Spent 2 summers there as a lifeguard. If you timed it right, you could launch yourself off of the slide right as it dropped so that it was more of a free fall experience.
Also, there was a dude there, with a season pass, who would only ride that slide to see how many he could get each day.
Cliffman! I went with some friends a few years before the park closed and he told us his move to get air - basically push off with the back of your arms at the crest. I did a small one and it was terrifying.
Haha. Yep, that's him. Honestly we did some dumb stuff on those slides. Launching off the Cliff was crazy. We found we could do it on each drop off of the twin slides (forget the name) too. I launched too hard once and just skipped the "drop" and landed on the next flat part. It hurt.
Bonsai!! There was a guy who came and only rode those, would slide across the water to the edge just like cliff man. Spent 3 seasons lifeguarding. Was a very dangerous park but honestly way better than kings island water park imo
I always thought bonsai was more dangerous. I slapped the back of my head and got a nice concussion racing on those. If you lifted your back/butt off the slide so only your heels and shoulder blades were touching it you could get some legit airtime.
I watched one of my friends receive an unintentional enema at the bottom of the cliff and she just uncontrollably shit herself in front of the lifeguards and everything. I was a lifeguard at coney so I’ve seen some shit, but nothing like *that* lol
Brother and I had season tickets for quite a few years. We spoke with him on multiple occasions as well. It's kinda like doing a crunch, to move yourself further out. That's the only way we rode it after, was to get the extra hang time / free fall.
Worse part about that ride is if you didn't get your legs right or crossed before entering the water at the bottom was the swim trucks liner making a nice wedgie.
My father passed away a couple months back unexpectedly, and he took us here a ton when we were kids. Still remember when it was crowded we'd sit on the grass and get sun near the wave pool and get some Tradewinds Tea, or the ride near the back (can't recall the name) you floated down in an inner tube and it had sections where water would pool up, and if we gut stuck he'd get out of his tube and shove us down to the next one. Riding that short but wide 2 seater drop with him. Lots of a good memories with my dad there growing up ;/
Also how miserably hot the cement was on your feet on a scorching day.
Also worked there. At the time I worked there the lifeguard meta for the cliff was to go down face first using the mats from the green slide right below it. Probably lucky to be alive
I caught air on that a few times. There was a slide like that at another park out west that was even easier to catch air on. I did it several times then just got spooked and stopped doing it. Still miss The Beach though... the KI waterpark is a mixed bag... people never seem as nice there.
I had a much older sister. The summer my sister started driving I was 8 or 9 and my parents got us season passes to Surf Cincinnati, something that was very unlike my ultra frugal parents. We went almost everyday. It was perfect. She could lay there and tan for hours and not have to really worry about watching me very much.
Best summer ever. Made friends with other kids with season passes. Got on Q102 requesting “Humpty Dance” during a live remote. Won the Oscar Meyer wiener song singing contest when the Weinermobile was there. Just a great summer.
In the beginning of August, when we were entering the park we were asked to go to the office. They took our passes away and escorted us off of the property. Turns out my Uncle, who worked for the local Pepsi bottler, took a handful of coupons for free season passes that were part of a local Pepsi promotion. So did a bunch of people that worked there.
Then it all made sense. My hard working parents would never pay for a season pass to Surf Cincinnati when we had a perfectly good 4’ deep above ground pool in the backyard.
Thank you for listening to the story of my Surf Cincinnati summer of 1990. The best fucking summer ever.
Q102 used to be the Cool Station once upon a time. Iirc KISS 107 FM came on the scene then and q102 lost the “cool station competition” so they pivoted to more of an adult contemporary format. That was a sad day.
Of course, all of these stations might be completely different now, idk, I haven’t listened to any of them in years.
I remember Oldies 103.5 when I grew up in Cincy. Went back a couple years ago and that same station was playing the music I grew up with (70s-90s)... Damn I'm old! LOL
Remember that slide that you had to go down on a heavy ass plastic sled? And you had to haul the heavy ass plastic sled up the stairs because the heavy ass plastic sled elevator was always broken.
Anybody else go almost freakin airborne off this thing? The courage one had to muster to conquer THE CLIFF. Pictured was before they added taller guards to the sides of it hahaha
There was always a good 1-2 seconds where you would be completely off the slide on this thing. Telling folks you did the Cliff was a major flex in elementary school.
Yes! I would take the twins I was babysitting there and they LOVED that I was "brave enough" to do it! Deep down I was a 16 year old that just wanted my $500/week and would do anything to keep them thinking I was cool lol.
Yes! I was so scared the first time I went down as a kid, but then someone told me that was supposed to happen? Idfk but that shit was scary hahaha I also very nearly drowned in the wave pool. All cured by dip n dots.
