Kings Island
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cedar Fair Entertainment
 Park News - (8/13/10) We’ve heard from several sources that the work taking place in the Son of Beast station building is indeed for a new Halloween Haunt attraction and not part of a covert effort to get the ride running again.
(7/24/10) The latest update from Kings Island fans is that Delirium is up once again, reopening to guests late Tuesday afternoon it seems after having been closed since early July.
(7/22/10) Over the past weekend Delirium was down at Kings Island, as the park had a crane on site to help work on it. Accoring to one rumor a motor may have gone out, so they’ll be waiting for a new one. They could be waiting awhile… as many Huss rides always seem to have to wait quite awhile for major parts over the past  several years. Of course if they have a spare one over at Cedar Point for MaxxAir… maybe they can borrow it.
(7/14/10) A new lengthy photo trip report from Kings Island has been posted to Negative-G.
(7/9/10) Kings Island fans may be interested in this Ebay auction for what seems to be an old front panel logo from one of The Beast’s old trains.
(7/7/10) Kings Island suffered a power outage this past Saturday for about three hours between 6:30pm and 9:30pm. Read all the details here.
(5/17/10) Kings Island reports that Diamondback took it’s 2 millionth rider for a trip out into the woods and back yesterday.
(4/20/10) A trip report from the opening weekend at Kings Island can be seen at Coaster101.
(4/8/10) First Carowinds and now Kings Island… the park has launched an all new website this week. Check it out!
(3/29/10) I’m told that Kings Island has opened a new official Facebook page, different from their last one. Apparently they will be sharing news about a new dark ride experience coming to the park this week here, so keep your eyes open.
Son Of Beast Status - Closed Until Further Notice - (8/13/10) We’ve heard from several sources that the work taking place in the Son of Beast station building is indeed for a new Halloween Haunt attraction and not part of a covert effort to get the ride running again.
(8/2/10) The new land clearing behind Son of Beast is real it seems, and can be seen from the tower’s observation deck if you look through the gap where the loop used to be to the land beyond. Even more interesting are the reports from those riding Flight Deck who claim to have seen workers pounding/sawing away at stuff in the SOB station, along with the sound of power tools. I’ve got to wonder, are they working on something in the station for the ride… or planning to turn the station into a Halloween Haunt?
(7/28/10) I’m told that some new land clearing has actually begun behind Son of Beast. While I’m not sure what this may mean, another reader has pointed out that the former SonOfBeast.com website is now auto-forwarding all visits to the Intimidator 305 page. Odd… very odd…
(7/19/10) I don’t know Cedar Fair has reconsidered or not, but for some reason a new rumor has popped up claiming that Son Of Beast is under consideration for the Texas Giant treatment… having it’s layout reprofiled and wooden track system replaced with steel track. It could just be a fanboy dream for 2012… but you never know. Maybe there is still hope.
(6/30/10) A not so good rumor floated my way this week regarding the fate of Son of Beast. According to the source, Cedar Fair officials are said to have weighed their options on fixing the coaster against the cost and benefits of doing so and the view wasn’t good at all. While it certainly may be possible to fix and make the ride enjoyable, the cost involved as well as the cost of the PR campaign needed to turn around the notoriously bad reputation of the ride was deemed to be cost prohibitive. If true, we will likely never seen SOB ride again.
(4/9/10) Causing quite a bit of fuss for Kings Island fans is the fact that Son of Beast has been removed from the new park map now posted online. This seems to lock in the previous news that there was little if any chance at all of the ride reopening this season.
Of course the big rumor in industry circles is that Cedar Fair may be in contact with the company who came up with the new all metal track system being added to the Texas Giant right now. Of course this makes perfect sense as Cedar Fair has not one but two major attractions in Ohio (SOB and Mean Streak) that could greatly benefit from this kind of make-over technology if it proves successful for Six Flags.
(3/18/10) While the last news article to touch upon the fate of Son of Beast seemed to imply that there was little chance of it opening again, this alternate article actually says that the park hopes to reopen the coaster later in the season and that the park is currently in talks with companies about long term fixes to the ride.
(3/17/10) Kings Island reports that as of right there are no plans to reopen Son of Beast for the foreseeable future. KI’s GM, Greg Scheid commented, “Eight days after I took over, the accident occurred. We have struggled with it ever since. We have smoothed out the ride. Most people will say they are comfortable with the ride, but I am not comfortable with the ride.”
(11/16/09) Now even the local news is starting to report that Son of Beast may never reopen. Still... the bottom line is nothing seems to have been decided for sure in the halls of Cedar Fair, so we’re still watching and waiting.
(8/24/09) While nothing has been decided, I’ve heard that there are three likely solutions to the whole Son of Beast problem. One… they could just close the ride and demolish it. Given the number of problems they’ve had with this ride over the years, no one would be surprised at this outcome. The other two ideas are costly, and still may not fix the problem entirely. One idea is to look at replacing the ride’s structure with a steel support system, in addition to complete retracking as well as a new third train design. The other would keep it as a wooden ride, but would involve a complete design of the track, eliminating the two giant helixes as this seems to be the focus point of all the problems and complaints they’ve had with the ride over the years.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the second option used… going with a layout that has more ups and down and less radical turns. While I doubt it’s still possible, I wouldn’t mind seeing the loop and old trains return as well, but that’s just me.
