I started working at KI in 1972, when I turned 16. Some other extinct rides include: Shake Rattle & Roll, The Flying Dutchman, Bavarian Bobsleds, Galaxy, Cuddle-up, The Whip, Hanna Barbera (boat ride), The Sky Ride, Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal, The Hiking Trail, Canoe Rides, The Rotor and the Dolphin Show. Lion Country Safari arrived a few years later. Remember when the Beast's station house was surrounded by a lake? When I started there, admission was $6 and my hourly wage started at $1.85/hour. I had an 8-Track player in my 1963 Ford Falcon that had no seat belts or reverse lights (gas was 24.9¢/gal). Such happy times...............
Thanks for sharing. I bet you have some good memories working at the park and have seen all the changes over the years. You have practically written my “More Lost Rides” video! I love how you remember the prices. Gas (petrol for me 🇬🇧) price especially!
Great memories ! I was a paperboy in 72 at 12 years old. Remember the gas overflowing my 1 gallon gas can for .25 cents !! Watching "The Ghoul" and Froggy. Long live "The Beast !"
You really should add an addendum on flight commander in that the lady fell out because she passed out from being drunk. Had she been in control of her faculties, she never would have slid over to the other side and fell out
You’ll see a lot of rides from the Brady Bunch episode where they went to Kings Island that aren’t there anymore. Where they lost Dad’s architectural drawings was the canoe ride, that’s where Beast was built later on.
Thanks for the extra detail. What a classic episode! Here in the England it never had widespread broadcast, but I’ve gone back and watched that episode!
Couple of things: One of the biggest reasons Phantom Theatre closed was because it was maintenance hell. Everyday there were dozens of broken figures, effects, and lighting. And the problem with Scooby’s Haunted Castle was the guns were garbage. 5-10 gun control boards had to be replaced a day, and Sally Rides refused to allow the park to fix the boards, instead they had to ship them to Sally. Funny thing about SOB, wood coaster maintenance spent millions a YEAR refurbishing the track. The maintenance cost was insane. Tomb Raider started its downfall a little sooner than most people realize. It never worked properly, running most days at 2/3rds capacity. In 2003, an area manager was on the gondola when it was started, and went through the entire cycle out of a seat, with her arms threaded through restraints. That’s when the loading lights started to stay on until the gondola was up near Shiva’s face. Additionally, after TR lost the branding, the maintenance division took the step to limit the amount of rotations the gondola performed due to the issues it had since opening. Doing so, however, killed the ride. Source: ride operator 2002 (SOB/Gun) 2003 (TR) and maintenance 04-06
Thanks so much taking the time to share all this. It’s so interesting to hear about some of these rides. I bet you have a lot of stories from your time at the park.
I worked on Top Gun and Son of Beast 2006-2008 and was there the day Son of Beast sent 28 people to the hospital. Our crew worked just Top Gun during 2006 for 3 weeks after but then Top Gun went down for over a week, too.
If it’s the same Top Gun I’m thinking I could see it closing cause the line area/Station for Son of Beast is still back there and people climbing over to get to it? Before they could take away the easy ways to get to it. I believe now it’s like a floating station now and without climbing weirdly or a crane to get to you can’t get on the station. Least last I looked this year.
Grew up and still live here. Rode The Bat when it was brand new. It was lots of fun and did sort of feel a little “out of control “. When it reopened, it was way slower and boring. I recall that it was usually closed though 🤣🤣
That’s so cool! The Bat one of the rides I wish I had been able to experience. It sounds like opening year was the best, love it when a coaster feels slightly out of control.
These incidents are never forgotten and banshee finished the job of hitting somebody, nobody know where the trains are for the son if the beast, but i do know, and they are on flight if fear and if you look on every pov it is hard to see but on the last corkscrew on your left you can see behind fencing, sitting there, a cart from the son of the beast, you will always be remembered
Out of all the attractions you mentioned in this video, the one I was most familiar with was Son of Beast, which was intended to be the sequel to one of King's Island's most iconic roller coasters of all time: The Beast. Sadly, Son of Beast wasn't as successful, and was replaced with The Banshee. Either way, I never had any interest in riding in a rollercoaster, although the trains on the coasters look cool. Speaking of trains, without a doubt, my most favorite attraction at King's Island is the KI&MVRR (King's Island and Miami Valley railroad). It has actual steam locomotives, which is awesome, and it's a very relaxing and awesome ride.
The Beast is one of my favourite ever coasters, it’s part nostalgia part enjoyment! I agree with you on the railroad. A visit to Kings Island isn’t complete without a ride!
Son of beast was brutal. I wrote it once with the loop. It was horrible. The last time I rode the train was probably around 2001 and it wasn't anything like it was in the '70s and '80s. Made me sad.
