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-4 Rating Posted by: Raptor on 6/19/2002 11:45:00 PM

Man, this is probably the WORST rollercoaster I have ever been on. In fact, its the only rollercoaster Ive ever gotten off and truely hated. What a piece of crap! I like rough wooden coasters, but Son of Beast is so rough that its almost unbearable! Mind you, I love Mean Streak at Cedar Point, which is considered to be a very rough ride. I have it a 2 for the loop, which was cool. Everything else was terrible. bigger, comfier trains might help, a little, but not much. What was PKI thinking??

YOU TOOK THE WORDS STRAIGHT OUT OF MY MOUTH!! This ride is HORRIBLE WITH A CAPITAL H! And also it IS the only ride IVE gotten off of or truly hated. Yes, it is a piece of crap and extremly rough! And what about the lift hill. It sounds like somebody is scratching their nails against a blackboard into a blowhorn. And the loop...:o nothing I havent gone on before MANY MANY TIMES BEFORE. This coaster doesnt even deserve The Beasts name which is probably why its on the OTHER side of the park. ABSOLUTLY THE WORST!

WHAT ARE YOU TOO TALKING ABOUT?!?! SON OF BEAST WAS NAMED ONE OF THE WORLDS BEST COASTERS BY ACE!!! I WAITED 4 HOURS TO RIDE IT THE FIRST TIME AND I THOUGHT IT WAS WORTH IT!!! ROUGH??? ITS ONE OF THE SMOOTHEST WOODIES IVE EVER BEEN ON! YEAH, THE HILL IS LOUD, BUT THE REST OF THE RIDE IS GREAT!

Actually, ACE never gave it any award. The only award Son of Beast got was for the Travel Channel thing which was a load of crap and rigged. It was based on an online poll and if you look at the REAL results, Son of Beast barely got any votes at all. Maybe its smooth on occasion but when I rode it it was the roughest coaster I have ever been on by FAR.

I think every single wooden coaster is rougher than Son of Beast. PKI takes more care of this coaster than most of parks could imagine taking care and fixing up theirs. The problem used to be the trains, but most who have ridden it in 2002 agree that it is 10x better. The track is incredibly smooth, the trains dont run the best on the track, and the ride is very intense. Mean Streak isnt intense. Just rough and boring. Maybe you like roughness, but not intensity. Dont ride The Legend or The Raven then!

I wouldnt actually say PKI is "taking care of" SOB ... its more like covering up their mistake to save their *sses. They made a bad judgement call when they hired the designer (checkout his lawsuit record, BAAAD), made another bad call when they built it using contractors they found and hired, and then made a third bad call when they rushed everything and pushed it heavily long before it was ready. If you look at support styles of SOB, its unlike any wooden coaster youve seen before, with extra supports EVERYWHERE. This is not a "new design for a wooden hyper," this is PKIs engineers realizing that the plans werent going to work right and had to keep redesigning and adding more and more support to keep the ride sturdy, safe, and doing what it is supposed to do. I work with people who have worked with wooden coasters since pre-BEAST, and most of them look at SOB as PKIs biggest mistake (especially when they short changed and just tried to save money). Look at this simple fact, it has been retracked TWICE already in sections (and this is only its third season) ... a wooden coaster should go for at least five years (barring any major hazards) before needing that serious of work). Just food for thought.

Look.. I like intense coasters. I thought no coaster was too rough for me. But Son of Beast was the roughest, least enjoyable coaster I have ever been on. The only reason its intense is because of the pain it gives you. Id love to ride The Legend and Raven! Im sure they wont give me bruises on my legs like Son of Beast. Maybe its smooth sometimes, but when I rode it it sure wasnt. Its an engineering disaster that should never have been built. My dad had terrible pain in his back and neck for a week after riding it.

A lot of people like it and I think they would mind if it was never built. As far as CCIs go, I think on a roughness scale, Cheetah and The Villain both were quite a bit rougher. I knew SOB had quite a few problems when it opened and when you make wooden coasters of that size, Im not surprised(Besides the wooden/steel coaster built by Intamin overseas). It seems to be doing pretty well for the park right now, so I dont think theyll have to do anything else major to it. Tunnels would be great though!

Actually ... a source in the park told me they may have to do some more work/retracking to it this fall (off season)

Well the 4 hours I waited for it was not worth a cent. SOB has got the be the most dissapointing coaster ive ever been on. And would you take ACEs word for going to a park or on a coaster ?! What really matters is what YOU think about it.

...and I think its HORRIBLE!!!!!

It sounds like you havent been since the first day the coaster opened in 2000, which means you need another ride!

