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What`s next for Son of Beast?


fighting31irish

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this ride is not as bad as made out to be and the only HUGE problem was in 2006. if they didnt like the ride why was it open the next year mid season?

Recognize that your opinion of how "bad" the ride is matters about as much as mine, or my mother's, or my best friends. It means nothing. Pain tolerances are different. You'll feel different about most every ride today than you will thirty years from now. And pre-existing condition or not, how does it reflect on the park when someone passes away on a ride? You do not hear, "Someone died on Son of Beast, but because they had a pre-existing heart condition they were unaware of, so it was not the ride that was at fault." No. You hear, "Someone died on Son of Beast." So whether you think the ride is "that bad" is so totally irrelevant that it might as well be nonexistent.

Some of the hundreds of questions are:

  • Is it safe?
  • Is it a comfortable and worthwhile experience for the people who want to ride it?
  • What must be done to it to align it with the standards that we set, and how much would that cost?
  • For the same price, what could we replace it with, and does that potential replacement have a better chance of being a crowd-pleaser and raising attendance?
  • How will our insurance rates change based solely on the operation of this ride? (And trust me, they would...)
  • What about people who now see that this ride is an easy target for lawsuits?
  • Is it worth the price of a renovation just to take a chance at success (in other words, success is not guaranteed, no matter how many millions they might spend to re-track the ride)?
  • Would anyone want to ride it if it reopened today? (To me, the answer is yes, but as I said, the park would be stupid to do so - it's been proven that thousands of dollars can be won by sustaining an injury from this particular ride in its last operable form...)
  • Would any companies want to spend their time and energy dealing with Son of Beast? What if the "fix" that that potential company installs doesn't do its job, and they loose all of their credibility and revenue, and may even be named in future lawsuits? Is that worth it for that company?
  • What if Mr. Kinzel opens the ride, retires, and the ride injures even more people? Does it affect him? Probably not. But his legacy is tarnished.
  • What if they spend $15 million to re-track it with steel only to find a whole new set of problems develops? After all, the support structure has proven the be the problem moreso than the track...
  • Why should Son of Beast get $15 million to be re-done when the rest of the park could be improved exponentially with that money? In other words, if it came down to a chance at a successful Son of Beast, or a brand new Intamin Blitz coaster, which decision would be more fruitful in the long-run?

There is so much that must be considered from literally every angle. Your opinion of "if the ride is as bad at they make it out to be or not" is so completely and utterly useless. It's finances that drive this and every for-profit company. That's why your earlier idea of having park visitors vote on if it should be open or not is so completely and utterly incomprehensible. Park visitors are not equipped to make the decisions that may cost the company millions upon millions of dollars. In a larger scale way, that's why Cedar Fair is a limited partnership, apparently.

The Son of Beast decision involves people on the corporate level, the park level, maintenance, outside firms, structural engineers, mechanical engineers, insurance providers (who, by the way, may require so much money to insure Son of Beast that it's operation becomes irresponsible to the shareholders, anyway), and basically every facet of Kings Island and Cedar Fair staff.

Also use that "big picture" knowledge we talked about to realize that the CEO is retiring and the company who owns Kings Island is being hounded (if that's an appropriate word) by a shareholder who owns more of the company than Mr. Kinzel would probably like. The very last thing on his mind right now is a ride at some small, non-flagship park in Ohio that has been closed (and thus, has not caused any issues) for the last two years. I'm sure he's quite content with Son of Beast's status right now, and will continue to be as long as he's in office dealing with real issues.

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...Would anyone want to ride it if it reopened today? (To me, the answer is yes, but as I said, the park would be stupid to do so - it's been proven that thousands of dollars can be won by sustaining an injury from this particular ride in its last operable form...)...

Um....no. That litigation resulted from the 2006 incident...not the "last operable form" (new trains, sans loop).

Other litigation may or may not result from that later form, and the time period for filing of such appears to have not yet passed....

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And certainly, they are. Maybe not seriously. Maybe not for Son of Beast. But what's happening now to the New Texas Giant will likely be revolutionary... if it works in the long run. But by your own timeline here, you must admit that anything that happens to Texas Giant will not happen to Son of Beast by opening day in 2011... As Terpy said, it has taken years of planning, not 20 days.

Realize also that the company behind Texas Giant's renovation may flat out refuse to work on Son of Beast. As I said, what if they do, and then it backfires? They will have lost all credibility and may be named in future lawsuits against the ride.

