Latest Son of Beast photos:

Great Pics! I never really realized how close SOB was to Firehawk. Action Zone expansion Baby!! (also, X-Base possibly becoming its own section as well)

Now, I can see Firehawk, now I just need a path to get there. Anybody picking up, what I'm puttin down?

What a waste of lumber. I am sad to see it go. RIP SOB

I hope the people who take down the wood have protective gloves....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwoMq6JPQ_U

Tears of joy.

It is surreal to see this ride coming down. I remember watching avidly the ride get built the summer of 1999. To think it is coming down so quickly and ungracefully. Hopefully good things will be in store for that location in the coming years.

Thanks for the pictures, Boddah. I concur with Robbie in that it is very surreal to see this coming down. I didn't watch it during construction, but to see it coming down like this, so fast, is just unreal. It's kind of a shame it never worked out.

I can't wait for "future park expansion".

A tear? More like a smile

I am sort of nervous that this future park expansion is not a roller coaster. I know that some of you want a new area but I really want a Giga....

"Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got till it's gone"

I am sort of nervous that this future park expansion is not a roller coaster. I know that some of you want a new area but I really want a Giga....

A new area might eventually lead to a giga but I don't believe it will happen anytime soon. Now if KI was set up like Canada's Wonderland, the situation would be a little bit more ideal seeing that they just put in a giga 4 years after their hyper was built.

I wouldn`t look for a giga to come to KI anytime soon. I`m still a bit surprised that Canada`s Wonderland installed a Giga from B&M given the fact that they already had a hyper from B&M that wasn`t that old.

Has anyone here ridden Leviathon? How does it compare to Behemoth? The one thing that seems odd about Leviathon is how high the brake run starts. It seems like they could have added several more hills. Its as if they ran out of monye for the ride making it so tall, and had to cut the ride short.

^Perhaps it was done intentionally. After all, B & M always likes to stay on the safe side of things, so it could be that tall and awkward for blocking purposes. Leviathan also runs right over the park's Arrow looper, Dragon Fire, so it could have been built that way as to not impede on potential clearance issues.

I am not "in the know", so this is mere speculation. Your theory could be correct for all I know.

When a builder builds a house, do they just construct the house without there being a master plan for that area? No. They plot out a housing plan with streets, landscaping, lighting, club house, pool, roads, sidewalks, then they build the houses. It might be just this way with any new roller coaster they might build. Prepare a plan on where future buildings and rides would be built, then decide where to build that roller coaster. It was this way when Kings Island was first thought of before they built the buildings and rides.

All parks have master plans. Sometime, however, those plans can be quite fluid, and what is spelled out in a master plan ends up not being what actually gets built. Technology, tastes, economics, marketing, the target market all have impacts on influencing what the finished product looks like.

Would the original buildings of Kings Island could have imagined what the park would look like today? Probably not. There was no such thing as a hyper coaster when they were planning the park. Not to mention coasters powered by linear induction motors. Water parks were not very prevalent, and certainly didn`t have the range of water slides that they have today.

The park is constantly changing and evolving. It will be a different place five years from now than what it is today. Enjoy the park today, remember the past, but don`t hold onto it as if the past is the end all. Memories often are seen through rose colored glasses at times. Times change. Would I love to see the Sky Ride back at Kings Island? Absolutely. Same goes for classic rides like the Whip, Flying Eagles and Tumble Bug. But those rides aren`t going to be coming back. I am positive that the park will look different in the future and that a whole new generation of people will fall in love with the place, just like we have.

These pics did not bring a tear to my eye....

It is sad that its being tore down. But we all knew it was coming to this...

I could be shocked but I'm not, Very sad to see the old SOB leave us.

We used to have a local newspaper. here in Toledo. called THE SHOPPER HERALD. They had a few "sayings" for things that were quite different than commonly used phrases.

I believe this thread would have spawned the following "saying" on the front page of that paper, directly under any of the de-construction photos......

"That's a couple of too bads"

I cannot put into words the terrible gut feeling I had after reading the topic title. I really prepared myself for really bad news, something depressing, or, at a minimum, something very sad on the same scale of a pet goldfish dying.

Then the RUSH feeling of relief came over me after seeing what it was all about.

I would love x-base and Action Zone to be combined, days of thunder removed, and over a few years add some flat rides and maybe a coaster. Not sure how much room is back there, but it seems like a cool idea. There was also the idea of that stage...

I am gonna miss this ride, but Ive been missing it for 3 years so...

Truly surreal to see it coming down, going to try and snap some photos myself when i go tomorrow.

Such a great deal of expectation and excitement abounded when this thing was under construction. Now, in late October, we see it being torn apart and brought down to the ground --almost gone. Son of Beast joins the growing toll of signature attractions that have come and gone, while the venerable, tried-and-true Racer, Beast, Vortex and Adventure Express roll on.

Almost gone? They still have the entire 1st hill to do which I would guess 60%-70% of the wood is.

Such a great deal of expectation and excitement abounded when this thing was under construction. Now, in late October, we see it being torn apart and brought down to the ground --almost gone. Son of Beast joins the growing toll of signature attractions that have come and gone, while the venerable, tried-and-true Racer, Beast, Vortex and Adventure Express roll on.

First hill, rose bowl, helix are still there. Still a long way to go.

Such a great deal of expectation and excitement abounded when this thing was under construction. Now, in late October, we see it being torn apart and brought down to the ground --almost gone. Son of Beast joins the growing toll of signature attractions that have come and gone, while the venerable, tried-and-true Racer, Beast, Vortex and Adventure Express roll on.

First hill, rose bowl, helix are still there. Still a long way to go.

Fine. "On its way to being almost gone." It's a matter of perspective. I've no intention of misinforming anyone; I just see things from the perspective of knowing how "fast" (precious) time really goes by. For example, when Diamondback was going up, and the first lift hill came into view, I could already feel the anticipation of riding it the following season, because I see things that are in progress as being very close to completion in my fast-burning sense of time. It feels like yesterday; it's been four years. I could slow down a bit and savour the moment (cue "Time Stand Still" by Rush), but like I said earlier this season, in 20 years we'll look back on SOB's removal and laugh -- not because of the reasons it's being removed (certainly no laughing matter), but at the amazement of how much will have changed by then.

Is the glass half full or half empty Is SOB half demolished or half constructed? Like a kid in the back seat of the family car, "are we there yet?" as they just pulled out of the drive way.

I remember, on the long drives down here from Michigan, when getting closer to Mason, asking my mom if every single, stupid red, glowing light was the Kings Island tower.

"Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got till it's gone"

they paved paradise & put up a parking lot...