Can Mean Streak be saved?

So, on a recent visit to CP my brother checks out Mean Streak and delivers a classic line. He says, "that much wood can't suck." So after I'm done laughing at him, I tell him, yes, it can and does. We ride, it sucks, and it hurts. I know Mean Streak has a few fans...and that's fine...but the popular opinion is that it'd make for a great bonfire.

To my question...can anything be done to save it? Is there an example of a similiar coaster that sucked, but with some sort of work/modifications turned into a true gem?

Dawn

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Santa Claus rocks my world

How do you think it got the name Mean Streak? My dad has back problems and he did not suffer at all from riding it 4 times. Granted, it might have been running well those 2 days but pretty much every coaster has a bad side to it. There are people who do not see the roughness in the Lochness Monster or any other Arrow for that matter but I find a lot of them to be rough. It all depends on the person and his or her idea of roughness.

You could probably consider me one of those few Mean Strek fans. Its definately not the best coaster I've ever ridden, but it can still be fun. I'm sure if Cedar Point really wanted to 'save' it they could, but its already got a bad enough reputation that a lot of people might not give it a second chance.

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www.ddrcoasternuts.cjb.net - when DDR and Roller Coasters collide...
2002 Coaster Count - Villain: 40 Magnum: 12 Millennium Force: 9

Yeah, but when Mean Streak's not too rough, it's just plain boring.

Mean Streak can be a fantastic ride. I once rode it in the rain. Between the fact that it naturaly loosens up some in the humidity, the fact that the rails were super lubricated, and the fact that the trims were so innefective they almost couldn't be felt, the ride was, pure and simply awesome. It was over a minute of some of the greatest thrills of my life. The problem, as I have been led to understand, is that the track and structure can not take the stress of the trains constantly careeing over the track at the high speeds the ride was originally intended to run at, hence those speed reducing, airtime destroying joykills we call trim brakes. This would seem to present one of two possiblities: One, Summers and Dinn designed a fairly poor structure. Two, after a wooden coaster gets to a certain size, it's impossible to adequately support it: Lumber is simply too supple, no matter how much of it you use, to support trains going at those speeds. Since all large wooden coasters (130Ft. or so and up) seem to be trimmed after a while, I would tend to say the second option, but I don't know for sure. Either way, I doubt anything can be done about Mean Streak. Even if it's "just" because of a bad structure, the expense of rebuilding it would be enormous.

I didn't think it was rough, but rather that it was tame/boring. Beautiful to look at, but forceless and slow.

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Current favorite coasters:
Wooden: 1) Beast 2) Raven 3) Son of Beast 4) The Boss 5) Timber Wolf
Steel: 1) Raging Bull 2) Millennium Force 3) V2 4) Wild Thing 5) Mr. Freeze
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There's only one way to save Mean Streak, and that's to light a match and burn it to the ground. It's 2:54 (if I remember correctly) of pure boredom. None of the drops ever make it to the ground, and there's all those horrible trims. By the way, I believe Legend's lift is 140ft., and you think Holiday World would ever add a trim to the ride? Hell no.

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When I rode it this past saturday (10/26/02) I thought it was horrible! Count me in as one of the people who wont be riding it ever again. I never realized how rough that thing was till I rode it this time. My right shoulder is still killing me after riding it.

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We have waited all through the years for the 6 jokers cards...Carnival of Carnage, the Ringmaster, the Riddlebox, the Great Milenko, the Amazing Jeckel Brothers and now the 6th and Final card...the Wraith. What will happen now?

You have to keep in mind that rough coasters tend to get rougher by the end ofa long season.

Try it again in May and you'll swear you weren't on the same ride.

-'Playa

(who got beat up Labor Day '99 but never once since then)

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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.

Intamin Fan, Legend in only 113ft high, goes only 58mph.

Cplaya,

I have to disagree with you here. I rode Mean Streak in May and it was crappy then also. I'm in the same camp with Intamin Fan. Use the wood to have Gravity Group build a new coaster.

Really? I thought my CoasterMania ride was the best I've had in quite some time. Top ten? Har. Boring? I've had worse. Violent? Absolutely not. Slight headache? Okay, maybe.

I didn't even bother asking the family if we'd take a spin weekend before last because CBaby still cringes from her Labor Day ride way back when. I still can't help wishing I knew about the surprise MS ERT at CMania. I would have tried it at least once...

-'Playa

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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.

*** This post was edited by CoastaPlaya on 10/28/2002. ***

Playa, how old is CBaby and Da Midget now?

Seems like when I first remember your posts, they relegated themselves to the wave pool.

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I'm not an enthusiast, I just play one on message boards.

*** This post was edited by Homey G. on 10/28/2002. ***

The best rides I've ever had on it was that year at Coastermania....uh, I think maybe it was 1999. Anyways, it was dark, it was fast, it was mean as hell, and the tracking was really meaty and raw, classic Dinn, the way it should be run. I actually think the ride may be more comfortable the faster it runs, but then that makes it that much harder in the upkeep department, of course.

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If the shoe fits, find another one.

*** This post was edited by ravenguy98 on 10/28/2002. ***

Antuan, sorry about the statistic goof-up on Legend, but you said it only goes 58 mph. I believe that is probably still faster than Mean Streak with all the trims.

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Dude, you're getting an Intamin!

Flight of Fear comes to mind....

I think it can still be saved. I rode it in may this year. The roughness was tolerable but it was very boring. The only reason I rode it is because there was nobody in line. It was a direct walk on in the front. Maybe if they lube the track more often which would cost alot and get new trains. From what I have heard the wheels on the train aren't made out of the normal stuff so you fell all the vibrations go directly to your spine. Try riding with your back off the seat.

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I must have been the one who gave Intamin Fan the wrong stats on the height of The Legend. But man, I can't believe that thing isn't 140 feet high. That thing probably had the greatest, er, second greatest first drop on a woodie for me. The Beast is first : )

I must admit, I have a pretty good tolerance for rough wooden coasters, except for Jercules. Mean Streak was just uncomfortable, but I admit, it did hurt a little. But Hercules just......Hurt! I feel there is hope for these very large rough woodies, if these parks could spend a little extra money, contact Great Coasters Int. and have them take out the trims, do major, major, major retracking and have the parks either fix the current trains or buy new ones from PTC.

Just a dream of mine. I'm optimistic, but I know it'll never happen : ) I still feel like Mean Streak looks like a great woodie, then I remember riding it, ruined the thought.

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Gravity is your friend!

How did the general public respond to Mean Streak when it opened?

Was it any good in '91? Has it always been bad? I've never ridden it.

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Antuan, While the Legend normally runs at 58 mph, it can run much faster. At the GOCC event in September, the Legend was hitting speeds of around 66 mph, according to Jeff Hammersly the ride maintainance man. He said it was running 9 seconds faster than usuall, hence the computer failures all through ERT. I'm not in any way trying to prove you wrong, I'm just throwing out an interesting fact. The high speed was due to graphited track..

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I love my home---LOOT

*** This post was edited by Binaural on 10/28/2002. ***

One day, y'all are going to stop picking at Hercules.

BABIES! :)
lata, jeremy
--Coasterbuzz's ONLY Hercules fan