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Inside the Demise of the Record-Breaking Coaster That Went Too Far


Oldiesmann
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Literally?

 

Oh man...

 

There's only one coaster I've ever gotten off of and said "Never again." And this time, I Mean it. 

 

That being said, I am, at 24, different than I was at 18. For all I know, a ride on Son of Beast today might be too much for me. Especially with wooden roller coasters, I find myself asking, "Is it getting older, or am I? Or both?" 

I see what you did there  ;) ... and in regards to age, I will be 42 in 22 days, and I still enjoy getting a Mean ride every time Im on the peninsula.  All I wish, is that A)Trim Brake Fair would remove the trim on the first drop and ease WAAAYYYY up on the MCBR and B)They had spent the money on an RMC update instead of on the 1 trick pony they are currently building.  Again, not that I think the ride is too Mean, but more simply to see how crazy RMC could go with it.  Since Im rambling, and to keep on topic, I think the title of the article is only half right.  I think the only reason the ride went "too far" is because they didnt go "far enough" in regards to investing the proper amount of money with a better builder/designer/engineering firm.

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Great point!

 

I don't choose the titles. Unfortunately. ;) When I've tried, it's brought to my attention that the title has to sell the article, not necessarily represent what it's about. Hence why my 7,000 word magnum opus on Geauga Lake is entitled "5 Reasons The World's Largest Theme Park is Abandoned in Ohio" or something like that. 5 reasons? Really? No mention of its compelling story, Six Flags and SeaWorld combined, Geauga Lake, or anything? That story is many things to many people; a Buzzfeed listicle, it is not. 

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I can count on one hand the number of times I actually rode Son of Beast.  Each and every time I rode that thing, I was in pain afterwards.  Each time I rode it, I tried to convince myself that it would be better and maybe wouldn't hurt so bad.  I was wrong.  I was only 19 when it came out and it literally beat the heck out of me every time.  After about the 4th or 5th ride I had had enough and never got back on again.  To me, all the pain wasn't worth it.  There were far better rides in the park that were more enjoyable and didn't leave you feeling like a sack of busted up bones. 

 

It is kind of a shame though that it ended up like it did.  If the thing wasn't so rough and it didn't have so many problems, it could have been an awesome addition to the park.  Too bad they couldn't figure out some way to smooth it out and make it work.  Oh well.  That's the way things go I guess.  All in all, I'm much happier with the coaster that now takes it's place.

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I wonder if any park has asked them to?

 

Not sure if any of you here are responsible, but there are some great, wonderful comments on the Son of Beast article and even more on Facebook. It's surprising to me how many people seem to have a sincere emotional connection to the ride. Same for Tomb Raider (though I understand that one much more. :P

 

Like I mention in the article, I think those two rides in particular are evidence of a bygone era:

 

For people who grew up at Paramount's Kings Island with headlining rides like Tomb Raider: The Ride, Son of Beast, Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle, the Italian Job: Stunt Track, Crocodile Dundee's Boomerang Bay water park, and Nickelodeon Universe, the park they visit today must feel very, very different. Things have changed a lot, and in a very short amount of time. Maybe that's why people are still so emotionally impacted by the stories of those lost rides that make the Kings Island of just a decade ago feel so far away.

 

So much has changed so quickly. I know that when I look at the 2006 park map -- just ten years old -- it feels like a completely different park than Kings Island today. Better? Worse? I don't know. But different.

 

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If we all romanticize the Kings Island we grew up with, the map above will always be my Kings Island. FACE/OFF in those colors, Tomb Raider just past Swan Lake in Rivertown, Nickelodeon Universe (with respects to Hanna-Barbera Land), Boomerang Bay... Even those colors on the map seem right. International Street should be purple, Rivertown dark blue, etc. It's confusing, but I think we all feel that way about one era of the park's history. For all its faults, that's our Kings Island. And I'd say my Kings Island has Son of Beast. Probably.

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  Too bad they couldn't figure out some way to smooth it out and make it work.  Oh well.  That's the way things go I guess.  All in all, I'm much happier with the coaster that now takes it's place.

Its not that there werent companies that couldnt have smoothed it out and made it work, its that the cost estimates that may or may not have been given, were out of the realm of what Corporate Management wished to invest.

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Long live the memories of The Son of Beast, maybe an iron beast? with rmc treatment 17 or 18 in the back woods. 

Granted I'm speaking as someone who rode SOB in the very back row at least once or twice on every trip to the park, but I'd rather see it gone than turned into an RMC frankencoaster.  Ruining wooden coasters by turning them to steel is a disservice to the amusement industry for wooden coaster fanatics like me.

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