Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

I only had the chance to ride SOB twice (with the loop) on my last visit which is way too long ago (though I am hoping to get down there next Monday, but we shall see).

I remember thinking that it LOOKED like such an awesome ride, but I absolutely disliked the second helix and ending, and I ended up with a head that felt like it had been bashed to a pulp. (I didn't even mind the fair amount of boxing I got on Cyclone at SFOG as much).

My gut feeling is this . . .SOB will be SBNO next year while Cedar Fair decides whether to completely modify the ride with a new layout (I can see them keeping the lift hill, first drop and all the way up to the top of the first Helix)((and personally as much as I don't like it's current configuration, I HATE to see a woodie bite the dust)) or figuring out what to put in it's place for 2011/2012.

If it remains SBNO next year I think it will be dismantled in the 2010 Off-Season.

In any case, I hope everyone got a chance to ride before this lastest incident, because I don't think it will reopen in it's current layout again.

My .02

That's interesting - although the park is in Warren County, the office in the most populous county in the Cincinnati area is actually handling it. Does Warren not have a coroner?

According to this article, because the man was pronounced dead in a Hamilton County hospital the autopsy falls under the responsibility of the Hamilton County Coroner.

Though I think it's not uncommon for one medical examiner's office to cover more than one county. For example, the same office in Florida covers both Orange and Osceola counties. And, if you die at Disney or Universal, that's where your body will go.

I guess this is what happens when you try to design a wooden coaster like a steel hyper coaster. IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Get a couple of Las Vegas pyros to come to the park and send the ride out in style! A ride that size should come down in a spectacular way!

^^ I wouldn't say it is impossible to make a good wooden coaster over 200 feet. I just think they spent too much time trying to make a record with the loop and just threw together a quick design of the remainder of the coaster.

I guess this is what happens when you try to design a wooden coaster like a steel hyper coaster. IMPOSSIBLE!!!

No, this is what you get when you have a company design and build a wooden roller coaster that is NOTORIOUS for bad craftsmanship, and then make well past the "Normal" limits of a wooden ride

I guess this is what happens when you try to design a wooden coaster like a steel hyper coaster. IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Only if you completely ignore Intamin and their pre-fab woodies.

^^ I wouldn't say it is impossible to make a good wooden coaster over 200 feet. I just think they spent too much time trying to make a record with the loop and just threw together a quick design of the remainder of the coaster.

And they went with a bad company and terrible trains.

Intamin prefabs are the only wooden coasters that should be huge IMO. I rode Hades again yesterday and it beat the living the crap out of me. Ir might be Mt Oly's poor maintenence but ive been hearing similar things about Voyage also.

^ Ya I agree, even though the only Intamin prefab coaster I have been on is El Toro. So I can not say if the others are that great, but El Toro gives you one amazing ride.

It would still be nice to see them fix up Son of Beast.

This just occurred to me earlier......

Time to redesign SOB?

Time to replace/repair/rebuild SOB?

2012 KI 40th Anniversary?

Two full years. Not sure how the new rides and anniversaries have fallen, but I think that FireHawk was kind of an accidental 35th anniversary present.

^ Talk about regifting....

-James Dillaman

You mentioned significant Kings Island anniversaries:

2007 - Firehawk

2002 - Tomb Raider (Now Crypt)

1997 - Boomerang Bay (massive renovation/ expansion of WaterWorks)

1992 - Hanna Barbera land renovation featuring Phantom Theater

1987 - Vortex

1982 - help - was this another HB renovation featuring the Smurfs

1977 - ???????

GCI should do a major retracking of the ride..

And then after give the ride Timberliners! If there as lightweight as GG says then the smooth GCI trackwork will stay in top condition and be nice and smooth.

I was sorta on the bandwagon about tearing it down but as a coaster enthusiast I'd just hate to see it go. I mean I really want to love Son of Beast, it's just too terrible of a ride experience to enjoy it. If they could successfully retrack it with either GCI, or Intamin prefab track, that would certainly be a great alternative to tearing it down in my opinion. However I wonder if it's just too tall to matter. I don't think GCI has ever made a coaster much more than 100ft.