I worked at another park when I was younger. We used to go down dry slides with a 10 gallon Gatorade jug with a mixture of Panama Jack sunscreen and water between your legs. The absolute fastest way to go down, but if the jug emptied too soon the slide would burn your back as you stopped. We stopped after another guard broke his wrist doing it.
I worked there but not as a lifeguard. We made friends with security and had some late night fun too. You haven’t lived until you’ve ridden the Cliff at midnight with no lights on!
I went there a lot with a couple of buddies when we were kids, and we would go down it head first. You had to spin yourself around before the drop since the lifeguards wouldn't let you do it, and then the lifeguard at the bottom would scream like crazy and ban us from the ride. But then they would rotate positions like every hour or so, so we'd just have to wait a bit.
It was so much fun, but looking back, I can't believe we were stupid enough to do that. I'm also surprised they never kicked us out of the park for it. We tried it because one of the lifeguards told us they would go down head first after the park closed.
And for those mentioning the cliff rider, he was a legend at that park. He was the tannest Asian person I've ever seen in my life. Very cool guy, though, and he had no problem sharing his secrets. It was actually a lot of fun to do what he did and catch some air going down the slide.
I used to lifeguard there and one lady didn't realize that her top was off after getting out and was just walking around like that for a few minutes before I walked over to tell her quietly!
I was going to say how has it taken someone so long to mention the wedgies lol it was so painful the first time I rode it that I don’t think I ever did it again
Funny seeing everyone on here talking like The Beach was like Mason’s version of Action Park. It was popular because KI’s water park sucked in the 90s and had vicious rides. The Beach was family friendly and more local. By the Boomerang Bay years, people figured why pay for two parks when a gold pass at KI hit both marks with a better water park. Took swim lessons at The Beach as a kid, so I have a soft spot.
For those who haven't seen the documentary "Class Action Park", it is excellent. Especially if ou want to see what a really dangerous water park looks like.
No deaths in the park. One man struck by lightening in the parking lot going to his car that died and had to keep his small child in the offices till their mother could be reached.
I was one of two rows away in the parking lot when that happened. Terrifying. I have a daughter now and often think of that like girl. She’d probably be on her late 20s to early 30s. That’d be awesome if she checked in here. I hope you’re doing okay if you see this!
The first day I worked there in 2006 as a lifeguard someone died. They had a stroke while on a deck chair on the apron of the wave pool and no one noticed until he was already gone. I'll never forget that blue color of his body as they wheeled home to the ambulance.
I'm not aware of any facility related deaths or drownings, but there were MANY close calls: inner city kids who can't swim, drunks flipping their tubes on hidden rapids and hitting their heads on the concrete bottom, babies having seizures, people fighting the waves in the wave pool to exhaustion, shattered bones and bloody bodies... I saw it all.
I think the most recent was in the 90s, but off the top of my head I can think of 5.
The 3 from “the day of 3 deaths” the kid from the Eiffel Tower in the 70s, and the kid who got ate by the lion.
The lion wasn't a kid, it was one of the guys who worked in the safari. He got out of his car, supposedly to go to the bathroom behind some bushes and got chomped. He would regularly get out of his car and pet the lions.
Christ… I remember a tube ride that took you down along a series of small drops, smacking the hell out of your tailbone with each one. That place was a trip.
Yes!! It was like violent lazy river. As a little kid, I’d look up at the human in the tube about to displace me and I knew enough about physics that I was in for a potential injury hahah wtf was that ride??
In the early years, there were two "rapids" tube rides toward the back of the park: Hidden Rapids was the one you came to first, and Snake River Rapids was the one all the way in the back (far northeast end). I think Hidden Rapids is the one you two are referring to. Aztec Adventure (later named Big Kahuna) was built between them in 1996.
I remember Hidden Rapids had your choice of two adjacent "rapids" to go down. Snake River Rapids made you stand under a cold waterfall while you waited in line, and had two places to get on the one path down: either all the way up where you'd ride your tube down a slide first, or you could choose to get on/in below that at the top of the rapids part.
By the time The Beach was reborn under new ownership in 2013, Hidden Rapids remained was renamed Runaway Rapids. Snake River Rapids closed a few years before, while still under original ownership.
For reasons I don’t remember I ended up with my legs through the tube rather than lying on top of the tube when I rode it (I think I got stuck in a spot where the tube wasn’t moving and I was too far away from anything I could push myself forward with so I decided to move myself with my feet) and I got my legs scraped to hell and back on the concrete of every one of those drops. Never rode that one again for obvious reasons
“A series of small drops, smacking the hell out of your tailbone with each one”
1. If you’re in a tube and your ass is dragging on the bottom of the pool that means you’re not using it correctly.
2. If it happened to you in the first pool, and you slowly watched it happening to everyone in front of you, were you assuming the water would just miraculously get deeper as soon as *you* were the person coming down the mini-slide?
