The Beast

Kings Island's own design team wanted an opening act for the back half of the 1970s that could compete with the wooden coasters of the previous golden age while using terrain the park hadn't yet developed — 35 acres of dense woods behind Rivertown.

Rather than commissioning an outside manufacturer to lay out the ride, Kings Island built The Beast in-house, threading track through the natural contours of the land instead of over a graded, engineered profile. When it opened on April 14, 1979, its 7,361 feet of track, twin drops of 137 feet at 53 degrees and 141 feet at 18 degrees, a 125-foot underground tunnel, and a 540-degree helix combined for a ride lasting more than four minutes at speeds up to 65 mph — instantly the longest and fastest wooden coaster in the world.

Guinness World Records has never removed The Beast from its listing as the longest wooden roller coaster on Earth, a record it has now held for more than 45 years even as taller and faster hybrid wood coasters have opened elsewhere.

The Beast remains Kings Island's signature attraction and a pilgrimage ride for wood-coaster enthusiasts, its darkened tunnels and terrain-hugging turns largely unchanged since 1979.