The waits from the end of June on in 2000 were 2 hours or less, the waits for 2001 were an hour and less, and the waits for 2002 are around 30-45 minutes. Sometimes, you can even get on in 10-20 minutes.

i agree with him if it was b4 they fixed it but now it kicks ass

True. Thats what I hear. Since PKI is not my home park, that was the first and last time I had been there. If it really has been tuned up better than that piece of crap I rode in 2000, well then I might like it but until I go again, I cannot stand it F.Y.I- I waited 3 hours. I timed it. Hmmm...

once Ive even walked right on! No wait! Of course it was getting near park closing, but its all about timing!

I completely disagree with you Raptor. Maybe I should say youre wrong and havent really ridden SOB since you havent been on since 2000 and the lines you mentioned were a lot longer than any Ive been through. But I wont since we ALL do have opinions.

I also think its really odd that I gave MF a 7(!!) which is fairly good and got half the Pointers up my booty about it, but you give SOB a 2, which really isnt the popular opinion by most Islanders and no hardly bothers you. I dont think the park wanted another coaster just like Beast, do you? Leave your expectations at the door.

Umm... 1- Im completly comfused about what you said & 2- you just contradicted yourself cause you said we all have opinions but then you trashed all over his

mouth full of blood? are you serious??

I think they should have gone with steel supports. It would save a truckload of maintinance.

Wow, I didnt know it was that bad.

its not and the worst part is that Raptor is indeed the biggest hypocrit in thw world...he gets mad at me 4 not liking magnum and he gives SOB a review that very1 knows isnt that bad

Yeah, but RCJunkie, you dont see me saying "Son of Beast isnt good! It sucks!" in every *good* review of Son of Beast, do you? I dont care if you hate Magnum, you just dont need to state that you hate it in every good review of Magnum.

dont tell me what and what not to post

but you hate SOB anyway, Raptor, so why does it matter?

Just drop it already!

LOL ok LOL

I was watching top 10 coasters the other day...and SOB was #2 for Best wood. They even had a front seat veiw of the ride with Commentary by "Shaggy" (see www.coasterbuzz.com) He hardly seemed to be getting roughed up at all, in fact the coaster looked very smooth, just a few bumps here and there..maybe some of you should re ride it..

who...me or Raptor?

Anyone who rode it in the 2000 season (notice if you read what i said..I said some of you- meaning, not just one person). I hear its smoother this year than it was in 2001 even. As for me, I could care less. I dont mind getting slamed around on wood coasters..somtimes that can be good (SFNE Cyclone, and Coney Island Cyclone).

My god, if it was rougher in 2000, I cant imagine how horrible that would be. I rode Son of Beast this past June, and it gave me bruises all over my legs. Im all for rough rides (like I said before, I love Shockwave, Mean Streak, and Magnum) but when it actually causes injury to me other than a headache, thats a little too far IMO. Not that bruises are a big deal, but no coaster should give you bruises.

thats right! your not supposed to come off a coaster in pain (most notibly SOB in its OPENING season), your supposed to come off estatic!

yes! thats what it is. not fun roughness (Texas Giant etc.) but painful!

I rode it earlier this month and found it to be very rough. I think my biggest problem with this ride are the cars, they are far too small, and just make the roughness even worse. I did not come off injored, but I also did not come off wanting to get right back in line, or ride it again the rest of the day for that matter. I was very dissappointed with this coaster.

another witness!

If any of you know anything about woodies, its that the ride changes throughout the day. Take one trip up to PKI this summer (yes, this summer, not 2000). I go up, ride it in the morning, a great ride, very smooth. We go do some other rides, then come back and ride it again later in the day. IT WAS HORRIBLE. My body was hurting all over. Its just how woodies work! It changes throughout the day.

A TIP FOR RIDERS THAT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE SMALL CARS:

I know that the cars are small and so does PKI. They tell riders how to ride it properly. If you were complaining about how small the cars were, this is how u ride it pain free! CROSS YOUR LEGS!!! This makes your legs not cramped at all.

F.Y.I- the first sentence you made is irrelevant. do you honestly think I would go on it again if it hurt or if it was just horrible the next day/hour/week etc.? afterward all i could think about was getting as far away as i could from this coaster!

tagekg, its not that I really dont believe you, but Ive never encounted a coaster including Mean Streak and Hercules that are as bad as you describe. Shockwave at SFGAm can give a good beating as well, but I wouldnt say it was dangerous really. The only "bad" ride Ive had on SOB was my first ride and that was problems with my stomach. The rest of my rides have either been insanely fun or the less common boring. Painful isnt a thing I would use to desribe it at least for now and thats after several dozens of rides since 2000. What you said just seems suspicious and if it really happened, I think the ride would have been closed and investigated. Somethings off...

:lol2: You put it in some nice infamous company there.

