Note that after years of standing-but-not-oeprating status, Kings Island announced that it would remove the trouble-prone Son of Beast by the end of 2012 and replace it with another attraction.
When I exited the unloading station at SOB, 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 was notoriously brutal. In fact, it was closed for most of 2009 after a passenger claimed she suffered a burst blood vessel in her brain after riding the woodie, and that was all she wrote for the frequently-closed ride.
Talk about hype: When it debuted in 2000, SOB boasted many records, including the world's fastest and tallest wooden coaster. Son of Beast was 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. It may have improved the ride, but SOB never came close to living up to its hype.
