Beast Retracking

[Marshall]

Just tried out the new and improved Beast.

I have to say I'm both shocked and underwhelmed.

Its SMOOTH! Minimal shuffling, no jack-hammering. For the first time in ages I didn't get off feeling like a punch drunk boxer. Yay!

OTOH, I don't see why you would reprofile a drop to make it steeper and then just add more trim brakes to slow it down...
The brakes at the top of the second hill hit harder than ever and the damn mid-course shed is still just a straight flat track with a sudden brake at the end. The train c-r-a-w-l-s thru the mid section of the course and barely gets car 1 to the first stairwell of the second lift. The drop into the helix is still heavily braked... even tho its back to being the highlight of the ride.

All-in-all, its a just a pleasant family coaster on the thrilling side...

[Ansley]

I rode it in June and was severely disappointed, was just like the old Beast but a smoother. Same braking, lack of airtime, and disappointment as always. Sad really, they had an opportunity to actually make the coaster good, but didn't.

Ted

[Surf Dance Chris]

Haven’t been to the park this year (and won’t, hopefully next year). Lack of airtime doesn’t necessarily mean a bad coaster in my opinion, Beast to me is about the speed and the lateral g’s in the helix. I’ve heard mostly good things other than this thread.

[BaSSiStiStiSt]

Post by Surf Dance Chris
Haven’t been to the park this year (and won’t, hopefully next year). Lack of airtime doesn’t necessarily mean a bad coaster in my opinion, Beast to me is about the speed and the lateral g’s in the helix. I’ve heard mostly good things other than this thread.

Just rode it in June and, as a Beast lover, felt like it was doing everything I wanted it to do, and it was fucking FLYING in the big helix. Solid 10 out of 10 from me, but I'm one of those weirdos that really likes The Beast.

[Heather Kendrick]

Haven´t been to the park this year (and won´t, hopefully next year).

Lack

of airtime doesn´t necessarily mean a bad coaster in my opinion, Beast

to

me is about the speed and the lateral g´s in the helix. I´ve heard

mostly

good things other than this thread.

I agree. It seems like coaster enthusiasts have mostly decided the only thing
that matters is airtime, but I don´t subscribe to that philosophy. I
don´t think people used to be quite so convinced that airtime was the
be-all and end-all, back when I first discovered roller coaster fandom in the
early 2000s. Yeah, it was always one of the things people raved about, but I
don´t remember it being (just about) the only thing like it is now. I
sometimes think I´m the last person left who loves laterals and helixes,
but I guess not!

Heather

[Marshall]

Post by Surf Dance Chris

Haven´t been to the park this year (and won´t, hopefully next year).

Lack

of airtime doesn´t necessarily mean a bad coaster in my opinion, Beast

to

me is about the speed and the lateral g´s in the helix. I´ve heard

mostly

good things other than this thread.

I agree. It seems like coaster enthusiasts have mostly decided the only thing
that matters is airtime, but I don´t subscribe to that philosophy. I
don´t think people used to be quite so convinced that airtime was the
be-all and end-all, back when I first discovered roller coaster fandom in the
early 2000s. Yeah, it was always one of the things people raved about, but I
don´t remember it being (just about) the only thing like it is now. I
sometimes think I´m the last person left who loves laterals and helixes,
but I guess not!
Heather
--
Heather, the Carousel Rabbit

The Beast is designed as a woodie Millennium Force. Its a speed coaster not an air-time machine and without the excessive trims its amazing at it. Its hated because it runs like its dragging a boat anchor behind it, not that it doesnt have "air". If KI wants it to run this slow, why did they mess with the angle of the drop to start with?

For sentimental reasons I'd hate to see it get RMC'd, but if it takes a Titan track or Topper track makeover to get rid of those damn trims, go for it.

[Surf Dance Chris]

Post by Marshall

Post by Surf Dance Chris

Haven´t been to the park this year (and won´t, hopefully next year).

Lack

of airtime doesn´t necessarily mean a bad coaster in my opinion, Beast

to

me is about the speed and the lateral g´s in the helix. I´ve heard

mostly

good things other than this thread.

I agree. It seems like coaster enthusiasts have mostly decided the only thing
that matters is airtime, but I don´t subscribe to that philosophy. I
don´t think people used to be quite so convinced that airtime was the
be-all and end-all, back when I first discovered roller coaster fandom in the
early 2000s. Yeah, it was always one of the things people raved about, but I
don´t remember it being (just about) the only thing like it is now. I
sometimes think I´m the last person left who loves laterals and helixes,
but I guess not!
Heather
--
Heather, the Carousel Rabbit

The Beast is designed as a woodie Millennium Force. Its a speed coaster not an air-time machine and without the excessive trims its amazing at it. Its hated because it runs like its dragging a boat anchor behind it, not that it doesnt have "air". If KI wants it to run this slow, why did they mess with the angle of the drop to start with?
For sentimental reasons I'd hate to see it get RMC'd, but if it takes a Titan track or Topper track makeover to get rid of those damn trims, go for it.