Design error or not, if Mean Streak, Hercules, Raging Wolf Bobs, Grizzly, etc. feel like worse coasters to me than Son of Beast, thats all that matters. The design error in this coaster in particular seems to be 100% with the trains as far as I can see and thats what has been tearing up the track. Other than that, a lot of people think the design for SOB is boring, so too much intensity or bad/too tight/ too whatever design baffles me. Everything on the ride is huge and I think that is its only downfall. Being too boring sometimes. If they redesign SOB, I hope they make the first drop steeper and get Millennium Flyer type trains or something. Whatever is wrong, the park isnt at the root of the problem and Im glad they havent put brakes on the first drop or anything. If you had problems on any point of the coaster besides the mega tilted double helices, maybe you (in general) shouldnt ride big woodies, because most are that rough or rougher. Again, the only design flaw I see is that it wasnt made intense enough (particularly with airtime). Whatever floats your boat. Go take a ride on Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain for me, ok? Tell me what you think after that.

Speaking of injuries, how come every single person in your family had something "major" happen to them while hundreds of people get off a day without a single problem? I believe the wifes bruises as others have reported, but unless you had scissors in your pocket or your son was chewing on the lap bar, I find the other two hard to believe. It just seems too weird to me.

hmmmm does seem weird that everybody in your family got hurt....but hey if you dont like SOB so be it, its your opinion. And Magnumman do u have to state that you dont like SOB in every other post u make?? We know that u dont like it...you dont have to keep reminding us.

Im not surprised its at 272, but that also means theres about 800 rides people thought were worse. Since not every single person has ridden SOB, its not a perfectly fair conclusion anyways. I could probably name a hundred "rides" I like better than SOB from The Raven to Soarin Over California to Flying Eagles, but that still doenst make it a bad ride when Ive probably been on near a thousand myself. I dont care that you dont like the ride and if you think its the roughest coaster ever, so be it! The Discovery channel shoot alone lets me know the ride isnt that bad. A train-load of people took nearly 30 rides on SOB without getting off. A few complained of minor soreness when they got off, but all pretty much said it was worth it.

If what happened to your family is exactly as youve described, maybe you were attacked by the **real** Son of Beast. Thats the only other thing I can figure since you seem to be as clueless as I am about what really happened. Do you know exactly what caused your sons lip to bleed and what exactly ripped your pants? EDIT: I see where you wrote your sons head was jerked from the roughness, but roughness doesnt really "jerk" and this coaster definitely doesnt have quick changes in direction. Hes more likely to bust his lip on Taxi Jam than this I would think. I wouldnt necessarily call it the rides fault if you accidentally busted your lip. If this had OTSRs, then I would be a lot more understanding right here.

i personally havent been on SOB, and it doesnt look like i will in the near future, but the ride looks sick! i mean it looks absolutly out of this world! the size is amazing and the helix is huge! once again i havent rode it. but my friends rode it and sayd it is the 2nd best wooden coaster behind beast.

XtremeFan8, yes it LOOKS awesome and that is what i thought when i heard about it and saw it. SOB cant possibly be bad, right! WRONG! the phrase looks can be decieving really is proven with this ride. 1- horrible design [flaws] leads to an unbearibly rough experience and an ear-splittingly loud chain-lift. imagine a teacher scraping their nails on a blackboard into a blowhorn with is attached to your ear. its THAT loud (and almost that sound too) 2- a completely overrated loop- who cares about ONE loop? no one. its completely irrelevant if they wanted to even brag about inversions on a wooden coaster, more then ONE should have been put on it! so dont get excited if THATS the reason you want to. So to end, SOB is a horrible ride which doesnt deserve your time and much less your money. go ride its daddy and give the son some time to rot

Very fair tagekg.

I could without a doubt see this now that I think back to the overall "bad" to "good" to "bad" changes I saw in 2000 and the coaster really couldnt decide how it was going to run. I think PKI got a lot of things smoothed out into 2001 and I cant remember many times it was really "shaky". So far in 2002, its been perfect as far as Im concerned but Ill have to try it again tomarrow and Ill tell you how it went. Thanks for the responses and I apologize for questioning you so much. I bet you think Im crazy for actually liking the thing!

Thanks, I will! The coaster and park discussion is supposed to be mainly in fun, so I hope you didnt take anything I said personally. I think my strong positive feelings toward the ride and your strong negative feelings kind of made it more heated than usual. I understand where youre coming from, but I guess it was initially hard of believe with the great variety of friends Ive ridden with on the ride and how much they enjoyed it as well. I can really see where youre coming from now and I was being pretty selfish for not believing you to begin with. =^P I look forward to your future comments/reviews as well! I think almost all of us agree than the trains are the biggest problem, but your theory on the structures flexibility and "give" is very interesting to say the least.

I can safetly say that SoB is the most talked about coaster in the world! lol. Yeah, PKI screwed up. If they work out the rough spots, it would be a great ride. PKI has done work on it since its opening and have improved upon it. Yeah, its still rough every now and then, but most woodies are. Ive been bruised on The Beast before, and absolutely hated Mean Streak. Woodies are just like people, no woodie is perfect. Every one will have a bad spot.

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