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To understand Son of Beast, it’s important to understand the way that traditional wooden roller coasters are built. The structures are cut on-site out and secured with bolts and plates to form the intricate support systems. Then for the track itself, layers of laminated wood are stacked, and flattened steel strips serve as the running rails for trains' wheels. The inherent imperfections in the supports and track are what give wooden roller coasters the bumpy, rough feeling that so differentiates them from the precise steel coasters. Son of Beast, like most wooden roller coasters rides built before 2000, was a classic wooden roller coaster with all the imperfections that come along with it.

Image: Joel Rogers, CoasterGallery.com

Today, a glance at the lineup of the world’s tallest wooden roller coasters is telling. Almost all of them were built post-2000, and almost all of them are built by Intamin or Rocky Mountain Construction. Those companies have found a sweet spot with two very different wooden roller coaster models.

Intamin has its Plug-and-Play line of wooden coasters like El Toro and Colossos that top annual polls as favorite wooden roller coasters. But a ride on them feels more like a steel coaster, with smooth-as-glass transitions, effortless airtime hills, and record heights. That’s because Intamin’s Plug-and-Play roller coasters are laser-cut in a factory and, as their name suggests, connected together on site like LEGO blocks, pre-cut and mathematically designed. Without the inherent bumps and imperfections of traditional wooden roller coasters, they feel almost exactly like steel roller coasters and thus can reach incredible heights and speeds very smoothly and comfortably. Made of wood? Technically, yes. But they don't feel like your average wooden coaster.

Rocky Mountain Construction, a newcomer, is increasingly renowned for converting old and often painful wooden roller coasters back into headlining attractions. They’ve done so by gradually making the steel running rails larger and thicker to the point that many coaster enthusiasts think they’re technically better classified as steel than wood, but the unique track configuration allows them to easily race through corkscrews, heartline rolls, overbanked turns, and loops like it’s nothing – evident on rides like Dollywood’s Lightning Rod or the very famous rebirths of old wooden giants like Goliath at Six Flags Great America (above).

Whatever the case, Son of Beast might still be around today if Paramount Parks had had the foresight to wait just another year or two when Intamin could’ve manufactured the ride. As it was, Son of Beast opened one measly year before Colossos (Intamin’s first Plug-and-Play) took the industry by storm. Almost certainly, a 200-foot wooden coaster with a loop made by Intamin would top coaster enthusiasts polls today. 

So, think of the traditional, classic wooden roller coaster at your local park and the way it shuffles, rattles, and bumps over every imperfection in the track. It’s a charming, “classic” feeling on many rides, but crank it up to 80 miles per hour, 218 feet, and through crippling double helices and your opinion may change.

Son of Beast was rough. Violently rough. It was an aggressive and, frankly, shocking experience that was sincerely not for the faint of heart. You wouldn’t dare take grandma, and maybe not even mom. It was no secret that Son of Beast could rattle you (literally). Extreme thrill seekers cited that as half the fun. The unsuspecting public might not have known the extent of it until it was too late.

But really, none of that mattered after 2006.

The accident

Image: Jeremy Thompson, Flickr (license)

On June 30, 2006, Cedar Fair – owners of Cedar Point and, by that time, Geauga Lake – announced their purchase of the Paramount Parks for $1.24 billion, inheriting their five North American theme parks including Paramount’s Kings Island.

Nine days later, on July 9, 2006, a structural failure in the “Rose Bowl” double helix of Son of Beast created a bump in the track, causing a train full of riders to jolt. Details have always been scarce, but many fans speculate that a timber in the ride’s structure cracked, sending a jolt down the track that upset a train barreling along the course. One way or another, all twenty-seven riders were evacuated and rushed to the hospital. Seventeen were released within five hours, and two were admitted.

In an ensuing lawsuit investigation by the Ohio Department of Agriculture (the state body responsible for overseeing safe operation of the state's amusement park rides), investigators argued that the park's operators were aware of structural defects in the Son of Beast coaster that "put passengers at risk." They insisted that Paramount Parks Inc. had fired the Roller Coaster Company of Ohio and set out to fix the ride itself using a "Band-Aid style," simply adding structural supports wherever they thought the ride needed extra timber without taking into account the loads placed on the ride or even using a computer model to determine where additional support was possible. Instead, investigators argued, they decided to "wait and see what happened... They never really stopped and said ‘we’ve got a problem with this ride as a whole.’”

