Question about The Beasts

All I have really heard about Son of Beast is that it is really bumpy and hurtful? Does anyone have any positive respose to this ride. Also, from hearing about the Beast and that it goes through the trees and all, it seems like an amazing coaster, can someone agree with that who has ridden it?

Use the search feature and you'll find more responses then you'll probably care to read. Both positive and negative.

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- Peabody

Beast is the single most BORING wooden coaster I've ever ridden. Totally lacking any sort of quick directional changes. Blah.

WOW! That's about the bravest thing I have ever heard anyone say about The Beast.
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You don't have to blow out my candle to make your's brighter.

The Beast: A 3000ft layout in 7500ft of track...

-------------Tyler Eaves
Coastergames.net - File Downloads!
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I rode in the back seat of Son of Beast and wow was it painful! I had a bruise on my left leg. I got the bruise when coming out of the last helix. I thought it was fun though, but it hurt a little.

When the shed was (virtually) brakeless, Beast on a warm night...ahhh. SoB still has AMAZING potential IMO, but requires a little more "tweaking"...
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the buzzer formerly known as gatorwoodie
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

The Beast is the most seriously overrated wood coaster on the planet. Basically a long train ride through the woods with very little interesting stuff happening. NO airtime, not much of anything else apart from some lateral shuffle and a lot of pogo-sticking from the lousy trains. It's long and wood, but there's unfortunately not much else going for it. It would be better if it didn't have 1,100 feet of trim brake on it.

Son of Beast is a coaster with almost no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It gets off to a good start, the loop is really neat, and the last two drops can be decent. But it's got an uninspired layout, it runs abominably, and worst of all it has the absolute worst trains I have ever seen on a wood coaster.

The Beastie is a time-tested design with a fully-articulated train, a bit of airtime on the second drop, and a particularly annoying trim brake on the top of the third hill. With squeeze brakes it seriously needs new-style couplers to eliminate the violent banging between cars on the brakes, but apart from that, it's arguably the best wood coaster that Kings Island has.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Overrated? How can Beast be overrated if the people that rate it (and ride it) actually like it? If people are willing to wait 2 1/2 hours for a coaster that is 22 years old, there's no way you can say it's overrated.
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Ride the New England Bush!

I believe people wait 2 1/2 hours to ride it because they have NEVER ridden it (to say they did), much like I did. I agree wholeheartedly about it being extremely overrated. I did enjoy it, as my ride was later in the day, and it did seem to move fairly quick, but the second 'drop' was so violent.... ugh. Just not my taste. Give me Ghostrider any day. I can only hope it will age gracefully.

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Check out my site: www.tripowered.com

I like pretty much every coaster that I've ever ridden and let me tell ya, the Beast was the ONLY one that scared the he** out of me. I usually do the hands up thing..nope not on the Beast. I can't imagine what it would be like in the dark. Now as for Sonny, I just loved it. Sure it's a bit rough but hey, it's a woodie. It's not meant to feel like it's riding on a sheet of glass. I got a real big bang out of both of 'em last summer with my fiance. Night ride on Sonny was so awesome I lost my voice for 3 days and still have trouble with it when I sing to this day! (Must have ripped something up in my vocal chords or something)
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God please let SFKK get something in 2002. ANYTHING!!

Sad to say that I agree that The Beast...during the daytime is extremely, well, not as great as it use to be. I adore the first two drops and the ride between that and the final helix could without a doubt be thousands of times better. The helix is likely the most powerful and intense section I've ever experienced on a wooden coaster, although I wouldn't say it was very enjoyable. BUT, this year I got my chance at the nostalgic 'night ride' on The Beast during Fright Fest. I have no clue what they do to that sucker, but I would say then and there, that Beast was undoubtably my favorite thrill ride ever! It felt like total darkness, no braking, and all out-of-control! I think on Mitch's poll I rated it #12, because at day I would give it a 24 and night a 1. I took the middle ground.

