tdsteele

Im not familiar with hercules so please, do tell. And the business outlook, I agree completely, if it doesn't perform to get the people on it then yeah, going to be alot of lumber stacked up somewhere!!

Yeah King Cobra was short, but it was also the first and one of a kind so I guess i cut them some slack for that one. As far as when to draw the line...hhmm.. good question, I think you draw the line when all hope is lost, and i don't think that is the situation with Sonny. A rough ride and an accident isn't going to deter people from this ride. Rides have accidents all the time, some worse than others, and as sad as it is, an accident is publicity for a ride (don't hate me for saying that). I mean face it, we people who get on these rides are out for thrills, so looking at it from the standpoint of *a ride that has an accident because the structure failed due to the intenseness of the ride*, to the thrillseeker means it is one hell of a ride that we want to try out. Am i wrong in that line of thinking? People jump out of airplanes for the rush and thrill.....and people have accidents doing that and some die, but people still want that rush and continue doing it. Sonny will reopen and people will run to get on it, whether it is rough or has an accident, people are still going to stand in that line and ride it just to sat that they did.

Hybrid=steel structure and wood track. It is what the Voyage is classified as. True the loop had a steel frame, but it is now gone so. Really would have been a marvel if they could have made the whole loop out of wood, but don't ever see that as a possibility. As far as Top Gun goes, I just wish they would have made it bigger, 28 seconds from the top of the lift to the finish is just too short for a coaster to me. I know everyone has their opinions and I respect that, I'm not out to bash anyone, I was just stating my own. Thank you for the welcome. I look forward to reading all the posts on here and hopefully joing in on some of them. I have been visiting this park since about the late 70's/early 80's so I've seen it go through many changes, some good, some bad, all part of it I guess.

What an interesting thread going here. I know SOB wasn't the smoothest ride in the world, but how many woodies actually are? And most are half the size of this beast. Considering its size and speed, to me it doesn't do too bad. Now I will bash the engineers who came up with the first trains cause those things were a joke and I believe most of the uncomfortableness of this ride was because of the trains themselves. How can the ride be pleasant when a person is uncomfortable before you even get going? People on here are bashing KI for wasting money on this ride, why? One of the reasons I always loved this park is because of their willingness to go out and try something new, remember the old launched Demon? The Bat, the first suspended? King Cobra, the first stand-up? Flight of Fear, I believe the first LIM launched? Come on, give them credit for giving us new experiences with these rides. The park likes to get away from the norm, to me that is a good thing. Sad thing is, will the park stay this way with Cedar Fair running the show and Cedar Point being their star attraction. Anyways, lets go back in history and look at The Bat, even though it ended up being a loss, (and for one, I wish they wouldve brought that one back redesigned instead of the stupid little Top Gun), think of all the money they had invested in it, spent 2 years trying to make it work, does that make them stupid? I don't think so, I think it shows their commitment to bringing new things to the table. They tried then and they are trying now. There is always going to be trial and error in this business, I read about it all the time with other parks and the new rides they try. Some ideas work better than others. I have seen people say "well look at what they could have built with the money they spent on this ride", yeah, and? People bring up the Voyage, good coaster and cheaper price, true, but to me, its not a remarkable build, its a hybrid, not even a true woodie. SOB is a true woodie and for one that is as large as it is, its quite an accomplishment. Ok enough ranting, in closing I think they will figure this beast out in the long run, especially with todays technology, and I think they could have done it without losing the loop, but thats a whole nother rant! Patience, think everyone needs some.