Son of Beast closes

If they keep anything it should be the final brake run as it was always the best part of the ride (it meant the pain was over).

James Whitmore said:
What do you think of this idea? Keep the last bit of the track, station, lift hill and first drop. Build an out and back track somewhat due east (looking at google maps) to the river and/or property line and then return. I'm thinking that this would save costs of building an entirely new coaster, do away with the aweful helixes where I think most of the beatings take place, and yet would still give the park a tall, fast and long coaster.

Funny you should mention that. Sounds a lot like the idea I drew out. That file is date stamped March 5, 2007. :)

Apparently at least one person agrees with me. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

AWESOME Idea!

Jeff said:
Again, you can't just assume that Intamin's track system can just be plopped on any structure. Given the solid nature of that track, it's going to behave and distribute forces much differently than laminated track. And with one structural failure already, do you really think they'd want to inherit that mess? It's not worth the risk.

Sorry, I was not clear enough... I will try again :)

What I meant to say was, tear down SOB completely and have Intamin build a brand-spankin' new plug and play woodie... Just with similiar stats to SOB. Obviously, drastically different layout but keep the height, size and possibly the loop.

Rideman, great minds think alike!

Rideman, it looks IDENTICAL to Magum minus the dogleg.

Anyhoo, what about keeping the wood structure and going with steel track, ala Gemini?

RideMan said:

James Whitmore said:
What do you think of this idea? Keep the last bit of the track, station, lift hill and first drop. Build an out and back track somewhat due east (looking at google maps) to the river and/or property line and then return. I'm thinking that this would save costs of building an entirely new coaster, do away with the aweful helixes where I think most of the beatings take place, and yet would still give the park a tall, fast and long coaster.

Funny you should mention that. Sounds a lot like the idea I drew out. That file is date stamped March 5, 2007. :)

Apparently at least one person agrees with me. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

This is a really interesting idea. Reminds me of Phantom's Revenge.
I suspect that the station structure and lift hill are a large percentage of a ride's cost. So by keeping these, KI could potentially market a "brand new" record breaking ride for half the cost of a new coaster. This strategy would salvage the reputation of the ride with the GP, and allows KI to keep one of the most impressive parts of their skyline. Instead of tearing it down completely and pretending it never existed, the park saves face.

I love the idea mentioned above of a "Voyage" style out-and-back to the river. On the other hand, KI already has big out-and-back layouts in Racer and Diamondback (even the Beast feels out-and-backish to me) How about making SOB into a twister, like a super-sized Thunderhead? Add plenty of crossovers, tunnels, and crowd interaction a la Voyage and Diamondback.

Come to think of it, a twister wooden coaster would be not only unique to KI but to the entire region. Besides Kentucky Rumbler (over 3.5 hours away), I can't think of any twisters around here.

To really confuse people, call it "The Bat" or "Screamin' Demon" ;^)

Isn't a lot of the wooden structure unnecessary now that they are using shorter, lighter trains anyway?

Good point. How could they have used lighter (different) trains if the structure wasn't designed for them? The ride has already been changed, showing us that it is possible to change it some more.

Jeff, I'm interested to know if you have any way of backing up your claim that adding Plug N Play is impossible. With enough money, taking out a loop and adding very different trains was possible, so why not?

Not being a jerkface. I am really interested to know if it could be done or not.

The structure was designed to hold up track and the forces that a moving train would exert. The only thing that would change would be that the track may be heavier, and if it significantly heavier than the existing track, extra supports could be added. That's how I see it.

The footers and structure for a plug and play are two totaly different designes. They may look alike, but in reality they are designed to carry a different load/ stress and this plays into the actuale design of the coaster.

If you look at a footer for a plug and play, they are different and the track is totaly different as well. I have some close up pictures of el toros track. I will try and post them on here when I get the time.

What he said. And besides, if you're going to base your argument on "with enough money," you might as well forget it. They're not going to keep sinking money into that thing.

I agree with Jeff, If they are going to spit any more money into that ride it will be to tear it down. It has been nothing but a problem since PKI built the damn ride. I am almost positive this will be the straw that broke Son Of Beast's back.

Of course "with extra supports" will always work. Eventually, you could fill the entire area under the track with blocks of wood. The question is really how much it would cost, not whether it would be possible.

I do admit that i love the ride even though i have to sit upfront cause its to rough in the back. Sure a rough ride is good but sob is a little to rough at times. It may sadden me but its probably pretty inevitable that this ride will shut down for good.

Sinking enough money into it was exactly my argument, but thanks for the info. I really don't think that they would want to.

Whether they TAER IT DOWN!!!111!1, or they sink more money into it, somehow pretending to fix it again, I'm all for it.

If they decide to keep running it the way it is, paying for litigation costs and hospital bills each season, I'd call them crazy because it's not worth it.

It's going to be very interesting to see what they decided to do with the ride in the near future.

I figure since its getting close to the end of the season we may hear something said publicly here in the near future. If cedar fair decides to scrap the ride and have it replaced, we may not see the replacement until 2011. As stated by LostKause it will be VERY interesting to see what they decide to do with Son Of Beast.

I agree with LostKause, that it would be possible to resurrect the ride by re-using the ride structure. Although I understand the discussion regarding the Intamin PNP track, and that the design might be cost prohibitive to retrofit, what about the possibility of doing a steel track...ala Gemini? Seems they could re-use the wooden structure for support and only have to build the track.

Granted, I know it's not cheap either, but I am curious to know the cost of doing that, and if it would be worth the investment.

The steel supports really have no effect on the ride, provided that both structures are capable of holding up the track and the forces of running it (I know questionable in SOB's case) the reason steel supports are used is because it is cheaper.

What would be the point of all of that?

You guys are talking about "fixing the track" on a lame layout coaster. Not only would that cost millions, but it would still be a crappy ride. Plus they would once again have to get new rolling stock.

For the same amount of money that they would dump into it to retrofit it, they could tear it down and get a whole new coaster with ALL new parts.

Voyage only cost 8.5 million to build, and el toro coast about 10-12 million to build. They have already pissed away how many millions trying to keep this thing running. Do you honestly think they are willing to dump much more on a ride that is not even very popular to begin with?

^ That's the thing. Why keep a ride that is not popular? Ask Dick, he is still pouring money in to Meanstreak over at Cedar Point and that ride sticks on ice! granted ill ride it. But Son of Beast is worthless. I cant stand to ride it.