Hmmm titan track or topper track…. Are you suggesting for the entire ride? That could be interesting… not sure how much if the Beast “feel” would remain… I feel like the Beast should remain as true as possible to it being a wood coaster. If small parts could use it to reduce/eliminate trims, then maybe though… I just feel like titan/topper may change the ride feel a bit too much.

[Marshall]

Post by Surf Dance Chris

Post by Marshall

Post by Surf Dance Chris

Haven´t been to the park this year (and won´t, hopefully next year).

Lack

of airtime doesn´t necessarily mean a bad coaster in my opinion, Beast

to

me is about the speed and the lateral g´s in the helix. I´ve heard

mostly

good things other than this thread.

I agree. It seems like coaster enthusiasts have mostly decided the only thing
that matters is airtime, but I don´t subscribe to that philosophy. I
don´t think people used to be quite so convinced that airtime was the
be-all and end-all, back when I first discovered roller coaster fandom in the
early 2000s. Yeah, it was always one of the things people raved about, but I
don´t remember it being (just about) the only thing like it is now. I
sometimes think I´m the last person left who loves laterals and helixes,
but I guess not!
Heather
--
Heather, the Carousel Rabbit

The Beast is designed as a woodie Millennium Force. Its a speed coaster not an air-time machine and without the excessive trims its amazing at it. Its hated because it runs like its dragging a boat anchor behind it, not that it doesnt have "air". If KI wants it to run this slow, why did they mess with the angle of the drop to start with?
For sentimental reasons I'd hate to see it get RMC'd, but if it takes a Titan track or Topper track makeover to get rid of those damn trims, go for it.

Hmmm titan track or topper track…. Are you suggesting for the entire ride? That could be interesting… not sure how much if the Beast “feel” would remain… I feel like the Beast should remain as true as possible to it being a wood coaster. If small parts could use it to reduce/eliminate trims, then maybe though… I just feel like titan/topper may change the ride feel a bit too much.

Ideally it would be just on whatever portions those trims are protecting. Maybe bottom of the first hill, top of the second, top of the third hill, thru the after shed tunnels(or just better banking). The train should be flying thru the middle third.

[Dave Althoff, Jr.]

Marshall <***@gmail.com> wrote:

: Ideally it would be just on whatever portions those trims are protecting.
: Maybe bottom of the first hill, top of the second, top of the third hill,
: thru the after shed tunnels(or just better banking). The train should be
: flying thru the middle third.

I've always wondered what those brakes at the top of the second hill are
protecting, and the only answer I have ever been able to come up with
(since the park won't tell us) is that right-hand turn at the top of the
third hill, the entrance to the covered brake shed. Well, that shed is
there because it needed to be there as a block brake to support four train
operation, and it needed to be that long in order to bring those gigantic
trains to a full stop. But since the conversion to fin brakes, that isn't a
blocking point anymore, the train doesn't need to stop there, and even if
it did, the new brakes don't need nearly that much space to do it. Why not
fix it the right way: replace the third hill and quick turn with a much
wider, swooping upward turn that would be more interesting, would rejoin
the existing layout just before the trim brakes, and most important, would
allow for the complete removal of the trims on the second hill?

Not that I can really say that much about The Beast these days. I haven't
ridden it in years because between the way the trains are set up and the
way the ride is operated, the Racer and The Beast have the only seven
PTC trains in all of Cedar Fair that I can't comfortably squeeze into. I
think they really should fix that problem first. How about getting rid of
those electric lap bars and putting in the modern mechanical ones?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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[Surf Dance Chris]

I got to ride the Beast this past June for the first time since the retracking last year. I enjoyed it, it wasn’t as rough as it was before but still felt like the Beast, in a good way. Got 19 rides on it over the 5 days I was there.

[Heather Kendrick]

Post by Ansley
I rode it in June and was severely disappointed, was just like the old Beast
but a smoother. Same braking, lack of airtime, and disappointment as always.
Sad really, they had an opportunity to actually make the coaster good, but
didn´t

"Just like the old Beast but smoother" is presumably exactly what they
were going for. I know coaster enthusiasts are very mixed in their opinions
of the Beast, but the locals love it and don´t want it to be something
else. And for what it´s worth, I feel the same way, though I have not had a
chance to ride it since its refurbishment so I can´t rate that.

Heather