Son of Beast • Kings Island

One of the last coasters I'd ridden, back in 2004. Honestly not as memorable as it should be. Made during a time when being "extreme" and fast was more important than the layout or being smooth. It's ...

One of the last coasters I'd ridden, back in 2004. Honestly not as memorable as it should be. Made during a time when being "extreme" and fast was more important than the layout or being smooth. It's easy to hate on this thing in retrospect, but what memories I do have of it are better than what most are posting here. I also grew up riding janky Magic Mountain rides like Psyclone & Shockwave. Structurally it obvs had issues and crappy cars, but otherwise I kinda enjoyed it.

The single most impressive wooden structure I have ever seen. The amount of trees that died for this hunk of garbage is truly sad to think about. I was super excited to ride this. We went straight ...

The single most impressive wooden structure I have ever seen. The amount of trees that died for this hunk of garbage is truly sad to think about. I was super excited to ride this. We went straight there as soon as the park opened. We rode it up front to test the waters. The scenic turn around over 200 feet up before the first drop was very cool. Sadly, that was the best part. I was about to go down the single largest wooden drop ever made and what do I see--trim brakes on the drop. Yep. This thing was only 1 or 2 years old when I rode it and they already had to start restricting it. So you start to head down and don't really get into mother nature's full grasp until you are fully half way down. This was a highly disappointing start. Then the two giant helixes. These were a series of events--super slow and boring top parts followed by extremely rough and violent bottom parts. I believe they were just too steep to be an effective continuous spiral. After those huge let downs came the loop. The second best part of the ride. It was a loop--nothing special except for we were on a rickety and shaky wooden coaster. It was fine. After that was just a series of small hills and a few twists and turns before you mercifully made it to the brakes. I did brave it again in the back, but the brakes were more noticeable and the helixes were borderline torture. Up front I did make the entire ride as a coaster should be ridden--with my hands up. In the back, no possible way. The helixes were viscous. I don't really know what was wrong with this from the beginning, but it never worked well. It was a huge waste of time, money and effort. Truly a shame.

Forceless, anemic, rough, yet visually impressive. Rather like Gouderix? If it had been smooth, the dull layout would have been exposed even more. The loop was the highlight of the ride, mostly becaus...

Forceless, anemic, rough, yet visually impressive. Rather like Gouderix? If it had been smooth, the dull layout would have been exposed even more. The loop was the highlight of the ride, mostly because it offered some sort of excitement. Of course, that had to be removed when the trains were changed. This is the only ride I've ever returned to the station chanting BURN IT! BURN IT! You didn't miss anything missing out on this one.