About SOB. Horrible trains, complete lack of airtime, surprisingly bad layout from Werner Stengal,... after all the complaining I could do about it though, it was actually my number 4 woodie. The beginning has a fun drop into the lift hill, the drops are long and intense, and the thing overall is just brutal. The loop and turn into it is by far the smoothest and most enjoyable I've gone through because I really don't like loops much at all anyway. I guess I must have fun getting beat up and knocked around a lot. It's not something I get everyday. :)

If I really had a choice of woodie at PKI to ride over and over again, The Racer is the one!

I think the Beast is over-rated durring the day. At night it is a very cool ride. The first time I rode The Beast is was slightly disapointed, untill I got a nice night ride on a hot summer night, with virtualy no trims.

I found the Beast to be quite good. The two helixes are quite intense, so it definitely got bonus points for that. Honestly, without the helixes, the ride would not have rank high on my list without it. Now SOB on the other hand...thats a different story. I was one of the people that ranked it dead last on Mitch's Poll, as it did nothing for me.
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Dayuum, Your HOT!

I went on The Beast in 1999, and Son of Beast was under construction. It was my first time at Paramount's Kins Island and I did ride The Beast, even though it doesn't have much of new stuff that woodies now have, but the "helix" was the most fun part. What other coaster has a helix like that? None! :) That's why this coaster is always in the Top Ten, everyone mainly likes the ride, even though it's not that new.

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Cak91687
"Anything for a coaster!"

The Beast is the best wooden coaster i have ever been on. I agree with Joey Stewart.........this ride will scare you to death......i have ridden it at least 200 times and the finale double helix is still the single best element ever put on a wooden coaster that i have been on. For you enthusiasts that have not experienced the wrath of the beast then i challenge you to try it out and see if you can enter the last double helix with your hands up. It's very intimidating.

I enjoy both coasters but they both definately have downsides. With the Beast, it's just trimmed too much. With the little action it has after the first couple of drops until the second lift hill, speed is the only thing it has going for it. The trims cut away too much speed IMO, I would rather have a high speed romp through the woods instead of a mid speed stroll through the woods. But at night, the Beast is one of my favorites.

The SOB has some moments, but just too much shaking. I adhere to the notion that woodies aren't supposed to be smooth, but the SOB does not fall into that category. It's not normal woodie rough, it's a poor design of both layout and train rough. The trains shake uncontrollably through the first helices, too much IMO. It's amazing that with two wooden coasters with such long track lenghts that neither one of them have any really good airtime hills. There are a couple of decent ones, but nothing to write home about. Both have great drops off the lift hill and the double helix is powerful. But my favorite woodie at PK is the Racer, going backwards in the last seat (can't beat it IMO).

*** This post was edited by Incidentalist on 12/6/2001. ***

That angled drop into the shed has ALWAYS done it for me in a big way...now if the remainder of the ride were left "untamed", it would still be AWESOME. Racer and Beastie are still the most re-rideable woodies at PKI, but I think Beast still has it going on (please note the diff. between daytime ratings and nighttime ratings for those who have ridden it both ways). During CoasterCamp it was running near full-bore, and it was almost up to the form from "the old days" - of course, it was taken out of service for the walkback the next day, so maybe that's not in the best interests of maintenance, hehe. As for SoB, Dave is right about the layout being "uninspiring"... I think they tried to draw too much from Papa!
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the buzzer formerly known as gatorwoodie
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

rollergator said:
"... I think they tried to draw too much from Papa!

I think they tried to draw too little. Really, the similarities are very, very few.

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Kicking screamin' Gucci little siggy.

Well, I guess I'll be the one (as usual ;)) to offer the dissenting opinion. I loved Son of Beast! When I first rode it, it became my number one coaster. Admittedly, it's slipped a little down to #3 behind The Legend and Lighting Racer but it's a Damn fine ride. It starts with a nice airtime inducing drop out of the station. Has the best woodie first drop around (yes, even better than ROAR in the backseat!) Powerful helixes the wonderful loop and speed and intensity the whole way through.

What suprises me is the sheer number of people that complain that this coaster is rough, yet they still like The Legend (arguably the most painful woodie south of Mean Streak). At least *I'm* consistant (Lightning Racer is an anomaly)
ciao,
moi
--Just like a test, I cram to understand you