Which coaster did you find more exciting your first time riding?

In terms of overall excitement over the course of riding the ride, Banshee--hands down. Son of Beast's lift hill was very intimidating and exciting, but the subsequent drop was somewhat underwhelming, unless you really liked the sensation of speed. The rest of the ride was so bad that it neutralized any continued excitement. Granted, I never rode it with the loop, but that was a whole five seconds of a three-minute ride. I don't think a loop could redeem the painful keister assault that came before and after it. (I truly associate that ride with my relatively high wood coaster roughness tolerance--I love the majority of Boss, Boardwalk Bullet, and the Coney Island Cyclone. Nothing yet has quite matched the roughness of Son of Beast.)

I'm still not in love with B&M as a rule of thumb, but Banshee is consistently entertaining from start to finish. The pacing is constant and interesting, even for being B&M's typical largest-to-smallest element lineup. Of the B&M inverts I've been on, I think I like Banshee this much more than Afterburn, which was previously my favorite of the line. I'd say it's probably tied with Dominator at Kings Dominion as my favorite B&M. It's just behind Adventure Express as my favorite coaster in the park.

There's no contest here for me. Banshee, all the way.

I had the opportunity to ride Son of Beast in it's final season. It was a great concept but one that I feel was poorly executed- blame previous park ownership for that.

I loved the speed, not the roughness. And I never had the opportunity to ride it with the loop. All rides were in it's last season.

Null vote because I never got to ride Son of Beast.

S.O.B, for my first time riding both coasters. It was very intimidating for a wood coaster on your first ride, I remember going up the lift thinking this is The Beast on steroids! Banshee, I was excited for my first ride but it didn't have my heart beating faster like SOB that first time. If you ask me after the first ride I would take Banshee any day.

S.O.B

I personally can say that I thought SOB was the much more thrilling ride of the 2. I am going to say that after multiple rides on Banshee that I am very happy with the trade-off and think I will enjoy it more in the long-run than I did SOB.

Son of Beast will always be my favorite coaster.

S.O.B, for my first time riding both coasters. It was very intimidating for a wood coaster on your first ride, I remember going up the lift thinking this is The Beast on steroids! Banshee, I was excited for my first ride but it didn't have my heart beating faster like SOB that first time. If you ask me after the first ride I would take Banshee any day.

Pretty good summary that I agree with. SOB, just as a structure, was truly a sight to behold. Just the sheer size of it was quite impressive. And you're right, that first ride on it was about as exhilarating of an experience as I've ever had on a ride. But man did that thing get rough. I would occasionally have an experience that was tolerable, but far more often than not it was too brutal to enjoy, to the point where I refused to ride it altogether. And like TombRaider, I too feel that I have a high tolerance for roughness on a coaster.

I know I will enjoy Banshee for far longer than I did SOB, but nothing matches the exhilaration that SOB offered.

Son of Beast will always hold a spot in my heart in large part because I was a student at Kings and I watched it slowly grow every day. In addition to that I feel like riding up a giant hill in a rickety bucket of a car had a certain "pucker factor" that a silky smooth B&M can't replicate.

If you really, really miss Son of Beast, go to Indiana Beach and ride Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain (LoCoSuMo).

Like being pushed over a hillside in a Kroger shopping cart. If you are in to that sort of thing...

Have to say I'm not a huge fan of being pushed in a shopping cart...

Not even over a hillside?

The lack of a suspension makes the ride experience remarkably similar to one that did not amuse the general manager of a Mason, Ohio amusement park...

If you really, really miss Son of Beast, go to Indiana Beach and ride Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain (LoCoSuMo).

Like being pushed over a hillside in a Kroger shopping cart. If you are in to that sort of thing...

I actually was... also in high school

Did that not add to the excitement?

Like being pushed down a hill in a Meijer shopping cart, when you rode Son of Beast you knew anything could happen!!

I liked SOB but never would I put it above Banshee. I'm amazed that many people do put it above Banshee.

Target shopping carts are the way to go. The solid structure of them makes them more aerodynamic Plus I think they use a better set of casters Like the B&M of shopping carts

I kid of course

I'll be honest, Banshee is a great ride, but a bit of a letdown to me... It is still an amazing ride just not as great as I hoped. But as for any ride in the park? Son of Beast with ease. I just loved it! I loved everything about it! Riding in the very back was so insanely bumpy, and I loved that even more! I would say Son of Beast is my favorite coaster to date still. Loop or loopless, it was an amazing ride! I hope maybe the park tries to do something as daring as SoB again! I think if they remade SoB exactly the same, just with today's standards of technology (and the right company of course) they could easily make it a quite smooth/smoother ride. My second favorite ride was JAWS! And it's in the same boat as SoB now.. (pun intended)

I chose SoB, HOWEVER, not because I found it to be a better ride than Banshee, because Banshee is an amazing ride that is very re-ride-able, but SoB holds a special place in my heart. It is the reminder of my early years of coaster riding and becoming an enthusiast. It was the first, and to date, the only ride that has ever made me feel nervous and unsure..because Sonny had a bad rep and that thrilled me for some very strange reason ( don't ask ).

The layout wasn't exactly stellar and it was really only a one ride per visit thing for me, but it always left me smiling for some reason. I guess I am one of the handfuls of people who didn't find it all that bad. It was intense, it wasn't glass smooth and it wasn't even the best ride I had ever been on, but it certainly left an impact on me.

As far as an actual better ride experience and fun factor though, Banshee is king between the two. Banshee just never gave me that "OMG WHAT AM I DOING" feeling that Sonny did.

The only time I rode SOB was 3 nights before it closed. I went on it three times which is still more than I have on Banshee. Banshee provides excitement while SOB provides excitement, and back spasms.