Question about The Beasts
Shaggy, in regards to my earlier comment (that I probably would only ride SoB once per trip) ... it isn't that I dislike the ride. I fully appreciate the significance of SoB, especially since my first ride on it was Memorial Day weekend 2000, on a day where SoB opened at 6:00 PM, then closed at 7:00 PM. I remember Jeff Seibert walking along the line of people sitting and waiting for the ride to open, stopping at different groups and sharing information about the ride with those groups. And I also remember finishing the ride to find Jeff waiting for exiting riders to ask about their experience and give them a bottle of their favorite Coke product.
And I enjoy riding it once every trip. SoB provides a huge adrenaline rush... But after that first ride, I am distracted by the pain I experience from the cars. That is why I find the layout disappointing. If the ride were less painful, or the layout had more surprises, I would be more likely to reride it during visits. Instead I experience diminishing returns after the first ride. Between visits I forget enough to make the ride enjoyable again the next time I go to PKI.
I've come to this point of view after riding the SoB both once and several times during visits. When I ride it once, I enjoy it. When I ride it more than that, I don't. When I ride it too many times, I have trouble walking. I have another significant memory of that coaster: riding it 4 times the first Friday of FearFest 2000, then not being able to straighten until the following Wednesday. :)
Basically Shaggy, I think you are drawing a little too fine of a line. It is not love or hate a coaster ... there is an entire spectrum of opinions toward a coaster. There are some coasters I will not ride (FoF pre-lap bar, for instance). There are others I will ride only if the line is very short. And there are others I love.
That said, I do understand your frustration with the disparity between some posters' opinions and actions. I can agree with you wholeheartedly -- if someone says the ride is horrible, then he or she shouldn't waste their time by riding it. And maybe the rest of us will have a little shorter line because of it... :)
Echoing many earlier comments I have to say that Beast up to the Helix is only so-so but the finale is unbelievable and is certainly why so many people rank it highly. SOB in contrast doesn't have any particularly stand-out moments. I generally just don't care for coasters that have long drawn out elements with 0 surprise factor or airtime to compensate. I don't care for the washboarding and the helixes just don't have the kind of intensity that I'd expect....perhaps tunneling them would change my opinion a bit since hearing the roar of the train is a big part of the appeal of Papa to me but overall I think the coaster was a victim of it's own hype, it simply had too much to live up to both in regards to it's name and the fact that it was put up in a year full of excellent installations such as Legend and Boulder Dash.
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SRM 2001: No Lights! No Brakes! No Bell?!
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22 parks so far in 2001.
Tremors, my 100th coaster.
Ghostrider, stopped counting laps at 100.
Sean F. said:
I think the Beast is one of the best coasters I have ridden. Those that say things like, "It doesnt' have airtime" or " it just statys close to the ground for most of the ride" were either expecting too much from the ride, or they just don't 'get it'.Thats just it Sean, It's not a twister and it's not a out and back and when people get a fast ride through the woods they don't get it. I love Papa Beast and Sonny is far better than many coasters I have ridden but as many say Beast Rocks at night.
The Beast wasn't designed to be an airtime machine. To me, it is all about seclusion. Being out in the woods and not being able to see any of the park is something special.
Seclusion is the word! Remember those walkback rides this season where you took the front seat and I took the rear with nobody inbetween? :) Then we did a chinese fire drill and I took the front and you were the brakeman. :) And it was raining hard and nobody said a thing about the abismal weather!
To this day, the ending helix scares me. Out of all the wooden coasters I have ridden (99 at this time), I think The Beast has one of the best endings to a coaster anywhere. Sure, the ride is heavily braked at times, but the qualities I like about it don't ruin the overall ride for me. I guess I just look at the different side of things as opposed to the "Well, it doesn't have this, and this, and this, so it must suck" type of thinking.
For a sucky coaster it still draws em for hundreds of miles to return! Uhm, 22 years later :)
Son of Beast is a different story. I have had many good rides on it, as well as bad. In the morning, it usually runs pretty slugish, but if you are lucky enough to get a ride on it around 4:00PM, on a warm summer day, it can be a great ride. I don't care much for the trains as some others do, but I try to make the best out of it rather than worry about little things.
I would still dissagree with that warm summer day statement. My best and fastest rides on both Sonny and Beast are in the COLD!
Dry run day of '96 was snowing and only reached 31 degrees for a high temp. They were chipping Ice out of the front car of PAPA and only running two trains for the 2000 in attendance. WOW, Only this year have I had rides like that again. 5 of 6 cars reach the first platform of the second hill. To those who say Beast ever ran faster, I can strongly dissagree. I rode it at preview night Friday April 13th, 1979 and hundreds of times since. It's the great thing about a woodie. Every ride is different.
I cannot dissagree with people who don't like em, There are several types of coasters to choosefrom and these may just not be your style. :) I for the most part like all coasters and can enjoy em any time anywhere :)
Chuck
-Sean
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Charles Nungester
Park Jockey :)
I remember those rides well. While we were getting soaked while sitting on the second lift, it was well worth it!
-Sean
Son of Beast is an OK ride, but I really wish the helixes were designed so that the speed of the trains remained constant. Plus, I agree that new, more comfortable trains are needed. Then, we would have a much better ride.
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"It looks like they just decided to hang up wheat all over the park" - my friend Steve, describing the FearFest decorating at Kings Island.
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