CoasterKrazy

And who says all the bugs have to be worked out in the first place? Italian Job still has a few good size cockroaches roaming around the track, and it took Kings Island six years and a considerable accident to call the exterminator to work on Son of Beast. Bugs, shmugs. Open the darn thing anyway!

Not entirely. I never really enjoyed Beast or Son of Beast, so I assumed I was more of a steel coaster kind of guy. After having ridden Raven, Legend, and Voyage at Holiday World, though, I now know that a painful experience is not inherent in wooden roller coaster design. These three coasters were amazingly comfortable and very exciting. In my opinion, neither can be said for the members of The Beast namesake. As has been discussed on other sights, Beast too suffers from exceptionally heavy trains, hence the re-profiling and trimming. I'm willing to give Son of Beast one more go (despite the removal of the loop) if new trains are delivered. The same can be said for Beast.

Beast could use new trains too. You know what, just euthanize the darn things and put them out of their misery!

This is incredibly disappointing, to say the least. Again, why remove the one positive attribute of the entire ride? A comfortable Son of Beast is mediocre at best, and that would be with the loop. I would LOVE to know why trains couldn't be designed that are light and loop-capable.

Trimming the coaster pre-loop makes sense; reduce the speed, reduce the forces, produce a more comfortable ride. However, this does not necessitate the removal of the loop. The ride was designed in such a way that the train would be able to complete the course after having been stopped at the mid-course brake run. No matter how much the ride is trimmed pre-loop, it will finish the course. Trimming immediately after the mid-course brake run and before the loop may cause need for removal, but why do this? Son of Beast is fine on the straight drops and in the loop. Just trim the ride after the loop, and keep the one good characteristic of the ride in tact. Tyler, have a great time at the Xavier game! I wanted to get some friends together to go, but students can only get one ticket! And whats the point of going if you sit across the court!

I am by no means whatsoever intimately familiar with surveying, so for the sake of argument, be aware that the rest of my post is based on only a very limited experience from a one quarter surveying class at UC. Anyway, looking at those photos it becomes immediately apparent that there are considerable grade changes over the span of the parking lot. Notice that in Shman's photo the sign's footer in the in the foreground cannot be seen, and the only the sign itself in the background can be seen. In Ronny's photo, although not as obvious, the curvature of the lot is noticeable. Considering the large size of the lot, even a small slope can result in a very large change in elevation. While taking topography measurements I was very surprised to find what kind of elevation changes can propagate over short distances. This could be why different photos are revealing different "state's of removal." Considering that one photo was taken from the drop off area, and one from the parking lot itself, and from different positions as well, I don't think any definitive conclusions can be drawn until a photographer can reproduce Ronny's location. Okay, rant over. I for one, would hate to see the removal of the loop, and hope that if the loop has in fact been taken down, this is only a temporary change.

Like I've said before, I'm no structural engineer (yet) and I don't work at the park, but it seems like the loop has been the least problematic component of the ride since its opening. The accident took place before the loop, and on a structure completely different from that of the loop. Unless GCII (or Gravity Group) really has designed new trains, and those trains cannot navigate the loop, I can't imagine why it would be removed. Then again, I can't imagine why the park wouldn't necessitate that new trains be able to handle the inversion. In my personal opinion, the loop is the only redeeming quality of the entire ride.

"Something" can mean a lot more to the general public, who may be completely unaware that the slides came from another park.

The lights I was referring to are the blue "port hole" lights found in the hallway of the SDATHC queue after passing through the "Secret Passage." The lights in Tangeman University Center's Main Street Cinema (and as I've noticed recently, several of the lights in Turner Hall, sans grating) are white, however, and not blue. As a Civil and Environmental Engineering major at UC, the company associated with the removal of Sawyer Hall (and several other companies dealing with construction projects on campus) presented to ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) last year. The plans for the Sawyer Hall renovation were several years old, about seven or eight years if my memory serves me correctly. As demolition began, the intent was to renovate the building, but upon further review, the university determined that the designs were not up to current UC building standards, which from what I understand, deal mainly with efficiency. It would have required a large amount of money to re-do the designs, so the university decided to nix the renovation and go for the $7 million demolition. Interesting fact: Sawyer Hall would have been imploded, similar to Sander Hall, but because the utilities to all three Sisters run through the [former] basement of Sawyer, which includes natural gas, an implosion wouldn't be the best idea. CoasterRZ, I want to say I remember hearing that the renovation of the other two Sisters was on hold, as the university decided whether to renovate or remove and re-build. I could be wrong though. Teacher's College and Dyer Hall are both in stage two of a three stage renovation. There is currently not set date for completion.

