kinserman11

Vortex 1990

This thread struck a chord with me because I too have been going to KI since the mid 80's as a child. My family would make an annual trip from Bedford, Indiana every summer to KI to spend a few days together. We always stayed at the Kings Island Inn across from the park and one of my best memories after our first full day at the park is taking La Rosa's Pizza back to our rooms and eating it while watching T.V. Like Sportscaster, I have vivid memories of each ride, and the first ride on each as I met the height requirements with passing years. I will always remember my first ride on The Beast with my grandfather. People talk about how it is overbraked and rough, etc, but this ride to me is the best ride on the planet, it has a very emotional signifigance to me. Like sportscaster I will be making a trip to KI tomorrow for Fall Freakout by myself to have an enjoyable weekend and will look back on fond memories that will last a lifetime. JWE

Hi guys, I was going to attend Halloween Haunt on the weekend of September 29th. I was curious as to how crowded it might be. I know that being a Saturday and all it will be crowded, but I talked to some people at KIC The Event on Aug 4th and they said from past experience that the first few weekends are not quite as crowded compared to when it gets closer to halloween. Some advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, J.W. Elliott

Sorry about the misinformation. My fingers got ahead of my brain again!

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that the gentleman over at coastercritic.com has posted a very complimentary review of "The Beast". This guy has ridden several roller coasters and spoke very highly of the ride. Worth a read. Thanks, J.W. Elliott

From Bedford, Indiana it takes around 2hrs 45 minutes, or longer depending on East 50 traffic.

I first visited Kings Island in 1983 as a 1 yr old infant. Obviously I do not remember this trip, but I remember The Vortex's first year of operation, my first ride on The Racer with my grandpa in 1988, and my unforgetable first ride on The Beast in 1990, again with my grandpa. I have cherished memories of the park as a young kid, that I will never forget. I first heard abor KIC in 2003 when I stumbled across the website while surfing the net. J.W. Elliott

Hey guys, I just wanted to reinterate how much fun I had at last weekends event at the park. I enjoyed everything, especially The Beast ERT. I felt that I recieved the best Beast rides I have had in quite some time at 10:30 last Saturday night. Maintenance for once left every light on the ride off except for a few dim lights in the valley run prior to the second lift, the helix lights were even off! People can say all they want about Voyage and all of the other "new" wooden roller coasters out there, and they are very good coasters, but there will never be another ride like "The Beast". I was thinking while thundering through the final helix in pitch blackness that it doesn't get any better or more out of control than this. Thank you KI for letting us have the privledge of our ERT session. J.W. Elliott

First of all I want to commend Ryan, Dane, Don Helbig and everyone else who made the KIC event a huge success. I had a great time putting faces with usernames. My question regards the historical video of The Beast test runs, and Lesourdsville defunct pics. Are these going to be added to the historical section of the website? To me this would make a wonderful addition to the site, I thought it was very interesting how much the trees have grown up around The Beast in 28 years. Thanks for a great time on Saturday!

Hi Klockster, This is J.W. Elliott again and would you be interested in making a copy of the disc for me, it would be appreciated. I can get you a mailing address and we can discuss payment details if you like. Would it be better if we discussed over the phone? Thanks.

Hi, it's J.W. again Just checking up to see if anyone has The Beast 25th anniversary video and would be willing to make a copy for me. I'm interested in this video and a big Beast fan. Thanks.

Hello, it's me again I was wondering if any members on this site recorded The Beast 25th anniversary video during 2004. I watched this video in line during my visit to the park in 2004 but couldn't see well because of the glare, and couldn't hear any of it either. If anyone has this video, could we work out a deal where you could record it on tape or dvd and send it to me, we could work out a fee for your services. Thanks, J.W. Elliott

Hey guys, This is my first post here so bear with me. I have been coming to Kings Island for most of my life (24 years). I made my annual trip this year on Tuesday Aug. 22 and spent a wonderful day at the park with my family, but the one thing that I could not get over was the excessive amount of braking on The Beast, especially in the brake shed midway through the ride. While The Beast still delivers an amazing ride, I cannot help but think how much faster and out of control the ride would be if they would just let the ride run as it was designed. My father has told me stories of riding The Beast during it's first few years of operation and how he didn't think he was going to make it back to the station alive. He said the sensation of speed was unexplainable and something that had to be experienced to understand. I got a chance to experience this coaster for the first time 16 years ago at the age of 8. What I experienced on that very first ride in the front seat is forever etched into my mind, and is something I will carry with me to my grave as a most memorable experience. While I still think The Beast is one of the best wooden coasters around with a helix that is unmatched by any coaster (sorry Voyage), I feel maintenance to this ride in addition to all of the wooden coasters in general at Kings Island has slipped. I also rode The Racer and Recar during my visit and found the forwards side running painfully rough. When I was little Racer was a very enjoyable ride, now it's rougher than The Beast. I think the words jackhammer describe the ride I had very well. But anyway back to The Beast. I have heard everything from structural issues, to keeping maintenance costs to a minimum as to why they slow The Beast down as much as they do. I know that they have other wooden coasters to tend to and SOB has taken alot of time and money to try to keep up and running, but this has come at the expense of Racer and Beast in my opinion. Many people have posted on here about how much they want a new coaster and maybe in a few years that could come to fruition, but shouldn't Kings Island first try to maintain what they have to the best of their ability? I hope that Cedar Fair is willing to put in the time and effort it will take to keep The Beast running smoothly. They seem to be off to a good start as dispatch interval was improved notably from my last few visits to the park. In closing, I know that all of the maintenance workers at the park put many many hour into making sure the coasters are safe for us to ride every day, but I still feel that under Taft Broadcasting and KECO the rides were better maintained, and they didn't need trim brakes on all of the coasters as they do today, since The Beast has little airtime, which is fine by me, I always enjoyed the speed of the ride. They have taken this away from the first part of the ride with the magnetic brakes, so all you have now is a mine train with a d*** good helix at the end, instead of bat out of h*** tear through the woods. I just hope that The Beast gets returned to its former glory so people can experience what it was like when it was new.