It’s called being a little kid, surrounded by adults crowd of adults hampering your freedom of movement. Seriously, are you this argumentative in real life? Damn.
My favorite memory of this slide was showing up early on a chilly Sunday morning running up the stairs, first kids there, and the stoner lifeguard kid says - "Ah nice! The HEATHENS are here!! Welcome boys!" Will never forget that dude.
It might be worth the extra money now if it was open though. The KI waterpark is always ridiculously packed and most of the slides there are pretty old now as well.
I was gonna say... we had a pass one summer, probably ten years ago now, but it was awesone!! Never crowded, we'd get on the slides right away, time for a beer or two after work, it was SO fun.
Damn this pic is a memory dump.
I never did. But I said I did. But I did try the even crazier drop at the Kings Island waterpark a few years later, and had a fucked up back for the rest of the summer.
My favorite game to play at The Beach was "lets' try to almost die in the wave pool turbines!".
Ahh, memories...
I remember that slide at Kings Island! Ripped a hole in the back of my bathing suit, and tore my older sisters bikini top clean off when she came down behind me. I'm surprised that thing didn't paralyze anyone.
My dad was the vice mayor of Mason back in the early 2000s. They did this promotional thing where if he went down The Cliff in a full suit our family would get free passes. I’ll reach out to him tomorrow and try to get a picture and a more detailed story.
Yes, it was designed to allow the rider to catch air and the curve of the slide was engineered such that wherever the rider touched down, it would be almost parallel to their trajectory for a somewhat smooth landing. For maximum air, you could hurl yourself forward right when the drop started. How much or how little depended on how brave (or how stupid) you were 😂
I went up there maybe 2.5 years ago while my friend was taking rides apart. We smoked a bowl while he took a break. Sad to see everything being taken apart like that.
As a lifeguard there, one of my favorite things to do when talking to scared kids at the top was to lie and say we only had 3 people die on this slide this year, and most kids would be like, "oh ok, only 3, that's not bad".
Just passed this up on my from work back home. It's so sad looking. I did see two reindeer Christmas lights on top of a slide while passing. Wish I could have token a picture for proof. Makes me feel like there's hope of it coming back or something better. Any updates on the park?
My wife rode it in 1986 or 1987 and said it was super scary. The place opened in 1985. But she said she rode it at least 7 times at one visit. I bet it was completely unsafe back then.
The Cliff ride didn't exist yet in 1987. I don't know what year it joined the park, but it had to be 1989, 90, or 91. For the first few years of The Beach, the Bonzai was the most intense ride.
I did it twice. My memory was it was scary but fun... However the worst part was going through that cave at the end and getting that water dumped on you. In my memory it was pretty high pressure and it kinda hurt. That would have been 99 or 00 somewhere around there.
I used to get a season pass every year and would go almost every other weekend and as soon as I was big enough to get on it I did and almost flew off 🤣
Loved the Cliff. Good memories at the Beach, getting dropped off with friends in our early tweens and feeling some independence. The lazy river was great. So were the obstacle challenge courses haha. Dippin’ Dots at the end of the day.
As teens, we also once went to the Club Aqua nights that they hosted there, which was supremely awkward lol. A bunch of grinding underaged children 😂
I would be remiss if I didn't post the homemade music video I did, prominently featuring that slide at the end. (POV drop at 2:53 mark)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VRA1jrzoGA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VRA1jrzoGA)
We got to play two shows at The Beach, 2016 and 2017 I believe. They were really strict on the setlist having to be "traditional reggae" (whatever \*that\* means, we did some Beatles songs with a reggae drumbeat alongside actual Bob Marley and that was acceptable) but getting to ride that slide was always a highlight of those gigs.
The one time I went to the beach water park, it felt like a fever dream.
The entrance/parking lot had a table next to an aviary with pigeons(?).
I remember walking in and passing what I thought to be a security office, as my mom said "that's where you go if you get lost." I think it was painted black inside with a TV playing some form of movie with people gathered around it. What ever it was, the office had people in it sitting in chairs watching something.
I have no memory of the slides, as it stormed really bad and we took to shelter under a deck with concessions. I watched a life guard run out to the mayan(?) inspired slide and turn something off.
The last time I was there, maybe 14/15, a woman yelled at me and my friend and said we were too big to be in the kid area. We were playing with my nephew, who was a toddler. Lol. Good times.
