General Son of Beast Discussion

[OldieButGoodie]

Here's an idea - read this http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/The-Rattler-will-close-Aug-5-3694324.php -- perhaps SOB could go there and get new life if it's not going back into ops at KI.

[TTD-120-420]

^And the suits don't talk to anyone else here, either.

Uh, yes they do. Many of them are happy to talk with you if they aren't busy. We have talked to Ouimet before, and Dick many years ago. They most likely won't tell you the fate of a multi-million dollar ride, but they do talk to anybody who wants to talk.

Hell, Ouimet pretty much confirmed what the Sandusky Register reported to us the day the news for Cedar Point's new ride was leaked. Rob Decker and he talked to us for a good five minutes about it.

They do talk.

[Original]

Even though I never have ridden The Son of The Beast, I have memories of it to.

I love it. It just looks so cool. What I would do is make a memorial out of it, and take all the rails out for the lines. That way, theres more room, and the record breaking coaster still stands.

[TheCrypt]

Have you ever gotten beaten by a sack of hammers?

It's not enjoyable.

[stashua123]

I had the Weirdest Dream That i rode SOB and it was actually really smooth.I then Woke up

[Gordon Bombay]

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.

[Jr for Birdy]

I usually skim through the novels on here,but read every sentence and would like to read more when you get to it.

[LongliveKingsCobra]

WOW. Thanks Gordon! I expect nothing less when I read through your posts. Which is also why I love (Shameless plug for you I guess) your Queen City Discovery page! It's amazing and so was that post. Thank you very much for all of those pictures. All of them brought back memories of the first time I rode SOB.

It was Fathers Day of the year it was built, so what was that? 2000? We waited near King Cobra for 10:00am and all I could hear was the loud lift hill as the cars made their first tests for the day. 10:00am came around and we were allowed to walk back to the station. My heart began beating faster and faster. The Box that once housed the little ******* had been opened forcibly from the inside with the logo in it. I looked at it and told my father that I didn't think it was a good idea! We took the long walk back and I remember a sign that said "Feel the wrath: 2000" and I told my father that I was about to feel something... We entered the station and got on the ride, and you know what? I had fun! I LOVED IT! By the time we got to the on ride photo section I was smiling laughing and posed with 2 peace signs (we still have the on ride photo of it). I rode it every time nearly 4-6 times each visit. Always in the front seat. It was the only way to go.

[SteveSnowmn]

Beautiful pictures and story.

The ride has a special place with me. My family and I only visit once a year. The last year it was in operation, I was 18 and a cousin was with me that day that I likely won't see again because of family issues. We liked the ride (we liked the feeling of getting beat up I guess lol) and we rode Son of Beast multiple times that day including the last ride of the day. Great times. Wish they could restore the loop, and I hope that they don't decide to demolish the ride.

[Maverick00]

If they ever did bring back SOB (even though they won't), what are the chances of the loop coming back? The Outlaw is going to have an inversion so you never know.

[Browntggrr]

^ I think it is safe to say, there will never be another coaster associated with the name "Beast".

There is also a significant difference between a "loop" and a "rolling inversion".

[pyrocoasterkid]

Gordon, that section of track you couldn't identify in the 5th picture looks like the overbank uphill after the first drop and before the rose bowl (From RCDB):

Awesome pictures! It's sad that such an epic idea turned out so poorly.

[bkroz]

You'd be lucky (is that the right word?) to see Son of Beast open in a form that even vaguely resembles the ride of 2007, much less the ride of 2000!

Outlaw's track is Topper Track, which apparently replaces the top two layers of seven layer wooden track with steel. When the track's been used in renovations like Cyclone's where it's placed in particular "problem areas," the coasters have continued to be known as wood. Outlaw is the first full-sized, from-scratch application of the technology, so we'll probably see much argument over what kind of coaster it constitutes. I agree that it's wood, but the element in question looks virtually identical to a maneuver on Maverick that doesn't "count" as an inversion (at 1:10

and below).

Via Theme Park Review.