More than likely, if Cedar Fair approached the company, they would name a price at which they would perform the renovation (unless they flat out refuse, which may be the case). Cedar Fair will then find that price to be reasonable, or not. Again, at what point do the costs of Son of Beast become so expensive that it becomes irresponsible from a financial point of view to press on? Didn't Mr. Scheid say nearly $30 million had been spent on the ride? How much more needs to be tacked on before it becomes too much? To many, it's too much already. So if it comes time to raise the ride's total expenditure to $50 million, or to get a nice new Intamin Blitz coaster in its place... Well... If that time comes, we shall see the results.

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they could be waiting until TG is open and running and looking at that route.

Personally, I agree that Kings Island is looking at this as an option, but in no time for this year. If anything, I wouldn't expect Kings Island to make a decision if Son of Beast should get the same treatment until Texas Giant has had about a year of operation under it's belt.

I'm a huge Son of Beast fan, don't get me wrong, but that doesn't mean I can't be reasonable. We have seen no work done on this ride. Look at Blue Streak over at Conneaut. That ride was closed for three years, and look at the amount of work that went into it before it reopened. At only a quarter of the length, it took quite some time in order to get the ride in operational state.

Kings Island has posted a "Expected Operational Rides" for Math and Science days this year. Son of Beast is noticeably absent from the list. I'm going to link to my post about the subject back on February 14th, so you know that this was well before April 1st... List Here

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Yep, you cannot logically think the ride is going to be open opening day AND think they are waiting for the New Texas Giant.

That does not compute...as a certain robot used to say...and it too was lost....in space.

where did i say this year for Texas Giant treatment? also TG open April 22 check website

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I couldn't care less what a website says. My sources are not websites. The Texas ride is open. It is licensed. It has been ridden. People have posted about it.

And you did say the KI ride would be open opening day. That's what I was pointing out. You are arguing with yourself at this point. You are all over the map.

Sigh.

I'm out of here for a while. I have a date with Miss Turkey. So to speak.

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You know, I was looking through 'Son of Beast214's' many comically illogical posts to quote and kept having to quote more cause they just got better and better. I think I'll settle on this one:

everyone can believe what they what and i will believe what i what.

Sir, this is called:

denial.jpg

Now, maybe this poster is just young. Judging by the fact he can hardly form a grammatically correct sentence or capitalize proper nouns, I'd say so. However, Son of Beast214, if I were you, I'd listen to what the other members are saying and get a maturity check. I bet your next response is going to play a big factor in whether or not you return to these forums.

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Six Flags Worlds of Adventure was built largely in response to what the public said they liked best about its closest competition, Cedar Point.

How'd that end, anyway?

Cedar Fair

Would that be the same company deciding the fate of Son of Beast?

Terp, who likes to ask questions

aleast now your saying DECIDING instead of CLOSED.

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Six Flags Worlds of Adventure was built largely in response to what the public said they liked best about its closest competition, Cedar Point.

How'd that end, anyway?

Cedar Fair

Would that be the same company deciding the fate of Son of Beast?

Terp, who likes to ask questions

aleast now your saying DECIDING instead of CLOSED.

Closed? Yeah, Cedar Fair closed the park back in '07.

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Six Flags Worlds of Adventure was built largely in response to what the public said they liked best about its closest competition, Cedar Point.

How'd that end, anyway?

Cedar Fair

Would that be the same company deciding the fate of Son of Beast?

Terp, who likes to ask questions

aleast now your saying DECIDING instead of CLOSED.

The Interpreter is probably the most respected member on this site. He chooses his words carefully, and very rarely will tell you his actual opinion (if ever.) I would never try to pick a fight with him.

Don't try to put words in his mouth. It won't work out for you.

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Guys, we need to stop feeding the trolls (as stated earlier, but there was such a large flame war I don't think anyone saw it!)

There is no resolution to this "fight". We are arguing over a bunch of pieces of wood. It is NOT a matter of life or death.

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Guys, we need to stop feeding the trolls (as stated earlier, but there was such a large flame war I don't think anyone saw it!)

There is no resolution to this "fight". We are arguing over a bunch of pieces of wood. It is NOT a matter of life or death.

I wouldn't call him a troll, just a uber-devoted fan of SOB.

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Guys, we need to stop feeding the trolls (as stated earlier, but there was such a large flame war I don't think anyone saw it!)

There is no resolution to this "fight". We are arguing over a bunch of pieces of wood. It is NOT a matter of life or death.

Or, it could be. Never forget that safety is paramount in the park business. Ask in Louisville. Don't think for a minute that what happened there didn't affect the future of that park. It did. It's even sadder how it affected the future of a young girl who was just there for a day of fun...a day she will remember for a lifetime, for the most horrible of reasons.
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Guys, we need to stop feeding the trolls (as stated earlier, but there was such a large flame war I don't think anyone saw it!)

There is no resolution to this "fight". We are arguing over a bunch of pieces of wood. It is NOT a matter of life or death.

it is life or death for a ride or even a new pair of pants.

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