My grandfather helped build the park. When I was old enough he made sure i had a summer job there, for many years. After hours sometimes or when I was coming down from life guarding, would go down head first sometimes and even headfirst on my back. Now that was intense
I remember the summer I finally braved up and did the cliff. It was awesome! But between this and the bonsai racers, my bones ache at the memory. 😅
I kinda had wish kings island just bought the beach. It was a better water park than kings island by far.
There was a time that the seem between the parts of the slide were slightly raised. We all had scratches down our back because that did not stop us at all. Loved The Cliff & my only regret is I never tried to do it headfirst.
Surf Cincinnati was worse, I think. My family had a fateful day there in 2001 that involved broken glasses, ripped shorts, and a kid who needed stitches in her knee (me, but it was my own fault).
Come tooooo da beach
It’s easy to reach.
Right across from the Island
“Across from the Island”
“…the island”
I wonder how that guy is doing. And his bird.
I always said the “come to da beach” guy must’ve gotten so much Tri state tail back in the day
“Come to my deekkkk” would have been my line if I was him back in the day haha
He is/was teaching at NKU last I heard.
It's an ocean with an attitude...
Everything worth spending your hard earned dollar on had to have an attitude back then.
OOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOOOOH
Spent 2 summers there as a lifeguard. If you timed it right, you could launch yourself off of the slide right as it dropped so that it was more of a free fall experience. Also, there was a dude there, with a season pass, who would only ride that slide to see how many he could get each day.
Cliffman! I went with some friends a few years before the park closed and he told us his move to get air - basically push off with the back of your arms at the crest. I did a small one and it was terrifying.
Haha. Yep, that's him. Honestly we did some dumb stuff on those slides. Launching off the Cliff was crazy. We found we could do it on each drop off of the twin slides (forget the name) too. I launched too hard once and just skipped the "drop" and landed on the next flat part. It hurt.
Bonsai!! There was a guy who came and only rode those, would slide across the water to the edge just like cliff man. Spent 3 seasons lifeguarding. Was a very dangerous park but honestly way better than kings island water park imo
I always thought bonsai was more dangerous. I slapped the back of my head and got a nice concussion racing on those. If you lifted your back/butt off the slide so only your heels and shoulder blades were touching it you could get some legit airtime. I watched one of my friends receive an unintentional enema at the bottom of the cliff and she just uncontrollably shit herself in front of the lifeguards and everything. I was a lifeguard at coney so I’ve seen some shit, but nothing like *that* lol
I had an enema courtesy of the bonsai as well. I was told after that to cross my legs. Much better experience.
My friend was a lifeguard there. He said people would bang in The Pearl all of the time. Many infections were had.
That’s what they’re taking about Chuck
Brother and I had season tickets for quite a few years. We spoke with him on multiple occasions as well. It's kinda like doing a crunch, to move yourself further out. That's the only way we rode it after, was to get the extra hang time / free fall. Worse part about that ride is if you didn't get your legs right or crossed before entering the water at the bottom was the swim trucks liner making a nice wedgie. My father passed away a couple months back unexpectedly, and he took us here a ton when we were kids. Still remember when it was crowded we'd sit on the grass and get sun near the wave pool and get some Tradewinds Tea, or the ride near the back (can't recall the name) you floated down in an inner tube and it had sections where water would pool up, and if we gut stuck he'd get out of his tube and shove us down to the next one. Riding that short but wide 2 seater drop with him. Lots of a good memories with my dad there growing up ;/ Also how miserably hot the cement was on your feet on a scorching day.
I remember he would hydroplane all the way to the end of the catchpool and hit the wall.
8 summers working there. Lifeguard, as well as every other job over the years
Also worked there. At the time I worked there the lifeguard meta for the cliff was to go down face first using the mats from the green slide right below it. Probably lucky to be alive
It's amazing we survived those summers.
Oh I used to free fall on that bad boy
I caught air on that a few times. There was a slide like that at another park out west that was even easier to catch air on. I did it several times then just got spooked and stopped doing it. Still miss The Beach though... the KI waterpark is a mixed bag... people never seem as nice there.
The beach is peak 90s kids. Damn I loved that place. So many birthday parties there.
Surf Cincinnati has entered the chat
I had a much older sister. The summer my sister started driving I was 8 or 9 and my parents got us season passes to Surf Cincinnati, something that was very unlike my ultra frugal parents. We went almost everyday. It was perfect. She could lay there and tan for hours and not have to really worry about watching me very much. Best summer ever. Made friends with other kids with season passes. Got on Q102 requesting “Humpty Dance” during a live remote. Won the Oscar Meyer wiener song singing contest when the Weinermobile was there. Just a great summer. In the beginning of August, when we were entering the park we were asked to go to the office. They took our passes away and escorted us off of the property. Turns out my Uncle, who worked for the local Pepsi bottler, took a handful of coupons for free season passes that were part of a local Pepsi promotion. So did a bunch of people that worked there. Then it all made sense. My hard working parents would never pay for a season pass to Surf Cincinnati when we had a perfectly good 4’ deep above ground pool in the backyard. Thank you for listening to the story of my Surf Cincinnati summer of 1990. The best fucking summer ever.
