MasonBuzz.com

Some roller coaster riders got more of a thrill than they expected Tuesday at Kings Island.

The Beast roller coaster got stuck while climbing the second hill — a height of 141 feet — about 11 a.m., park officials said.

The ride malfunctioned when a device on the coaster intended to keep cars separated detected a problem and didn’t release the car.  Thirty riders were stuck for about 10 minutes before being escorted off the ride, said Don Helbig, the park’s spokesman.

“It is not uncommon for a train to stop briefly on the lift hill of roller coasters to wait for the train ahead of it to clear a certain zone,” explained Helbig.  “That’s how the safety system is designed.   And that’s what happened this morning but the ride did not re-start.”

One rider called 911 after the train stopped and was transported to West Chester Hospital.

The ride reopened at about 12:30 p.m., said Helbig.

The Beast, which opened in 1979, is the world’s longest wooden roller coaster.

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: hospital, kings island, roller coaster, stuck, the beast

Gary Coleman, pictured front right, of Monfort Heights, celebrates his 7,000th ride on Kings Island’s Diamondback roller coaster on July 4, 2012. Photo provided/Kings Island

Kings Island capped off a successful year that saw the park’s rides and attractions give a combined 25,371,572 rides during the park’s 40th anniversary season, the park reported.

Five attractions gave more than 1 million rides: Diamondback (1,812,311), The Racer (1,372,948), The Beast (1,130,830), Vortex (1,120,052) and the K.I. & Miami Valley Railroad (1,046,644).

The K.I. & Miami Valley Railroad surpassed its 50 million mark in rides given this year. It’s the second-most in park history to The Racer at 97,825, 493.

More than 1.25 billion rides — 1,254,044,426 to be exact — have been given since the park opened in 1972.  The Enchanted Voyage (47,380,374) and Kenton County Keelboat Canal (40,069,518) top the list of retired rides.

The Vortex is expected to give its 40 millionth ride in 2013, Dodgem its 30 millionth and Flight Deck is 20 millionth.

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: amusement park, diamondback, dodgem, enchanted voyage, flight deck, k.i. & miami valley railroad, kings island, mason, retired rides, rides, the beast, the racer, theme park, vortex

A car from a Beast roller coaster train is shown here being transported to the wood coaster maintenance facility on Monday where ride technicians will disassemble, inspect and rebuild each of the cars from the ride during the winter.

The Beast opened in 1979 and has given 47,349,774 rides, third-most in park history behind the Racer (97,825,493) and K.I. & Miami Valley Railroad (50,155,116). Kings Island is now closed until spring 2013. Season passes for the 2013 season are available online at visitkingsisland.com.

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: kings island, maintenance, mason, roller coaster, the beast

Kings Island has swept the competition once again to bring home the theme park industry’s top award for best kids’ area in the world.

The Mason theme park picked up its 12th consecutive Golden Ticket award from trade journal Amusement Today.  The award is the amusement park industry’s equivalent of the Academy Award.

The international journal gives Golden Ticket awards each year in about two dozen categories as determined by park fans from around the world.

KI’s Planet Snoopy includes a collection of “Peanuts”-themed rides for children, including four kids’ roller coasters, live stage shows and daily meet-and-greet opportunities with Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus and other Peanuts characters.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Beast was ranked as the seventh-best wooden roller coaster in the world.  The Beast opened in 1979 and still stands as the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 7,400 feet.

Diamondback moved up to the No. 10 spot in the steel roller coaster category.

A list of all the 2012 Golden Ticket Award winners is at www.amusementtoday.com.

KI is closed until Sept. 21, when gates to its sixth season of Halloween Haunt opens at 6 p.m.  Two kid-friendly Halloween events, the all-new Howl-O-Palooza and Trick-or-Treat with the Dinosaurs, open Sept. 23.

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: amusement today, best kids' area in the world, cedar fair, diamondback, dinosaurs alive, golden ticket, halloween haunt, howl-o-fest, kings island, mason, roller coaster, the beast, theme park, trade journal, trick-or-treat with the dinosaurs

The Enquirer

The Beast can help fight breast cancer.

Kings Island is offering “behind-the-scenes” tours of the Beast roller coaster now through Aug. 25 as part of its annual “Kings Island for the Cure” campaign, park officials announced Wednesday.

Tickets for the 30-minute tour cost $25 and must be purchased in advance online at www.visitkingsisland.com.

“Guests learn the story behind the Beast and have an opportunity to ask questions during the tour, which provides plenty of great video and photo opportunities,” a news release said.

All proceeds from the Beast tours go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure Greater Cincinnati affiliate. Since 2010, the Kings Island for the Cure campaign has raised more than $435,000, including $219,000 last year, park officials said.

Park admission to Kings Island is required to take the Beast tour.

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: beast, breast cancer, charity, fundraiser, ki, kings island, kings island for the cure, komen for the cure, mason, roller coaster, the beast, tours

Members of a German theme park club visited Kings Island this week and got a behind the scenes look at The Beast roller coaster. Provided photo

Long considered among the best roller coasters in America, the Beast’s fame precedes it on a global scale it would appear.

The popular Kings Island attraction, which has held the record as the world’s longest wooden roller coaster since it was built in 1979, attracted a group of German enthusiasts this week.

