Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

[Hercules]

I leave the coaster scene for a couple of weeks and my entire world comes crumbling down....

[Milkchan]

I leave the coaster scene for a couple of weeks and my entire world comes crumbling down

 

LOL good quote.

 

I am very sad thaat Sob is loosing its loop. There could have been another loops in the works to make the ride better. Or maybe there could actually be an airtime hill on the coaster.

[TheStig]

I will admit I'd be happy to see the first steel coaster with a wooden loop, just because its so "wtf?"

 

Colin C

[THE ONE]

I have been hearring the same as others. one of the reasons for removeing the loop is so they could use lighter trains. I dont know if it is true or not but one can only hope that it could make the ride better. only time will tell

[All Clear]

Wah loop smooth rough wah neutered wah taer it down rough heavy trains wah rough lighter trains record holder destroy wah hurts my belly fix it wah wah intamin.

[deano]

^ huh?

 

I must say that im a bit dissapointed, not having ever ridden SOB it was definately an attraction for my next USA visit, and now i'll never get to experience the thrills/pain that you've all shared on this woodie.

 

Im still yet to find a POV video, does anyone know if one exists?

[SonOfBeastSucks]

^Oh, don't you worry, you can still experience plenty of pain on it!

[busk1]

its not a good idea since that ride was the park's biggest draw.

[coaster05]

No way was SOB even close to that park's biggest draw. The line for it was walk on 2 years ago when Beast, Face off, Vortex, Flight of Fear were all 30+ and Beast was an hour. Just because it is the biggest and or newest does not make it the biggest draw.

[jamesdillaman]

^ The parks own advertising locally says (a direct quote): "Come and ride the Beast only at Paramount's King's Island!!" They don't mention the SoB, and haven't since the year it opened. I've seen it pictured in ads on TV, but it hasn't been a draw since maybe 2001.

 

-James Dillaman

[ginzo]

I find that Flight of Fear usually has the longest wait, but that could just be due to slow ops. SOB was usually a short wait last summer, but sometimes you'd have a 30 minute queue. I don't recall ever seeing the line go that far down the ramp, certainly never down to the switchbacks below.

[Stitch]

^ huh?

 

I must say that im a bit dissapointed, not having ever ridden SOB it was definately an attraction for my next USA visit, and now i'll never get to experience the thrills/pain that you've all shared on this woodie.

 

Im still yet to find a POV video, does anyone know if one exists?

 

Roller Coaster Pro has an on ride video of it.

[coasterking54]

Why would they do that? I wanted to ride so badly. Now there are NO looping wooden coasters.

[ginzo]

Why would they do that? I wanted to ride so badly. Now there are NO looping wooden coasters.

 

You're only about the 23487263487th person to ask that on this thread. Try reading the thread, or googling for the answer.

[Joseph william Hulshizer]

The loop Gone!!!!! Even I Would Try to not remove it.

It Was to me the point of even riding it other then the Beast.

[zydecobg]

Don't forget, the number one concern for Kings Island has always been safety. Reviewing incident records of Kings Island shows that the park has one of the best track records in the industry. Ever since the construction of Son of Beast, there has been general concerns over construction methods and building materials used for the ride. The park had recieved numorous amounts of criticism for the roughness and strong discomfort riders experienced on Son of Beast, beyond normal coaster experiences on other rides. The park had made several series of refinements to the coaster in order to "tighten" and smooth out the coaster ride. Unfortunately, if you read and examine the report from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, you will see that these refinements may have contributed to the ride's unfortunate incident in summer 2006. The park and construction firms have since concluded that the coaster trains would have to be revised, and that the number of cars would have to reduced on all the trains in order to reduce stress on the coaster ride as a whole. Partly because of this, the loop now would have to be entirely replaced or taken out, due to forces and speed of the lighter trains and vise-versa. We will have to wait and see how the ride feels with the MANY new refinements (and yes the whole coaster had to be reviewed, inspected, and revised for safety and long term reliabilty. The only other thing King's Island could do would be to dismantle the entire ride...equally as costly.

[Swoosh]

But then again, you have to ask yourself is it worth it to even attempt to "fix" the ride when the chances that it will be "fixed" are not that high to begin with? I say take down the ride, donate the wood to Habitat for Humanity, write it off as a donation and be done with the thing.

[Rider117]

I'm all for it to be taken down, but do you know how much this thing will cost to be removed?

[PKI Jizzman]

Now that I think of it, I wonder if taking off the 6th car of the trains did much....yes, they took off the 6th car when the re-tracked it. I wonder if it helped, or was an attempt to improve the ride. the only thing I felt different was airtime on the 1st drop in the very back! Hmm

[ebl]

Just thinking about it...why would a wooden coaster need a loop anyway?

 

Eric

[haux]

Just thinking about it...why would a wooden coaster need a loop anyway?

 

Eric

Because no other wooden coaster does? That was the main gimmick the park advertised when it opened.

[PKI Jizzman]

Here's some pics I found on PKI Central.....note the white thing over the last turn around....I dont see the trains on the transfer track or station....hmm

 

Edit - Ugh....im stupid....I guess the white tarp is over it for weather reasons.....snow is supposed to be hitting this area soon

I assume just fixing the areas

Another look....I dont see any trains either

No more loop

[Carnage]

I dont see the trains on the transfer track or station....hmm

 

Trains for every coaster get taken off the track during the offseason. So you're not going to see trains in a station of transfer track for any ride.

 

Plus the trains are most likely being modified, so they're not going to be there for that reason either.

[bgwfreak]

I'm really hoping they just scrap them altogether and put in PTCs.

[rollermonkey]

While it's good to see that they are retracking, it doesn't seem like they are making any progress with the area where the loop was removed. I wonder how long it will be before they even start work on that bit?