Barely a week into their ownership of the park, Cedar Fair announced that Son of Beast was down for the count and that the ride would not reopen for the rest of the 2006 season.

The opening of the 2007 came and went, too. The ride was standing but not operating in April, May, and June. Finally on July 4, 2007, Son of Beast was back. But something was different. The original trains designed by Premier Rides were gone, replaced by new, lighter trains by ride manufacturer Gerstlauer. The hope, it would seem, is that the lighter trains would produce less stress on the wooden structure and reduce the violent jackhammering of riders through the Rose Bowl, to boot.

However, the use of the lighter trains required one substantial edit to the ride. When it reopened in 2007, the loop was no more. It's important to note that the loop had not been involved whatsoever in the accident from 2006. Instead, the lighter trains installed to lessen the structural stress on the ride simply couldn’t navigate the loop effectively, meaning that the loop had to go. Park spokesperson Don Helbig said in 2009, “The removal of loop was a decision the park made so we could use different trains. The trains the ride now uses are lighter and more comfortable than the original trains.”

While fans will forever debate how important the loop really was to the ride (in terms of popularity, pacing, marketing, etc.) the removal seemed to shift guest attitudes nearly as much as news of the accident had. Still, Son of Beast raced on violently without its signature loop. Until…

Another accident and an ending

On June 16, 2009 – less than three years after a structural failure sent a train's worth of riders to the hospital, and just two years after re-opening without a loop – a woman claimed to have suffered an aneurysm (a burst blood vessel in the brain) due to a ride on Son of Beast a month before – May 31. The park’s spokesperson, Don Helbig, noted that there were no other reports of injuries on Son of Beast that year and that there was no record of the woman seeking medical attention at Kings Island, but noted that the ride would shut down (again) as a precaution during an investigation by the state of Ohio.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture returned to inspect the ride yet again, but this time they could only note that no irregularities were found with the ride. The state gave Cedar Fair the go-ahead to re-open Son of Beast, but the ride didn't re-open. Not in 2009.

For the rest of that year, Son of Beast was standing, but not operating – a massive, towering, iconic structure that literally cast its shadow across the park. As you might expect, rumors ran rampant about the trains that had flown off the track during testing (never happened), all the people who had died on the ride (none had, though at least one post-ride death was officially determined to be thanks to a pre-existing condition, just like deaths after Mission: SPACE or Tower of Terror) and that it would be re-opening soon (it wouldn’t). Primarily, fans looked at the developments Intamin and Rocky Mountain Construction had made in transforming wooden roller coasters into modern, smooth thrill machines and figured that Son of Beast would be the ultimate victory: turning the world’s tallest, fastest, (and if you asked many, roughest) wooden roller coaster into a headlining ride again. Not in 2010.

For literal years, fans clamored to wonder what would become of Son of Beast and if the ride would re-open. They eagerly awaited the cranes to arrive to begin the inevitable transformation of Son of Beast. But they didn’t arrive. Not in 2011.

All the while, Kings Island noted diplomatically that they simply hadn’t decided the ride’s fate yet. They noted that they’d explored a few options (probably including a renovation, but who could say?) and just hadn’t decided their course. And think about it – in the real world, removing a behemoth ride like Son of Beast might have a price tag comparable to repairing it. Or, comparable enough to make them competing options.

But by 2012, they figured it out.

That spring, the ride came crumbling down. Literally. Like a tower of toothpicks, Son of Beast was demolished as seen in the must-see video here:

Resting in peace

Say what you will about Son of Beast, it was one hell of a ride. Even with today’s smooth-as-glass wooden roller coasters, no one else has dared to cross the 200-foot barrier again. Even if Son of Beast didn’t become a classic, it certainly changed the face of the theme park world and will always be remembered for what it was and what it dared to do.

In 2014, the massive plot of land Son of Beast occupied was at least partially put to use with a deserving follow-up: Banshee, the world’s longest inverted roller coaster. Banshee soars through the uneven terrain that once housed the massive Rose Bowl, even zooming past Son of Beast’s Outpost 5 station (which remains standing, used as a haunted house during the Halloween season).

Image: Joel Rogers, CoasterGallery.com

Fitting the folklore of the Irish spirit it's named for, the queue line for Banshee weaves through a foggy Moorish cemetery filled with cracked and aged tombstones. In a clever nod to the former resident, the most prominent of the gravestones is a ten-foot tall stone column adorned with a bronze plaque of Son of Beast's logo. All day and night, an eternal flame burns in memorial to the lost coaster.

