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Accident on Son of Beast


Delirium_Guy
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That has been posted before. Nothing really concrete or scientific with that website. But it does show that Son of Beast has quite a reputation of being a rough ride.

I do find it shocking that a timber actually splintered. After hearing about the accident, that was the most logical thing that could have gone wrong. Although, I wonder if it was an actual piece of wood in the track lamination or if is was one of the supporting beams/ledgers that splintered. Certainly that poses some issues, and I`m sure the ride will be thoroughly investigated and be much safer when it reopens.

I do find the news a little troubling though. There has to be a specific reason why the lumber failed. Was it a design flaw? Was the wood decayed in anyway? Was it just repetitive strain that caused it to fail? What could have been done to prevent this from happening? Certainly this does not look good for the park. People could think that they had shoddy maintenance (which I am absolutely sure is not the case). Others will refuse to ride the ride even once the state clears it to reopen. Worse still is that other may simply refuse to go to the park altogether. I have seroius doubts on whether the ride will reopen before the end of daily operation in a month and a half. But hopefully it does, just for park capacities sake. Could this be the final nail in the coffin of Son of Beast? Only time will tell.

Yes, the site actually hit an all time high for must users online yesterday evening. There were 99 users online.

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After seeing this

It was obvious there was a failure of the timber and maybe more than one.
I don't think you will see Son of Beast open the rest of the year. Also they have to check the trains to make sure they did not make the or help the wood fail.

I don't think anyone would what to ride a wooden coaster that had a failure of the timber.

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And that is the most worrisome part for me. How will they ensure that something similar doesn`t happen again? Was it bad wood? Bad design? Fatigue? I`m sure they will thouroughly inspect this ride and the state will not allow the park to open the ride until it is safe. (Not to mention PKI`s insurance company won`t let them reopen it until they are confident it is safe.)

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mob psycology strikes again...

now people will start thinking it's a bad ride, and it won't be long until people start filing cases against the ride, and then Kings Island, Cedar Fair, paramount, and the ride makers will all be sued, and all of this will lead to a higher possibility of the ride getting demolished, which will then question the safety of wooden roller coasters altogether, and the question the saftey of the heights of roller coasters, and then question the saftey of roller coasters altogeter.

I know, it's a bit dramatic (okay alot dramatic) but it could still happen.

~vl2

somebody already tried to sue PKI for their back injuries last year.. hence the re-smoothing of the ride.

And im tired of people hating this ride.. if you hate it dont ride it! I know this may sound stupid, but im starting to think that thing has a spirit. If you ride it to brag, its going to beat the flying squirrels right out of ya. if you ride it for fun, you'll get shaken, if you ride it because you can and you love the ride, you'll enjoy the living day lights out of it.

Personally i just imagine something else while im riding it and it seems to help.

best times to ride SoB:

after or during rain.

early morning.

begining of the season.

I don't hate this ride

I was trying to make a point

it's my third favorite coaster!

jeeze I hate it when people jump to conclusions

hence the not saying I don't like the ride

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^Makes you wonder what could have caused the broken timber doesn't it? If it was just from wear and tear from the stress on the wood then that could have just as easily been me shipped off to the hospital...I rode just the day before...man putting yourself in those people's shoes and imagining how much a trip to the hospital would ruin what was supposed to be a great day full of GOOD memories makes you feel a little guilty for thinking about how miserable you are when you have to wait in an hour hour and a half line for Face/Off...

unsure.gif

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This is very troubling incident, but not the first time something of this nature has happened. I remember during the first season, it used to split ledgers for a bad habit. This is what would cause the ride to go down for days at a time. Then of course, there was the "jolt" at the top of the second hill which they tried to fix.......but its still there just not as bad. I think the Park is VERY fortunate that this wasn't worse than what it could have been. In all honesty, I hope that Cedar Fair ultimately decides to cut the losses and scrap the darn thing. Its been a headache literally from day one of its operation. The money that has been invested to keep it in a semi-rideable condition is absurd and could have been put to better uses to keep the rest of the Park from falling into the state that it is currently in.

Sad to see this happen at PKI though. Accidents happen though.

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And that is the most worrisome part for me. How will they ensure that something similar doesn`t happen again? Was it bad wood? Bad design? Fatigue? I`m sure they will thouroughly inspect this ride and the state will not allow the park to open the ride until it is safe. (Not to mention PKI`s insurance company won`t let them reopen it until they are confident it is safe.)

I can tell you what a large chunk of SOB's problems have been. Paramount Parks as the General Contractor. In order to save money, they took the project on themselves. When it backfired, they tried to go after anyone they could. RCCA, the engineers, even the company that provided the "faulty" lumber. Of all the wood coasters that have been built, I've NEVER heard of "defective lumber" used as an excuse.....and CCI built plenty of rides that needed beefing up after the first season. Please cut the losses and end the SOB Saga. How many more millions will Cedar Fair invest in it? If they were smart, no more.

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It would be nice to think that SOB would be able to be fixed, but it seems nothing that they do to it makes the darn thing right.

It would be sad to see the thing go as it's such an absolutlely gorgeous coaster to look at.  It's almost a piece of art in itself.

I couldn't agree more! at this point it sound like it would be better in the long run to almost rebuild the thing. Or do a massive over haul, maybe the guys that built The Beast can fix it, or over see it anyways. I REALLY don't want to see this ride go!

