shark6495

Just thought we need a moment of smiles on this board. Does anyone remember the first year riding SOB and when the train would come back there would be cheers? Just thought I would make someone smile with this minor trip down memory lane

That crashing sound was great followed by the erie rumble noise as the front car always managed to make the wide left turn right before the plunge.... wow now you have just made me miss that first hill...... and as i typed that my body got a sympathy pain from being thrashed around inside the car......... man I miss wooden roller coasters.... Sept 12th cant get any closer.... so no answers yet to my original question from a page before, what are the steps CF has in the past taken that have signaled the death knoll for a ride.....?

Well for one I am surprised we have been debating this now for 46 pages and however many posts that is... Realistically no one has offered up a serious idea or "inside" information about this ride. I just am wondering, calling out Terpy and anyone else who has been around for a while, what are the steps Ceder Fair has taken in the steps in closing down a ride. I am not talking about GL, but other rides. For example is their a pattern the park does so we can all pre-pare ourselves for the sad/happy announcement (depending on what side of the pro/anti SOB you are on). I just am wondering if anyone out there with real knowledge on how the company does it would be willing to share it here. We have all seen the photos, even the latest of the que line being gated, is this a normal step in a ride shut down for good, or is this just standard operation for a ride which is shut down for the season.... Please submit credible sources in MLA format, along with supporting articles, papers due Friday (ha sorry getting back into school form of writing research papers)

I feel the information may be wrong, I would believe it has been down for a total of 3 seasons combined...... So if the ride cost 20 mil to build I would guess that they have probably put in another 5 mil in renovations. And to keep it SBNO it would still cost the park, I would think they would still have to inspect it to make sure it does not collapse, and able to begin operating again. I may be wrong but a company like CF would still want to keep the ride in decent shape in case they do reopen it there is not a ton of work to be done on it, versus letting it rot for 2 years then having to do 2 years of upkeep in a short time.

thanks for posting terp great little read on a tuesday morning.... oh how sometimes i wish we all got dressed in our nicer clothes when going out

Thank you! Do you know when Charles Dinn came in on The Beast? (I thought he was a major designer for The Beast)????? Thank you for answering my question though. (Hhmmmm, just my opinion but maybe they should have had The Beast designers back for SoB.......I wonder if it would be a more successful coaster) ???? Charles Dinn saw over the construction of The Beast. He was at the time of it being built and designed the Director of Construction, engineering and Maintenance. I apologize for not including him in my original post.

i believe The Beast was constructed by park engineers and maintence people, while being designed by Al Collins and Jeffrey Gramke. The Son of Beast was designed by Werner Stengel and built by Roller Coaster Corporation of America along with KI crew or at least as it says

your welcome terpy I was trying to make you look better than normal..... however something cool, yet sad at the same time, on all of those web sites it lists SOB as tallest.... So we still have that goin for us....... Is the ride covered in the case of a storm? Forexample if a tornado came through and destroyed part of the ride the park gets money to rebuild it correct? Not just SOB because thats not what I meant but all rides, and maybe I sort of hope for a minor accident to have the ride fixed for free

Hey Guys, I found the info we were wondering about from 1972 and The Racer.... The Racer has an 88 foot hill with a 60 foot drop, check here for facts, The tallest roller coaster at the time would be a ride called Serpent of Fire at La Feria Chapultepec Magico, Mexico City. it stood 100 feet in the air, check out info here or here , built in 1964. Colossus would be built 6 years after our racer and stand at, a then record breaking, 125 feet, sharing the title with Gemini as the tallest Roller Coaster.

I think they need to bring back the trams from the parking lot right to the front of the gate........

If I am correct doesnt the Great Wolf Lodge sit on the land that was the camp grounds? I remember camping there at hearing Top Gun running in the middle of the night, there was some severe weather so it could have done something to it, also that was the night my pants caught fire... very memorable. With or without an expansion we should be happy KI has the land for us to even consider this. Look around at alot of the more established parks and they are land locked...

well i have not been to the park since the beginning of last year so my apologies, I was going off of memory, but I will be at the park in 3 weeks so I will have a new lay of the land....