It must sting that Kings Island spent $20 million to build the ride and allegedly a further $10 - $20 million to fix it. That’s to say nothing of the lawsuits and settlements the park has dealt with after the ride’s various mechanical failings, and the legal battle Paramount Parks endured with RCCA and its affiliates. If you're counting, that's nearly $40 million just to end up with a coaster as painful as the horrific Drachen Fire.

Even then, we wish we could call Son of Beast the biggest failure Kings Island endured in the 21st century, but it’s not. Just two years later, the park spent another $20 million building what we argue might be one of the best themed rides ever, much less at a regional, seasonal amusement park in Ohio. TOMB RAIDER: The Ride was a stunning, immersive, innovative thrill ride / dark ride hybrid meeting and exceeding Disney or Universal’s standards. So exceptional was the ride that we chronicled its incredible story in its own in-depth Lost Legends: TOMB RAIDER – The Ride feature, too, and it's well worth a read. Spoiler alert: it’s gone, too. Another $20 million down the tubes, albeit for very, very different reasons.

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.

Many of the people who describe Son of Beast as overly rough and uncomfortable are the same people who are heartbroken to see it closed. Its story is unique and unforgettable, and regardless of what you thought of the ride, its life and death are nothing short of fascinating. For those who got the chance to experience it, we’d love to hear your thoughts and memories in the comments below. For everyone else, just imagine the bravado it takes to green light a ride like Son of Beast.

No matter what you thought of the most controversial roller coaster to ever exist, we can all agree on one thing: the sequel is never better than the original. Just ask The Beast, still zooming through the forests of Ohio – and still the longest wooden roller coaster in the world – thirty-seven seasons later.

 
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Comments

I was fortunate to have been beaten & thrown around on my ride of the Son and loved every moment of it!! Sad to see him go :(

I loved Son of Beast. I rode it on its inaugural weekend back in 2000, just after the birth of my little brother. I was 9 years old. I squeaked by the height requirement with socks placed in my shoes by my roller coaster junkie father. Hard to say how many times I rode it over the next several years. Dozens and dozens, easily. It was my first coaster over 200 feet and man, was it formidable as a 9 year old. I vividly remember climbing up that hill for the first time and thinking "OMG....this is TALL!"

Personally, I do not remember it as smooth. Nor do I remember it as rough. But I was young. I didn't think any ride was rough back then. However, I always considered Mean Streak to be the roughest coaster and I still believe that. SOB was an incredible ride. My heart aches for those who never got the opportunity to enjoy it. I am glad that it was front-and-center in my Kings Island-going childhood. Banshee is great, but it is no Son of Beast.

I was lucky enough to enjoy both the wooden loop and the steel loop before it closed and was torn down.
It was a rough ride but each time you returned to the park you would stand in line with the anticipation of the thrill! It was always worth every second you spent in line! I still love the wooded roller coasters and enjoy the uniqueness of them! The authentic thrill and the bumpiness of the ride!!!
The Beast, The Son of the Beast and The Beastie will always be a fawn memory during my childhood, teen years and adult years...

I was fortunate to be able to ride both Son of Beast(with loop) and the Tomb Raider ride. Son of Beast was the roughest and most uncomfortable roller coaster I have ever ridden. I'm glad I was able to experience it, but wouldn't ride again if I had the opportunity. I loved the Tomb Raider ride! It was so different, exciting, and lots of fun! Was sad to see it go.

I have ridden every ride in this park from the kiddy park, the water park, and the regular park. I grew up with kings island I've had season passes since 1st grade and I just graduated college. My first job was even at kings island. I will say I enjoyed kings island more when paramount owned it the 2000s those were the best years and the best themes in that park. Son of beast was a jolting ride the loop was the calm before the storm and it was truly iconic. The beast has gotten rough over the years along with the racer but they are just classic you can't visit the park and not ride them along with adventure express. It's worth the bang up. Face off was by far my favorite coaster and the vortex was as rough as any wooden coaster. Top gun was a fan favorite for those just graduating from The beastie or now called something else planet snoopy. The newer rides may be smoother but they just aren't as fun or as amazing of a thrill as the wooden coasters. Kings island changed when cedar fair took over but for those of us who grew up there we will always remember the way PKI used to be

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