Son of Beast manufacturer shifts blame back to Paramount

I for one cannot understsnd what everyone is saying about the roughness of this coastr! Have any of you ridden the Beast? The Beast is the roughest rollercoaster of any kind I have ever ridden,wood or steel. That said I must add despite how rough it is I LOVE IT! Son of Beast is not rough! My wife and I rode it back in August and I had read all these post about how terribly rough it was, and I was very concerned because my wife not being the enthusiast that I am cannot take a rough coaster ride.She gets headaches very easily. We rode in the second car middle row and I almost didnt enjoy the ride because I was more concerned about getting beat up by this thing than ridding it. Not one time did either my wife or myself find any sections of the ride to be half as rough as THE BEAST! Why cant people leave this wonderful,amazing ride alone?It doesnt have the out of control feeling of the BEAST but that out of control feeling comes from the track feeling like its going to fall apart,like the cars are at any minute going to rip right out of the track,yet THE BEAST is praised for this,and SOB is being condemed publicly by everyone when nowhere on the SON do you expierience the bone shaking roughness of THE BEAST final helix,again its most praised element! Come on people the delays and late openings are to be expected on any new coaster especially a first of its kind,but this ride is simply awsome, leave it alone!!!

At this point, SOB Lover, it is out of the hands of us (the coaster riding public) and in the hands of *gulp*gasp*blubber* LAWERS! Were there problems with SOB? Yes. Were anxious riders turned away without getting to ride it? Yes. (I was one of them) I really hope that SOB can be turned into an all around crowd (and management) pleaser, but the mistakes made in its design and building are almost laughable. I fear that it will become the next Mean Streak, if not the next Bat.

Coasteray: I thought I heard somewhere that PKI approched CCI first with the SOB contract. After looking at the stats and design, they said no. A wise move, by them in hindsight, with the lawsuits flying.

-------------
"X" marks the spot in 2001!

Son of Beast will not become the next Bat. Paramount`s Kings Island is not just going to let its nearly $17 million dollar investment, the largest in park history, turn into the next Bat. They are probably going to fix all the major problems during the winter. SOB Lover. I think Son of Beast is just as smooth as the Beast, and no SoB and the Beast are not the roughest coaster I`ve ridden. That belongs to Flight of Fear. SK610, Paramount should add a B&M to that park but they but not forget their flagship park, PKI, which has no B&M. A B&M would greatly compliment the existing steel coasters and attract more visitors! Long live SOB one of the best, new wood coasters!

I live out in California and every year we go back to my relitives in Michigan and Ohio. We always go to CP and this year we decided to go to PKI too. We went to SOB first and were second in line. When we went on it I LOVED IT I mean its not that rough and i thought it was awesome. I also thought that Beast was great i didnt mind the roughness it wasnt even that bad to me i would have to say i LOVE them both. I dont know if any of u live in Cali or have been to MM but i would have to say the roughest coaster is defenetly Psyclone. Once you have ridden that u can ride anything and think its so smooth.
-------------
magic mountain and CP rule

I rode Son of Beast on the last operating day of the season. I also rode it earlier in the season. Based on my own experiences and on the reports I received through rec.roller-coaster and CoasterBuzz and conversations with lots of coaster nuts, it appears to me that Kings Island has fixed the ride and turned it into a reliable, reasonably well-running ride.

The fact that the park has managed to fix the problems with the ride, coupled with the fact that there were obviously problems severe enough that the park was not comfortable operating the ride, suggests that they have a pretty good case...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Bottom Line here:

PKI Rushed the construction of this coaster. It probably would not have had problems if PKI had kept their mouth shut and was patient(End of Story) SOB is a great ride!!

The Coaster company is in the right

As for B&M: They need a B&M at the park badly. The King Cobra has pretty much ran it's course. They need to replace it with a B&M, Floorless or Stand-up.

However a CCI Woodie would really look good there too since they have no CCI's

-------------
God Bless Coasters!!
http://www.jccn.org/religion/grace/Default.htm

Paramount's Kings Island is in the perfect setting for wood coasters. SOB has been a great ride, I beleive it is the most challenging and critisized progect the park will ever face. You have some people that say it's too rough and other people say it is not rough. Son Of Beast will a PKI favorite for years to come. As for the folks who say the boards are crooked, well you need to take a better look. The boards APPEAR crooked because of the way the structure bends. So the boards are not bent. As for blaming all this on Park Management and ride ops. is insane, the only people to blame are the original builders. PKI HAD to step in and finish construction or the problems would've been worse. PKI is a VERY safe park and would NEVER open a ride if they felt it was not safe. GO pki I hope you win!!

Alright, I have a friend that always complains about how rough SoB is and that it is a stupid ride (the same person that complains about King Cobra because the whole point of a roller coaster is to sit down). He actually said that if he felt the slightest amount of pain on the ride that i was to pay him 50 cents! What is that?

The first time I rode SoB (early June, 2000) was a little rough and my knee got slammed into the safety restraint bars, but I didn't complain about it because I'm a huge fan of roller coasters. I rode the SoB 4 more times that year and the ride gradually became more comfortable each time, so it seems that the PKI staff are the ones that are trying to make SoB a better experience, not the construction company.

I do agree that KI needs a new steel coaster. B&M would be nice.

PKI Forever!

I used to go to PKI when it was just KI...I haven't had a chance to ride this ride, but since paramount took over, its gone straight into the toilet....personally, I don't give PKI's existence more then 10 more years, including time to dismantle everything. My only hope is by the time they do, I have enough money to buy The Vortex for my own personal use. At least then a coaster that was worth what they paid for it, will have someone owning it who appreciates it.

I doubt that PKI would go down. But it is a scary thought that it actually might. If Paramount loses it, then I'm sure someone would step in and buy it. The future of the park is uncertain...

PKI, maybe not forever...

The future of PKI is very good. Not only is it the most visited park but it is also one of the largest Paramount Parks. Now, (I did hear a rumor that Paramount was selling it) if, ofr some reason, they decide to sell it, I hope that Cedar Fair purchases it [highly doubt since they own Cedar Point]. PKI won`t close in the near future and probably won`t close in the next fifty years. Paramount (or any other smart park chain) shouldn`t let a historical park like Paramount`s Kings Island close. LOng Live PKI!

yea!

PKI forever!

Over the summer i went to kings island. I got to ride the SOB, it was extremely rough but it was a great ride. It has some awesome airtime. The park was in a lot better shape than a few years ago. The first few hours was rainy so alot of people left. The staff did a great job of cheering people up. The lines were short so i got to ride the coasters repeatedly. It was great after the rain stopped, they had all of the rides running none were closed. I dont see kings island closing for a long time unless something like what happened to CONEY ISLAND happens to KINGS ISLAND which I dont see happening. Or the popularity of amusement parks dies down again, which is highly unlikely, and kings island is forced to sale.

------------------------------
air time rules.
it is the ages of the giga coaster