Son Of Beast

MASON, Ohio -- With 14 roller coasters, Kings Island ranks just behind North America's coaster capitals: California's Six Flags Magic Mountain (17), Ontario's Canada's Wonderland (16) and Ohio's Cedar Point (15). Photos: Top 10 Kings Island roller coasters Kings Island, just outside Cincinnati, traces its history to Ohio's Coney Island park, which dates to 1867 as one of the oldest amusement parks in the United States. Many of Coney Island's rides -- including Scrambler, Dodgem and Monster -- were relocated to Kings Island when the 364-acre theme park opened in 1972.

A malfunction on an amusement park ride sent 27 people to hospitals, most with minor chest and neck injuries, police said. Witnesses reportedly saw the Son of Beast roller coaster at Paramount's Kings Island just northeast of Cincinnati come to an abrupt stop.

Roller coasters that drop, twist and turn riders at heights and speeds that were unimaginable just a few years ago are coming under closer scrutiny amid an increase in amusement park injuries. Some lawmakers and doctors are asking whether the human body is built to withstand what today's scream machines dish out. "Technology and ride design are outstripping our understanding of the health effects of high G-forces on child and adult riders," said Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.).

The first volleys of the next roller coaster revolution have been fired in the forested Idaho panhandle, the emerging epicenter of thrill ride innovation. Located in the small town of Hayden, Idaho, Rocky Mountain Construction has burst onto the ride manufacturing scene seemingly out of nowhere, shaking the theme park industry like a rumbling coaster train rocketing along a rickety old track with plans to build two looping wooden coasters in 2013. > Photos: Rocky Mountain and the history of looping wooden coasters Not since the coaster wars of the 1980s and '90s have the possibilities for thrill rides, new and revamped,   seemed so promising.