for the line I would only suggest two things and they have been suggested before, put a bin or something in the station, for things such as flip flops or water bottles (stuff that is lost or stolen is not the end of the world, because keys or wallets and the like should be safe in the lockers) the second thing that I think should be added, only dreaming here, would be some sort of shade/mist maker. Sort of like the Coke zones but in the line. During the muggy hot days the line is very uncomfortable, I dont know why but it seems worse over there than in line for Vortex or beast. Could the white concrete have something to do with it versus the black top?

then awesome... it goes back up on the calendar as a possible KI day.... or evening

Now I may be a bit confused. Can I go to the park because I feel the donation of the money is to a good cause? I am not gay nor is any of my close friends (that I know of) but I support and celebrate anyones choices no matter who they are, so am I allowed to go? (sorry if it sounds like a dumb question but I assure you I am now truly confused)

thanks for the info tomkate, but on a side tangent (I dont mean to hijack the thread for a moment) if you work a ride are you assigned that ride all year? (SOB, FoF, Beast, etc?) or can you switch in the middle of the season, one month here another one there...

What is up with the SOB crew? Forgive me for not knowing this part but does a certain crew work the ride all year? So for example the SOB crew has no job now at the park, unless they are filling in on someone elses job? Or is it assigned in the morning? Does the SOB crew have to wear their SOB uniforms when working other rides? Forgive me I never worked at the park and have never paid close attention to the workers...

going back on the sign issue for just a moment, an earlier poster is correct, it would only cost the price of an hourly worker to remove and reinstall any signs. I think mutating the SOB into a new coaster is a dream sequence. You must remember we live in a time and place where everything is rulled by the all mighty dollar, and redesigning a ride that is already built would take too much time and money to do. Yes I agree there are some decent to good ideas on here, but the thing is you have to take into account the land, the angles of attack for the trains, the time and the effort to put into this ride. KI has already put 9 years of effort into this ride. I dont see them putting much more into redesigning and redesigning this ride. It was a great idea (SOB) that just didnt seem to be executed correctly, we should all be happy if we had the chance to ride it, and it will be a sad day if they do tear it down. But I think another redesign of the ride is out of the question, at least in the current economic state. Mind you this is only my opinion and could very well be wrong or right, but we just have to be willing to accept the outcome no matter what....

well would they have a case, I mean a water ride flipped over, it would be similar if a coaster flew off the tracks....... I dont think in a situation like this it would be a frivolous law suit, you had a few lives put into danger. Yes no one got hurt but it could have been much different very easily. I hope they dont sue, but I hope they and the park can come to a very reasonable understanding about this. To be truthful if I was riding WWC and the boat flipped over on me.... I would be very upset and very nervous about ever riding that ride again. I think this falls under the category of you dont expect any real danger to happen.... just my two cents worth

yeah not so bad if you are facing the sky, just close your eyes and take a nap... if you are facing the ground that is when you start freaking out.... in fact it makes my stomach flip just thinking about it.....

seriously if they re-open it till the next injury that would be horrible for a company to do, it would show a major lack of judgment. Possibly they are waiting out the economy before deciding what to do with the coaster. I mean they may have 2 options (tear it down/redesign-refix issues) and are deciding what would be better in the long haul with the economy possibly changing in the off-season or next year. It costs the park almost no money for it to be SBNO for this season and next. (BTW do they inspect it daily if it is SBNO?) If the economy does not improve they may go with the cheaper option, which ever that is. Sadly I do not think that fans of the ride will persuade anyone from changing the outcome of this ride. I enjoyed SOB but do agree it does need some work, but as stated before it is what it is, and thats a 200 + foot drop and a coaster going at least 70 mph, so you took the good with the bad. It will b very interesting to see what happens over the next few months. What I wouldnt pay to be a fly on the inside of those walls....

Hey BoddaH I may be a newer member to KIC but if I can offer my slight expertise to the newsletter I would be more than willing to help out with it in anyway you need. An article written or such and such. I have a degree in Digital Media Convergence which incorporates Radio/TV/Print journalism. I may not be able to get to the park as often as I like as I will soon be going to grad school this fall at Kent, but would love to offer up my ability to help the common goal....

which works great for a thread in another segment saying we need to build a parking garage and add rides in the current parking lot haha... (please dont hate me I was only messing :)

thanks for the research. If I am in town I will see if I can get the fiance to go with me to the park if not then I will be riding rides mentallyy that day and giving money to a charity anyways

no need to research rumor... i just was hoping it did..... and if you dont know off the top of your head no worries