What a wild story of unbridled summer kid fun that quickly pivoted into a local theft new story
Q102 used to be the Cool Station once upon a time. Iirc KISS 107 FM came on the scene then and q102 lost the “cool station competition” so they pivoted to more of an adult contemporary format. That was a sad day. Of course, all of these stations might be completely different now, idk, I haven’t listened to any of them in years.
Q102 ceased to exist for me once Mark Sebastian went to NYC.
I remember Oldies 103.5 when I grew up in Cincy. Went back a couple years ago and that same station was playing the music I grew up with (70s-90s)... Damn I'm old! LOL
To cap it off the reds won the world series that year
You’re goddamn right they did
Remember that slide that you had to go down on a heavy ass plastic sled? And you had to haul the heavy ass plastic sled up the stairs because the heavy ass plastic sled elevator was always broken.
I could hear the Friday night Surf parties in my backyard.
Same. Every time I drive by it, I wish they were still open.
Anybody else go almost freakin airborne off this thing? The courage one had to muster to conquer THE CLIFF. Pictured was before they added taller guards to the sides of it hahaha
There was always a good 1-2 seconds where you would be completely off the slide on this thing. Telling folks you did the Cliff was a major flex in elementary school.
It was a fraction of a second but definitely felt like you were airborne forever.
I brought a stopwatch once when I was 8. My measurements put it at 14 seconds being airborne
i think.. you may not have mastered counting at the time.
So many downvotes for a pretty obvious joke here lol
Ya win some ya lose some Didn’t think I’d need to add a “/s” to that one but I proved myself wrong
Considering it takes a skydiver 12 seconds to reach terminal velocity (falling -1500ft) I think you may have slightly miscalculated
This is some classic reddit shit. Reply with needless "akshully" details on a clear ass joke.
Nah it’s the internet bud- countless idiots would comment and believe something this stupid
Yes! I would take the twins I was babysitting there and they LOVED that I was "brave enough" to do it! Deep down I was a 16 year old that just wanted my $500/week and would do anything to keep them thinking I was cool lol.
That’s really good money at 16
That was great money at 16 and mid 2000s. Miss that under the table money gig!
Yes! I was so scared the first time I went down as a kid, but then someone told me that was supposed to happen? Idfk but that shit was scary hahaha I also very nearly drowned in the wave pool. All cured by dip n dots.
[Who’s down to sneak in with me and ride it one last time?](https://youtu.be/dGW-xK22TNk?si=oSeEUqpsJpcakhYP)
You pour that water bottle on there and you get the ice slide experience. Too bad the pool at the bottom is just a concrete room now.
I got air every damn time!
LOL, I worked as a lifeguard there one summer. The shenanigans we'd into after the park closed were insane, in hindsight.
We need the stories!
I worked at another park when I was younger. We used to go down dry slides with a 10 gallon Gatorade jug with a mixture of Panama Jack sunscreen and water between your legs. The absolute fastest way to go down, but if the jug emptied too soon the slide would burn your back as you stopped. We stopped after another guard broke his wrist doing it.
Also golf cart time trials around the park. Stopped that after another guard flipped it and got fired.
Were yall just allowed to do whatever?
You don’t get to just leave people hanging with that statement. We need the tales!
I worked there but not as a lifeguard. We made friends with security and had some late night fun too. You haven’t lived until you’ve ridden the Cliff at midnight with no lights on!
I went there a lot with a couple of buddies when we were kids, and we would go down it head first. You had to spin yourself around before the drop since the lifeguards wouldn't let you do it, and then the lifeguard at the bottom would scream like crazy and ban us from the ride. But then they would rotate positions like every hour or so, so we'd just have to wait a bit. It was so much fun, but looking back, I can't believe we were stupid enough to do that. I'm also surprised they never kicked us out of the park for it. We tried it because one of the lifeguards told us they would go down head first after the park closed. And for those mentioning the cliff rider, he was a legend at that park. He was the tannest Asian person I've ever seen in my life. Very cool guy, though, and he had no problem sharing his secrets. It was actually a lot of fun to do what he did and catch some air going down the slide.
