Son of Beast needs work Bad!

I rode this yesterday on 1:2. I had no problem with the ride. In fact, I thought the ride was quite smooth. Last month, I got on SoB 7 straight times (7 different seats) in the morning before the park opened to GP. I have been on this ride about 20 times this year. (I have a gold pass which allows me to ride Action Zone rides before the park opens on Thursdays.) I agree with people that the train is quite badly designed. I am 5'8", but I have to cross my legs to get on the seat comfortably.

Good rides: 6:2 provided the best ride with decent air time. Other non-wheel seats are very smooth (for woodie).

Worst: 6:3 and 1:1. I found them "bouncy" like others said.

One problem is that 1:1 and 6:3 are the favorites of my coast enthusiasts. I hope this helps.

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Mike77 said:
You people are pussies.

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Yeah, thanks. I really appreciate that. I'll be *sure* to visit your website in your signature now.

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That is one of the most popular rides there and the GP thinks its a good ride.

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Have you ever stood at the exit and listened to the reactions of folks coming off the ride? Obviously not.

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Rough, yes, but in general it is a very popular and highly rated ride.

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Highly rated by whom? Jackhammer operators?

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Its not going to cause any injuries.

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Are you an expert in ride dynamics and ergonomics? No? Then stop giving us your unprofessional opinion.

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I'm 6'1" 245 and I ride it 10-20 times every time I visit PKI and love it every time. It is my favorite woody in the world.

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Well, isn't that special. The 10-20 laps must be pretty hard when the intervals are close to three minutes almost every time. You're not exaggerating even the least bit, are you?

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Check out the point ol! http://www.thepointol.com/

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Okay! I will be sure to do that. Wait, I forgot. I'm a pussy.

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- John
Homepark: Cedar Point
Home-away-from-homepark: Paramount's Kings Island

Edit: Quote tag issues
*** This post was edited by Michael Darling 8/22/2003 11:52:48 PM ***

I can name a dozen (maybe dozens) woodies I think its smoother than (Beast, forwards Racer, Mean Streak, Dorney duo, SFWOA trio, Rolling Thunder, American Eagle, Georgia Cyclone, Cheetah, and Wolverine Wildcat just to name a few). That's not a complaint either. The Villain is my favorite coaster at SFWOA. Georgia Cyclone literally kicks your arse!!

Of course, I haven't ridden it in a few weeks and I've heard it was "running extremely well" at that point, but have heard a larger-than-usual number of complaints this week at the ride.

It's still one of my favorite coasters. 6-2 rulezzz!!!!!!!1111one

-Danny, being toolish
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Coaster Insomniacs- Coastin' the Night Away

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Koaster King said:
!!!!!!!1111one

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I'll have to say you were right about that tool thing there, Danny. ;)

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- John
Homepark: Cedar Point
Home-away-from-homepark: Paramount's Kings Island

Thanks John, I guess. ;)

I've always wondered what the difference was between "cool bruises" on Cornball/Superman Ride of Steel/The Boss/The Legend/Flying Eagles/etc. and "bad bruises" on SOB. But then again, in the dozens of rides I've had on it, I've never been bruised from SOB.

-Danny, just a little unwell
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Coaster Insomniacs- Coastin' the Night Away

Cool bruises occur because of fun ride elements. Painful bruises occur because of a poor execution of a great ride concept. (Son of Beast)

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- John
Homepark: Cedar Point
Home-away-from-homepark: Paramount's Kings Island

Amen, John! I'm always a bit bruised after SRM ERT but I don't mind one bit. Getting them is fun and never feel like I'm being beaten up while riding.

mOOSH

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2004 Coaster Calendar now available. 13 Coasters in 12 months! Order in advance and save. Quantities are limited! See S&D Greetings for details.

Hey now! I like getting beat up while riding. :)

Any bruise is a bad bruise IMO. Luckily I haven't had any from a ride/coaster. I hope you mean poor (or poop as I wrote originally) execution of the trains, right John? I think the ride and layout design has a lot of potential behind it. Bill has been on top of what PKI should have tried to do ages ago (not sure if they have attempted this or not)... Call up GCII. :)

-Danny, hoping PKI would think new, different trains would be a good investment
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Coaster Insomniacs- Coastin' the Night Away

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Koaster King said:
Hey now! I like getting beat up while riding. :)

Bill has been on top...

I'm gonna have to DENY all these claims....;)
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"The robot mafia is running numbers?"
"Well, nothing fancy, mostly just ones and zeroes"...;)

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Danny-

The concept of Son of Beast as a whole is awesome. With the proper trains and a track gauage that isn't the width of I-5 from LA to SFMM I think the ride could have been quite a bit better.

Here's the Gilmanometer analysis of SoB:

*Concept: Awesome idea. I like the idea of huge helix after huge helix. Laterals are good.

