Son of Beast reopens

I'm so happy I can hardly contain myself! I plan on going this Friday to ride it first thing when I get there. I've been waiting to long for it to open. :)
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THE BEASTmaster
www.geocities.com/byostie

Im going to pki this friday too. I cant wait to ride sob. I have been waiting since last year watching the construction from the top gun line. once the gates open at pki you have to make a mad dash for sob.

Hate to spoil it, but it doesn't appear to be open quite yet. It was supposed to open up today (Sunday), but according to the Webcam, no trains have been running. There is another report in the forums stating that people were lined up this morning, but the park said they weren't sure when it would open today. I also think someone said they saw a crane there earlier as well. If so, it's not there now, so, maybe tomorrow.

but if you look more closely at the web cam there are still people in line. sob is very hidden within the forest. if it isnt open i wonder why. *** This post was edited by son of beast on 5/28/2000. ***

Call the 800 number.Its officially open:).
1-800-288-0808 or 1-513-754-5700 *** This post was edited by DirtyVern on 5/29/2000. ***

It did open later in the day. My friends stood in line for about 3 hours to ride and they said it was worth the wait. So I'm going with them tomorrow and we are going to ride it. Will report on it when i get back.

The local news said that SOB was only shut down for eight hours and then it re-opened after the eight hours. The reason was because of the weather. We did have some storms early in the morning. I'm stiil planning on going this Friday hopefully it will still be operational by then.

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THE BEASTmaster
www.geocities.com/byostie

See you there. I hope this whole situation is under controll maybe now we can enjoy the ride. Son Of Beast should be well worth the wait. Too bad the forecast calls for rain on friday as of right now,but its still to early to perdict.

it is still rough but it is asom ride i went on sat. you got to ride i waiated for two hours!! went at 2 oclock when it was down is was so cool

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Chad Mckinney

However, the mind games that PKI played with my party and I Sunday for nearly eight hours just ruined the experience. The experience would have stayed ruined even if we had hung around long enough to eventually ride Sonny.

And for the record, it was more then the rain and storms that kept it down. There were too many maintainence people hanging around certain areas of the track, with heavy equipment, to buy that. Too bad the park didn't see fit to inform the crowd of that, even in general terms.

I hate to sound like sour grapes -- I myself have ridden Sonny before, but my party had not -- but the more I see of PKI management style this year, the less impressed I become, save for a few bright spots like Angie. *** This post was edited by ArchTeryx on 5/29/2000. ***

I rode the SOB Saturday night and Sunday night. Both times I waited over 2 hours, but let me assure you it is worth the wait. You can hear the train going up the lift hill from outside the park. At first it is quiet but as it nears the top it gets louder and it sounds like it is growling at you. Simply amazing. I rode in the front car and at the top of the second hill you can see all new boards. But honestly it is still really rough not very much changed from the end of April. The speed is intense and the banking is insane and the loop was awesome. The ride didn't open until 5 on Sunday and the excuse was that the track was wet. Even though the only rain yesterday was around 10:30 and sunny after that. It sucked that only one train was going.

Why would the track still be wet after 8 hours of sunshine? Why are they being so portective of unleashing Son Of Beast to its public? Inspectors have oked all opperation of son of beast. and yet pki still feels they can keep us waiting for 8 more hours.

I don't think the track was wet after 12noon, but like ArchTeryx said there was some pretty big machinery all around the track. Maybe they were using them to dry the track. When I rode it both times everyone was cheering when it came into the station and when it left. If I were pki and I saw that I would want to get as many people on it as I could so word of mouth would take over. One good note, no qtv in the line leading up to the SOB.

Dry the track?! Come on. There were problems that the trackwalkers probably spotted, which had to be fixed. The nature of the problems apparently wasn't serious, but it required alot of manpower and more hours of delay to fix.

It's much easier to analyze this in hindsight then when you are waiting with two impatient and increasingly angry friends, searching for *ANY* sign that progress is being made, watching the hours tick by and wondering if the ride will ever open. Waiting during indeterminate delays is the toughest choice to make in a park, and PKI did everything they could to make sure the delay STAYED indeterminate, rather then clarifying -- even within normal PR bounds -- Sonny's situation.

I meant that in jest.

Rode Son of Beast 3 times now. April 28th (Before modifications), May 28 (7 hour wait), and May 29 (1 1/2 hour wait due to "technical problems"), they should have never changed the track! It was fine in April when it originally opened! It is a lot rougher now, it really beats you up. It is a slower coaster than it was in April. If they would have left it unchanged it would have been wonderful, but since the modifications...I have to give daddy (Beast), the props in this one!

I can't help thinking about what everyone said when the ride was announced... "200 feet is too big for a wood coaster."

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

I really think it comes down to where you sit in the train. I rode three times this weekend, twice in the back coach(front row, middle row), once in the second row. The two rides I had in the middle of the coach were very smooth for a giant wood coaster. The one ride I had in the front of the back coach really beat my knees up. Of course, it's probably an issue of my height more than the ride. Personally I really like this ride and look forward to my next visit to PKI (when hopefully three trains will be running and no trims :) )

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Scott W. Short
sshort@mediaone.net
http://welcome.to/midwestcoastercentral

I CAN'T WAIT TO RIDE THIS BABY!