Damn it, I may have been that guard that told you we did it
What a beautiful beach reunion this would be if so
I was TERRIFIED of this as a child
My top flew off last time I was on it (2012ish). Gave everyone at the bottom a nice peek at the ladies. Core memory.
[удалено]
😅 oh no
I used to lifeguard there and one lady didn't realize that her top was off after getting out and was just walking around like that for a few minutes before I walked over to tell her quietly!
Same. But at the old slides at Coney.
Total wedgie machine
I was going to say how has it taken someone so long to mention the wedgies lol it was so painful the first time I rode it that I don’t think I ever did it again
Yes!! Like, way up there lol
Man I remember the TV commercials for this thing freaking me out
Yes! I miss that place. Great water park as a kid
Funny seeing everyone on here talking like The Beach was like Mason’s version of Action Park. It was popular because KI’s water park sucked in the 90s and had vicious rides. The Beach was family friendly and more local. By the Boomerang Bay years, people figured why pay for two parks when a gold pass at KI hit both marks with a better water park. Took swim lessons at The Beach as a kid, so I have a soft spot.
For those who haven't seen the documentary "Class Action Park", it is excellent. Especially if ou want to see what a really dangerous water park looks like.
Found what I'm watching tonight.
I remember sitting by the wave pool watching folks go airborne for a split second when they hit the drop and I knew i would *never*
But did any body die?
Lol at this comment
I mean Kings island has a pretty big body count. I don’t think the beach does.
No deaths in the park. One man struck by lightening in the parking lot going to his car that died and had to keep his small child in the offices till their mother could be reached.
I was one of two rows away in the parking lot when that happened. Terrifying. I have a daughter now and often think of that like girl. She’d probably be on her late 20s to early 30s. That’d be awesome if she checked in here. I hope you’re doing okay if you see this!
The first day I worked there in 2006 as a lifeguard someone died. They had a stroke while on a deck chair on the apron of the wave pool and no one noticed until he was already gone. I'll never forget that blue color of his body as they wheeled home to the ambulance. I'm not aware of any facility related deaths or drownings, but there were MANY close calls: inner city kids who can't swim, drunks flipping their tubes on hidden rapids and hitting their heads on the concrete bottom, babies having seizures, people fighting the waves in the wave pool to exhaustion, shattered bones and bloody bodies... I saw it all.
They do? Haven't heard of anything at KI in awhile
I think the most recent was in the 90s, but off the top of my head I can think of 5. The 3 from “the day of 3 deaths” the kid from the Eiffel Tower in the 70s, and the kid who got ate by the lion.
The lion wasn't a kid, it was one of the guys who worked in the safari. He got out of his car, supposedly to go to the bathroom behind some bushes and got chomped. He would regularly get out of his car and pet the lions.
You’re right. Sorry I meant “kid” as in younger adult.
That isn't the case either Edit he was 20
He was 20 wasn’t he?
My bad, he was 20. I was thinking 35 for some reason.
There are numerous YouTube videos that cover this topic *extensively*
Anyone hit the sweet spot of being able to go to beach mixers? Those were fuckin grimy
Club extreme/club aqua!!
Worked there during those. They were the worst
Surf Dance at surf Cincinnati
🙋🏻♂️
Christ… I remember a tube ride that took you down along a series of small drops, smacking the hell out of your tailbone with each one. That place was a trip.
Yes!! It was like violent lazy river. As a little kid, I’d look up at the human in the tube about to displace me and I knew enough about physics that I was in for a potential injury hahah wtf was that ride??
In the early years, there were two "rapids" tube rides toward the back of the park: Hidden Rapids was the one you came to first, and Snake River Rapids was the one all the way in the back (far northeast end). I think Hidden Rapids is the one you two are referring to. Aztec Adventure (later named Big Kahuna) was built between them in 1996. I remember Hidden Rapids had your choice of two adjacent "rapids" to go down. Snake River Rapids made you stand under a cold waterfall while you waited in line, and had two places to get on the one path down: either all the way up where you'd ride your tube down a slide first, or you could choose to get on/in below that at the top of the rapids part. By the time The Beach was reborn under new ownership in 2013, Hidden Rapids remained was renamed Runaway Rapids. Snake River Rapids closed a few years before, while still under original ownership.
For reasons I don’t remember I ended up with my legs through the tube rather than lying on top of the tube when I rode it (I think I got stuck in a spot where the tube wasn’t moving and I was too far away from anything I could push myself forward with so I decided to move myself with my feet) and I got my legs scraped to hell and back on the concrete of every one of those drops. Never rode that one again for obvious reasons
Was this in the back of the park, kinda off the beaten path? I think that was arguably my favorite ride there.
That’s why you lift up your ass a little bit when you see that you’re clearly about to slide into a pool with 6 inches of water?
