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 Review of Son of Beast @ Kings Island
1 Rating Posted by: BobFunland on 8/30/2007 1:18:00 AM
I cant think of anything good to say about this ride. As impressive as the structure is, and as much as I like woodwork, I cant even say it looks good because I think it has a bad case of "too much". I pretty much hated the Myrtle Beach hurricane, and I cheered when I saw that it was torn apart, so to see some of it live on (in the form of 2 G-Trains), I wanted to cry. Nothing like putting awful trains from one of the worst woodies on earth on an even worse waste of wood. The pre-lift wasnt too bad, but Im sure its nothing like Hades. The lift is annoying because it is terribly loud. Havent even gone down a big drop and already its losing points. The first drop is ok, though even on the turn up top and on your way down you can start to realize this isnt going to be fun. Going into the massive helix-like bowl, I braced myself for what was indeed one of the roughest parts of any ride on earth. Already before we began to head back towards the station, I needed pharmaceutical relief. Going back through the former loop, it was nice to have an almost-smooth section of track before we began to toss through the second nasty helixt. The worst part is that at one point, you pass near the station and at least I thought it was almost over -- nope! Still more torturing left, as if we hadnt gotten enough at this point. Once it did and and I realized I had survived, I couldnt help but vow to never ride again. Of course, I said that with Psyclone too, and ended up riding one last time before they demolished it... but if I dont get my courtesy goodbye ride on this piece of crap, I wont lose any sleep. Son of Beast joins the ranks of Predator, Villain and Psyclone as the worst coasters I have been on.
 

Review Comments

embalmer on 8/30/2007 9:07:25 AM said:
You summed it up, total disappointment. This coaster gives you a beating without offering anything to credit it for. It cant be considered old also being built in 2000, a collosal waste of money.
hrrytraver on 8/30/2007 9:33:22 AM said:
yknow, after all is said i think that this coaster has become a classic...debacle. there is a part of me that loves misfires - overambitious miscalculations and monuments to hubris. ive never been on this ride, but i dont need to ride to know that the nearly universal lambasting will escort this ride into coaster mythology. hindsight is always 20/20, but honestly, who thought this ride was a good idea from the beginning? any number of 14 year olds who hang out on coaster websites probably could have advised the planners against building a wood hyper looper.
ginzo on 8/30/2007 9:37:13 AM said:
The explanation is simple: Paramount *really* sucked at running those parks. Kings Island *deperately* needs a great coaster, and instead they build the most notoriously bad woodie in the world. And they could have had Intamin install an awesome hyper for what they paid for this POS. SOB has to be the worst decision made by a theme park in recent years.

The only good thing to come out of SOB is it inspired Werner Stengel to develop his prefabricated woodie system. Timberman mentioned that on another review, and I found a link that verified it.
coasterf42 on 8/30/2007 6:34:17 PM said:
^Wow, very interesting last paragraph ginzo. Ive never heard of that at all. Hopefully I will be going up to check out that famous prefab. system myself in a month or two, but until then, I will always be dreaming about it!
Timberman on 8/30/2007 11:11:14 PM said:
Glad to know my fact-checkers are keeping me honest on this site.


While everybodys dancing on SOBs grave, I will mention that it delivered at least two great rides, both of which I had the pleasure of enjoying back in 2004. Im not saying that those two rides justified PKIs investment or the slaughter of God knows how many acres of otherwise perfectly good trees, but they demonstrated a roller coaster designer pushing a material to the limit and then some. It was a beautiful moment in the arc of coaster history, even it wasnt destined to last. While history will record, and I wont argue, that the designers ultimately pushed too far with SOB, Im not going to fault them for having the stones to try. You have to cook a few monkies to orbit the planet. Son of Beast was a pioneering effort, and the upside of that effort is already making history of its own history in Jackson, New Jersey. SOB, I hardly knew ya, you big wooden bastard.

detroit_jc on 8/31/2007 12:37:09 AM said:
i agree timber. well said...
ginzo on 8/31/2007 7:36:43 AM said:
Timberman: I wanted to find out more about Stengels influences when he came up with his "plug and play" system, not prove you wrong. And your spiel is all well and good when its not your home park that has to deal with a $20 million bad investment. My personal guess is that this is yet another case of marketing idiots run amok. Wooden coaster designers have for years known the folly of building them too big, but marketing clowns seldom listen to technical grunts. I just want KI to install a coaster that makes it worth my time to go there. Their answer to my prayers? A used Vekoma! As it stands now, I have zero plans of renewing my season pass. Every time I go I have to deal with massive complaining from the wife, who is easily the biggest Kings Island hater I know.
Timberman on 9/1/2007 1:30:09 AM said:
I feel your pain, Ginzo. I live 90 minutes from Kings Dominion, and what did it spend a Kings ransom on last year but the Italian Job Turbo Coaster. Next to that, your Flying Dutchman sounds like a bargain. I havent been to the park at all this year, even with $25 tickets being made available through my job.
ginzo on 9/1/2007 2:26:43 PM said:
Yeah, and youre not going to be pleased with the mediocre B&M floorless that theyre supposedly moving down to KD from GL. Medusa is so much better. And thats not really your type of ride anyway.

The wife and I did all of KD, except for the kiddie with the height restriction, in about 4 hours back in July. I think the coaster collection is better than KIs, but that isnt saying much. KI seems to be less run down as a park, but the rides are in worse shape at KI. I really laugh when Dick Kinzel talks about how "clean" his parks are after seeing the queue for Volcano. Theres just no excuse for that. I wanted to get a tetanus shot after waiting in it.
ginzo on 9/1/2007 2:26:50 PM said:
Yeah, and youre not going to be pleased with the mediocre B&M floorless that theyre supposedly moving down to KD from GL. Medusa is so much better. And thats not really your type of ride anyway.

The wife and I did all of KD, except for the kiddie with the height restriction, in about 4 hours back in July. I think the coaster collection is better than KIs, but that isnt saying much. KI seems to be less run down as a park, but the rides are in worse shape at KI. I really laugh when Dick Kinzel talks about how "clean" his parks are after seeing the queue for Volcano. Theres just no excuse for that. I wanted to get a tetanus shot after waiting in it.
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