Just when you thought it was safe.  Just when you thought, "I'm cool, I've done it, I've ridden and survived the mighty Beast."  Comes the "Son of Beast."  Now I got ta' tell ya, if the father scared the be-gee-bees out of you . . . then junior is going to turn you into a quivering mass of pale green gelatin.  

What's the big deal?  This new ride (opened April of 2000) is a world-record breaking roller coaster that elevates the classic wood coaster experience to a new level.  This coaster is a major intense experience!

The "Son of Beast" is not only the tallest, and the fastest wooden roller coaster in the world, it is also the ONLY looping wooden coaster on earth.  This bad boy will propel you down a towering 214 foot (Gulp!) main hill, screaming your lungs out all the way down, as you hit speeds exceeding 78 miles per hour.  OHHHH YES! ...Then he'll launch you skyward through an incredible 103 foot tall loop . . . AWESOME!.  You'll careen, pitch, dive, and climb, over a total of 7,032 feet of twisted wooden track, crossing over and under the super-structure 12 times. You'll also experience two mind-numbing 540-degree helices, one blasting to the left and one shooting right, both have menacing hills and valleys incorporated into the helix.  When you climb aboard this monster, it's guaranteed to be the ride of your life.  My hair is still smoldering, my cheeks are still stretched back against my ears, and my vocal cords are completely blown out.  

It's a pretty safe bet that you’ve never ever experienced a coaster anything like the "Son of Beast" before. 
Not anywhere and not ever.  Oh yeah, coaster freaks, you're gonna want to do the front car.  It's well worth the wait.


Click photo for a much larger view. 
Photo courtesy: Paramount's King's Island  

A Few Record-Breaking Specifications:
First Drop (Out of Station) 51 feet 
First Lift Hill 218 feet tall 
(Tallest wooden roller coaster structure ever made.)
Drop on First Lift Hill 214 feet @ 55.7° angle
(The tallest wooden roller coaster drop in the world.)
Loop Structure 118 feet tall
(The only looping wooden roller coaster in the world)
Second Drop 164 feet @ 43.4° angle
(The 2nd tallest wooden coaster drop in the world.) 
Third Drop 149 feet @ 37.3° angle
Max. Speed 78.382 mph 
(World's fastest wooden roller coaster.)
Track Length 7,032 feet
(The second longest wooden roller coaster in the world. The Beast® is the longest.)

9.9        An awesome heir to the throne!

The Vortex was the first 6 inversion steel coaster in the world and is still one of my all time favorites.  This metal giant provide one awesome, adrenaline pumping ride . . . in fact it's where I first conceived my favorite coaster phrase "blasting around with my hair-on-fire."  I love this ride.

From it's 148 foot tall and (unnervingly) slender main tower, the Vortex, true to it's name propels you to speeds up over 55 miles per hour over 3,800 feet of the most twisted track ever built!  Powering you through an incredible series of   twists, loops and rolls, the Vortex throws six truly terrifying inversions your way, including a giant high-speed vertical loop and one heart stopping seemingly slow barrel roll and an awesome internal spiral, some really good air time.  The Vortex clearly sets the bar by which other coasters in this class are measured. 

 
Click photo for a  larger view. 
Photo courtesy: Paramount's King's Island  

The world's first and still one of the most intense rides you can find.  You'll definitely want to ride multiple times, what a rush! 

A Few Specifications: 
3,800 feet of steel track
55 mph Maximum Speed
148 foot high Lift Hill 
2:55 minutes ride time 

Rated: 8.8 
Super Fun (and disorienting) Ride

A very cool book from amazon.com

Roller Coasters : United States and Canada  click here 

The Zukozone