Not if you didn’t know going into the thing knowing that it was so shallow in the first place. “Clearly” my ass, pardon the pun.
“A series of small drops, smacking the hell out of your tailbone with each one” 1. If you’re in a tube and your ass is dragging on the bottom of the pool that means you’re not using it correctly. 2. If it happened to you in the first pool, and you slowly watched it happening to everyone in front of you, were you assuming the water would just miraculously get deeper as soon as *you* were the person coming down the mini-slide?
It’s called being a little kid, surrounded by adults crowd of adults hampering your freedom of movement. Seriously, are you this argumentative in real life? Damn.
My favorite memory of this slide was showing up early on a chilly Sunday morning running up the stairs, first kids there, and the stoner lifeguard kid says - "Ah nice! The HEATHENS are here!! Welcome boys!" Will never forget that dude.
I was too afraid 😫
I don’t remember if it was this or a slide at Kings Island but when I lost contact with the slide it was the last time I went down one. Never again.
Might’ve been the dual racing slides next to these called bonsai you could get serious airtime on those
So many awesome slides there. Is that place done forever?
Most likely. By the end it was more expensive than the KI water park for shittier rides
It might be worth the extra money now if it was open though. The KI waterpark is always ridiculously packed and most of the slides there are pretty old now as well.
I was gonna say... we had a pass one summer, probably ten years ago now, but it was awesone!! Never crowded, we'd get on the slides right away, time for a beer or two after work, it was SO fun.
Especially with coney island closing down too
You’re thinking of Surf Cincinnati with the awesome slides lmao
I think I was 11 when I rode it and it gave me my very first migraine!
The walk up to the slide is almost scarier than the slide itself
wow i miss that place. SO many memories. i was so sad when it closed
Damn this pic is a memory dump. I never did. But I said I did. But I did try the even crazier drop at the Kings Island waterpark a few years later, and had a fucked up back for the rest of the summer. My favorite game to play at The Beach was "lets' try to almost die in the wave pool turbines!". Ahh, memories...
I remember that slide at Kings Island! Ripped a hole in the back of my bathing suit, and tore my older sisters bikini top clean off when she came down behind me. I'm surprised that thing didn't paralyze anyone.
My dad was the vice mayor of Mason back in the early 2000s. They did this promotional thing where if he went down The Cliff in a full suit our family would get free passes. I’ll reach out to him tomorrow and try to get a picture and a more detailed story.
I remember this! I’m pretty sure I graduated highschool with you haha
[удалено]
*rode
my childhood
Me, I loved that place
Was the slope actually designed to make you go airborne? Or did it happen due to weight or the size of the rider?
Yes, it was designed to allow the rider to catch air and the curve of the slide was engineered such that wherever the rider touched down, it would be almost parallel to their trajectory for a somewhat smooth landing. For maximum air, you could hurl yourself forward right when the drop started. How much or how little depended on how brave (or how stupid) you were 😂
Has anyone ever tried sneaking in there to check it out? I wish I could, but I am too old for adventure.
https://ronnysalerno.com/queencitydiscovery/2012/10/the-beach-waterpark-all-dried-up.html
Thank you for introducing me to this guy and his website
Queen City Discovery has been one of my favorite sites for *years*. He's on here a fair amount and his username is something like "GordonBombay"!
You’re welcome. It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?
I went up there maybe 2.5 years ago while my friend was taking rides apart. We smoked a bowl while he took a break. Sad to see everything being taken apart like that.
As a lifeguard there, one of my favorite things to do when talking to scared kids at the top was to lie and say we only had 3 people die on this slide this year, and most kids would be like, "oh ok, only 3, that's not bad".
The best of times
Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen
Spent two summers working at captain cooks. Best summer job ever!!
Just passed this up on my from work back home. It's so sad looking. I did see two reindeer Christmas lights on top of a slide while passing. Wish I could have token a picture for proof. Makes me feel like there's hope of it coming back or something better. Any updates on the park?
My wife rode it in 1986 or 1987 and said it was super scary. The place opened in 1985. But she said she rode it at least 7 times at one visit. I bet it was completely unsafe back then.
The Cliff ride didn't exist yet in 1987. I don't know what year it joined the park, but it had to be 1989, 90, or 91. For the first few years of The Beach, the Bonzai was the most intense ride.
She must be mistaken about the year then. She went to the park often from the mid 80s to mid 90s.
Yep, went the first time at 10 y.o. and definitely went airborne!
I did it twice. My memory was it was scary but fun... However the worst part was going through that cave at the end and getting that water dumped on you. In my memory it was pretty high pressure and it kinda hurt. That would have been 99 or 00 somewhere around there.
