all week.

FUN box, FUN box, small and square and dark. FUN box, 'o' FUN box, check out these cool FUN locks. YAY!

What we lack in trees, we make up for in three-pronged, pointed bushes.

Perhaps they will turn over a new leaf!

Well then. Observe and see what thread I ain't posting in since there's been a....diversion. For now. Wouldn't want things to get off track...before their time. Terp, choosing his words...with care. FUN on July SIX.

Terp would have said whose. And not ending a sentence with a preposition is the kind of foolish rule up with which I will not put. Or not starting a sentence with a conjunction. Rules were made to be observed. Except when they ain't. Terp, who has a new rule. He isn't posting in a certain thread. Until he does. Or sumthin'.

The way the FUN Perks system works is the more you eat, shop and visit, the more rewards you will earn. It's not a system that anyone on this site will be able to decode. After you eat, shop and visit, check your account to see what you've earned.