I was at PKI last friday and saw that part of the lift hill and frist hill track is gone. Also they are working on the turn right before you go on the lift hill. Are they just replacing track or is their something else wrong?

they are doing some re-tracking to make the ride smoother.

I for one can't wait to ride it when it reopens. I'm curious to know if all this work will make a difference. I still alot of the roughness with SOB has to do with the trains. If only they would get new trains. I'm afraid that the trains is going to tear up the retracking quicky.

Does anyone know if it will re-open this year. I am actually hoping so, so i can ride it and see if the track is any better.

Does anyone know if it will re-open this year. I am actually hoping so, so i can ride it and see if the track is any better.

The sign in fornt of the entrence said that it will not open till late spring. I think it will open on Memoral Day I think because that is late sprin and that is when the trians open is May 20. As long is Boomerang Bay is opening up for the season.

Well, technically late spring can be any where up until June 20th when Summer officially starts. I had heard that the park was hoping to have it ready to roll by Memorial day weekend, but that was the optimistic goal and that it could be later.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pkiguy1/deta...43f.jpg&.src=ph

A very close friend of mine who is a manager at PKI stated that SOB will open in May or June and are retracking the ride.

No real big surprise there. I believe that they were working on it today. I saw a bunch of pick up trucks parked over by where the old parking lot trams reside when I rode Drop Zone today. Hopefully, all the work on it will make it a more enjoyable ride!

I've got to agree with PKIVortex.... I think a lot of it is the trains. The Racers are over 30 years old, and by all measures should rattle you to shreds... and it doesn't. When I've ridden it just seems that the trains "BOUNCE" too hard.... even on slow sections.

They need trains that are BIGGER also. I'm 6'3 and I feel almost scared when it goes fast. My knees end up all red and my big feet (size 14) don't fit well either.

The newsletter for associates @pki said SOB would open mid to late May

I asked at guest relations they said the ride was too fast and they couldnt controll it , so they were going to do some track work

I was at PKI today and looks like they are doing some more work other than what Monkey Joe said. With out Son of Beast that part of the park is not that busy.

The crane is gone by the first hill of the Son of Beast and a mantince taking a smoke brek I was hoping he set the track on fire. BTW the tarps are going away. it is only a matter of time before it opens.

I wonder if they are just retracking or actually modifying the height or bank of certain parts of the track. I know they modified the bank on the left turn into the rose bowl after the first drop.

The crane is gone by the first hill of the Son of Beast and a mantince taking a smoke brek I was hoping he set the track on fire. BTW the tarps are going away. it is only a matter of time before it opens.

The tarps where still up today.

I saw the "tunnel" on the break run right before the loop on Saturday.

Harvestofyoursorrow, you mean the right turn into the rosebowl? They have added some new wood to the structure over by the rosebowl that you can clearly see when riding Adventure Express. Yes, some of the tarps have dissapeared, but I`m sure they still have a lot of work left to do on it. They haven`t even put the trains on the track yet. Once that happens, they still have to test it and get it inspected by the state.

^ Yeah the right turn, my bad.

they are doing some re-tracking to make the ride smoother.

Thank god! That's the roughest coaster I've ever been on. In fact, I've ridden a lot of coasters all over this fine country and that's the only coaster that's physically hurt me. I couldn't walk right for weeks. I haven't been on Mission to Mars yet.

I know, I know... Wah! Son of Beast beat me up. Wahhhh!

Harvest, I've seen that avatar proabably 50 times or so.......makes me laugh every time.

I hope it is smoother after they fix it. I love SoB, it's just rough. I always sit in the front, hoping it is a little smoother, but never is. That ride bounces all the wrong places.

The smoothest seat by far is the middle row of the back car.

The fronts of the car are actually quite a bit rougher than the middle seats.

From my experience, the most intense seat on the entire ride is the front row of the fourth car.

Ironically, the back seat of the back car is not all that bad.

Hopefully, once it reopens, all the seats will be just grand.

Wonder if they are making any changes to the trains again?

I agree with you on that because why keep the ride closed the last couple weeks of last season and now its not opening until mid-late May this season. Something has to be done with those trains and the track which is what they are doing now. The FOF was fixed with the restraints on that so could this be done on SOB with the trains at all???

Does anyone know if they will modifie the trains for SOB? I rode last year in the front car and it keep jumping when the axes bumped.

I do not think that they intend to modify the trains, other than the routine maintenance that they do every off season on the trains. Some minor modifications may be made, but I wouldn`t expect anything drastic.

Except for maybe more tinkering with the footspace in the floor, I'd agree...

The trains are a wee bit small for us tall people. I think it adds a little more "out-of-control" feeling to the ride experience; like you can fall out at any moment. SOB is the ultimate challenge to coasterphobes. The re-tracking/banking will make it smoother, I guess, but SOB is still the baddest woodie in the world. Period!

You say that like that's a good thing!