Kings Mills, Ohio - Son of Beast. The very name spurs the remnants of a record breaking wooden coaster once built with much celebration, to a ride with a history riddled with controversy and tragedy. Well, the story that is Son of Beast has come to an end. On Friday, July 27th at 3:44 PM EST, the park announced on KICentral and hours later on Facebook that the ride will finally meet its demise this summer. Don Helbig stated on behalf of the park that management and owners extinguished all alternatives to let the ride operate again. Future expansion in that area, which covers roughly 25 acres, was also hinted to.

Son of Beast was opened in 2000 as the worlds tallest, fastest and only looping wooden roller coaster. Built by the now defunct Roller Coaster Corporation of America (RCCA) and Premier Rides, the ride featured a lift 218 ft tall with a 214 ft drop at 55.7 degrees. The ride reached a top speed of 78 mph through 7,032 ft of wooden track, designed on purpose to be the 2nd longest wooden coaster in the world after the legendary Beast. From 2000-2006, the ride also had a 118 ft vertical loop with a steel support frame and backbone. The trains used in that period were from Premier, 6 cars with seats 2 abreast with 3 rows.

In June 2006, a lateral support beam split which caused the track in the first helix, also known as the "Rose Bowl" to buckle under the weight of the multi-ton train traveling at over 65 mph. 27 riders were sent to the hospital. In the off-season between 2006 and 2007, the park bought new trains which were lighter, which was the parks solution to less damage over time on the areas with bad wood. Due to that, the loop had to be removed. The new trains, 6 cars, 2 abreast seats and 2 rows, were from Gerstlauer and the Hurricane roller coaster which was demolished at Myrtle Beach Pavillion that off-season. Another incident involving a woman getting an aneurysm in 2009, shut the ride down for good, which the park decided to leave the ride standing but not operating since. The current announcement comes over 3 years since that incident.