The Beast (roller coaster)

The Beast
The Beast's lift hill and brake run
Kings Island
Park section	Rivertown
Coordinates	39°20′25″N 84°15′58″W / 39.3402°N 84.2660°W / 39.3402; -84.2660Coordinates: 39°20′25″N 84°15′58″W / 39.3402°N 84.2660°W / 39.3402; -84.2660
Status	Operating
Opening date	April 14, 1979 (1979-04-14)
Cost	$4,000,000
General statistics
Type	Wood
Manufacturer	Kings Island
Designer	Al Collins, Jeff Gramke, John C. Allen
Track layout	Terrain
Lift/launch system	2 Chain lift hills
Height	110 ft (34 m)
Drop	141 ft (43 m)
Length	7,359 ft (2,243 m)
Speed	64.78 mph (104.25 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	4:10
Max vertical angle	45°
Capacity	1,200 riders per hour
G-force	3.6
Height restriction	48 in (122 cm)
Trains	3 trains with 6 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 3 rows for a total of 36 riders per train.
Fast Lane Plus only available
The Beast at RCDB Pictures of The Beast at RCDB

The Beast is a wooden roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. Built in-house, it opened in 1979 as the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster in the world.^[1] The Beast remains the longest wooden coaster at 7,359 feet (2,243 m) and spans more than 35 acres (14 ha), utilizing the surrounding terrain for many of its elements.^[2] Two lift hills contribute to the ride's duration of more than four minutes, which also ranks as one of the longest among roller coasters.^[3]

The Beast has been consistently rated one of the top roller coasters in the world since its debut, having earned a solid reputation among roller coaster enthusiasts. After more than 35 years, it remains one of the most popular attractions at Kings Island and has accommodated over 50 million riders – third-most at the park.^[4]

History

Kings Island originally had plans to build a replica of the iconic Shooting Star, a roller coaster which once stood at Coney Island in Cincinnati.^[5] Charles Dinn – director of the Kings Island's construction, maintenance and engineering division – recorded measurements of the Shooting Star's layout and dimensions prior to its demolition in 1971.^[5] A site near The Racer at Kings Island was also chosen as the location where the replica would be built.^[5] Park officials later determined that it was in their best interest to shelve the idea, which would later be resurrected as Mighty Canadian Minebuster at Canada's Wonderland.^[5][6] Instead, they wanted to design a better roller coaster that would transcend nostalgia and appeal to a wider audience.^[5]

The site for the new project was a wooded area in the southeast corner of the park spanning more than 35 acres (14 ha).^[5] The area's naturally-occurring, rugged terrain consisted of cliffs, hills and ravines.^[5] Utilizing the landscape as opposed to leveling it allowed for more investment in the layout itself.^[5] Beginning in 1976, Dinn and his team, including manager Jeff Gramke and chief engineer Al Collins, spent two years researching and designing the new roller coaster.^[4] They would progress through the tens of thousands of formulas needed to produce record-breaking results without the assistance of scientific calculators and computers.^[4] "Everything had to be calculated by hand", recalled Gramke in 2014.^[4] John C. Allen, the world-renowned coaster designer behind The Racer, was originally approached to lead the design but declined.^[4] He did pass on some design formulas, however, to Gramke and Collins.^[4] He also helped solve an issue with the ride's hourly capacity by designing a device that improved the speed of loading and launching trains, increasing the capacity to more than 1,000 riders per hour.^[5]

The Beast opened on April 14, 1979, as the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster in the world.^[7] It is often credited as the first modern-day wooden roller coaster to generate a marketing campaign. From elaborate animated commercials to countless television spots, the ride eventually became famous worldwide. The Beast originally featured three underground tunnels. By its second season, the second and third underground tunnels were joined. Also after its first season, two enclosed tunnel structures were added to the double helix finale, one of the most well-known features of the ride. Kings Island’s Director of Construction, Maintenance, and Engineering Charles Dinn oversaw the ride's construction and later formed his own construction firm in 1982. Originally called the Dinn Corporation and later known as Custom Coasters International, the construction firm went on to build more than a dozen roller coasters across the United States.^[8]

In 2000, the park opened a successor to The Beast, Son of Beast, which became the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. It was also the first modern-day wooden coaster to feature an inversion, a vertical loop that was removed in 2006.^[9] Son of Beast was designed to break several world records, but one it did not attempt to break was ride length. As a result, The Beast would retain its world record for longest ride time.^[10] The Son of Beast was later dismantled in 2012.

Construction

It is commonly mistaken that the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) was heavily involved in the roller coaster's construction and design, since The Beast uses the same PTC trains that The Racer uses. In reality, the trains were the only part of the ride that PTC had a hand in. Primary design and construction was handled internally by Kings Island.^[11] Part of the design and engineering work was subcontracted to Curtis D. Summers Engineering, a structural engineering and architecture firm located in Cincinnati. Summers' team worked with in-house designers Al Collins and Jeffrey Gramke as well as John C. Allen who provided profiling and dynamics specifications.

Ride experience

The ride begins with the train making a 180-degree turn out of the station, traveling near Vortex's first drop and through a switch track, which provides the option of diverting trains to a covered storage area. Riders take a slight left turn into the first lift hill and slowly climbs 110 feet (34 m). At the crest, the train travels down a 135-foot drop (41 m) into an underground tunnel, passing an on-ride camera.

The Beast is located at the back of the park, near 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 momentary weightlessness. 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 track 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 (in the early years of the ride this section of track was two tunnels that went underneath a service road; shortly after opening, the section of track between the two tunnels was covered over).

As it exits the tunnel, the train gains speed veering right, then taking another hard turn to the right. The track goes downhill, then rises uphill and hits a trim brake. The train then goes down a gradual descent and climbs 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 (43 m) 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. 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 magnetic brake run back to the station.^[12]

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.

References

External links

• Kings Island official site - The Beast
• The Beast - CoasterGallery.com
• P.O.V. Video of The Beast
• Kings Island Central information - Alternate source of details and stats.