McSalsa Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 OK, someone else on this site made a topic called "What if..." and it basically asked the question: What if Paramount had never sold KI to Cedar Fair? It was an interesting topic, and it got me thinking about other "what-if" Kings Island questions. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who may have thought of some of these, and thus, I decided: why not discuss some other "what-ifs"? And for a start, we need only look only to that massive hunk o' wood next to Adventure Express... When Son of Beast was still in the planning stages, Kings Island, I've been told, went to Custom Coasters International (CCI) first. CCI was famous in the late 90's/early 2000s for their successes with The Raven @ Holiday World and Shivering Timbers @ Michigan's Adventure, to name a few. However, CCI did not want anything to do with a 200', looping wooden roller coaster- they thought it was too much of a risk. So Kings Island went on, and went to RCCA, who went and accepted the project. And screwed up. And got fired. And Kings Island had to finish SOB by itself. And it got delayed. And it finally opened. And it sucked (according to most). Then it had its accident in '06. Then loop was gone. And it still sucked. And it got closed again, possibly for good- $30,000,000+ down the tube. This, sadly, is the true story of Son of Beast...but now the "What if" comes in... In this scenario, CCI has a sudden burst of "boldness" and actually agrees to build Son of Beast. What might have happened? Would PTC have also agreed to the project if CCI was building it? Would the ride still have been unbearably rough, or would SOB have been a success? And how would other parks (SFGadv was rumored to have wanted to build an even bigger wooden coaster with TWO loops, but when SOB tanked, chose to build El Toro instead) have responded? Have fun, and let the "what if" discussion begin...I am curious to see some of your theories. If you dislike, click back. Or the savage ninja kittens will find you. And you don't want to know what they can do to you... PS: I think this topic belongs in "polls"...but perhaps not. If not, please let me know. Or have a mod move it. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldschool75 Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I think we need a on SOB!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCrypt Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Since it would be CCI, I think that Son of Beast would have been a lot more compact and fun. It probably would have been rough, but not too rough? I'm not too familiar with CCI's to be honest. I need to get out more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TombRaiderFTW Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 If CCI had built Son of Beast, I'd wager it would have started with Gerstlauer trains, much like most (or all?) of the CCI creations from 2000. (I don't know why this was, and I'm very curious to know why. 2000 saw CCI almost strictly using Gerstlauer trains and much longer track transitions.) I'd say it would have much more resembled rides like Geauga Lake's Villain and Wild Adventures' Cheetah and would probably have become just as notorious for its roughness, as I've never heard anyone ever accuse those rides of tracking well. The only ride that comes to mind from this time that doesn't seem to fit this niche is The Legend at Holiday World, and I'm willing to chalk that up to the fact that it's at Holiday World and isn't running G-trains anymore. The only rides I've ridden from CCI's late era are Cornball Express and Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain. I wasn't wowed by CE and LoCoSuMo isn't exactly a standard example of a CCI ride, but I'm willing to bet I'd still probably have liked a CCI SoB more than the current ride. I've thought most of the other CCIs were at least decent (or, at the very least, they all had at least one endearing quirk--I'm looking at you, Shivering Timbers), so I might have liked some aspect of CCI's version a little more. I wonder if they ever drew up a sample layout. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fear the Four Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 If CCI had built Son of Beast, I'd wager it would have started with Gerstlauer trains, much like most (or all?) of the CCI creations from 2000. (I don't know why this was, and I'm very curious to know why. 2000 saw CCI almost strictly using Gerstlauer trains and much longer track transitions.) From what I understand, PTC stopped working with CCI because of money issues. So PTC refused to work with CCI until debts were paid. Parks that wanted PTC trains had to go directly to PTC. Denise Dinn Larrick made some stupid decisions that killed the company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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