Favorite SOB memories

LoneStar said:

For example, Rob N told me a a time when he rode in every single seat on the train in one day. Pretty dang cool.

- Pat-O

I've done that on three coasters...Toro, Talon, and Steel Force. Fun to do if one has the opportunity.

To the topic, my feelings about SOB are well documented on here. I have no specific memories to share ..except one. Before one of my rides, I bought a soda from a stand near the ride. If memory serves, it may have been an ice cream type of thing made with red soda..I don't think it was birch beer. I spilled it on my white t-shirt while walking the queue. When I exited the ride, the placement of the dried stains made it appear as if the ride had bloodied me. Considering the ride's later history, that's an interesting parallel.

Mike

My favorite story for Son of Beast is an odd one and really has nothing to do with the ride, but it makes me laugh every time I think about it. On my lone visit to Phoenix Phall Phunfest in 2006, Jeff M and I were in line for Phoenix, talking about what I recall was something other than rollercoasters. As we were talking, this strange guy behind us suddenly started talking to us by saying “I like The Phoenix” and “It’s really running good this year” with long, awkward pauses in between each thing he said. If anyone has seen the movie “A Christmas Story”, picture the scene where Ralphie and Randy are waiting in line to see Santa when the strange kid in the goggles says things like “I like the Wizard of Oz”. This guy was the grown-up version of him… minus the goggles. We tried to ignore him, but he just kept on talking, so I said, “Well, I like Son of Beast.” He seemed completely shocked and was silenced for a moment before he finally said “I don’t know how. That ride is awful” and that was the last he spoke to us. I guess he must have thought I was weird for liking SoB.

And as I have said many times, I truly did enjoy Son of Beast, especially in 2002 and 2005. It was a rough and insanely fast ride and the loop was such a neat gimmick at the time. In 2009, I rode the modified SoB and thought it was just okay. I never thought the ride was as bad as everyone made it out to be. That first drop was incredible and I thought the Rose Bowl section was brutally intense. Apparently, I was one of about 10 people (that number may be lower) that enjoyed the ride based on the horrible comments posted online about it.

Oh well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and my opinion is that SoB was a fun ride. RIP Sonny.

That's a great story, Ray. I've had one or two experiences kind of like that when a way-too-enthusiastic enthusiast is in line and trying to talk to everyone, impressing them with coaster knowledge.

Hey, I'll admit I'm a turbo coaster nerd, but I hope I have enough tact to figure out when people don't want to talk to me.

- Pat-O

Opening night with Rob N. Rob Lec and Son's and others, Ride was glass smooth the entire ride except for when it turned on the second hill and that was much bigger jolt than it was at any time afterwards.

2002 Travel Channel shoot with Swohioman Brian in which we rode 37 times and the mid course was completely off and I think the lift might have even been sped up a bit as it had air in spots it never had it before. About half were in the backseat and then the other half in the Masochist seat 2.1 It was a fun day but I paid for it waking up all the next night with bruised thighs to the max.

Opening year first Fear Fest night. I rode 22 times non stop in the backseat mostly alone, Going up the lifthill everytime I would look over the parking lot to the KI sign and see 4.00 minutes clicked off between each ride :)

Loved it in the dark in the front, That drop to the top of the second hill was faster than any coaster i can think of, and at night it was erie.

LoneStar said:

That's a great story, Ray. I've had one or two experiences kind of like that when a way-too-enthusiastic enthusiast is in line and trying to talk to everyone, impressing them with coaster knowledge.

Hey, I'll admit I'm a turbo coaster nerd, but I hope I have enough tact to figure out when people don't want to talk to me.

- Pat-O

He'll bust a Johnny Horton tune on ya......

Lets ask Patripman how he liked SOB?
Ducking!

My favorite memory of Son of Beast was the anticipation of my first ride. I was at Kings Island in 1999, late in the summer. They had already started building it. All winter long I anticipated Son Of Beast as much as Millennium Force. I rode MF very early in the season, and was the best coaster that I ever rode at that time. Son of Beast had problems when it first opened and had a lot of down time. Every time I was going to head to Kings Island, I would call the park to see if it was running. Finally in August it was running on a consistent daily basis. I headed to Kings Island and headed strait for Son of Beast. The wait was about 25 minutes, and I had the same level of excitement that I had while waiting to ride MF. I do remember watching people return to the station, and no one was laughing or cheering. I thought it was quite odd. After my ride I realized why people weren't enthusiastic.So my best experience of Son of Beast was the anticipation of that first ride. I had such high expectations for that coaster. That was probably the most disappointed I have ever been in.a coaster.

With much anticipation following its announcement, we watched the ride being built all winter. And it was the initial land clearing in early 1999 that led me to originally find URC.

Chuck mentioned opening night. We waited an hour for the park to open, then two hours for the ride to finally open. Then because there was only one train operating, it took another hour before we were finally in the station and saw Chuck and his bro dispatched.

After that four hour wait, my son and I were on the eighth train out. As Chuck said, the ride was glass smooth, other than the awful jolt at the crest of the hill leading into the rose bowl. I recalled that that particular portion of the structure had been toppled in a windstorm during construction.

SOB was closed the following morning and remained closed for I think six weeks. On the day when it was to finally reopen I waited five and a half hours, watched them dispatch empty trains, then saw one of the maintenance workers walk away with a bloody towel wrapped around his hand. "Did that Beast get you?" I asked and he chuckled. The ride never did open until later in the season.

I did enjoy several rides each year for the next few years until it got to be too rough for me. Many people complained of back and leg pain and mods were made to the trains and such.

