Dufunctland: Son of Beast

[Maverick44]

I have been meaning to go over to Holiday. I am only 4 and a half hours from that park. Those woodies look sweet!

[fyrfyter]

I have been meaning to go over to Holiday. I am only 4 and a half hours from that park. Those woodies look sweet!

They are. It's impressive when you are going so fast on a smooth wooden coaster that you are perpendicular to the ground.

[Maverick44]

I will have to go soon!

[MaestroJr]

I never had the courage to ride Son of Beast as it's stories around the lunch table scared me and I was never that into coasters as a kid. In fact as a kid I had only a few coaster credits but my favorite was Adventure Express. I loved to watch Son of Beast from the Adventure Express lift hill, especially at night and it's massive structure and watching it run its course down the hill and up the loop is a personal favorite memory of my Paramounts Kings Island childhood. I continued to admire its massive wooden structure and went to Kings Island in 2012 while it's downfall and destruction was happening and it was quite a sight. I made a visit to the park in October 2012 to see Sonny's massive lift hill one final time and it was a very depressing visit for sure! Sonny's lift hill finally came down for good less then 1 month later. I got some great pictures on that trip of the rides structure and I even bought one of the Son of Beast structure bolts that came off the ride that went up for sale as soon as they came on the KI website. I received that as a Christmas present and it rest on my nightstand as a permanent reminder of a childhood memory.                                                        I hoped for an RMC treatment for Sonny, and I hated Banshee during its initial year for taking out a great childhood memory. But after riding and riding, I learned that Banshee is a better ride and I have it as my second favorite roller coaster next to The Beast. Regardless of its legacy, Son of Beast is a childhood memory I'll never forget and I'll always miss seeing it's lift hill from the interstate while pulling into the park. MaestroJr 

[Maverick44]

Thanks for the memory share! That was a good one. I will go even further and remember I was so scared to ride a stand up coaster. I was around 9 years old and thinking how is that safe at all. King Cobra was also an awesome site to see. Looking back at it now it was tiny but at 9 I was like wow people stand up on there. I went years and year not riding it. It was the only one I would not do. A couple years later I go up to Cedar Point with friends and they wanted to ride Mantis ( way way way bigger then King Cobra). I was like oh crap I can't look like a chicken and rode it. It was awesome!!! I went right back to KI and got on Kinga Cobra before they took it down. Too bad stand up's are so uncomfortable.

[MaestroJr]

1 minute ago, Maverick44 said:

Thanks for the memory share! That was a good one. I will go even further and remember I was so scared to ride a stand up coaster. I was around 9 years old and thinking how is that safe at all. King Cobra was also an awesome site to see. Looking back at it now it was tiny but at 9 I was like wow people stand up on there. I went years and year not riding it. It was the only one I would not do. A couple years later I go up to Cedar Point with friends and they wanted to ride Mantis ( way way way bigger then King Cobra). I was like oh crap I can't look like a chicken and rode it. It was awesome!!! I went right back to KI and got on Kinga Cobra before they took it down. Too bad stand up's are so uncomfortable.

Especially on the grown man in a certain place!

[Maverick44]

^^ You got that right.

[MaestroJr]

What do you think of Rogarou? 

[SonofBaconator]

Maybe in the next 20 years we'll get an RMC to pay homage to Son of Beast

[Maverick44]

Nephew of Beast? haha

[MaestroJr]

How about The Beast's Beast.

[jcgoble3]

I prefer GrandSon of Beast.

[Maverick44]

That would be SoB. lol Unless its referring to its daughter. ( Referring to Maestro)

[SonofBaconator]

What about Son of Baconator?

[rhyano]

Very cool video! Thanks for sharing, Ryan!

[JCoaster25]

Man, every time SOB is brought up on this forum, I realize more and more how lucky I am to have ridden it in all its forms, and how insane I was for riding it my first time as a freaking 10 YEAR OLD. I actually rode it quite a bit back when it had the loop and old Premier trains. Yeah it was rough as hell, but it blew my mind as a pre-teen enthusiast. I was completely naive to how sketchy the ride really was. It really is kinda scary thinking about how SOB was built so poorly, and it's a miracle that it caused no serious injuries or deaths throughout its life.

[teenageninja]

15 hours ago, silver2005 said:

What, RMC would just re-track with Iron Horse a layout that was just bunch of helices and 0 air time?  No thanks.  Even if SOB's layout were smooth, it was boring.  Other than the first drop and loop, what was so exciting about it?

I didn't even think the first drop was all that thrilling, no stomach in your chest feeling.  Just like going down a steep hill in a car.

