dakota2112

That's a little pretentious, isn't it?

Yes, I would think they must be selling enough or else they'd be dropping the prices. Those soda machines are highway robbery, but I don't drink soda so it doesn't impact me.

^^^ I agree with the fundamental thought here. Many people say that amusement parks generate a significant portion of their revenue from food and merchandise. If that is true (and I believe it is) then going out of one's way to spend $$$ elsewhere is directly cutting the income of the park we all say we love so much. Depending on how you look at it, you could say that the more rides you get from your season pass, the more you are hurting Kings Island because the amount of money you paid per ride keeps dropping. I need to add up my ride count this year but I estimate that I'm well below $1 per ride this year myself. That is dirt cheap in my book, especially considering that it includes parking. So I have no problem spending a little extra $$$ to eat at the park from time to time. I'm not saying people shouldn't try to save money when they can - but just remember that funding Kings Island every once in a while isn't necessarily a bad idea.

I've seen the Oxford Light. It also goes by another name: the headlights of a car driving towards you wayyyy off in the distance.

And how much does the insurer increase the park's insurance premiums when they have reason to cite increased risk...

^^^ good mindset It'll still be KI one way or another. We just have to accept change.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but I grew up during the 80s and I have never liked the Peanuts whatsoever - not then, and not now. I realize there are financial reasons to go with Snoopy, but I just can't envision modern-day kids getting excited about seeing a communication-deficient cartoon dog or Linus with his blankie. My son is 8 now and probably won't care one way or the other, and I don't think this move will have a profound impact one way or another - but this definitely marks the end of another era. Of course I enjoy watching SpongeBob episodes so I am admittedley biased

Different "G-forces" act in different ways. When you experience a rapid launch, the blood is not being forced downward out of your head so much as it is simply being pushed towards the back of your head. This is because the "G-force" is acting in a horizontal axis. The G-forces felt at the bottom of a big hill are acting on your vertical axis ("downforce") so your blood is essentially forced down towards your toes. Why doesn't DB gray you out? I don't know. I guess it doesn't have intense peak downforce type acceleration for very long. My body particularly reacts to extended periods of downforce (Vortex loops, flight deck fast turns near the end). This is all speculation, I have no real data to back any of this up

I think the duration is also important to consider. It isn't just the peak magnitude of the acceleration, but also the timespan over which you experience an increased acceleration magnitude. A graph showing a rider's vertical acceleration as a function of time would definitely be interesting.

Ditto The Vortex loops. I start to gray out by the time the train is through the 2nd loop sometimes. edit: I just remembered, I also gray out a little bit near the end of Flight Deck's circuit. There seems to be an extended period of vertical G's (downforce) there, I think courtesy of the swinging cars and fairly tight turns

Point is... there are soooooooo many people on here saying this or that, and how many of them have any inkling of an idea what they're talking about? Is this a forum full of roller coaster engineers or something?

The following phrase comes to mind: Those who know don't talk. And those who talk don't know.

If SOB is infact dismantled, I would think they could recoup at least part of the labor costs by selling some of the materials for reuse elsewhere. There's a serious amount of treated lumber standing there, it would seem like this material could be put to use somewhere instead of them having to pay for its disposal. Heck, I'll buy some of it - my barn could use some new treated lumber!

That could be more hazardous than riding it... I believe you are not supposed to cook over a fire fueled by treated lumber

It was also said that wood couldn't go 218 feet in the air- oh wait. ...and look what happened when they did go 218'

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but this says it's closed for the season: http://www.wlwt.com/news/20345973/detail.html

I have no problem with the vertical and lateral jolts common to wooden coasters. I think my problem on SoB is specifically related to the way the cars tend to oscillate/rotate around the vertical axis. Imagine a flagpole mounted to the floor of each car. Each car tends to rotate slightly about that axis, almost as if there's too much play side-to-side and each car's front set of wheels are bouncing around inbetween the rails instead of just tracking straight ahead. I have no idea if that's what is happening, but that illustrates the jerky ride characteristic I'm talking about. That twisting motion, in conjunction with harsh vertical/horiztonal jolts, adds up to back pain for me on that ride. And the pain starts before even reaching the lift hill. It's a shame, because the first (second? ) drop is indeed wicked.