^ Why would you want to retrack a horribly boring and badly designed ride? It's like saying "This Yugo would be great with a new suspension!"

-James Dillaman

^^^My guess: GCI wouldn't touch this monster with a 200 ft pole. And I guess for me, this ride just doesn't scream "save me" like some others I've ridden. I've had nothing but great experiences on GCI's (save for Gwazi and Roar at Six Flags America) and think of their rides on with the highest regard. After experience the amazing work they did to make Lake Compounce's Boulder Dash the ride it is, I gained quite a bit of trust in their retracking ability, but I have to wonder where the limit is as to what ride should be retracked in a way similar to that of Boulder Dash. The only ride that I've been on recently that I could see really triumphing with such a refurbishment would be Alabama Adventure's Rampage. That ride seriously kicks butt (really, it punched the wind out of me twenty-five times in a row during the Deep South trip\0, but was fun regardless. I remember even turning to a couple of people that went on the East Coast trip the year previous and they agreed that this ride had the potential to be amazing with a little Dash-style rework by GCI.

Son of Beast, while lengthy and quite fast in speed, really lacks any significant features that make it interesting to date. Now that the loop is gone, the commodity really lays with the "rose bowl" elements and maybe the first drop. Besides that, there isn't really much else to experience with the ride. I'd really rather see the Beast get retracked if I had to choose one of the two, because that ride was (as far as I remember) far more interesting, fun and exciting than Son of Beast, even when it had the loop.

As much as I loved Son of Beast the one time I rode it back in 2004, I have to assume that without the loop and with the major deterioration of the coaster experience (in terms of roughness, also attributed to the new trains), there isn't much life left in this child. I truly am glad I haven't ridden it since 2004, as I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did, but then again, I am certainly saddened to see what has become of this ride.

Screamscape said this also,

 

However what makes the move more strange however is that all the other nearby SOB signage (Entrance sign, height check signs, wait length time, safety warnings, etc) have all been removed as well.

 

Are those signs also taken down every year?

I remember someone asking in this thread if this was confirmed. I was there a couple hours ago, and all the signs were gone. I've never seen them do this before. I hope SOB will be out of there for the 2010 season, and a new one in it's spot for 2011.

^ If it in any way mirrors the Hercules removal and planning/construction of Hydra, I think you might be looking at 2012 at the earliest.

http://www.cetconnect.org/KingsIsland/ I thought the documentary was good.

Yeah it was quite good thanks for sharing

Snoopy's coming to the Island.

http://visitkingsisland.com/events/event_detail.cfm?event_id=644&ec_id=11

Sadly, it's true...

I've already said my opinion like a hundred times and multiple threads, and I'll say it again. Kids don't know who Snoopy is. He comes on only a few times a year, and there hasn't been a new episode in years. Although my parent's somewhat grew up with Snoopy, they also said the same thing when I told them KI is switching to Snoopy. My sister said "Really? No kid loves Snoopy like they love Spongebob and Rugrats... It makes me really mad, I remember when it was Hanna Barbera, I didn't really know some of the shows but I knew most of them and loved them. And I still love Nickelodeon and Scooby Doo." My 20 year old sister who knows nothing about the amusement industry even thinks it's a horrible move for Kings Island and Cedar Fair. I think next year on Amusement Today's Golden Ticket award, Kings Island won't win "Best Kids area", I think it'll go to Mall of America's Nickelodeon Universe instead. Good move KI... -_-

It's kind of funny, but I was able to get on Firehawk for the very first ride of the day, the day it reopened. Kind of scary.

The press release mentions they're replacing the Nickelodeon and Scooby-Doo theming. I wonder how they're going to redo Scooby-Doo and the haunted castle. Great Pumpkin perhaps? That's the only "spooky" Peanuts related thing out there.

^^^ Don't you just love how they boast about the awards in the article? And now they're totally taking that away from themselves.