DropZone99

I've ridden Boo Blasters once, highest score was 1400. Ridden Scooby twice (once was in 2003, other was in 2009) highest score was 1200. Just rode Gobble Getaway yesterday and scored a 300... lol

I remember seeing some show on Nickelodeon a few years ago (2007) and they were at Kings Island. The host of the show was going to be riding Beast at the end of the show which was the whole point of the show I guess. Throughout the show they would show video footage of 'Beast' to get you more excited. Half of the time the footage they showed was actually of Son of Beast. And it's not views of the trains from the ground where the average person couldn't tell a difference, it was footage from the Eiffel Tower looking down at SOB, and the view of it's lift hill from near Xtreme Skyflier where you could actually see the big crate with the words 'Son of Beast' in it.

Son of Beast is an engineering marvel. Your an architect (well might be after college), just think if you built the tallest building ever built using wood. The building would be pretty big, but being made of wood it would need tons of maintenance. Many people think the building is ugly, or it can't support all the weight and only a certain amount of people can be on it (or some other flaw). Eventually an important piece of wood cracks making the building dangerous to be in. Don't you think it would still be an engineering marvel even though it ended up failing?

My point exactly. Cars cost alot, but chances are it's not going to be breaking down if it's an expensive car. If you go buy some cheap piece of crap car, chances are it will breakdown often and it'd be cheaper to just buy a new one. But with coasters, they cost millions of dollars (Son of Beast cost 20 million to build I believe), and in 2000 it wasn't as common for coasters to cost that much. Since Kings Island bought an expensive coaster, they didn't expect it to have all the problems it did. I bet they feel like it'd be a big waste of money to remove it and build something new. So they are modifying the coaster because it will cost less than making a new one, and they can advertise it as a new coaster.

About time.

There is no way 75% of people don't want to ride Son of Beast. Being known as the guy who knows everything about coasters at my school, everytime I mention Kings Island I get asked about Son of Beast. "Did Son of Beast finally open?" "Nope." "Aww that sucks, I love that ride." I'd say 75% of enthusiasts don't want to ride Son of Beast, but I bet 90% of the general public wants to ride Son of Beast. When it was open, it almost always had a long line (not in time, but in length). Some people didn't like the ride, some people were afraid to ride it because it's reputation, but most people did ride or atleast wanted to. It's a very popular ride, and I know tons of people who miss it. Even my Mom misses Son of Beast, she said it was her second favorite coaster at Kings Island (Diamondback is her favorite). She also said that she never has problems on Son of Beast, but she also said that she hates Beast because it's too rough. And yes, she has ridden it since the retracking.

Nickelodeon Universe is much better in my opinion. Although the orange and green colors were over used, it looked much better than the red and blue Planet Snoopy. At PS, just about every name sucks. Like Linus Launcher, since when is Linus known for launching stuff? Or Charley Brown's Wind Up, I don't recall Charley Brown being famous for winding stuff up. Surf Dog, I never knew Snoopy was famous because of his surfing abilities. And worst of all, Race For Your Life Charley Brown, way too long of a name, I don't know where they came up with that name or how it relates to a Log Flume. Overall, Planet Snoopy has horrible names, and I really don't like Beastie's paint job. Alot of rides at Nickelodeon Universe had good names when they were built, but over years that show stopped showing. Wild Thornberrie's River Adventure, in 2001 Wild Thornberries was really popular, but by 2009 very few kids still watched it. I'm pretty sure Danny Phantom, Rugrats, Avatar, Fairy God Parents, Spongebob, Dora Explorer, Scooby Doo, and Backyardigans still come on. And some of those are still really popular, and will be for a long time. Every kid knows who Spongebob is, and they loved meeting him, and riding rides named after him. At Planet Snoopy, I'm sure most kids have heard of Snoopy, but don't watch it. I saw some kids hugging Snoopy and other characters, but I don't think they hugged them because they love their show. They probably just hugged them because they saw a big dog or giant little kids that look soft.

Welcome to KICentral! Yeah GCII did retrack some of Boulder Dash, and they have been retracking and adding new supports to Thunder Road at Carowinds for a few years. Those rides never have been known to be extremely rough or injure people. Although I don't think Son of Beast is rough at all, most people do. I think GCII is afraid to work on Son of Beast because... 1: The tallest coasters they make are around 110' tall, they have no experience with woodies this big. 2: They are afraid they wouldn't fix it too much since they don't have experience, and it will still be rough and people will say GCIIs suck. 3: They don't want to take the chance of doing a bad job and another person gets injured, and they get sued.

http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/son-of-beast-wont-open-this-season-607408.html I knew it! One of my good friends told me this back in June of 2009, and it looks like he was right! I've heard GCII, TGG, and I don't remember the other one. Supposedly GCII was the one who had the unsatisfactory decision from Kings Island. Remember though, this is just what a friend of mine told me. I'm NOT saying it is true, or that you should believe it, I just felt like it was worth posting!

I thought Club Blood wasn't returning this Haunt?

I'm not going to say who it is because he is on this site. You do know him though. That is what I was thinking too though, it makes more sense (if this is actually true) to have 2010 be it's last season. The reason I've heard it's being removed is of course for the invert, and also because high maintenance costs, and low ridership. Cedar Fair wants to keep Vortex at Canada's Wonderland open because it's one of the most popular coasters at the park, and Iron Dragon so CP can keep their coaster count. So if they removed the least popular and undeeded one, they could use it's trains and other pieces for spare parts. Your cute just kidding!! But I believe you. Haha thanks.

