Son of Beast accident at PKI sends dozens to hospital

The story has even made Drudge!

So what?

I'm anxious to hear how this pans out, and what will happen in the long run. I've always felt the ride wasn't a very good idea, but in the last few years the park has made it somewhat easier to ride.

I will also be interested to hear exactly what happened. I wonder if a piece of track was messed up, causing a rough(er) ride or some kind of violent jolt. I guess that train on the lift hill was dispatched and e-stopped when people came back to the station in pain? After reading the second article I'm guessing there was a separation or something between the wooden drop and the loop. It sounds like a pretty nasty jolt, possibly smacking people forward if there was at least one broken chest bone and bleeding.

*** This post was edited by Willh51 7/9/2006 11:49:39 PM ***

What are the odds that the train hit something like a small animal? What else could make it feel like they 'hit' something, as the one guy described?

Jeff, I am just a fan of the Drudge Report. When it makes Drudges site, I consider it news of interest. Anyway, too bad for Cedar Fair on this one. I bet there will be lawsuits filed, and now that CF owns the park, that is more work for their corporate council.

Edit: And I first saw the story on Drudge.

-Sam
*** This post was edited by Avalanche Sam 7/10/2006 12:14:01 AM ***

I found this kind of funny.

---

Pipoly said that at about the time of the malfunction, his friend who had been near the front of the line for the ride Delirium, was told that there were mechanical problems and the ride was being shot down.

---

Other than that, it sucks that this had to happen, but maybe they'll finally change those God-AWFUL trains.

The editor of The Enquirer needs to know the difference between shot and shut!

This will not be the greatest press for Cedar Fair take over of Paramount Parks. Should be interesting to see what happens.

^That's called a typo. They were probably in a rush to get it to press and it wasn't proofread. Spellcheck wouldn't catch that because it's spelled correctly.

My guess with Delirium is that they shutdown that part of the Action Zone. That's very common when an accident occurs at a major themepark. It's so they can get rescue vehicles and stretchers through without everyone standing in their way. Hopefully you know that every second can count when someone is severely injured.

This has definitely been a bad season so far.

After riding SOB for the first time a few weeks ago, I think a bigger news story would be "SOB train returns to station an NO riders 'complain of discomfort'."

So does anyone have any guess how long SOB will be shut down?

...as long as it takes for them to figure out what happened, and fix the problem...

A few more details from The Enquirer.

I have been on Son of Beast 110 times since it opened in 2000. I can recall my first time riding it on media day back in 2000 and it was a rough one. The ride coming out of the first drop and back up the hill before the back helix seem to shake you enough to make you realize that something was not right. I rode the ride 13 times that day in various seats and found the back to be the worst place to sit. Since then I have only ridden SOB in the first 3 seats and nowhere else.

I can also say that the lap restraint has come down on me a few times while the ride was in progress--enough to hurt me where the sun doesn't shine. To avoid that from occurring I began lodge my arm in such a way to prevent the bar from crushing me.

I like the ride-- otherwise I would not have kept track of how many times I rode it. At the same time the restraints were painful and now that something bad has happened maybe they will fix it (OR close it).

Tear it down! Ever since riding this piece of junk back last year, I have hated the ride with a passion. Now that people have been hurt on the ride and it has been proven, I hope they take it out or at least modify the hell out of it. Those people are going to sue and I would too if it was me *** This post was edited by stoogemanmoe 7/10/2006 12:20:05 PM ****** This post was edited by stoogemanmoe 7/10/2006 12:32:19 PM ***

Thats usually what happens when people get hurt on rides....

Woodies like this are just a nightmare. After my bad experience (still waiting for the final tally of my hospital visit) on another extremely violent woodie, I just don't get why park operators leave rides like this in operation. I really wish park operators would forget about the money that they put into these beasts (no pun intended) no matter how expensive and remember that the customer's comfort should be their only objective. People are supposed to be getting off of rides smiling, not full of pain.

The whole movement to build the biggest, fastest traditional (in other words non-Intamin style) wooden roller coasters has failed. Thank goodness no one has ever tried to top SOB.

Update from Dayton Daily News:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/071006kingsislandweb.html

According to them, there are still two riders in the hospital, the Ohio Dept of Agriculture (they are the ones having jurisdiction to regulate amusement rides in Ohio) are in the process of conducting an investigation, and the ride is closed indefinitely.

Also mentioned something along the lines of 6 different fire/rescue/paramedic agencies responded, as well as those that transported themselves to the hospital.

another extremely violent woody

I think that's the 17th reference to this mystery wooden coaster you've made so far.

More from WCPO