The ride was not very good.  I rode it opening night.  I waited 4.5 hours.  That was my first experience with anticipointment.  I rode the ride dozens of other times in its original configuration and a handfull after.  Unfortunately a bit disappointing.

[Gordon Bombay]

SOB was a ****ty ride, but it had nothing on how awful The Villain at Geagua Lake was. 

Loved when Cedar Fair's proposed "fix" was putting used Gerstauler trains on there that weren't even good when they were new. 

[Shaggy]

FYI, while the video is *dramatic*, and tells the basic tale, it barely scratches the surface as to what all went wrong with SOB.  It doesn't mention the issues with the designer... a very famous one... that wouldn't ride it... and who himself forced the park into breaking the 200' barrier.  It doesn't mention that the park was given two options via a scale graph paper model that allowed them to remove the loop if they wanted.  It doesn't talk about the fiasco that was the announcement... for which the park and Montel were not prepared to make... which resulted in a complete dismissal of the PR/Marketing Team.  It doesn't mention that it went through 2 logo and theme changes.  It doesn't mention that it operated with riders first on Easter of 2000.  It doesn't mention that it operated, unaltered, for a select few (your's truly included) before it opened to the general public - but was temporarily re-profiled before the public ever got on.  It doesn't mention that in the first weeks of operation, wood coaster crew members were staffed at questionable parts of the ride all-day, every day, to monitor the structure in order to prevent any failures.  It doesn't mention that PTC turned down the construction of the trains.  It doesn't mention the addition of trim breaks in two areas of the course - or how kicker tires were added to prevent rollbacks.  Finally, it doesn't mention that it operated over 4 times as long as "The Bat" which was riddled with issues yet is revered by so many.

I wouldn't call it a failure, but I wouldn't call it a success either.

I have a long, vested history with SOB.  And it will likely go down as one of those (in)famous coasters that people will reminisce (good and bad) for eternity.  Ultimately, my opinion is that SOB was waaaay ahead of it's time and technology.  It single-handedly ushered in a new era of wooden coasters and could be credited as the modern-day genesis of inversions on "wooden" coasters.  Was it one of my favorite coasters?  No, not by a long shot.  But I sure did enjoy all the hub-bub and excitement surrounding it.  Frankly, the loss of the loop crippled the ride by removing it's best feature.  The decision to add G-trains must have been made by someone that had never ridden in one... I could have saved them a lot of trouble by sending them to ride "The Boss" at SFSTL.  Prior, SOB was rideable - but these severe and drastic knee-jerk alterations compromised how it was designed to operate and made it brutal.  I rode it dozens (if not hundreds) of times prior to the change.  (Why, I rode 21 consecutive times for Travel/History Channel filming with a camera mount beside and in-front of me with no issues.)  However, I only rode it about 3 times after the loop loss and train switch...  it was horrendously bad and intolerable... far too rough for me.  I found it ironic that they actually made the complaints WORSE with the changes.  My last ride was at night in Sep of 2008... and when I got off I knew I would never ride it again... so I said a quiet little goodbye then and there. Bittersweet... the coaster that never was what it should have been... 

I do wonder what RMC could have done with the ride - it would likely have been a top 10 for most.  That's what happened with "Rattler" at Fiesta Texas - SOB's pre-curser that was plagued by the exact same structural and size issues and built by the same people that built SOB... RCCA (The video fails to mention that lawsuits were filed against them for that coaster too.)  

But truth is, the PR damage is what killed SOB and why it's not there anymore.  There was no "converting it" when people would always associate it with sensationalistic news stories of horror rides... like this video.  Finally, so much time and effort (not to mention $) had been sunk into it, the park just gave up on it... and traded the clunker for a brand-new Mercedes.

[DMann1979]

I love this guy's work, so to see a series that has primarily Disney and Universal rides talk about my home park is awesome.

Hoping to convince Some Jerk with a Camera to to a vlog at Kings Island one day too!

[DMann1979]

I love this guy's work, so to see a series that has primarily Disney and Universal rides talk about my home park is awesome.

Hoping to convince Some Jerk with a Camera to do a vlog at Kings Island one day too!

[Maverick44]

Such a story behind this coaster. Love hearing it all.

[SonofBaconator]

I wish I would have ridden it at least once so I could properly experience what it was like to ride it. The ride was a PR nightmare and probably one of the most controversial coasters ever built. Even if, by some strange miracle, Cedar Fair was able to overhaul it and make it a success, the ride would still be controversial. Saving the ride wouldn't make people forget about all those people who got injured back in 2006. 