Great video! I've been attending Kings Island since the year it opened. My mother pushed me around in a stroller that year at the ripe old age of 1. I've been on every single ride mentioned in this video, plus some others not mentioned such as Tumble Bug, Bayern Curve, The Rotor, Kenton Cove's Keelboat Canal, Sky Ride, Lion Country Safari, Der Spinnin' Keggers. Also. I rode X Flight at Geauga Lake and also at KI as Firehawk.
dude the king cobra broke down literally every time me and my family went when I was younger. I remember one time my dad and older sister went on and they got stuck on the ride for like an hour.
I helped build son of beast. The design was similar to water cooling towers that you see in power plants. It used polycarbonate bushings that the bolts passed through which was quite strong but the wood was prone to splitting if the bolts were over tightened which was easy to do with power tools so we wound up using ratchets to prevent that problem. Still the joints could split over time. I rode it though so I trusted it to hold just fine.
I lived 8 miles from KI and I worked in the Bier Gardens in 76'. I was a proud 16 year old that learned to connect 5-6 beer kegs in a series for the stand, nothing like dealing w/drunk adults @ 11am and telling them they are cutoff. We were on downward slope walkway that lead to The Racer and ppl rushed to be 1st in line of the day with many doing a face-plant in front of us. I luv'd The Beast..it racked your body, The Rotor, Bavarian Beetle, The Vortex and many more. Now my old bones say...No Thanks. I do buy passes for my kids and grandkids every year though. Fond memories ❤ ...also was working when the guy was killed at the Lion Safari that year.
Thank you so much for sharing your memories. I loved looking through the old footage of the park, but you got to be there.i thought drinking was bad in some parks today, but it sounds like it’s always been the case! I hope you get to visit with your grandchildren and tell them all about the history of the park.
I rode firehawk once before it closed, during that ride my chest restraint came unbuckled about 2/3 of the way through the ride. When I got back to the station I told one of the operators and they had told me that I wasn’t the first person that day to say something about the restraints coming loose or undone. Safe to say it closed shortly after that.
Saw the Bats cars come off the track. I road on the ride not more than 10 minutes earlier. It was a rough ride. But was use to it as most the rides there ran rough. Even the beast only had a loose fitting lap bar that year.
@@deansmiley8221 it is a temporary close and will be back open when the incident and bad publicity cools down, and when both the state and the park run investigations
Geauga Lake was across the lake from Sea World. It became 6 Flags before becoming Geauga Lake once more. It couldn't compete with Ceader Point after Seaworld Closed.
Thank you! Kings Island is one of my favourite parks, so hope I do it justice! I’d love to eventually do a more in depth look at some of its lost rides.
You know what other lost coaster ride is? The Vortex from Kings Island. The last Aero coaster is now gone. And the twin loop with 4 corkscrews all gone. Damn.
LOVED Phantom Theater! It was unlike any other ride there. As a bonus, it was THE place to go to cool off. I worked at Kings Island from 2000 - 2002. I worked on the racer, but it was common for rides with extra staff to have an employee or two "sent" to another ride to cover the shortage. Most people would jump at the opportunity to go to Phantom Theater on hot days!
Vortex was my fave, followed by King Cobra. KC was short (Like 45 seconds if I remember correctly?) but worth it! Then of course The Beast--I enjoyed that most at night, so cool. Many great memories at KI!! Great video, thank you.
I remember as a boy hearing all these rumors about people having died on the original Bat. I thought that was true till about ten years ago when I learned it was just an urban legend.
Your video is very well researched and presented with a great deal of affection. It brought back a lot of great memories of a park I've enjoyed for decades. I hope you get to visit again in the future.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I really love Kings Island. I may not be the best at scripting, voiceover and editing, but I love theme park history and enjoy sharing my passion. Comments like this make my day, so thank you! 😄
I rode and survived Son of Beast when it still had the Loop, had season pass, def fucked up my neck and migraine but it was fun! we got stuck on the big hill going up, in the sun, for like 1hr
K.I. is my home park, so I was lucky enough to have experienced several of these rides. I liked King Cobra but it always gave me a headache and Son of Beast was awful from day one. Vortex is the lost Kings Island ride I miss most. That was a favorite of mine for a long time and was brand new the first time I visited KI.
That’s so cool, you have ridden more than me! Although I did ride Flight Commander in its new location at my local park in England. Vortex looked like a fun ride and its departure has left a large area for a new attraction.
I remember most of these rides. Fire Hawk was my favorite! Tomb Raider was a good ride too even though I lost my keys on it and to wait until closing to get them back. Great video and in-depth information!