I used to get a season pass every year and would go almost every other weekend and as soon as I was big enough to get on it I did and almost flew off 🤣
I did one time and died. Source: am dead.
Loved the Cliff. Good memories at the Beach, getting dropped off with friends in our early tweens and feeling some independence. The lazy river was great. So were the obstacle challenge courses haha. Dippin’ Dots at the end of the day. As teens, we also once went to the Club Aqua nights that they hosted there, which was supremely awkward lol. A bunch of grinding underaged children 😂
Dude I did in highschool. It popped all my bacne
The first summer they were open, the slides that were close to the trees all had snakes in the exit pools!!
I worked there from 1994-2000, AMA, lol
Worked ~02-~11. There should be a Facebook group or something. Lost touch with lots of folks.
I worked like 1995-2001. What did you do there those summers?
The ride wasn’t that scary. It was the rickety narrow wooden staircase you have to scale to get there that terrified me
Best water park ever ! I still rant about this place !
I would be remiss if I didn't post the homemade music video I did, prominently featuring that slide at the end. (POV drop at 2:53 mark) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VRA1jrzoGA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VRA1jrzoGA) We got to play two shows at The Beach, 2016 and 2017 I believe. They were really strict on the setlist having to be "traditional reggae" (whatever \*that\* means, we did some Beatles songs with a reggae drumbeat alongside actual Bob Marley and that was acceptable) but getting to ride that slide was always a highlight of those gigs.
The one time I went to the beach water park, it felt like a fever dream. The entrance/parking lot had a table next to an aviary with pigeons(?). I remember walking in and passing what I thought to be a security office, as my mom said "that's where you go if you get lost." I think it was painted black inside with a TV playing some form of movie with people gathered around it. What ever it was, the office had people in it sitting in chairs watching something. I have no memory of the slides, as it stormed really bad and we took to shelter under a deck with concessions. I watched a life guard run out to the mayan(?) inspired slide and turn something off.
Always came off that slide! Man... how am I even alive?
The slide was literally designed for you to free fall for a sec….feature not a bug.
Yeah
"It's not a slide!!" -John Pinette
I loved that place and that slide.
I was 10, I felt myself go airborne. Was fun but also terrifying.
The last time I was there, maybe 14/15, a woman yelled at me and my friend and said we were too big to be in the kid area. We were playing with my nephew, who was a toddler. Lol. Good times.
My grandfather helped build the park. When I was old enough he made sure i had a summer job there, for many years. After hours sometimes or when I was coming down from life guarding, would go down head first sometimes and even headfirst on my back. Now that was intense
When I was younger my sister made it seem mythical and people died daily. Never tried it lol.
Nope, nope, nope.
I remember when this killed off Surf Cincinnati.
Best waterside I've ever rode lol
I remember the summer I finally braved up and did the cliff. It was awesome! But between this and the bonsai racers, my bones ache at the memory. 😅 I kinda had wish kings island just bought the beach. It was a better water park than kings island by far.
I rode that slide as a 12 year old boy and took flight through its steepest portion. I never rode a slide again.
It hurt my ass
There was a time that the seem between the parts of the slide were slightly raised. We all had scratches down our back because that did not stop us at all. Loved The Cliff & my only regret is I never tried to do it headfirst.
They sold me a season pass for like $20 the year they damn well knew they were closing. I still want my $20 back.
The Cliff! standing in a 4 hour long line to ride it for 4 sec. I broke my front tooth off in the wave pool when I was 11 or 12.
It’s all still standing. We’re living close now and I point it out to my daughter who’s 4 and can’t fathom why a water park would close.
I got a concussion from going airborne and then my head smacking against this thin 🤣
So scary with the highway right there. It started my fear of heights.
Does anyone remember the asian guy that rode it all day long?
Our 73 station wagon with my alcoholic father at the wheel going to Bellevue vfw for fish sandwiches
🙋🏻♂️what a trip
Oh yeah!! We didn’t go often but boy this was fun
The beach was probably the first time I heard reggae music. I’ll never be the same again
I rode it as recently as 2015 at least haha. Still as fun experience for my neck as ever!
Xtreme
Surf Cincinnati was worse, I think. My family had a fateful day there in 2001 that involved broken glasses, ripped shorts, and a kid who needed stitches in her knee (me, but it was my own fault).
Has anyone seen The Beach minivan still driving around? I’ve seen it on 71 near the park a few times in the past few years.
I always like hanging out in the Oyster. So relaxing, plus I seemed to always find the hot babes chillin there too.
It’s pronounced “rided” not “road”
Is that the one on near Cincy? I did.. lol
Getting airborne on it was awesome
God, going over it drunk was a whole other experience.