Exactly what I said! The first thing I said when I got off the Son of Beast afterwards was that was the most painful experience I had ever had on a rollercoaster...and I will never ride this thing again!! My side was actually sore for 5 - 10 minutes afterwards. I had ridden many coasters before that so I wasn't new to riding them at all. I was glad that I did experience it one time and especially got to ride it with the loop before it was taken out. But it was a one and done for me...never even thought about EVER riding that one again!!!
Jim flugel turned 50 the day after i did. I never knew that. We went to the new years eve party for the first time that year as a birthday gift from my husband. Got my pic with snoopy in his 70's outfit that night. That night got me hooked on new years eve at KI.
None of the birthday occasions were planned. I was wearing the birthday button and when going to each venue an associate saw me with the button and it was just a surprise that it happened which made that day special. Thank you for reading my memory of that day.
I have a question for you guys. I worked at the park in 1976 on the Bayern Kurve. I wanted to work on the Racer, but I enjoyed the Kurve because it was manual controls and manual braking. It was more fun to operate a ride like that than one where you just pushed a start button and the ride operated the cycle automatically all by itself. So my question is...I heard stories but never saw it or had it verified that cast members would ride the Racer after park close in the dark "Paul Revere" style. They would have the buzz bars in the unload or up position and they would ride the Racer standing up. Don, have you ever heard about that or can you verify that story??
I miss the vortex. I enjoyed riding it. I hear that it was brought down because it was past it's life expectancy? I don't understand that though because The Racer, and Beast still stand. What is the difference?
Original steel supports and track which have a shelf life before replacement. Rust and fatigue can become cost prohibitive after 30 years. Park decided instead to remove it. I miss it greatly and am thankful I was there for closing day. With wood coasters, wood is replaced as needed. Racer and Beast are also the two coaster icons associated with the park.
