https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2019/february/40-years-ago-today-the-beast-was-named

“To see what avid roller coaster riders thought of the name, Kings Island conducted interviews with members of five special groups. They included males and females in their early teens, late teens and early twenties. All had visited Kings Island during the previous two seasons in 1977 and 1978 and had ridden The Racer.”

It would be interesting to hear what the naming process is like today. 

3 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

It would be interesting to hear what the naming process is like today. 

I remembered that Tony Clark talked about how they decide the name during a Valravn interview back on it's media day. I'm assuming Kings Island's process is the same or very similar to Cedar Point's.

Go to 9:00 when they begin talking about it.

Pretty cool how many names they go through. Would be cool to know what the other two names that they were thinking about were.

Good find. I'm pretty sure one of the names that didn't win was "The Tony Clark Experience." 

Wasn't the name Champion being floated around, too?

Really interesting that’s how they chose their names, I had just assumed Rob picked them. 

23 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

Wasn't the name Champion being floated around, too?

The ride was referred to as "America's champion roller coaster" in press releases, but I don't believe Champion was ever seriously considered as the name. I do know that "The Runaway" was very close to becoming the official name.

I like how he talked about CP's 150th spanning 2 years and he said attractions (plural)!!!! 2020 and 2021 I am guessing are going to be huge?

6 minutes ago, Maverick44 said:

I like how he talked about CP's 150th spanning 2 years and he said attractions (plural)!!!! 2020 and 2021 I am guessing are going to be huge?

I thought someone already confirmed the celebration was going to be only one year?

Well it came from Tony's mouth in the video? I know that was 2016 but 5 year plan!!!!

Can the trains get a repaint to resemble their original look 40 years ago?

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/ohio/cincinnati/ohios-largest-playground-cincinnati/

What other names do you think "Flight Deck" was competing with at Kings Island? 

6 hours ago, Pagoda Gift Shop said:

What other names do you think "Flight Deck" was competing with at Kings Island? 

Probably “Flying Coaster”, or “Swinging Thing” or “flying Hawk”  After all it was named in the early years.

It definitely had to have hawk in the name somewhere.

13 hours ago, KIghostguy said:

The ride was referred to as "America's champion roller coaster" in press releases, but I don't believe Champion was ever seriously considered as the name. I do know that "The Runaway" was very close to becoming the official name.

There were lots of names tossed around, but nothing stuck until The Beast was suggested.

Such a great ride I take it for granted.  Will ride it a lot more this year.

If Cincinnati had some sort of generic "top 10" list, The Beast would be on it.  Right there with Skyline Chili, Pete Rose, etc.  It's that important. 

16 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

Can the trains get a repaint to resemble their original look 40 years ago?

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/ohio/cincinnati/ohios-largest-playground-cincinnati/

You know that paint scheme looks very similar to SoB's original trains. I wonder if they looked at this when they were creating the theming for SoB during its inception.

On 2/7/2019 at 12:33 AM, SonofBaconator said:

Can the trains get a repaint to resemble their original look 40 years ago?

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/ohio/cincinnati/ohios-largest-playground-cincinnati/

Yes!  https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2019/february/in-honor-of-its-40th-anniversary-kings-island-has-brought-back-the-original-beast-trains-color-scheme?fbclid=IwAR0L29g_vpTGr1hgLp3IzbvVIupL8LTPz2fyZa-h8seerB--Y2dVs9bpIfI

 

 

I'm a future teller

*I assume that each set of two will be painted a different color on each train- front two cars will be red, middle two cars will be orange, and back two cars will be yellow*

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/322007442077594651/?lp=true

Edited February 11, 20197 yr by SonofBaconator

That scheme looks awesome from that angle. I wonder if it’ll be for just this year, or permanently.

I’m loving the change.

However, I’m mystified why they used “Beast” and “Unleashed” in the same sentence in the tweet, considering how outrageous the enthusiasts’ rumor mill becomes.

1 hour ago, gforce1994 said:

I’m loving the change.

However, I’m mystified why they used “Beast” and “Unleashed” in the same sentence in the tweet, considering how outrageous the enthusiasts’ rumor mill becomes.

I don't think there was any meaning behind that. If there was, it was to stir up the pot some more I bet.

The color scheme will probably for at least a couple years. Assuming the paint lasts a while.

I’m loving the nostalgia that is pushing a lot of their decision making these days. It’s slmist like there’s a slow return to some “glory days” ahead of us for a 50th celebration. 

52 minutes ago, brent said:

It’s slmist like ...

I hate getting old, I don’t understand half of the slang words that kids use today.

Besides being the longest wooden coaster in the world, I think a lot of people forget that The Beast is currently the longest coaster in North America. 

I would like to see the water feature come back.  I know they can't put full lake back, but maybe just have the mill wheel going with running water.

With regards to the former lake, this is what Shaggy has to say back in 2010

Quote

No one thing can be cited as the reason the "lake" (odd to call it that as it was literally only a few inches deep) was removed. There were actually a handful of reasons.

Trash issues, circulatory issues, bug issues, smell issues are a few reasons. But more importantly, the park wanted to seal off the midway path between Beast and (then) KCKC to use for behind the scenes purposes. They also wanted to re-direct the exiting guests past the (then) new on-ride photo booth and midway games. In addition, they also wanted to re-direct guests out an entirely different area away from the entrance to deter line jumping.

@Shaggy

As cool as it would to see the lake back (for the short amount of time it's not mosquito-infested and stagnant), I'd like to see the paw prints return. 

Instead of the claw decal on the front, I want them to bring back the lamp that was originally attached to the trains. That would be ideal for me.

Regardless, I’m loving the paint scheme (I always tried to replicate it in RCT).

3 minutes ago, gforce1994 said:

Instead of the claw decal on the front, I want them to bring back the lamp that was originally attached to the trains. That would be ideal for me.

Regardless, I’m loving the paint scheme (I always tried to replicate it in RCT).

Do you have a picture of the lamp that was attached to the trains? I cannot find anything.

FYI the trains never operated like this... This was a preliminary design only.  They were completely re-designed before the coaster opened to resemble a "fireball" on par with the television commercial.