My favorite portion of the circuit was drop off the MCBR leading into the loop. One of my sons informed me that the loop was especially enjoyable if you looked sideways. I must say, the loop was probably the best loop on any coaster, including every steel coaster that I can think of. Once the loop was removed, the ride was no longer worth the pain.

Admittedly I did ride SOB at least once per year for most of its operating life... something I cannot say for Mean Streak. Once was enough for that one.

My favorite memory of SoB was getting off the ride in one piece. :p Did a little bit of digging and here's what I wrote after I rode it back in 2002 with a group of guys from the Roller Coaster Talk list:

After this we met back up with the other guys and our group of 6 for the weekend was complete. Beware- RCT has hit the streets! And our first
place of assault was Son of Beast! In only I'd known in advance just how badly we were going to lose this battle.

Son of Beast has 2 major problems- jackhammering roughness throughout the coaster, and the most boring layout that I've ever seen on a coaster. To sum up the whole coaster it goes like this: the longest loudest lifthill you've ever seen, big drop into jackhammering helix, jackhammering helix, surprisingly smooth and fun loop, jackhammering helix, jackhammering helix, station. Or you could put it this way: shouting on lift hill, ow, ow, ow, whee, ow, ow, ow, uggggggg. Sad that a coaster that could be so good is instead so crappy. 2 (out of a score of 10, meaning particularly bad)

Sir Willow! Haven't heard from you in a long while! Still in Florida?

- Pat-O

LoneStar said:

Sir Willow! Haven't heard from you in a long while! Still in Florida?

In the event that he doesn't login for a while I'll go ahead and let you know that he moved to MO a while back and as I recall now works at SDC.

Always good to see you here, Pat-O!

My cousins live in Ohio, and we went to Kings Island with them a lot, just a little before the final accident happened, I remember my cousin told me it used to have a loop in it before, but I didn't believe her. I was surprised when i found out it was true.

Funny stories I remember having on it were my guy cousin was scared, and I tried to act like i wasn't scared, and bragged, and sad it looked like nothing even though I was really scared to ride it. I wasn't really scared of roller coasters back then, it's just that SOB looked crazy to me back then. I remember screaming a lot on it, and my cousin was quiet. I also remember thinking the ride was over in that one brake run before the part where the loop used to be, and saying to my cousin, "That wasn't scary.. OH MY GOD!", the ride got faster, and I ended up eating those words :P... I remember slight roughness, but it wasn't too major. I will miss SOB :(.

P.S. Since you haven't rode it, you can try Hades 360 at Mt. Olympus when it opens, it'll give a similar experience, and it looks cool!!, I hope you get to give it a try!!

RobLec said:

LoneStar said:

Sir Willow! Haven't heard from you in a long while! Still in Florida?

In the event that he doesn't login for a while I'll go ahead and let you know that he moved to MO a while back and as I recall now works at SDC.

Always good to see you here, Pat-O!

Hehe, I'm in and out a bit. Been in Missouri for about a year and a half now working on restarting a church and working at SDC on the side as well on the train (which has been quite fun watching Outlaw Run go up. Can't wait to ride next year)

LoneStar said:

Anyone else have a fun story about this coaster? Or is seeing it fall down the most fun experience you've ever had with SOB?

- Pat-O

The latter. Son of Beast was the single biggest failure in the recent history of the amusement industry on the following levels:

a) Investment- what wound up coming in at around $20 million (in 2000) should have been so much more than what the end product offered. And mind you, this figure takes into account Paramount going on the cheap with several subcontractors which later led to structural failures both during operation and non-operation.

b) WTF factor- if anything was taught to the industry during the Summers/Dinn race to build the largest wooden coaster in the late '80s and early '90s it was that large wooden coasters do not age/ride well over time without an exorbitant maintenance budget (and even then, no guarantees). Admittadly, SOB opened one year prior to the introduction of the Intamin pre-fabricated track system first seen on Colossos at Heide Park. But still, with a profile as snooze inducing as SOB, all you'd have is a boring ass ride that didn't beat you up.

c) Capacity- for what was hyped, spent, etc, the park was never able to achieve a successful three train operation. At best with its two original (and god awful) Premier 36 passenger torture trains, the ride did maybe 600pph capacity. For the big follow up to Beast in a park that can pack 30,000 in its gates with no problem, that's inexcusable. Capacity further dropped when the two 24 passenger Gerstlauer trains from the Myrtle Beach Pavilion had their wheel assemblies modified to run on SOB. The ride experience was less painful, but perhaps even more dull (if that was even possible).

I can go on and on. 2014 will at least bring both a reliable style and manufacturer of said style to this area of Kings Island with a new flagship coaster that will hopefully erase any memories of one of the worst wooden coasters of all time.

sparky said:
2014 will at least bring both a reliable style and manufacturer of said style to this area of Kings Island with a new flagship coaster that will hopefully erase any memories of one of the worst wooden coasters of all time.

Officially announced or speculation? (sorry if I've been out of the loop). Would this also include Top Gun (Flight Deck) coming down, to become spare parts for Draggin' Iron? I had predicted this for the park's 40th anniversary season of 2012. Instead we got a newer wavepool.

Good writeup btw, Mark.

I also heard Vortex and Anaconda from KD could be coming down in a few years also.

Do you want me to show the scars that are still on both knees from the URC 2 event held at PKI, just because everyone (Shaggy) wanted to showoff SOB at his fanboy park. SOB (Son of Bit..) is about right. It was the first ride of the day for a URC takeover. I knew I was in trouble when the lap bar came down and pinned me into place with my knees slammed up against the seat back in front of us. When we finally arrived at the station it took 3 people to get me out of the seat with blood rolling down both legs.
There is my favorite one and only SOB memory.

P......

* This post was modified at 12/1/12 3:21:25 PM *

I thought Ripples would write that.