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Date Ridden : June of 2006 and September 23rd of 2007. Times Ridden: 5 total with four rides in 2006 on the front, back, and middle of the train and 1 time last week in the 3rd row of the 2nd car. I really don't know what to say. As of 7 days ago the beast was placed solidly in my top 20 rides and my top 10 woodies. For me, Kings Island is rarely a place to spend an entire day. It is merely a stopping point between my home in GA and Cedar Point of which I admit I am the biggest fanboy in the world. As to why, I'll get into that later this week. However, the Beast has always been worth a stop and this year on our way home we were looking forward to riding it more than ever. It was to be our 50th and final roller coaster ride of the weekend. Not a bad weekend I'd say.But the Beast killed me. Last year's ride on the front was probably a 10 for me. It was long, fast, and reasonably comfortable. The back ride was different but still not horrible. It probably scored in the 6 to 7 range. This year? Pain, pain, and more pain. Despite the presence of numerous trims, I was slammed repeatedly into the back of my seat, the lap bar, the middle section and even crashed heads with my riding partner! And that was all before the second lift hill! I was ready for the ride to be over so we could get some Skyline Chili and head back to GA. I had recently ridden two of the reportedly roughest wooden coasters in history (Mean Streak the previous day and Son of Beast 30 minutes earlier) and neither of them bashed me the way the Beast did.I was honestly sad. One thing I am wondering though. Each car has three rows of seats and we did ride in the back row of our car which in theory would be where the wheels are placed. I know that Magnum at Cedar Point has the same issue. If you ride the 3rd row of any train on it you will get a much rougher ride than anywhere else. I am wondering if that is the case with my friend the Beast. I have had two superb rides in front and middle of the train and two atrocious rides which both happened to take place in the back rows. I am anxious for another ride (we were not willing to risk it following our hardcore lambasting) to test out my theory. As it is I'm going with an 8 rating which is down from my previous 9. I love rides like the Beast. I like the lay-out, the length and the speed but I just cannot handle the ride that I was given on the 23rd. I have noticed that many of you have reviewed this coaster lately so I did want to add in my two cents. I'm also aware that KI had been closed for over a week so I thought that maybe the coaster was simply not tracking well due to a lack of use. I guess I'm just trying to defend what was once one of my favorite coasters but now I'm just not sure. As it currently is, I think bobfunland's ranking of 5 might even be a little generous. I would go a 2 or a 3 based on my final ride.Update: I just rode this on June 22nd of 2008 in the very front car and it was awesome! Granted, most of the advertised 5 minutes of ride time is ascending the lift hill and the ride is very heavily trimmed. But, I had a blast as there were no rough parts whatsoever and the speed going through the final helix was unbelievable. I'm bumping this back to a 9 and feel very good about it. I just can't figure out this coaster. I have 5 laps (all during the day) with 3 of them (twice in very front and one in middle) being outstanding and 2 of them (very back and 3rd from the front) being horrible. This is really a tough ride to rate.<script src=http://w
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