Another issue is, when putting together a big project like SOB, you always go over budget, unless you cut corners. Knowing Paramout, they did everything in their power to prevent going over budgent and in turn caused SOB not to be the best it could be. Sad... Very sad...

-adam12

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It would be nice to think that SOB would be able to be fixed, but it seems nothing that they do to it makes the darn thing right.

It would be sad to see the thing go as it's such an absolutlely gorgeous coaster to look at.  It's almost a piece of art in itself.

I couldn't agree more! at this point it sound like it would be better in the long run to almost rebuild the thing. Or do a massive over haul, maybe the guys that built The Beast can fix it, or over see it anyways. I REALLY don't want to see this ride go!

-adam12

The problem is that if it goes, we lose another wood coaster from the world.

It seems that the likelyhood of CF building another Wood Coaster in it's place would be slim. They'd just go ahead and build a steal coaster and the world would be down another wooden monument.

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^I wish wooden coasters would make a huge comeback or somethin' cool like that...Steel are nice but you lose that wild, out of control feeling and steel loses that classic feeling that I like on a wooden coaster where you just feel like you're in a whole different world. The chances of Cedar Fair building a new woodie are really slim...that just really sux...especially if we lose sonny dry.gif

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It would be nice to think that SOB would be able to be fixed, but it seems nothing that they do to it makes the darn thing right.

It would be sad to see the thing go as it's such an absolutlely gorgeous coaster to look at.  It's almost a piece of art in itself.

I couldn't agree more! at this point it sound like it would be better in the long run to almost rebuild the thing. Or do a massive over haul, maybe the guys that built The Beast can fix it, or over see it anyways. I REALLY don't want to see this ride go!

-adam12

The problem is that if it goes, we lose another wood coaster from the world.

It seems that the likelyhood of CF building another Wood Coaster in it's place would be slim. They'd just go ahead and build a steal coaster and the world would be down another wooden monument.

What will be the tallest Wooden Roller Coaster in the world now?!??!?!! I'm sure they have built taller than The Beast other than SOB...

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If Son of Beast is removed, then the world's tallest wooden coaster would be Colossos at Heide-Park Soltau in Germany, at. 196' 10"

Followed by El Toro at SFGAdv, Rattler at SFFT, Voyage at Holiday World, and Mean Streak at Cedar Point.

Taking out the "Intamin Prefab" track, that Colossos and El Toro have, the true wood track tallest coaster would be Rattler at SFFT.

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If Son of Beast is removed, then the world's tallest wooden coaster would be Colossos at Heide-Park Soltau in Germany, at. 196' 10"

Followed by El Toro at SFGAdv, Rattler at SFFT, Voyage at Holiday World, and Mean Streak at Cedar Point.

Taking out the "Intamin Prefab" track, that Colossos and El Toro have, the true wood track tallest coaster would be Rattler at SFFT.

Sad stuff... We do have something going for us though... CF loves to break records and be the biggest and best. That being said, maybe they will do a major overhaul and make it taller!

-adam12 :-)

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I could see one more round of lawsuits flying towards the developers in light of the construction failure.... then, unfortunately a dismateling over the winter. I agree with someone's post that CF has a penchant for record breaking coasters... and I wouldn't expect the lot to stay empty for long, though I suspect there will be a large scar in that area through the 2007 season.

I just don't see the ridership rebounding after this. it had an incredibly low ridership to begin with... and once an attraction sports a negative image with injuries.... it doesn't rebound.

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The money that has been invested to keep it in a semi-rideable condition is absurd and could have been put to better uses to keep the rest of the Park from falling into the state that it is currently in.

Exactly.

I've visited PKI every year since 1998. And since about 2001/2002, the rest of the parks woodies have been put on hold while they've sunk millions into SoB every year to make it rideable. The Beast isn't even the same ride that it was in 2001, it is just about as rough as it's son! Then there's The Racer. Last year my 7 year old cousin came back to the station on forwards Racer crying because it hurt so bad... and this is the same kid that likes Son of Beast!!

While I've never disliked the ride; I didn't love it either. I rode it every time I visited. But after 6 years of trouble, and now this... I agree with the majority of you, that it is time to just give up on Son of Beast.

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My thoughts and prayers goes out to those that have been injured in this horrible incident as well as all of those hurt by this ride over the years. I think back to when they were building it, I was always so excited, I constantly checked the construction pics, I couldn't wait for my first ride, which unfortunately was postponed for months thanks to its short weekend long debut before being shut down for months. All of this makes me wish that KI had never built this coaster in the first place. It goes along with the old saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". That statement couldn't be more true. The Beast, in my opinion is still one of the best coasters in the world. And in trying to outdo themselves, they've built a machine that has caused so many aches and pains, both physically and mentally. They should have been happy with pappa. But whats done is done. In my opinion, this coaster should join The Bat and KC as a memory of the past. But thats all up to Cedar Fair of course. I only hope if they do dismantle it that they build something incredible to replace it.

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They’re not going to get rid of SOB too much money would be lost. The Ride will get its riders back. I just hope they open it up again before the summer ends. Remember it wasn’t to long ago when they had an accident like this one on the best and people still ride that coaster

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