Son of Beast needs work Bad!

I was at PKI today and rode SOB for the first time since June of this year. Boy what a difference 2 month's makes. This was the worse ride I have ever had on SOB. I always sit in 6-3 and yes I know about the wheel seats, but this seat has never been bad. A couple of weeks ago I noticed SOB was closed down all day, but if it was closed for work it didn't do any good. Something really needs to be done to this ride someone is going to get hurt. My back was hurting pretty bad after that ride was over. I kept saying to myself BOY I WANT OFF!!! But Son of Beast can be something more than it is. If it's getting this bad and it's only 3 years old, what's going to happen to it in next 3 - 5 years. I really hope PKI does some Winter TLC on this baby, cause it really could be a great ride. What do you all think? Do you think that SOB is more rough now then it was in 2000?

I think it needs some serious modifications done to it. I thought Mean Streak was bad until I got my first ride on SOB a month ago. I couldn't wait for this ride to end.

When the trains get up to top speed the shuffling begins. Being tall doesn't help as I had a huge bruise on my knee, but the train just didn't track right. I foresee some serious trims being added to this coaster in the future.

The loop however I did enjoy but that was about it. Beautiful structure also.

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

I wish people would stop complaining. I know it isn't the smoothest coaster in the world but it isn't that bad. Personally I think it is a great ride. I am 6 ft tall and I never get any bruises on it and my back never comes off sore. I was just there last weekend and it was running the same as it always have and I always sit in the last seat.

It is because of people like you that cause rides like Drachen Fire to be dismantled. If you don't like a ride don't ride it.

Oh please!

Explain to me why I basically had a walk-on ride on SOB but had to wait in line for all the other coasters?

I usually don't complain but I had to fight to enjoy myself on SOB. Its not just rough like other wooden coasters. The train shuffled back and forth which was a new experience for me on a wooden coaster. It wasn't that pleasant.

At the same time I thought Vortex was an awesome Arrow mega-looper. I hear people complaining about that ride. Different strokes buddy.

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

I would agree that it is rough.

I am 6'4" and it tears me up. There is a big difference in 4". 6'2" or taller and it seams that this ride is very uncomfortable from the start. You add the roughness and this ride is very bad. I loved SOB in its first year and have tolerated it since, however, I don't think that anyone can say it is "smooth". With all the manufacturers our there, there has to be something than can be done. It doesn't need to be very "smooth", but the horizontel g's combined with the shuffleing needs to be worked on. The track the dives into the "Rose Bowl" after the first drop is the worst. I gave my ride partner a black eye when my elbow smacked her in the head a couple months ago. Quite funny afterwords.

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"What is that thing?"
*** This post was edited by ldiesman 8/18/2003 11:45:35 PM ***

And yet, even after talking about how bad the ride is for what, 3 years now, you still ride? Anyone else not seeing the sense in that one?

We are all quite aware of the problems with SOB. Im sure PKI is doing everything in their power to fix these problems. But sitting here on a website saying how bad it is isnt fixing anything faster than the mechanics can fix it. So can we please just stop bashing SOB for awhile? Its actually getting old.

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SOB crew in 2002
TRTR crew in 2003
.....Yeah, I think that smoke is supposed to be there.....

I rode. I liked. And i wasnt hurt, yes it was rough but it isnt all that bad, im sure PKI is trying their best to make it better.

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Belvedere

Don't take it personal. I was just stating my opinion. I ride because I enjoy it. SOB is the only coaster that I only ride once per visit because of it's roughness.

Saying that a ride has profiling problems doesn't indicate bashing at all. It is something that more than a few people, enthusiests included, have noted. If it weren't for the massive task involved I guarantee the park would have made many changes also.

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Is there life out there? Help us find out, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu

What's the market like for an out-of-work coaster these days?

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--Maddie--
What do I Listen-To?
May the Schwarz be with you.

Ha ha! Good one, Chernabog.

I've been out of work since January, and I'm so going to throw a fit if SOB gets work before I do.

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Come on fhqwhgads!

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coastinguy said:

It is because of people like you that cause rides like Drachen Fire to be dismantled. If you don't like a ride don't ride it.

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And exactly why shouldn't a ride that caused numerous people injuries be dismantled?

Getting back to the original post... I've been on at least five coasters in my lifetime that caused me to wonder when someone was going to get seriously injured on them. And while SOB isn't near the top of that list, it still makes the list.

It seems like I'm experiencing a lot more painful rides now than I was a decade ago, and I don't know how some of these rides continue to operate without complete repair (or better yet, how parks allow these rides to continue to operate without complete repair). And you know who you are, Mean Streak and Rattler! :)

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Come on fhqwhgads!

