AintNutinElse2Do

Just a few thoughts on this... First I am an absolute fan of SOB I love it and hate to see it have the issues that it has/had. It was a quite rocky start with the suits due to the wood used etc.... then an even more rocky time during it's neutering. I'm honestly on the fence on the ride now whether it should be saved or let go. To fix it right, a company like GCI would need to come in and do a total refurbishment of the ride like they are doing with Thunder Road at Carowinds. That refurb is doing a lot for the ride but it's part of a five year rebuild with 2-3 years to go. Given the problems with SOB I don't know if they can really allow 5 years to fix it right, granted the process could be sped up somewhat with keeping it closed during the season. Now the other side of things is to tear it down. This could allow a lot of possibilities in park planning, it could open up access for new areas and to access existing. Long term it may be best to look at it this way, not to replace the ride but to give the park more options for growth. Personally if the wrecking balls do come in and tear it down I'd like to find some middle ground here. Intamin does seem to have a pretty great wooden coaster ability and I'm sure that they could break the 200' mark with their designs. On the other hand we already lost a loop and I'm sure we could have a better coaster without one than the one standing now but how about something else that would be very unique to a wooden coaster. Thats why I would lean towards Gravity Group to bring out the Timberliner Trains and throw in a lift hill launch, and while I'm dreaming (though quite possible) a simulated splash down could be pretty sweet. Just to clarify, in saying simulated splash down I mean take the track barely over water with no hand rails and have geysers explode with the train.

Thanks for the reply now here's hoping everyone doesn't back out. I must say though I'm very sad that SOB looks like it will be closed. Third time of the last three I've been that it will be closed. There's an old saying about that.

So me and a few friends from work are thinking about heading up there on Wednesday July 1st. I know being wednesday should help but with it being right before July 4th I'm a bit scared about how busy it may end up being. If it's gonna be crazy lines I just assume wait til another time but this day works well becuase I won't be in school for that week. Anyone have an idea of what crowds could be expected? I realize that could be answered with a simple yes but that won't help me.

Isn't there a topical ointment for said burning bush?

Looks like Screamscape corrected the thing about the ticket increase... as the price shown was after tax while the base price remained the same.

Maybe it's just me but it seems like a smaller park would have a harder time keeping those costs passed to consumers low. While their overhead is likely less, though with all their woodies that is a huge overhead to maintain. Those smaller parks also attract a fraction of the visitors, less visitors less cash flow into the park. IMHO there is no reason KI or other large parks couldn't add some of the perks the smaller parks do. Greed is likely the reason they do not.

Paramount Parks purposely did not exceed Beast's length with the Son. That turned out to be one of the wiser things they did with that ride. Anyone know if they ever updated SOB's track length after the removal of the loop. I would imagine it to be around 150 ft shorter.

This was a hard vote and I haven't rode some of the old ones and haven't made it to ride Diamondback yet, I can't give a complete opinion in the matter. That said, I voted for Son of Beast. I love The Beast and I think it done a lot for the park and for wooden coasters. I voted for SOB as much for the idea as I did the ride. It is an incredible feat of engineering. It said to everyone look a wooden coaster CAN do this, sure there was some back in the late 1800's that looped once whiplashingly but they were not even close to the height or the speed. I think SOB is part of the reason why we are now seeing more and more wooden coasters being built. Just wait and see what great things Gravity Group may have in store for us with the Timberliners. Hmm, come to think about it Kings Dominion has been fan to many prototypes, what if they got something crazy from GG.

You can add me to the list of SOB fans, not including night time rides I definitely without a doubt give it the edge over his father. Many people I work with and various other friends also love the ride, all of those people considered "general public." Yes, I would prefer to say Thunderhead over SOB but the sheer size and speed of SOB is what makes it what it is. Besides if ya think it's rough, have you ever rode the Georgia Cyclone. I love the Cyclone but boy can it be rough, I still appreciate it. There's still room to expand at Kings Island even if you don't like a ride, why would you want it gone? I don't like the kiddy rides but I don't wanna rip them out of the hands of the kids. I say addition by addition is almost always better than addition by means of subtraction. Until SOB sitting there keeps KI from getting something great (it didn't do that this year) til then let it stay, let people enjoy, and appreciate it for the landmark it created.

For those interested here's a link to the official site... http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/5/9311.html

I always thought it was kinda odd for Terminator to be a woody too. But hey if it takes a sponsorship to get a GCI built okay I'll take it. Now about these trains, they are kinda cool but ugly IMO.

I know some will argue that cost is the reason they throw in random rides from other parks. Why though? The local news station are able to pull up archives of photos and videos of a huge amount of everything. I could see doing a general Cedar Fair ad and showing rides from everywhere but I don't think it's all necessary to do so when it's advertising the one destination. I remember ads like these from when I was much younger, I'd go to the park and would be disappointed not to find the ride or sometimes even a simple building that was in the ad. I think they should have to put a caption at the bottom saying "Not actual park photo" many car lots are required to do so why shouldn't a park? To further, with today's modern equipment it would be just as easy IMHO to produce a commercial using only park related photos.

I don't recall the exact policy but Herschend plants 2 or more trees for every tree removed. I'm assuming Cedar Fair hasn't adopted such a policy?

All this talk about good use for the building. Isn't the building the big eyesore? I mean if your gonna replace what's inside I sure wouldn't want them to keep the big box.

this takes the cake though...

Groundhog right?

As far as rides moved from there. The Drop Towers are showing up this year at Great Escape as Sasquatch.

^ First time you get a big scratch down your back as I have, you'll understand why even if they let you go down the slide with them. You shouldn't.

While I will agree with you that admission price may still be a "bit" high, it sure beats the former "one size fits all" price of $50. It also brings the price down to a point that is very competitive with their local market. This is an area I often think as being Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg on the beach. The place is loaded full of souvenir shops, putt-putt, aquariums etc. While this may not be a good value in other places I could see this price point working. Don't forget these people understand the value of coupons and advertising with the places people stay. EDIT: PS- I like the logo hate the name

Hey, hate that you were disappointed in Slidewinder. It's not just a full boat that matters but a few bigger people in the mix makes the difference. I think 800lbs is the maximum and they'll tell you the group weight. Also yeah so it doesn't end in a pool of water but let me tell you that I have come off that ride completely soaked. So don't give up on that one, I've been bored by it before and I've been on it before going so far up on the side that I picture myself sliding the rest of the way raftless. Glad that's not happened those rollers at the end might not be so nice.

^Having no clue really, I would bet that a paint job on a coaster the size of Vortex would be in the $25-$50k. Thats just a shot in the dark though.

Of course no Dollywood trip can be properly achieved without a trip on the train the literal birthplace of the park.

It would appear as if the pool is drained at this moment. I'm guessing for landscaping but who knows. As far as every night that seems silly but plausible.

As for flats I'd love to see many carnival type flats. Zippers are my favorite, though if they ever made an updated version that was cage-less and perhaps a dutchmen style restraint and seatbelt, I would then be in heaven.

A monorail through an animal habitat would be pretty sweet! Oh, wait