(8/11/09) Kings Island has announced that Son Of Beast will remain closed for the rest of the 2009 season. As for the future of the ride, they claim that it’s fate wont be decided until sometime during the off-season. I have to imagine that at this point, all options are on the table right now, so anything can happen. According to a reader report from the park yesterday, they already had spotted that the SOB trains had been shrink wrapped and placed away in the maintenance bays.
(7/31/09) The news reports that the stage investigation into Son Of Beast is now over and that they found “no irregularities.” Son of Beast is still currently closed however and park spokesperson Don Helbig said that he couldn’t speculate as to when it might reopen.
(7/28/09) While the exact findings of the investigation of Son of Beast have not been released, the local news reports that inspectors have been called out to check out problems with Son of Beast more than any other coaster in Ohio. In most of the previous injury cases, it was determined that a pre-existing condition caused the rider’s injury There is still no timeline set to reopen the ride this season.
2010 - Planet Snoopy & Boo Blasters On Boo Hill - Confirmed - (5/2/10) I’ve got three new shots of Boo Blasters on Boo Hill to share today, sent in by our friends at Sally Corp. On top of a look at the outside of the ride building, we get a peek at a near final scene in the ride featuring the bad ghoul, Boocifer, as well as a special CGI version of Boocifer that is projected onto a fog screen at one point in the ride.
(4/15/10) Kings Island has posted a teaser video showing off some footage inside the new Boo Blaster’s dark ride.
(3/31/10) Kings Island finally let the cat out of the bag about their new dark ride… and it too will be called Boo Blasters on Boo Hill where guests will get the chance to battle Boocifer and his army of fellow Ghosts. Much like the other former Scooby-Doo rides, you can opt to enhance your ride experience with 3-D Glasses as well, though I’m assuming this will be an extra cost. The press release claims that there will be a variety of special effects used, which could make each ride though a difference experience. They even sent out a few Press photos to show off the new ride.
(3/12/10) Several off-season construction pictures of Planet Snoopy have been posted to Kings Island’s Facebook page, including a few interesting shots of the former Family Odd Coaster covered in a giant plastic sheet.
(3/11/10) Kings Island has posted the new names for the rides within the Planet Snoopy area. I’ve posted the list of new names with their old names below.
Character Carousel: Nick O' Round
Charlie Brown Wind Up: Backyardigan's Swing-Along
Flying Ace: Runaway Reptar
Joe Cool's Dodgem School: Jimmy Neutrons Atom Smasher
Kite Eating Tree: Planktons Plunge
Linus' Beetle Bugs: Swiper's Sweepers
Linus' Launcher: Danny Phantom Flyers
PEANUTS 500: Nick Jr. Drivers
PEANUTS' Off Road Rally: Go Diego Go
Race for Your Life Charlie Brown: Wild Thornberry River Adventure
Snoopy VS Red Baron: Blue's Skidoo
Sally's Sea Plane: Timmy's Airtours
Snoopy Surf Dog: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Snoopy's Junction: La Adventura de Azul
Snoopy's Splash Dance: Spongebob Squarepants Bikini Bottom Bash
The Great Pumpkin Coaster: Little Bills Giggle Coaster
Woodstock Express: Fairly Odd Coaster
Woodstock's Whirlybirds: Lazytown Sportacopters
(2/4/10) Kings Island has launched a new mini Planet Snoopy website to promote the new attraction.
(9/4/09) Kings Island has once again confirmed the new Planet Snoopy project for 2010 on their website. This will apparently include some kind of renovation to Scooby Doo’s Haunted Castle that will see Scooby & The Gang evicted.
2010 - Snoopy Starlight Spectacular - Confirmed - (4/28/10) Kings Island has confirmed that they too will add the Snoopy Starlight Spectacular to the park, running from May 29th through September 6th. The expansive light show will also include wrapping the park’s signature Eiffel Tower in lights from top to bottom.
(4/22/10) A ton of new decorative lights have been spotted all around Kings Island, which seem to indicate that the park could be planning their own version of a Starlight Experience style attraction for later this summer. You can see pictures over at KI Central.
(9/21/09) Sources tell us that Kings Island may be planning to install their own special nighttime illuminated pathway attraction for 2010, similar to the Starlight Experience added to Cedar Point this past season.
 2011 - Windseeker - (8/25/10) Like Knott’s Berry Farm, Cedar Point and Canada’s Wonderland, Kings Island also announced Windseeker as their new 2011 attraction. The $5 million Wind Seeker ride from Mondial will feature 32 2-Seater go
ndolas at the ends of arms that will swing out to a 45º angle once they reach the top of the tower. Check out the official site for an animated video of the ride in action
(8/24/10) Add Kings Island to the growing list of Cedar Fair parks that will be announcing their new 2011 attractions on August 24th… later today. Kings Island will join up with announcements from Knott’s Berry Farm, Cedar Point and Canada’s Wonderland, all of whom have been teasing about a skyline changing tall attraction on the way to the parks, rumored to be a Mondial Wind Seeker that will be named StratoSoar.
The only extra hint from Kings Island is that the new ride will be taller than Diamondback, which means over 230 feet.
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