A large group from the Freundeskreis, Kirmes und Freizeitparks (FKF), which translates to “Circle of Friends of Fun Fairs and Amusement Parks”, visited the park on Tuesday and enjoyed a behind-the-scenes your of the Beast.

The nonprofit organization founded in Hamburg, Germany organizes annual trips to theme parks abroad.

The Mason amusement park, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, is open daily through Aug. 26.

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: circle of friends of fun fairs and amusement parks, Freundeskreis, german, germany, ki, kings island, Kirmes und Freizeitparks, roller coaster, the beast, wooden roller coaster

Kings Island’s The Beast roller coaster is one of seven “must-try” roller coasters, according to Details magazine.

The monthly men’s magazine asked Dave Altman, the president of American Coaster Enthusiasts, to compile the ultimate roller coaster bucket list.  The Beast comes in at number four on the list.

Here’s what Details had to say about the Mason amusement park’s popular coaster:

When it first opened in 1979, the Beast was the world’s longest wooden coaster, at 7,539 feet. And it still is. Only the first lift hill can be seen from the queue line, since the majority of the expansive ride, covering 35 acres, is situated in the woods surrounding the park. The four-minute, ten-second ride features two lift hills, three tunnels, and a 540-degree helix finale along its disorienting course. Even though the coaster celebrated its 32nd anniversary in 2011, it is still a perennial favorite on most coaster enthusiasts’ top 10 lists.

See which other roller coasters made the cut here.

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: american coaster enthusiasts, coaster, dave altman, details, kings island, mason, roller coaster, the beast, wooden roller coaster

John Faherty reports:

Kings Island has been making people happy, and sometimes queasy, for 40 years.

Since the park opened in 1972 in what then felt like the hinterlands of Warren County, the Partridge family came, the Brady Bunch visited and Evel Knievel jumped.

Kings Island has been, and is, an economic engine, and a first workplace for thousands.

• Photos: Kings Island through the years
• Things you may not know about Kings Island
• Timeline: A trip through thrill ride history
• Quiz: Are you a KI buff? | Best thrill ride?
  

But really, the park is nothing more, and nothing less, than a string of moments.

There have been 96,452,545 riders on the Racer, which was there the day the park opened, and remains the king of all rides.

Kings Island is the place where people went with their moms and dads when they were young. Then it became the place they take their kids.

This will be the 41st year people will walk through the gates and down International Street, and then make a decision: left toward the Racer, straight ahead, past the Eiffel Tower and to the Beast, or a right, with the kids, toward Little Bill’s Giggle Coaster.

Evel rides again: Knievel’s career peaks at Kings Island

The longest successful jump of Evel Knievel’s career happened on Oct. 25, 1975, when he soared over 14 buses at Kings Island. He had one longer jump, but he crashed.

The Kings Island jump aired on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” and gave the show its highest-ever ratings. More than half the people watching TV when he jumped were watching him.

But the drama of the Kings Island jump really begins the year before, in London, when Evel tried to jump over 13 buses, landed a touch short, bounced hard, went over the handle bars, broke his pelvis and landed in a heap at the bottom of the ramp.

Medical crews put Evel on a stretcher, but then he climbed off, grabbed a microphone, and said: “Ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful country, I’ve got to tell you that you are the last people in the world who will see me jump. Because I will never, ever, ever jump again. I am through.”

Hah! Evel Knievel wasn’t done. This great American sports hero would not finish his career in England. He would jump again at Kings Island, and this time he would jump over 14 American buses.

And he nailed it. The rear wheel of his Harley-Davidson touched down, then the front, and then he slowed and stopped. Then he retired again. But this time he kind of meant it.

He tried a few more jumps – 10 vans in Worcester, Mass., seven buses in Seattle – but they were all far shorter. Kings Island was really the end.

(more…)

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: 40 years, amusement park, anniversary, brady bunch, cedar fair, coney island, eiffel tower, evel knieven, gary wachs, history, international street, kings island, mason, patridge family, photos, racer, roller coaster, the beast, the cincinnati kids, thrill rides, wachs, warren county

Kings Island has the best kids’ area in the world.

That’s according to Amusement Today, a trade journal that has given the Mason park its prestigious Golden Ticket Award — the amusement park industry’s equivalent of the Academy Award — for the 11th consecutive year.

The journal gives Golden Ticket awards each year in about two dozen categories as determined by park fans from around the world.

KI’s Planet Snoopy includes a collection of “Peanuts”-themed rides for children, including four kids’ roller coasters – more than any park in the world, according to Kings Island spokesman Don Helbig.

Planet Snoopy also features a live stage show and daily meet-and-greet opportunities with Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus and other Peanuts characters.

For the third consecutive year, the Beast was ranked as the seventh-best wooden roller coaster in the world.  The Beast opened in 1979 and still stands as the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 7,400 feet.

KI is closed until Friday, when gates to its Halloween Haunt opens at 7 p.m.  Two kid-friendly Halloween events, the all-new Trick-or-Treat with the Dinosaurs and Howl-O-Fest, open Oct 1.

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Business, Kings Island, News |

Tags: Tags: amusement park, amusement today, best kids' area in the world, best roller coaster, cedar fair, golden ticket award, kings island, mason, planet snoopy, roller coasters, the beast, theme park, trade journal, water park