I'd love it if we got a towering RMC woodie some year like Goliath at Six Flags Great America but only one can dream.

[abrunerboy]

20 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

I wish I would have ridden it at least once so I could properly experience what it was like to ride it. The ride was a PR nightmare and probably one of the most controversial coasters ever built. Even if, by some strange miracle, Cedar Fair was able to overhaul it and make it a success, the ride would still be controversial. Saving the ride wouldn't make people forget about all those people who got injured back in 2006. 

I'd love it if we got a towering RMC woodie some year like Goliath at Six Flags Great America but only one can dream.

I think for awhile we've extremely solidified our wooden coaster lineup with Mystic Timbers, as awesome as that would be. But I agree, I wish I could have had one ride on SOB to experience and know what it truly was, I have a relatively high pain tolerance I would say. My first visit to the park wasn't until 2011 when it was SBNO.

[patrickbateman]

Haven't watched the video yet.

What was better than SOB was looking at it and the hype building up to it.  The ride was very painful.  Even when they switched to the lighter trains after the loop removal.  In fact, I think the lighter trains made an even more painful ride than the Premier trains.

I rode it a year after it opened.  It was definitely a memorable experience each time.  The probable wasn't that it was too rough, it was that it wasn't very fun.  The dip out of the station was cool, the loud sexy chain lift sound was nice, the first drop was awesome, but then everything just took a turn for the worse.  The rose bowl helix was straight up awful.  The loop? Amazing.  My favorite loop to date.  Glass smooth. HUGE.  Then went back to the pain.  The second helix was almost as painful.  The hills after that were pretty bad as well.  I think they were meant to have huge airtime but failed.  

It baffles me why Paramount chose RCCA to build a massive record breaker.  

It was beautiful though.  The sound was amazing.  Not one record SOB held has been broken. Unless a certain park is going to have a streak that's the opposite of nice.  

Edited July 28, 2017 by patrickbateman
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[Joshua]

On July 26, 2017 at 0:01 PM, Shaggy said:

FYI, while the video is *dramatic*, and tells the basic tale, it barely scratches the surface as to what all went wrong with SOB.  It doesn't mention the issues with the designer... a very famous one... that wouldn't ride it... and who himself forced the park into breaking the 200' barrier.  It doesn't mention that the park was given two options via a scale graph paper model that allowed them to remove the loop if they wanted.  It doesn't talk about the fiasco that was the announcement... for which the park and Montel were not prepared to make... which resulted in a complete dismissal of the PR/Marketing Team.  It doesn't mention that it went through 2 logo and theme changes.  It doesn't mention that it operated with riders first on Easter of 2000.  It doesn't mention that it operated, unaltered, for a select few (your's truly included) before it opened to the general public - but was temporarily re-profiled before the public ever got on.  It doesn't mention that in the first weeks of operation, wood coaster crew members were staffed at questionable parts of the ride all-day, every day, to monitor the structure in order to prevent any failures.  It doesn't mention that PTC turned down the construction of the trains.  It doesn't mention the addition of trim breaks in two areas of the course - or how kicker tires were added to prevent rollbacks.  Finally, it doesn't mention that it operated over 4 times as long as "The Bat" which was riddled with issues yet is revered by so many.

That's all stuff I would have loved to read in more detail, particularly, the theme/logo changes, re-profiling, and announcement fiasco. I never watched the Son of Beast announcement video until, but it's awkward.

[BlondyRidesOn]

I wondered for a while had Son of Beast run with lighter trains if it wouldn't have run into as many problems as it did, but of course the structure wasn't on par and unstable. That's a lot of stuff I never knew about Son of Beast.

[shark6495]