*Actual ride experience: It sucks. Uncomfortable trains and restraints are just the begining. In my opinion, the shuffling (*violent* isn't a strong enough word to describe the shuffling) would be easier to control with a closer-to-standard track size. There's a huge difference between being tossed from side to side (See Legend, Raven, Twister, Ghostrider, Beast) and being ground in a pepper grinder (See SoB and Raging Wolf Bobs' first half).

One is painful, the other is forceful. There is sometimes a fine line between the two. SoB ignores the line entirely and just beats its riders up.
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- John
Homepark: Cedar Point
Home-away-from-homepark: Paramount's Kings Island

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rollergator said:
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"...;)

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You never know....

After my first ride on Collossos in Germany, I thought there was no reason a wooden coaster couldn't be built taller than Son of Beast. That Intamin track design really does work from what I could tell.

-Sean

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Jim Fisher said:

As for SOB, I haven't ridden it this year; but in the past I've found it rough, but not intolerable. Certainly better than Mean Streak, Wolverine Wildcat (the worst), and Hercules.

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No way - Wolverine Wildcat doesn't approach the worst (for me at least).

The worst = Mean Streak.

Other dubious woodies: Hercules, Grizzly (number 2 on my list of roughies), Hurler.

EDIT: MICHAEL DARLING: Your multiple quote post was quite amusing; that gets my vote for post of the month

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"That's DOCTOR Evil. I didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called 'Mr. Thank You Very Much.'"
*** This post was edited by ophthodoc 8/22/2003 9:54:35 PM ***

I took two spins on Sonny yesterday with my nephew who never rode it before.

Our first ride was in my money seat - 6-2 - and it wasn't too bad but a little jerkier than I had in rides earlier this year.

Despite my warnings to my nephew about riding towards the front, we took a second ride, this time in the front seat (which he wanted to do). He came off with a headache.

It seemed in some of the turns the train just bounced side to side (especially at the top of the helix before the mid course). It was as if the gauging was off giving the train more play on the track.

It was THE worse ride I have ever had on SOB.

I don't dislike SOB. I just dislike the rolling stock. The alterations PKI has made to them in the past couple of years has made them even worse.

X Factor

I really have to support those of you who talk about how bad SOB hurts ya! For those of you who love SOB, I respect that, but I also have to say to some of you, not everybody is built the same, some can't take a beating as well as others. I personally don't ride coasters to get my butt kicked by it. I ride them for the rush and SOB doesn't provide that FOR ME. I've heard lots here about track guage and all, but to me all these come into play, but the thing that always sticks in my mind is this: Is a woodie supposed to go 75mph? Lastly, someone mentioned earlier about the lines for SOB being short, and that's true every time I go to PKI. Every other coasterhas at least a 20-25minute wait, but more times than not SOB in a walk-on! That speaks volumes to me.

Son of Beast a walk on?In my dreams!;)

What they need to do is fix the 45 minutes to one hour waits that I've had every time I visit the park.What day do you usually visit the park,Chadley???

Still waiting for someone to disprove me about the trains..........

Is it the track guage?

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#1 Jeff Hater. #1 Jeff's site lover.
Now funny unless told otherwise.

Enough complaints! I rode that think 8 times in a row without getting off because of walk ons. To make it worse, it was raining as hard as it possibly could, and you know how much that hurts when your going so fast. Now add that in with the 8 runs in a row. DONT COMPLAIN. I got off before my bladder nearly exploaded and needed to rest my hurting body. BUT!!, i love the ride, I think its great, nice layout, nice loop, GREAT drop. So, it is a rough ride, but hey, if you want a REAL satisfying THRILL, jump on the bull(i mean the bull rides at bars, its is kinda like that). I think son of beast is a real mans ride. Not for the weak. It does beat you up, and damn, be a man and take that ****! Its sooo good.

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formally known as Flying DutchMan, Alpengiest is the best!

When I rode it this spring, I came off with a bloody knee and a major headace. There is no reason any ride should cause this kind of torture.

Will I ride sob again......probaly, but only because I am hopeing for a drastic turn around for this ride. This ride could be a blast.

The only other coaster I can honestly say is rougher than sob is the first half of rwb(second half is smooth now that it has had a track job).

I thought that rollercoasters were supposed to be fun, not painful.

Monday through Friday of last week, SOB was a walk-on every single day. On Saturday, the line was out to the entrance. It's just luck. On a random Tuesday, you could find Beastie's line full through the switchbacks out to the kiddie bumper cars.

-Danny
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Coaster Insomniacs- Coastin' the Night Away

I keep hearing people mention how one of the best executed large-scale wooden coasters is Colossos at Heide Park because of Intamin's revolutionary plug-n-play track.... what's the feasibility/potential cost of PKI retracking Son of Beast with the Intamin style track?