If there was one ride EVER built that desperately called for M-Flyer style trains....Sonny....stop destroying the trackwork before any real repairs CAN take effect....;)
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"The robot mafia is running numbers?"
"Well, nothing fancy, mostly just ones and zeroes"...;)

I'll be honest with you I havent ridden SOB since 2000 so I can't say if it got rougher. But my absolute least favortie wood coaster is CP's Blue Streak I dunno what it is about it but every time I ride it I'm regreting it by the time I get to the top of the lift hill, I hate it more than I hate Mean Streak. Everytime I ride BS I get off holding my back I dunno if its the trains or what, I don't get it. On the other hand I hear people complain about CLP's BS about it being rough and painful but I can ride that coaster all day long with no complaints.

Sad thing is they had it fixed a while back it was giving great rides. They say it was trackwork I doubt that.

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Hi.....whats your name again?

Tenchi-online.com Theme park photos and more. Your new home for the Jeff Siebert fanpage

I wonder how Colossus at Heidepark is doing these days. It was supposed to be as smooth as Intamin's hypers when it opened. I wonder how it has developped during the last year.

Maybe the rough-woodies should all be re-tracked with the Intamin Plug-and-Play wooden coaster track.

I generally don't like tall woodies. I haven't been on a single one that I liked. The only woodies that really got me were smaller ones, my favourite being "Robin Hood" at Six Flags Holland.
All other woodies re-arranged my bones so much I felt like I should be going to a hospital or a chiropractor afterwards.

Bad track is a symptom of worse problems, especially if the track was good at the beginning of the season. How does the loop feel in comparison to the rest of the ride? The last time I rode the coaster the loop was pretty tight and not rough in any way. The loop has always been the smoothest part of the ride when I've ridden Sonny. This leads me to believe the ride has serious structural deficiencies when the track gets rough, so quickly.

That ride had serious issues on the day it originally opened to the public. I really felt bad because I was there to support the park on Sonny's media day and I had a difficult time finding positive things to say about the coaster. I remember (after being violently shaken half to death on my first ride) Jeff Seibert coming up to me and Cheryl Snyder enthusiastically asking how great we thought the coaster was. Cheryl and I looked at each other and were at a loss for words. The only positive reinforcement we could give the ride was to say we enjoyed the first drop and that the loop was very good.

The ride then closed for several more hours after our "delayed" ride session with the media ended. The GP was upset because they had seen us riding the coaster only to start forming a line and then have the park say the ride was closed and wouldn't be opening for awhile.

Every year when I go to the park, I will ride the coaster once to see if the running quality is there. I'm sad to report that I'm pretty dissappointed each time with that quality of the ride. The coaster sadly doesn't exemplify what wooden rollercoaster design is all about. Like the late John Allen once said, " If you build em' to high, your just creating problems for yourself and wasting energy. When you go too fast, the brain has problems keeping up"!!

Wood - anything else is an imitation
*** This post was edited by Thrillerman 8/19/2003 9:50:48 AM ***

Hmmm....after riding Raging Wolf Bobs, Villain, Big Dipper, Predator, Wolverine Wildcat, and even Twisted Twins - I didn't notice SOB being that rough. In fact I actually enjoyed SOB when I was at PKI. Yes it is a little rough, but it doesn't hurt you like say, The Boss. Also if you think that the trains hurt you, just think it could have been worse - they could have used G-trains.

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SW:):)SH Shaddy(president of LEMCCDWBLI)
MidwestInfoGuide.COM

PKI should have learned from their competitors up north. A bigger woodies doesn't mean a better woodie. It isn't the size of the woodie but the ride that it gives. I wish the big parks wouldn't get caught up in bigger, faster when it comes to wood.

The most popular wooden coaster built in the last 5-10 years have been mid-sized.

The irony here is that Sonny may have been the *cure* for the "bigger, taller, faster" disease. I sure don't see anyone intending to come along and take the (dubious) title from PKI...;)
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"The robot mafia is running numbers?"
"Well, nothing fancy, mostly just ones and zeroes"...;)

I used to defend good old SoB, but this past Saturday it was pretty bad.

I wouldn't call it 'rough,' but more or less 'bouncy.' It felt more like we were bouncing on springs than the normal 'jack hammering' effect a rough riding wood coaster gives. This is probably because we weren't riding on a wheel seat.

Other notes on PKI's wood coasters:

recaR was running very, very well. Great airtime and very smooth.

Racer was running like sh*t. What could PKI possibly be doing/not doing that these two run like night and day?

Beast was awe inspiring Saturday night. Just like when I was a kid. The new (to me, at least) breaks were weird, but consistent. Each ride we took (5 total) was pretty much the same.
*** This post was edited by chris 8/19/2003 10:17:04 AM ***