SOB Accident at Kings Island

I'm sorry but I disagree with you. Can you name any practical reasons why the ride should stay? Low ridership, high maintenance costs, lawsuits, this major accident....it is simply not in the rides favor to stay. The ride was problem plagued with lawsuits and structural issues before it even opened.

Dante, who says Cedar Fair is doers not talkers. It may not be next week or next month but I do strongly believe they will retire (dismantle is a nice word but doesnt exactly fit & demolish is too harsh) the ride sometime in the next year or 2. Give CF time. They will most likely first murder the ride with trim breaks and quick fixes. After that I'd say ciao. *** Edited 7/11/2006 9:15:59 PM UTC by DorneyDante***

I'll ask again: where's the low ridership? Did you read a single word of what I or anyone else wrote? There have in fact been several reports of "healthy" lines. People in line for it mean it's part of the reason why they came to the park that day -- if the ride's not open, that may in fact sway some opinions and reduce attendance.

I agree with you that the ride's predicament certainly doesn't look good, but no one knows if the investment to reopen the ride is reasonable -- and it just might be. If that's the case, then there's your one good reason to reopen the ride. Again, get the public back on it, show that it's safe and giving people fun rides, then evaluate its long-term fate. How does that not make any sense, especially in a park now managed by "doers not talkers"? The PR department may be in a hell of a mess right now, but no matter how much they spin it, a ride that runs safely speaks for itself.

Shaggy if it happened before, was anyone on the ride at the time?

It appears to me also that a horizontal wooden ledger that the laminated rails lay on failed and splintered causing a depression in that section of the track. I don't remember if they specified what section of track this occured. It still completed the circuit and make it back to the station.

This is the first time I have heard of such type of failure on a wooden coaster. Does anyone know of any other incidents when this has occured? *** Edited 7/11/2006 9:52:42 PM UTC by Beast Fan*** *** Edited 7/11/2006 10:06:46 PM UTC by Beast Fan***

Dante, what anger? The only place I detected any tone of frustration in what I wrote was at the start of my last post, but can you blame me? Twice I stated that SoB's "low ridership" is a myth, yet that continues to be one of your major counterclaims. A ride that maintains ridership brings people through the gates, thereby creating revenue that can be justifiably spent on said ride's upkeep.

Without riders, everything else falls apart just as you've suggested, but -- and I'll say it one last time, with emphasis but no otherwise angry tone attached thereto -- the idea of low ridership on SoB is a myth.

This has been, in my eyes, a healthy debate all along, until you started leveling ad hominems. Don't make it personal just because I'm calling you out on claiming something that has been shown to be untrue. After all, my "hostile tone" was enough to make you believe it didn't "warrant...putting anymore energy into discussing this issue" with me, but it wasn't enough to keep from posting inconsequential mudslinging, was it?

If you want to debate, let's debate, but please don't go searching for things that just aren't there.

I totally agree with DorneyDante a few post up. I bet they will fix it and over the next years consider it's fate and weigh it's pro's and con's. Also, I'm sure CF will butcher it up will trim breaks and their usual tactics. And for me, this will lower my "somewhat" enjoyment from it that much more.

I don't like the ride or hate it but I won't pass up a walk on ever. But there is a reason why there is almost always no wait, it is no longer drawing 2 hour wait crowds like in the first 2 years it was open. Go on a busy summer weekend and even though there will be a "healthy" line, there are usually still more people in line for Drop Zone, Face/Off or even Delirium. That is simply because it isn't a very enjoyable for many people. Unless they can fix this, fix problems of the ride (roughness, uncomfortable trains, etc.), and the HORRIBLE PR they are getting right now, it's not looking good for SOB.

Not that I would really miss it, but geez, think about how lame the skyline would be after it was gone!!!

"Not that I would really miss it, but geez, think about how lame the skyline would be after it was gone!!!"

Wanna know a secret? I have always thought that SOB distracted from the park's skyline. I don't dislike the ride so terribly like many do, but I have always thought that it's looming over the front stage right side of the park distracted from the I-71 view.

Shaggy

You know...

Those who mentoned that the GP eats this thing up are on to something. People do line up for it, but usually ride it once due to it's roughness.

That reminds me of Steel Phantom. People would ride it once in the morning, and that was it... by evening, it would be a walk-on. SP was rough enough that the park saw that it's profibility dwindled enough to replace half of it. SOB has a larger audience than Kennywood, so a line is evident all day.

But.... I hear complaint after complaint from the GP. Some will ride it again just to ride, some love it, some will never go near it.

They love to hate it.

I see about half the train liking it and the other half wincing.

Chuck

Wait, don't parks as a matter of standard daily practice have maintenance staff walk the course of a wooden coaster to inspect the structure? How could something like this be missed?

- J

Et tu' Shaggy...Et tu'?