Son of Beast's loop was arguably the smoothest part of the ride and as an element, it worked. If the ride was extensively overhauled with any number of technologies from any number of companies, they might find a way to work a loop back in. I have maintained from day one that if Paramount had been willing to wait for a few years and pay a few more dollars, they could've contracted Intamin right out the gate and built a plug-and-play 200 foot woodie with a loop that would still come out on top of the annual lists. As it is, don't hold your breath.

[DarkSideOfTheMoon]

Personally, I think we will see Son of Beast operate again. Part of it may be wishful thinking. I keep going over and over in my head, If they were going to demolish it or scrap it, they would have already done it IMHO.. Like I said, this may be just wishful thinking, but I think we will see a reborn, retracked, relooped "Giga Beast" as the centerpiece of an Action Zone revamp/refurb in 2014.. They've already completed the paint job on Invertigo. That's one phase.. Now once again, this is just an opinion, no proof no nothing, but just a wishful/hopeful thought...

I agree, now in past posts I stated my opinion, in a rather harsh tone may I add. In reality if it hasn't be announced to the public it doesn't exist. Nothing has been announced about its fate so we will leave it at that. I'll follow up on this fellows statement. It is wishful thinking but observations on the parks trend point towards an Action Zone revamp. This is true ,we can already see it but as to what the change will be, it is unknown but wishful thinking never hurt anyone

[Jr for Birdy]

This just in! Wendy's has a new hamburger called Son of Baconator.I laughed so hard during the commercial,this could be a sign??!!! LOL

[Browntggrr]

Yes, it is a sign.

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

This just in! Wendy's has a new hamburger called Son of Baconator.I laughed so hard during the commercial,this could be a sign??!!! LOL

I knew it was only time before that was mentioned here

[beastrider97]

This just in! Wendy's has a new hamburger called Son of Baconator.I laughed so hard during the commercial,this could be a sign??!!! LOL

Does this mean that Son of Beast will be half the size of The Beast?

[Shawn Meyer]

Here I thought maybe you guys heard something. Talk about teasing...lol

[Elkman]

This just in! Wendy's has a new hamburger called Son of Baconator.I laughed so hard during the commercial,this could be a sign??!!! LOL

Last time I went to KI (two weeks back), I had one for lunch. I thought it was some special just for the Mason area, until I saw the commercial.

Except this time I think the burger lived up to its name.

[TTD-120-420]

New sponsors!!

[ohiocolts]

I had one last week, and I thought it would be mentioned here soon.

[McSalsa]

SON.

OF.

BACONATOR!!!

The world's tallest, fastest, only looping...bacon cheeseburger?

Sorry, I could NOT resist...

[Browntggrr]

I had one last week, and I thought it would be mentioned here soon.

We could be discussing the Mayan Calander, and SoB would find it's way into the conversation.

[Joncars05]

I had one last week, and I thought it would be mentioned here soon.

We could be discussing the Mayan Calander, and SoB would find it's way into the conversation.

Well I do think that the "suits" wouldn't mind if the Mayan's were right... That means they wouldn't have to make a decision about SOB!

[Sonofbeast2.0]

"Fire you SoB", I want to ride SoB, here is your SoB, have a nice day! Get back here you SoB!

[Titan]

Would you like a side of popped blood vessels with that?

[TheCrypt]

I had one last week, and I thought it would be mentioned here soon.

We could be discussing the Mayan Calander, and SoB would find it's way into the conversation.

I saw a calendar earlier this year. "2012: Mayan Calendar of FUN!"

[The Interpreter]

Did you buy SIX of them?

[KIfan1980]

I thought you weren't going to post in this thread - was that a diversion?

On topic - I have enjoyed many coasters others thought were too rough, SoB included (although I don't like AE because it is too jerky - I'm sure there is some irony in that for some). I felt it was a much better ride with loop - without the loop, the ride is just missing something which deflates the experience. I initially wanted to see it reopen, but have come to realize that it is likely in the best interest of the park not too and now beleive official decision made or not, it is only a matter of time before demolition.

I continue to read threads on SoB for the humor - whether it be save-SoB fanboy ludicrousness or Browntggrr's brutal reality.