You Found Me! - Son of Beast - Entertainment - http://maxpages.com/rollerride/Son_of

In 1979, Kings Island theme park in Cincinnati, Ohio garnered international headlines with the debut of a wooden rollercoaster called The Beast. Designed by Charles Dinn, this utterly immense creation took over three years to plan and construct and it made history like no other coaster had before. Sprawling over 35 acres with a track length of nearly 7,400 feet, a ride duration of well over 4 minutes, two lift hills, a 540-degree helix climax and a top speed of 64.77 miles per hour, The Beast more than lived up to its name. To this day, The Beast holds the record for the world's longest woody and is one of the most beloved rollercoasters in existence. I personally consider The Beast to be among the most important thrill rides ever built.

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Even before Paramount's Kings Island (as it is now known) announced its additions for 1999 - the Face/Off Invertigo coaster and the record-smashing Drop Zone freefall tower - rumors began to fly that the park was planning something far more incredible for 2000. According to various speculative rumblings, PKI would build a kind of "sequel" to its most famous coaster, a ride referred to as the "Son of Beast." No one would say for sure whether it would be made of wood or steel, whether it would best the records set by the original, whether it could possibly live up to the reputation of the ride it would follow. But common sense dictated that if it would indeed be called the Son of Beast, it would have to be something remarkable.

Twenty years after The Beast first rocked our world, the awesome truth has finally been revealed. Behold what will soon be roaring over Paramount's Kings Island property:

What you see above is an illustration of the world's first and only wooden hypercoaster and the only woody to include an inversion. This, my friends, is the Son of Beast.

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It will be the world's tallest wooden rollercoaster and one of the tallest of any kind, towering 218 feet above the ground. The coaster's first drop, a staggering 214-foot, 55.7-degree plunge, will send its trains rocketing to a speed of 78.382 miles per hour. Its second drop will be no less impressive: 164.11 feet at a 43.4-degree angle. The third drop will be higher than those found on the largest of most woodies: 149.97 feet at a 37.3-degree angle. Max G-force? 4.46. And this coaster will feature not one, but two 540-degree helixes, one turning clockwise, the other counter-clockwise.

And then there's the inversion. The steel structure of the loop will top out at 118 feet, with the trackwork itself peaking at 103 feet.

In only one respect will the original Beast remain more grandiose; the Son of Beast's track length will measure 7,032 feet, a few hundred feet shy of the record, but still enough to make it the second longest woody in the world.

Covering 12 acres, the Son of Beast will be constructed with than 1.65 million board feet Southern Yellow Pine lumber, with Douglas Fir on the top track plies. If the individual boards were laid end-to-end, the distance covered would be more than 312 miles...

To call this ride "breathtaking" is the understatement of the decade.

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The Son of Beast was designed by Werner Stengel, the man behind some of today's most jaw-dropping rollercoasters, and the Roller Coaster Corporation of America. Trains will be designed and supplied by Premier Rides, the company that gave us the linear induction motor-launched rollercoaster. And when it opens, the coaster will mean that Paramount's Kings Island can claim six world's records:

1. The world's tallest wooden roller coaster.

2. The world's tallest wooden roller coaster drop.

3. The world's fastest wooden roller coaster.

4. The world's only looping wooden roller coaster.

5. The park with the most wooden roller coaster track (22,619 feet -- almost 4.3 miles).

6. A tie for the most wooden roller coasters at any park on earth (5).

As Tim Fisher, PKI's executive vice president and general manager explains, "The addition of the Son of Beast at Paramount's Kings Island is appropriate for the magnitude of the millennium, and it fulfills our commitment to invest more than it took to build the entire park in 1972. With the addition of the Son of Beast, we have clearly become the wooden roller coaster capital of the world."

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Only time will tell if the Son can live up to the standards set by its inspiration. But one thing is certain: this coaster promises to take us places we've never been. If you had any doubts that the Year 2000 was going to be the most outlandish the thrill ride community has ever seen, you can kiss those doubts goodbye. Prepare to be blown away.

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Page Updated Wed Nov 3, 1999 4:12pm EST