SOB is really the only reason I go to PKI anymore. Beast is too tamed down, here a trim, there a trim, and the over-trimmed block brake section. I'm sure if SOB gets back on-line that CF will be plan for it to be "trimmed to death". They already killed Mean Streak with a first drop trim...A FIRST DROP TRIM!

Oops...the CF/CP fanboys are gonna' give me the business now aren't they?

Guess what?...I really don't care!

I agree with you Marky Mark. SOB is the only ride I really "crave" at that park. We had a little mini trip scheduled to PKI and HW which would have had us in PKI the day of the accident but the plans fell through at the last minute. I kept telling my friend "We have to get down there and get some rides in before CF neuters it". I truly hope it runs again before the end of the season, if it doesn't we won't visit.

How's this for scary? If Son of Beast doesn't reopen this season I have very slim odds of getting to ride The Voyage unless I made the 6 hour drive alone. My friend would drive up to Michigan from South Carolina and we'd go from here to KI and HW, but he won't make the trip unless SOB is open. :(

I could save you guys a bunch of money.

If you want a good beating, come on over and I will put you in a box and beat it with a baseball bat. And I wont even charge you. :)

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coasterlover325 said:
COASTERQUEEN said:

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I say the Cedar Fair and Paramount peeps have a nice bonfire at the end of the season. I would be right there with the smores!

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Ooh! I've been craving smores! I'll be there too! I have the same thoughts about Mean Streak at CP.

What a shame that this happened. I have to say that I don't care how shakey a ride is, if it's painful, it's not worth riding. Coasters are supposed to be fun, not painful!

I've ridden SOB two times, each time during different visits to the park. The first time, I felt that I didn't need to ride it again. When I rode it a second time, the next year, I was reminded why I didn't like the ride. So you won't be catching me riding that ever again. In fact, I have no desire to go back to the park. There are better parks in the area to spend my money at.

*** Edited 7/10/2006 4:48:59 PM UTC by coasterlover325***

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I'll bring the Jack Daniels sauced up burgers. (my specialty;).

At least Cedar Fair can bring in their experience with demolishing Hercules.

That's kinda' rough. I only had the extreme pleasure of going to Holiday World because I would NOT tolerate another day at SFKK. Can't say enough good things about HW.

It's damn hard to find any SOB love on these here boards so it's good to hear some people like it as much as I do.

I just wish I could ride Millennium Force but I seem to have had too many Macho Nachos and Intamin says I have to drop a couple tons before I can ever ride again...lol

Hell, I would take a ride to HW anytime but my wife doesn't drive and I won't go alone either. *** Edited 7/12/2006 2:51:07 AM UTC by Marky Mark***

Boy, I went away from the board for just over 24 hours and this thread has taken on a life of its own!!!

Some major postings going on here. . .

My e-mail box was full of the "SOB" reply messages.

As it is almost Wednesday, I'm ready for the Hershey Park announcement. I hope it's a good one. They keep saying how BIG it is going to be.

Anyway, hope everybody associated with the SOB accident is OK today. . .

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060712/NEWS01/607120370/1056

This article states the cracked support was a vertical support and not a horizontal ledger. *** Edited 7/12/2006 11:37:14 AM UTC by CrazyB01***

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bucknut08 said:

Not that I would really miss it, but geez, think about how lame the skyline would be after it was gone!!!

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Same as how lame the skyline of Dorney Park looks since Hercules has been gone (and replaced by an underwhelming, "low profile", steelie).

Hmmmm... again to repeat... a rough wooden maintenace "hog" that, while once being a "signature attraction" of the park, was not getting the ridership it once did and was deemed more trouble than it was worth (both in time and $). Insert name here... Hercules / Dorney / CF... SOB / Kings Island / CF... What are the common denominators? Description of the coaster and CF... only the coaster and park have changed.

All KI locals / fans take note... enjoy your rides on SOB while you can when (if?) it reopens. One season, not long after labor day, you will hear of it suddenly closing (with no advanced word) and slated for "retirement". Happened before a few hundred miles to the east... wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.

The ride is horrible...im sorry, I have honestly never met, face to face, anyone who has ridden SOB and not heard them say they would never ride it again.

I would chip in to pay for the demolition. Roller coasters are supposed to be FUN. While Im sorry people got hurt, hopefully this event will finally lead to CF doing what Paramount should have done last year; tear it down instead of wasting more millions of dollars rehabbing a ride that is not even designed correctly. If it was the track or the cars, that would be one thing, but its the structure itself that is flawed.

R.I.P., SOB

PS: I never got a chance to ride Hercules, but we went to Dorney Park for the first time this year. Ive heard countless times how much of a legend Hercules was at the park...and yeah, if DP was my home park, I would be upset to. Hyrda was the most pathetic coaster I have been on in years. *** Edited 7/12/2006 2:26:43 PM UTC by OhioStater*** *** Edited 7/12/2006 2:41:50 PM UTC by OhioStater***

Couldn't agree more. Haha

*refer to sig* ;)