Son of Beast closes

For every coaster that is beloved there will be those who do not like it. And, for every coaster that is as deplored as much as SOB there will be those who enjoy it. You're in the second group. Be glad you got a chance to ride it when you did and enjoyed it. Its days are probably numbered.

When the time comes, it might be the largest tare down of a wooden structure.

Mamoosh said:
Its days are probably numbered.

I would eliminate the word "probably"
With KI selling off all their SOB shirts for next to nothing a few weeks ago and not ONE SOB anything in ANY store this past Wednesday-I'd say anyone's last ride was just that....their last ride.

Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 2069 :)

Its probably...if/until the park makes an announcement. But I agree with ya, Jo. With all the trouble the park has had with the ride, not to mention the drain on the maintenance budget, my hunch is that its days are numbered.

Actually, when I mentioned Kennywood I was thinking not only of Steel Phantom/Phantom's Revenge, but also of the Pippin/Thunderbolt.

And it isn't limited to Kennywood, either. Cedar Point did it twice to one coaster, when they turned Dip the Dips into the Leap Frog Scenic Railway, which later became the high Frolics. Crystal Beach turned the Cyclone into the Comet. And of course the weirdest conversion was when Seabreeze Park turned the wood-tracked Junior Coaster into the steel tracked Bobsleds. The fact is, it's easier and cheaper to re-use anything salvageable than it is to rebuild something as big as Son of Beast.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I personally thought it was a great ride, but I always rode in the front seat, I was too afraid from what I have heard to try any other. Anyway I would not want to see it torn down.

Even if it isn't a perfect ride, it is still one of the most impressive structures i have seen. When you are up on top, something just doesn't seem right about a wood structure that high off of the ground.

Yes, but, if you were going to salvage the ride, wouldn't you change the name?

I also believe the ride could be "re-made" into something different, either with different trains, tubular steel on the wood, or the first ever Intamin PnP retrofit. It might be that CF has decided it might be cost effective to retrofit somehow, and then re-brand and re-image the ride to help clear the public of it's torrid past. This would explain the SOB merchandise sell-off.

This is 100% official now. All signs for SOB have been removed from the park as of Friday. Including the main sign.

Really? They're all gone?

Went to KI and rode this once. Glad it may be torn down after this year. Someone hand me match!

I have a photo of the main big sign down and my friend noticed the smaller ones missing too. I'm not 100% sure they are all gone but I'd say more than half are.

Lets see the evidence!

If/when they take out SOB put in a beemer floorless like Dominator :)

RideMan said:
Actually, when I mentioned Kennywood I was thinking not only of Steel Phantom/Phantom's Revenge, but also of the Pippin/Thunderbolt.

And it isn't limited to Kennywood, either. Cedar Point did it twice to one coaster, when they turned Dip the Dips into the Leap Frog Scenic Railway, which later became the high Frolics. Crystal Beach turned the Cyclone into the Comet. And of course the weirdest conversion was when Seabreeze Park turned the wood-tracked Junior Coaster into the steel tracked Bobsleds. The fact is, it's easier and cheaper to re-use anything salvageable than it is to rebuild something as big as Son of Beast.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

But this is assuming that they want a similar ride in the park. While there are plenty of enthusiasts who like the ride (I am rather indifferent about it), the ride has earned quite a reputation with the casual visitor that I don't think the park wants to spend money trying to overcome.

While we've seen Mean Streak survive this long, the ride has been trimmed to death as to damper the jackhammering, I don't see CF seeing the ROI necessary to throw more money at SoB. They inherited the problem with the PP purchase and have had to perform massive amounts of work to try to fix the ride's problems. They removed the loop, installed new trains, retracked portions, and the ride was still criticized for being too rough.

The signs are down (although the main sign in the big box was covered last year for the Haunt and a Club Blood sign put over it), the merchandise has been clearanced, I'd say that the writing's on the wall here.

Dave, if you and I can ride SoB next summer, I'll buy you lunch at the Drexel Radio Cafe. Or the Cru Club, your pick.

Good riddance, piece of crap.

LostKause said:
Good riddance, piece of crap.

That's about how I feel about it. While my rides last year were MUCH better than in years past, it still required a substantial amount of "defensive riding" that takes most of the fun out of the ride. The new trains were a heap better than those Premier monsters, but the ride just wasn't much fun. I'm hoping that planning and design uses this opportunity to correct the massive dead-end that is KI's Action Zone.

The only good part about the action zone is Delerium. Take out SOB and do something about Flight Deck being in the middle of nowhere. Action Zone needs a great steel coaster Floorless, flying or anything is better then Son of a beach

PREMiERdrum said:
....it still required a substantial amount of "defensive riding" that takes most of the fun out of the ride.

I'm with you there. And when I showed up to ride in my helmet and hockey pads, people just pointed and laughed. :(

Oddly, I get the same reaction when I don my kneepads too ;)

Hell instead of going through the trouble of all that saftey stuff just put a hospital right at the exit of SOB ;)