When I exited the unloading station at Son of Beast this past June, I felt like the coaster did to me what a wild night of boogie-woogieing does to Jerry Lee Lewis: It shook my nerves and rattled my brain--and every other part of me. It's no wonder. The mammoth wood coaster at Kings Island is notoriously brutal. In fact, it was closed for most of last season after a passenger claimed she suffered a burst blood vessel in her brain after riding the woodie.
Now, there are reports, including this one from the Cincinnati Enquirer, that the frequently-closed Son of Beast may never reopen. When it debuted in 2000, the ride boasted many records, including the world's fastest and tallest wooden coaster. Son of Beast is also the second-longest wooden coaster (behind its namesake at Kings Island, The Beast). And it was the only operating woodie to include a loop, which was subsequently removed to improve the ride.
Rough-and-tumble rides are part of a wooden coaster's charm. But my Son of Beast experience was way beyond rough; it was painful and downright jarring as the ride vibrated wildly and tossed me mercilessly. The thrill machine has generated lots of similar complaints.
Obviously, Kings Island has a dilemma: Should it declare code blue and scrap one of the world's most noted coasters, or should it try (again) to fix the problem-prone ride? What do you think? Take the Son of Beast poll. And join the conversation by clicking on "Comments" below. It would be especially great to hear from folks who have ridden Son of Beast.
Photo: The massive Son of Beast at Kings Island. © Arthur Levine, 2009. Licensed to About.com.
Son of Beast never should have closed last season. The ride itself did NOTHING WRONG. Firehawk actually had a fatality (also had a rider with a pre-existing condition) but it reopened the next day.
Cedar Fair owes me for this. I never rode SoB, and Cedar Fair took away one my chance to ride it on the basis of roughness. By demolishing the ride, I can never become a true Ride Warrior.
There is no other wooden hypercoaster. There may never be, let alone with a loop. Intamin prefabs don’t count. If SoB is torn down, I would like to see another woodie equal in height and speed to it. GCI should be the builder.
Thanks for writing Joshua. I feel your pain, but there are rough coasters, and then there’s R-O-U-G-H coasters. SOB was among the roughest, if not the roughest, I’ve experienced. Clearly something is wrong with the ride that needs to be addressed.
-Arthur
Campfire at KI? That should be the fate of SOB.
I’ve rode SOB a handful of times. The last time I rode it (early in 2009 season) something in my back “popped”. The ride simply beats the snot out of you. That was was the last time I rode it. I’ve been to KI many times since then but refuse to go on it again. It’s simply not safe, and I don’t believe it can be without major reconstruction.
It seems to me that it’s a major liability issue to KI. Re-open it and face future legal problems as the lawsuits pile up. I’m betting CF won’t take that risk.
Burn it.
I hate to say this because I love Kings Island but the SoB should be leveled. I have been on hundreds of coasters from California to Florida (wood and steel) and it was by far the roughest coaster I had ever been on. The last time I rode it I felt that I received a concussion. I have never been shook, beaten and totally uncomfortable on a ride as I was on SoB. Even if people are avid rollercoasters should avoid riding SoB. You can’t even enjoy the speed, banking, air time or anything on it because of the physical pain inflicted on your brain. Seriously! And now that KI. has slowed the Beast down with trim brakes, I say go ahead and tear it down and try building another woodie that doesn’t require you to need a c-collar after riding.
Once a wooden coaster reaches a certain height the roughness starts to lose its trill and ruin the ride. Mean Streak at Cedar point has the same problems. Instead of wasting all of that structure I would retrack with tubular steel put a new set of loops/inversions/tunnels in and reopen the ride. The steel track will smooth out potential irregularities in the structure. The ride would also be faster. The Gemini at CP is built like this, but 80 feet lower.
I absolutely loved SOB. Then again, the last time I rode it was several years ago… heck, Tomb Raider was the new ride that year. Sure it was bumpy, but my only complaint was the bulking, uncomfortable lap bars. I’m almost wishing I had the opportunity to ride again, mainly to get a newer perspective on the ride.
While I’m no expert, I do know that coasters are very much prone to “wear and tear”– heck, even the last time I rode Millenium Force at CP it was knocking us around a bit… far different then the glossy, smooth ride that I loved from my first time. It isn’t really in the parks interest to keep something that has the potential to decrease the amount of guests (either because of reputation issues or the fact the ride starts actually killing guests off). But I am surely hoping that they don’t scrap the ride. Perhaps have a thorough redesign… even if it takes several seasons to accomplish. I don’t know, I’m not in the business. But I do know that if the park chooses to say goodbye to SOB, then I’ll sure miss seeing it on the landscape every time I travel the two hours to OH.
I love roller coasters and I hate to give up on one, but I could never ride that thing, once I thought I had broke my knee cap on it. I think they should switch it to steel track, add enough extra length to get the longest steel coaster record. and rename it “Steel Beast” but the wood version has got to go.
Alternative idea, the loop was by far the smoothest part of the ride. track the ride with wood rails and steel cross members like the loop, that might work.
I was at King’s Island last night. I arrived at 6:30 PM, to purchase the Starlight tickets. They did not tell guests on the way in that they were experiencing outages. Many of the rides were not working, many restraunts and shops were closed as well. Within an hour I asked for a refund, and they refused. At minimum they should of told guests purchasing tickets that they were experiencing an outage if they were not going to offer refunds.
In the future if they have an outage and it is known, they should tell ticket purchasers at the window before they purchase a ticket. Shame on them.
Hi Chris-
Thanks for writing. If you had your Starlight ticket receipt, then it’s clear you arrived later in the day. I completely agree that KI should have offered you a refund–or some kind of compensation.
-Arthur
You guys are stupid, SOB is awesome, so wow you guys are old and you get your back popped.So you shouldnt go to Kings Island if you cant handle it.
I rode son of beast in 2008 & my mom did too she was 48 years old. We rode the ride 2 times with no problems would of rode it more if we had time.
I happened to ride SOB probably hundreds of times while it was opened, either when it had the loop, didn’t have the loop, and even the night before its accident. Anyone who didn’t get to ride it with the loop definitely missed a unique opportunity for sure, after they took the loop out it just didn’t really feel the same. The night before the accident I rode it and honestly I had never felt quite so bad on a ride before. When riding, it just felt like something was wrong, like something horrible was going to occur. I also specifically remember how hard the train hit the loop, it honestly felt like it hit the track, stopped going forward for a second, before continuing through the loop. It was a scary event and after the ride you could hear tons of people saying how it didn’t feel right, and something was wrong, and when I walked out to my mom and sister I just sat on the ground for a minute to kinda catch my breath because my chest hurt. Even though that was an accident that hurt many, I do feel like many people now a days are increasingly whiny and just trying to find a way to make a suit on this ride that is so famous for being rough. I’ll admit this is a super rough coaster and it does beat you up quite a bit, but that’s part of its experience and it clearly had the warning sign posted before you rode it, just like any other ride. Anyways long story short, I’d love to see this ride get reopened to its former glory, whether it be in steel or wood!