FYI, while the video is *dramatic*, and tells the basic tale, it barely scratches the surface as to what all went wrong with SOB.  It doesn't mention the issues with the designer... a very famous one... that wouldn't ride it... and who himself forced the park into breaking the 200' barrier.  It doesn't mention that the park was given two options via a scale graph paper model that allowed them to remove the loop if they wanted.  It doesn't talk about the fiasco that was the announcement... for which the park and Montel were not prepared to make... which resulted in a complete dismissal of the PR/Marketing Team.  It doesn't mention that it went through 2 logo and theme changes.  It doesn't mention that it operated with riders first on Easter of 2000.  It doesn't mention that it operated, unaltered, for a select few (your's truly included) before it opened to the general public - but was temporarily re-profiled before the public ever got on.  It doesn't mention that in the first weeks of operation, wood coaster crew members were staffed at questionable parts of the ride all-day, every day, to monitor the structure in order to prevent any failures.  It doesn't mention that PTC turned down the construction of the trains.  It doesn't mention the addition of trim breaks in two areas of the course - or how kicker tires were added to prevent rollbacks.  Finally, it doesn't mention that it operated over 4 times as long as "The Bat" which was riddled with issues yet is revered by so many.
I wouldn't call it a failure, but I wouldn't call it a success either.
I have a long, vested history with SOB.  And it will likely go down as one of those (in)famous coasters that people will reminisce (good and bad) for eternity.  Ultimately, my opinion is that SOB was waaaay ahead of it's time and technology.  It single-handedly ushered in a new era of wooden coasters and could be credited as the modern-day genesis of inversions on "wooden" coasters.  Was it one of my favorite coasters?  No, not by a long shot.  But I sure did enjoy all the hub-bub and excitement surrounding it.  Frankly, the loss of the loop crippled the ride by removing it's best feature.  The decision to add G-trains must have been made by someone that had never ridden in one... I could have saved them a lot of trouble by sending them to ride "The Boss" at SFSTL.  Prior, SOB was rideable - but these severe and drastic knee-jerk alterations compromised how it was designed to operate and made it brutal.  I rode it dozens (if not hundreds) of times prior to the change.  (Why, I rode 21 consecutive times for Travel/History Channel filming with a camera mount beside and in-front of me with no issues.)  However, I only rode it about 3 times after the loop loss and train switch...  it was horrendously bad and intolerable... far too rough for me.  I found it ironic that they actually made the complaints WORSE with the changes.  My last ride was at night in Sep of 2008... and when I got off I knew I would never ride it again... so I said a quiet little goodbye then and there. Bittersweet... the coaster that never was what it should have been... 
I do wonder what RMC could have done with the ride - it would likely have been a top 10 for most.  That's what happened with "Rattler" at Fiesta Texas - SOB's pre-curser that was plagued by the exact same structural and size issues and built by the same people that built SOB... RCCA (The video fails to mention that lawsuits were filed against them for that coaster too.)  
But truth is, the PR damage is what killed SOB and why it's not there anymore.  There was no "converting it" when people would always associate it with sensationalistic news stories of horror rides... like this video.  Finally, so much time and effort (not to mention $) had been sunk into it, the park just gave up on it... and traded the clunker for a brand-new Mercedes.

Thanks for the mention about workers being staffed at different positions. I thought I was remembering it wrong. I recall an employee standing (maybe sitting) after the first helix before you go down into the preloop... it always was weird to see a person that close to the ride.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[timfsu2k]

On 7/25/2017 at 8:54 PM, MaestroJr said:

I never had the courage to ride Son of Beast as it's stories around the lunch table scared me and I was never that into coasters as a kid. In fact as a kid I had only a few coaster credits but my favorite was Adventure Express. I loved to watch Son of Beast from the Adventure Express lift hill, especially at night and it's massive structure and watching it run its course down the hill and up the loop is a personal favorite memory of my Paramounts Kings Island childhood. I continued to admire its massive wooden structure and went to Kings Island in 2012 while it's downfall and destruction was happening and it was quite a sight. I made a visit to the park in October 2012 to see Sonny's massive lift hill one final time and it was a very depressing visit for sure! Sonny's lift hill finally came down for good less then 1 month later. I got some great pictures on that trip of the rides structure and I even bought one of the Son of Beast structure bolts that came off the ride that went up for sale as soon as they came on the KI website. I received that as a Christmas present and it rest on my nightstand as a permanent reminder of a childhood memory.                                                        I hoped for an RMC treatment for Sonny, and I hated Banshee during its initial year for taking out a great childhood memory. But after riding and riding, I learned that Banshee is a better ride and I have it as my second favorite roller coaster next to The Beast. Regardless of its legacy, Son of Beast is a childhood memory I'll never forget and I'll always miss seeing it's lift hill from the interstate while pulling into the park. MaestroJr 

 

As a collector of Kings Island memorabilia, I had no idea that the park sold SOB bolts on their website.  I must find one!!!

[MaestroJr]

44 minutes ago, timfsu2k said:

 

As a collector of Kings Island memorabilia, I had no idea that the park sold SOB bolts on their website.  I must find one!!!

Back in fall of 2012 while Sonny was being torn down they put on twitter that bolts and track from the structure of Son of Beast were up for grabs for a limited time only. I called up and got one right away for $20 I believe it was. Defiantly a cool piece of Kings Island history and it also came with a certificate of authenticity and Son of Beast tag which had some info on the ride. They are probably not easy to find today but maybe try ebay from time to time I've seen them on there.