Because of comments like this, I've given SoB a few "2nd chances" over the years... and every time I do, the only thing going through my mind ends up being the following: "is it over yet? is it over yet? is it over yet?" It reliably wrenches my spine around in ways that I don't think the spine is supposed to be subjected to, or at least that's what it feels like. None of the other wooden coasters at Kings Island dish out anything close to that in my opinion. Therefore I've elected to not ride it anymore (at least until someone else talks me into yet another "2nd chance" ) I really don't see how people can ride it without their back getting twisted around, but if people like riding it, more power to them. Ride on! And you can have my seat!

Whales_Rock, have you ridden Drop Tower? Everyone's different, but... I have such a profound respect for gravity (translation: afraid of heights) that I get almost paralyzed on Drop Tower near the top. Not having anything beneath me like that sends me into a psychological whirlwind. I'll go so far as to say I hate the ride up. However the ride down is worth the agony on the way up. In my opinion, if you can handle Drop Tower, then you can handle anything, including DB. Tell the ride op to staple you into your seat if you need to, or do it yourself, as an added measure of reassurance. It is true there are places where you float up and the ONLY thing keeping you in is that clamshell restraint. But rest assured if I can handle it, anyone can

SAME HERE EXACTLY. Saying the first ride was worst makes me even more afraid to go on now. I need a belt and then I'd go on. I need something visual to tell me that I'm safe and looking at those seat restraints certainly don't make me feel better... Well rest assured I know exactly what you mean, so take it from someone who's been in your shoes: ride it, you'll be fine! Try to get an odd-numbered seat, you feel a little less exposed that way. And if it helps any... I suspect that if the clamshell restraint were to unlock mid-ride, you'd still be ok. Ride with your feet crossed over the restraint, and hold on to the handles. You might float up, but the restraint only has one degree of freedom so it'll locate you back into your seat after the negative G's are over (not sure if that helps or not! )

I don't think anyone in here is questioning the safety reputation of the B&M restraint. Some people (again myself included) would just feel more at ease if there was a visible safety backup mechanism such as a belt (think Delirium or Drop Tower) to hold the restraint in place in the event of a locking mechanism failure. It doesn't matter how safe or reliable the B&M restraint is - without the reassurance of a visible safety backup, we (or at least I) do not feel 100% safe. The first ride on DB was the worst. Being so exposed like that makes the lack of a safety belt that much worse. But after a few rides, I've gotten used to it and it isn't a big deal.

I can't believe that CF, who slaps seat belts and trim brakes on almost every single ride, or their insurance company, hasn't had conniptions over SoB yet. Maybe they are having one right now, and that's what's causing the delay in reopening? I am not surprised at the lack of sightings of activity on the ride itself. I would expect that there is a large amount of activity behind closed doors in offices and conference rooms instead. Who knows, maybe we will indeed see workers crawling around on SoB like little ants at some point. But whatever the case may be, the park certainly doesn't owe anything to the general public or patrons in general. They'll open the thing, or not, or make an announcement, or not, whenever they're dang well ready to. I'd rather they take their time on this than rush to open the thing back up prematurely. (But then again, I'm not an SoB fan so I'm not out anything )

It isn't the locked restraint that I'm worried about falling out of. What I worry about is falling out of the seat when that locked lapbar fails and becomes unlocked mid-ride! That's when you'll wish you did have a safety belt securing the lapbar to the seat. This is a hypothetical situation of course. Not having that lapbar safety belt is a psychological barrier that some people are more susceptible to than others, myself included. It's a primal instinct, a subconscious fear for one's life. I know that lapbar is locked in place, but some fundamental reflex in my brain still would like to see something locking the lapbar down. As the saying goes... seeing is believing. I can't explain it other than that. But statistically, I'm confident the lapbar is safely locked in place. And as someone else pointed out, a safety belt attachment would surely eat into ride capacity.