Not imply that there is some sort of conspiracy here, but Shaggy, who I consider a fairly reputable source, said that Mystery Mine is based off of the Addams Family Concept. Other than awe and admiration from a bunch of coaster geeks, he has nothing to gain from saying something like that. A park representative however, may not know (or want to admit) that a potential project that was scrapped went to another park.

For those students of the University of Cincinnati who are familiar with the Main Street Cinema located within Tangeman University Center, have you noticed the similarity between the style of lights used on the Cinema walls, and those found in the queue of Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle? I realize this is probably just a coincidence, but I was just wondering if anyone happened to know of any connections (contractors, designers, etc.) between the two buildings and their lighting. The only two places I have seen these "port-hole" lights are on the UC campus and at KI.

This is just a guess, but I'll put my two cents in: As you watch the second lift hill during a cycle, you will notice that the catch-car actually begins to move before the train itself reaches the car. I would imagine either one of two things is occurring here. (1) The ride control system, through the use of sensors located throughout the course, calculates the speed of the train and the speed of the catch car mimics it, thereby reducing the jolt felt by rides as the car engages and lifts the train up the hill. (2) A more simple approach may be that the catch car moves with the same speed on each cycle. I don't imagine the differing weight of riders has much effect on the overall speed of the train, so a pre-set speed can be used effectively. Generally speaking, the catch car probably engages with the train at the same location each time, and due to physical (speed) limitations, there is a point which the catch car will not be able to pass. (Or rather, there is a point on the train that will not be able to pass the catch car) The catch car can only travel so far along the track, and therefore the train can only travel so far. There are physical barriers preventing the train from leaving the track as well, but these are surely not the only measures taken to prevent such a catastrophe.

Zosobeast, Is the map black and white by design, or is it due to the way in which you transferred it to your computer?

Based upon the incredibly short length of this coaster, I would imagine this is the fruition of Intamin's Ball coaster, which is similar to Interactive Ride's Frequent Faller. On the Arrow 4th Dimension, the rotation of the seats is controlled by an extra set of rails on the track, but on the Intamin Ball coaster, the seats are able to rotate freely. There are pictures of the prototype of this concept on a German roller coaster website, but I am unable to remember what it is right now.

Actually, Magnum faded to light orange, as its official color is Molly Orange, not red as many enthusiasts had previously thought. Oh wait, this is the Kings Island forum, not Cedar Point's!

Yep. Thanks.

I seem to be having a problem with that album: I tried signing in, but got the same message.

Thanks for the info.

Shaggy, In a thread concerning why Kings Island has never installed a B&M coaster, you stated: Is this information about the ride's potential Core themeing new information to you, or did you choose not to mention it in the original post?

By overhaul, I meant nearly complete destruction and reconstruction (i.e. Steel Phantom to Phantom's Revenge; sans name salvaging) of the coaster. Even then, I doubt the public would be completely trusting of another wooden coaster in Sonny's place.

It would be interesting to see what deconstruction methods are used on such a structure as Son of Beast. As said before, I imagine traditional methods such as bulldozer and wreking ball are not possible. Many wooden roller coasters have been removed piece by piece, but that would be quite an undertaking in SOB's case; if it is decided the ride no longer has a home at Kings Island. The questions posted by The Interpreter do bring up several issues that need to be considered. I don't believe Son of Beast was popular before the accident, and I don't imagine its popularity will increase. This isn't some isolated incident like Top Gun's collision with a maintenance truck, when only the roller coaster enthusiast community has any clue as to what took place. Son of Beast's accident has become national news, and subject to sensationalism by the media and the imaginations of the general public. I can't believe how many people I've heard discussing this accident, many of them claiming to have been on the ride just before it took place. (I would imagine more people have said this than there were people at the park that day ) What Cedar Fair wants to do with PKI has yet to be seen in its entirety, and I don't think guests accepted Son of Beast as it was, let alone renovated. (Unless renovation means a complete overhaul making the ride completely unrecognizable to the general public, with no mention of SOB whatsoever) There are just too many factors that we cannot account for, depsite what we would like to think. We can make our educated guesses, and they are certainly good ones, but the final decision will be made behind closed doors, and the ultimate factors will be known to only a select few.

So what happens to all the lights and decorations? Storage for sometime in the future? Re-sold to interested buyers? I wonder the overall cost of Winterfest. Unless everything was rented, I don't know why they wouldn't want to try and make their money back (assuming they didn't do that last year) before axing the whole thing.

I didn't realize International Restaurant was an addition to the park.

I thought the park was fairly clean. I didn't notice any trash, other than in thw queues of a few rides. (Namely Tomb Raider and Flight of Fear)

Hmm...is there sarcasm concerning the quality of that carpet? And a greeter was not present at the entrance to the ride