This is a photo that was sent to me by a long-time Kings Island employee. It is a circa 1978 photo his mother standing in front of one of The Beast's tunnels. The Beast made its debut on a rainy Friday, the 13th in 1979 and still stands as the world's longest wooden roller coaster.

Great photo!

However, you mean 1979, not 1972, unless Beast somehow debuted 6 years before that construction photo was taken

darn that's old school. People didn't smile in photos, they wanted to be all stoic.

She's just upset that when her son asked if she wanted to see the new roller coaster up close, she thought she'd be riding it.

Or angry that he has her on a construction site when she got dressed up to spend the day with him.

Wow! Very neat picture.

Thanks for sharing!

Cool PIC, thanks for sharing!

Has any of the concrete footers of The Beast been replaced, and if so, how many approximately?

It's kind of creepy too!

Great photo. You are very correct, I definitely have not seen that photo.

Do you know the name of the woman in the photo?

That's really cool!

This is a photo that was sent to me by a long-time Kings Island employee. It is a circa 1978 photo his mother standing in front of one of The Beast's tunnels. The Beast made its debut on a rainy Friday, the 13th in 1979 and still stands as the world's longest wooden roller coaster.

Old woman in the picture: "Oh sweetie lets ryyyde the dye-uh-mund-back be-for they add dah seat belts. I hewred it terr-uh-bub-lee affects the cuh-pass-it- tea of da ride."

^ You've got to realize that at the time... this was it. This was the whole shabang. They could have painted the Eiffel Tower purple and it wouldn't have even been a topic of discussion. The Beast garnered world-wide attention for a very long time after it was announced and built. Nowadays, they build a $24 million ride and the attention is drawn away by seat belts on another ride. When The Beast debuted it was all that mattered.

It's also crazy to think that at the time that The Racer was considered the "main attraction" of the park in terms of coasters. Just ask Mike Brady.

Nowadays, they build a $24 million ride and the attention is drawn away by seat belts on another ride.

......and a noodle.

Nowadays, they build a $24 million ride and the attention is drawn away by seat belts on another ride.

......and a noodle.

By $24 million attraction, I was referring to the noodle.

I kid.

It's probably gotten Kraft more attention and top of mind awareness than $24 million in network television commercials, which are frequently ignored or zipped through.

We have had Mac n cheese more times since the noodle was put in the park. (No joke.)

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We have had Mac n cheese more times since the noodle was put in the park. (No joke.)

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We have never had Mac n Cheese since #Jonathan has arrived.

However, you are talking about it.

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I've got another very few have seen, from the 1978 employee yearbook. I hope that is an employee's kid and they didn't just let guests wander into the station construction site...

^ I think that might have been a dock for the canoes. The station is located on what used to be a pond where people could take boats out in it.

If you look towards the bottom of the photograph, you can see a canoe I believe, thats probably what there doing and defiantly an awesome picture and would have been a cool thing to watch The Beast get built back then. Nice photo, Magenta Lizard!

23 hours ago, Magenta Lizard said:

I've got another very few have seen, from the 1978 employee yearbook. I hope that is an employee's kid and they didn't just let guests wander into the station construction site...

Great picture! That's actually the station for the Shawnee Landing canoe ride. The station was approximately where the entry to The Beast is currently located.

Those are some great photos!  

Lorax, then the subliminal message has achieved its' goal! 

On a side note, I went as a kid during the time that The Racer was the premier coaster. It had quite the line, back in the day. I remember when The Beast first opened, it was the tallest, fastest, and longest coaster. I did not ride it until after about 3 years open. I think the name alone terrified me. But boy, was I sure glad when I did. That coaster has brought a lot of good memories for me. My grandfather rode it as it was the wildest coaster he had ever seen. I remember the really long lines to ride it, the night time rides where people in the station were chanting, "Bring on The Beast! Bring on The Beast!" Good times and great memories.

That picture is downright amazing!  Thank you for sharing!

If you didn't know any better, you'd think that 1st picture was some sort of cold war era, early 80's bomb shelter!