The Beast (roller coaster)

The Beast
Kings Island
Location	Kings Island
Park section	Rivertown
Status	Operating
Opening date	April 13, 1979
Cost	$4,000,000 USD (estimated)
General statistics
Type	Wood
Manufacturer	Charles Dinn / Al Collins
Designer	John Allen
Model	Out & Back with helix
Track layout	Terrain
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	110 ft (34 m)
Drop	141 ft (43 m)
Length	7,359 ft (2,243 m)
Speed	64.77 mph (104.24 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	4:50
Max vertical angle	45°
Capacity	1,200 riders per hour
G-force	3.1
Height restriction	48 in (122 cm)
The Beast at RCDB

The Beast is a wooden roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. It is currently the longest roller coaster in the USA and the longest wooden roller coaster in the world. It sprawls over 35 acres (14 ha). It was also one of the fastest and tallest roller coaster in the world when it opened in spring 1979.

The Beast has been constantly rated as one of the top roller coasters in the world since it first opened, having earned itself a cult-like following among coaster enthusiasts. Even after more than 30 years, it is still one of the main attractions at King's Island, located at the rear of the park in the Rivertown section. To date, over 40 million riders have ridden The Beast.

It has been incorrectly reported by some sources that the Philadelphia Toboggan Company was involved in the construction of this coaster. They were responsible only for the trains. This is thought to be true because the trains are the same as the Racer which the Philadelphia Toboggan Company constructed. Construction was handled internally by King's Island's Maintenance & Construction department.

Charlie Dinn, who spearheaded the park's maintenance and construction team, oversaw the vertical construction of The Beast. Dinn later left Kings Island and formed his own construction firm, which later went bankrupt and re-organized as Custom Coasters International, which also went bankrupt in 2002.

While Kings Island was owned by Taft Broadcasting, the design and engineering was largely subcontracted to Curtis D. Summers Engineering, which was a structural engineering and architecture firm located in Cincinnati. Summers' team worked with Taft staff designers Al Collins and Jeffrey Gramke to design the Beast with John Allen providing profiling and dynamics specifications; Taft was unique in having constructed most of their wood coasters at Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Canada's Wonderland during the 1970s and into the 1980s. Following KECO's sale of their theme parks to Paramount, Summers continued to partner with Charlie Dinn's firm on several coasters at parks around North America. The two firms continued to work together on coasters up until Summer's death in 1992.

Ride Layout

The ride begins with a 180-degree turn out of the station, leading though the switch track (used for storing trains on the storage track) and onto the first lift hill. The train slowly climbs the 110-foot hill and once it crests, drops 135 feet (41 m) into an underground tunnel, passing the on-ride photo camera on the way.

The Beast is located at the back of the park, behind Vortex

The train comes out of the first drop still underground. Out of the tunnel, the train makes a hard left-hand turn, maneuvers the climb and drop of a second hill giving riders "airtime." The train then climbs upward, makes a right turn, and speeds into a covered brake shed. Once through the trim brakes, the track turns to the right, continuing through a heavily wooded area. Veering left, the coaster enters the second tunnel. A quarter of this tunnel is underground, while the exit is above. This is due to the topography of the land. As the train exits the tunnel, the coaster gains speed veering right then taking another hard turn to the right. It is at this point on the coaster that riders may feel remote from the rest of the park. At the end of this run, the train begins to climb the second lift hill. At the top of this lift, the train turns left and begins a gradual, 18-degree drop. The drop itself measures 141 feet from the crest of the lift hill to the lowest point of the helix. As the train descends, the track starts to bank left in preparation for entrance into the final helix.

The highly banked, high speed, counter clockwise helix is the signature trademark of the ride and is one of the most memorable and intense finales of any roller coaster in the world. Half of this massive double helix is enclosed, which adds to the intensity and excitement. Once through this element, the train crests another small hill, then rises into the final smooth magnetic brake run back to the station.

History

Originally, the park wanted to re-build a replica of the "Shooting Star" roller coaster previously located at Cincinnati's Coney Island. Cincinnati's Coney Island was the predecessor to Kings Island and the Shooting Star was immensely popular at the park until the ride was demolished in 1971. The original idea to rebuild the Shooting Star was back-burnered in favor of a terrain coaster utilizing the park's natural wooded hills. The Shooting Star was indeed rebuilt, but not at Kings Island. A replica was constructed at Canada's Wonderland called the Mighty Canadian Minebuster.

The Beast became and still is the world's longest wooden roller coaster when it opened on Friday April 13, 1979 and is credited as the first modern day wooden coaster to generate a marketing blitz. From elaborate animated commercials to countless television spots, the ride became famous worldwide. Because so many people have heard about The Beast, it is clearly one of the most well-known roller coasters in the world.

When it opened, The Beast featured three underground tunnels. By its second season the second and third underground tunnels had been enclosed into one long one so that an access road could be built. Also after its first season, an enclosed tunnel structure was built over the final helix.

In 2000, the park opened the Son of Beast, a "sequel". Son of Beast is the tallest, fastest, and until 2006 was the only looping wooden coaster in the world. The loop was removed after the 2006 season for maintenance reasons following an accident. It is also the second longest wooden roller coaster, designed so that The Beast retains its longest wooden roller coaster record.

In popular culture, R. L. Stine wrote a novel which featured the roller coaster and was named after it, simply titled The Beast. The book also had a sequel called The Beast 2.

The 2009 season is the coaster's 30th year running since its opening. It is still the longest wooden roller coaster around. With Diamondback built the entrance is back where it used to be in 1979. As an observation, most of the track and supports have been replaced in the double helix creating a smoother ride.

Awards and rankings

In October 2004, The Beast was given the Coaster Landmark Award by the American Coaster Enthusiasts club. There is a plaque commemorating this outside the ride.

Golden Ticket Awards: Top Wooden Roller Coasters
Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Ranking	7	6	12	7	8	7	8	8	8	8	7

Mitch Hawker's Internet Poll: Best Wooden-Tracked Roller Coaster
Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Ranking	68	68	68	43	51	47	50	66	59	56	51

NAPHA Survey: Favorite Wood Roller Coaster
Year	2005	2006	2007
Ranking	2 (tie)	5	4 (tie)

External links

• The Beast An informative article about the roller coaster on ThrillRide.com (dead link)
• The Beast Pictures and details from CoasterGallery.com
• P.O.V. Video of The Beast
• Kings Island Central information - Alternate source of details and stats.
• Kings Island official site - The Beast