Thank you! Although I’m English, I used to live in the US and travel all over the world visiting theme parks. Just enjoy sharing my passion for theme parks and their history
The statue for the crypt is still in the building just out of view, on an occasion supervisers will take employees in there to see it, also the son of the beast stations is still there
They had that Flight Commander ride at Knott's Berry Farm it was amazing. It was called like X-26 or something like that but I remember turning the jet upside down and ride it the whole time like that haha
A man Got killed a couple months ago by looking for his keys around the banshee . They told him to wait till the park closed but he snuck in and went looking. Very sad. 😢.
Ah noooooo FireHawk is gone. Noooooo that was my favorite lay down coaster that flips you over to make it seem like you are flying. I didn’t know they got rid of this ride. Tells you how long it’s been for me to have visited Kings Island
I have never been to Kings Island before and I found out the guest was tragically hit by the Banshee roller coaster train a few weeks ago. Banshee is where the son of beast wooden roller coaster was located. Theme park roller coaster review has been to Kings Island many times.
the Banshee incident was caused completely by the stupidity of the person, very similar things have happened before where somebody entered a restricted area and got hit by a train.
This was a fun little trip down memory lane. The Screamin Demon was the first adult coaster I was tall enough to ride. The height requirement was lower for some reason. In one trip to KI I rode six times. King Cobra was interesting. It was short and slow, and it lost the excitement factor early on, although I still usually rode it at least once. Son of Beast - I rode it once, before they took out the loop. That ride beat me up. I never got to ride The Bat, it was always closed when I was there. I did ride the Vortex 17 times one day; they were shooting a commercial and they needed bodies in the seats. Got 2 days off of school for that. A lot of local companies liked to use students from where I went to high school for their local commercials at the time. For that one they used my choir. I moved away in 2001 and when I got back I couldn't ride roller coasters anymore, so I haven't been to Kings Island since then. I really miss The Beast.
The bat is actually still open! Its much smaller now but its one of the first rides I worked up the courage to go on, and I just went on again it a few weeks ago!
The Bat that is there today is a brand new ride. The original was located where Vortex was and was scrapped. The new ride was renamed to honour the original.
I was able to ride two of these in 2001. Son of Beast was rough even then. Could have been more but I didn't want to ride a "boring" dark ride and didn't want to try and get in the bucket of a seat for the kiddie coaster. Also please equalize the audio of the entire video including the "Thanks for Watching" portion. I almost went deaf when that came on because the content portion volume was low enough to have the volume turned up.
Son of Beast is on my list of coasters I wish I had got to ride, but was never to be. Thanks for the feedback on the audio. I do try to do that when editing. Sounds ok on mine, but will try will test a bit more in the future.
Son of beast is by far the most violent roller coaster I ever road in my whole life 😅 brutal coaster. Road it once and was done. Sad that it didn’t work out because the Beast lineage was pretty cool to have but brutal coaster
I absolutely love the beast. I automatically assumed Son of Beast was a kid's version of the beast (because of the name) so I never got to ride it lol. Lesson learned.
I love kings island me and my family have seasonal passes since we live like 30ish minutes away sadly I wasn’t born b4 these coasters got demolished but I did get to see vortex
The Smurf voyage was way better than phantom theater. I am prepared to fight anyone on that😛 The tomb, raider ride was really awesome ! Shame it didn’t last longer. This video really brought back some memories.
@PopsparkzsXD well all wooden roller coaster ride rough to me, but that son of beast beat the crap out of us, our heads was hurting so bad, we couldn't ride nothing else after riding the son of Beast
Thank you for this video and the one about Cedar Point! Having grown up in Columbus, which is located roughly in the middle of the 2 parks. Great childhood and teenage memories in the late 70’s thru to the 90’s spending summers at both. Thanks for the nostalgia.
I rwmember the year King Cobra opened. It was the last time I went to Kings Island. Iwas looking forward to eiding it. Got in the park and it was shut down. I'm not sure but I believe it was never consistently open that season and shut down soon after. Went on the Beast tho. Totally cool!!😊
I don't remember if it was the Beast or Son of Beast but hitting the bottom after the first hill the lock bar across my thighs ratcheted down a couple of notches. Obviously, it was like that for the rest of the ride. Talk about hurting! At 66 years old it's still some of the most excruciating pain I've been in.
I rode one that was similar called Top Gun once in the mid-1990's. I needed to look online I understand now. It started out as The Bat, Top Gun, Flight Deck.
Thanks for watching! The Bat in the park today is a completely new ride that was opened as Top Gun. The original Bat suffered structural problems and was scrapped.
The current Bat isn't the same one. The original Bat closed in 1984 and was replaced by Vortex in 1987 which later closed in 2019. The current bat went by 2 other names and opened in 1993.
Rode the bat numerous time and got off with back and neck injuries ... come off track in station one time we in the front got off with a long ladder but fire department had to get the rest off last time seeing the bat