^Nope. I honestly did hear this. I'm NOT saying it's true or that I believe it, but I did hear this. And it wasn't from the Dippin Dots Guy, the Lemon Chill girl, or the general public. It was from another enthusiast who did tell me about Diamondback in the 2007/2008 off season.

RUMOR! Not saying it's going to happen, but I have heard this! TOP GUN's last year will be 2011. And it will only be open for half of the season. During Haunt, it will be taken down. Kings Island will get it's second B&M, this one will be an invert. It will be the biggest B&M Invert, standing around 190' tall. It will have 7 inversions (loop, immelman, zero-g, cobra, two corkscrews). Thats all I've heard. Don't believe me though, it's JUST a rumor I've heard.

I've been Platinum for 2 years now. And before that I was Gold for a few years! Also I have a Six Flags pass, and will be getting an Indiana Beach pass very soon!

^haha!

Wow, I can not believe the crate is gone. I have to say, I think Kings Island should sell it to me. I am the one who thinks that Son of Beast is the best wooden coaster at Kings Island, and possibly the best coaster at Kings Island (Top Gun and or Diamondback are about the same).

Nice video, it looks like you guys had tons of fun! I didn't see you or Ashley at all on Saturday, but I saw every other KICer.

^^^ LMAO!

Wow your fast at posting PTRs! I still need to finish my huge KD/Carowinds/SFOG/Dollywood one, and than start my Kings Island opening day one! Sorry I didn't get to hangout with you guys, it seemed like every time I called Adam he was in line for something, or every time he called me I was in line for something. Atleast I got to say hi to you and Tom, and got to hangout with Adam for a while!

Angie, We rode in the back car. Me and Adam rode in the very back seat, you and Tom were in front of us. Great photos by the way! I can't wait to see the ones you took at Dollywood. I didn't get to take too many because of my memory card.

I also heard that Flight of Fear and Backlot both got a few roll backs yesterday. Just so I don't get yelled at, I said HEARD, I'm not saying it did happen but I just heard it did and have no proof it did.

Why so pessimistic? If it sucks so much don't go!!! The b*tchiest post I've seen! I agree. You should of prepared your self more knowing the high was barely going to reach 60. Kings Island can not control rides valleying. Yes Kings Island should approached the leak in the ball totally different. Why you didn't ride much I don't know. Some days you have to suck it up and wait to ride. It was the first day not everything is going to be fast. Your complaining about Diamondback? What really sucked about it? I didn't mean to make it a Kings Island is the worst place ever post, I was just posting random thoughts of opening day and those were the first to come to mind. I'm not saying it's Kings Island's fault that the park was cold making rides run slower and some vallying, but all of those things DID happen and it was something that doesn't happen too often making it a more unique thing to think about. I didn't ride much because I was having enough fun just hanging out with KICers, I never said it was bad I didn't ride anything. And the reason Diamondback sucked was because of the cold. It was my #2 steel in 2009. A few weeks ago I rode coasters like I305, Intimidator, Volcano, Mystery Mine, Afterburn, and rerode rides like Goliath and Mindbender. I love all of those coasters, and since I hadn't ridden Diamondback since November 1st., it shot down to #6 on my top. Now that I just rode Diamondback again, I can officially say Diamondback doesn't have the airtime that Goliath & Intimidator has, it has no where near as good of laterals as Goliath, Raging Bull, or Intimidator. So what makes Diamondback so special? It has okay airtime on a few of the hills, the first helix has a tiny bit of laterals, the splashdown looks cool, and it first drop is fun. Thats pretty much it. I just think it's extremely over rated and the only reason I liked it so much was because it was at my home park.

Great photos! It makes me miss this trip so much... I agree about Goliath, mostly. I still think Intimidator is just a tiny bit better, but Goliath is MUCH MUCH MORE better than Diamondback or Raging Bull! I can't wait to read the rest of the PTR! By the way, I need to start mine over, since photobucket is mad at me. lol

It was cold, and I was wearing shorts and a tee-shirt... It was pretty busy for an opening day with no big new attraction. The park didn't seem ready to open. Invertigo & Reptar both vallyed. Eurobobbles were tons of fun! I saw a girl dislocate her shoulder on Eurobobbles Around 9PM. a different girl's (little one) bubble's zipper opened and tons of water leaked in. It was probably only 40º and she was soaked. The employees just said "sorry..." and made her leave the ride area. The didn't call an ambulance so she wouldn't catch hypothermia, they didn't offer to buy her new clothes, or even give her a towel or blanket. I barley rode anything. Diamondback sucked and is probably going to be taken off my top 10 steel. Everything was running extremely slow. Boo Blasters was okay, not nearly as good as I thought it was going to be. I heard TONS of people in Nickel, I mean Planet 50 year old dog that no kid knows and isn't even funny, say "My kids don't even know who Snoopy is...", (mom says)- "_____, go huge Linus!" (Kid says)- "Whos Linus?" Overall I had a good time because I was with friends, but the actual Kings Island experience wasn't too good, I most likely won't be coming back until late May or June, I think I'd rather go to other parks for a while. Backlot's new paint on the trains looks terrible. I saw this at KD, and I literally said "Kings Island better not do this", and they did, It looks awful.

I'm leaving my house around 6AM. since I live two hours away and it's my first time driving to KI so it may take longer. Plus Mitchell has to process his pass. I'm excited for it, but not nearly as excited as I was for last year's opening day.