Cedar Point vague Twitters that Mean Streak will "get the axe"

That has nothing to do with the ride and everything to do with the park. I was just there and Storm Chaser wasn't any worse loading than every other ride in the park, the whole park was slow loading.

I just don't want to see another mantis with loading times that are insane.

Have you ridden any other RMC Coaster? I've been on several and have never seen this terrible loading process you're so concerned with.

I was at KK last Friday and attendants consistently had to re-push one or two lap bars down to make sure they were down beyond the safe threshold. The problem is the attendants didn't have an obvious visual cue for when the bar was low enough vs. not low enough - the visual cue was with the operator who had to tell the attendant which bar to push down farther. It seems like there are numerous ways to make this more efficient. B&M hypers typically have that little yellow arrow on their clam shells that show when it's low enough, for example. Still, I don't think this had a huge impact on dispatch times at KK either way, and the line was remarkably short all day, even running one train.

sws said:

we should be concentrating on the important issues.... like finally getting Vater a goddam bran muffin.

Exactly. I always get giddy when I see this subject come up again, because it gives me an opportunity for a link-back (or Gonch-back, if you prefer). That said, I'm sad to report that my petition, after all these years, is gone. :(

On the upside, though, the domain now takes me to an extremely NSFW site.

Wow. I can't believe I ever gave a crap about any of that.

Vater said:...it gives me an opportunity for a link-back (or Gonch-back, if you prefer)...

I do prefer. Everything should be Gonch branded and themed...except online petitions, because they're meaningless.

I rode Goliath at Six Flags Chicago shortly after it opened, and it had some of the slowest load times I have seen on a major new coaster. Its been a long time, but I seem to remember that it would take about five minutes to load a single train. They would have everyone fasten the seat belt, then they would go through the entire train, and check each seat belt. Then they would go back through, and push down the lap bar, and check the entire train a second time. They also didn't seem to be in a big hurry to start checking the restraints after everyone was seated. Mind you, this was shortly after it opened, and I suspect they could have improved the load times as they got the hang of operating the ride. This is also the only RMC that I have been on, so my experience is limited to one ride on one day.

Lord Gonchar said:

I do prefer. Everything should be Gonch branded and themed...except online petitions, because they're meaningless.

You're the Donald Trump of spacetime interdimensional travel.

Ensign Smith said:

This coaster was assembled in 1991, the same year I married my wife, 25 years ago.

Wonder if it's too late to have her Topper Tracked too? 😆

careful now, there're kids reading these forums.

CP obviously focuses on dispatch intervals. I've seen team members run into place. This RMC should be no different.

My biggest gripe with MS.. As I sits and thinks about it.. Is actually the PTCs. Sorry PTC.. I could bear the esthetically pleasing yet ever boring layout. And forever roll my eyes at the drop trims.. But the bouncing, jarring, and jack hammering is amplified through that ancient rolling stock and into my knees and back.

Here's a confession; I admittedly have yet to ride Voyage due to the PTCs! (I was so excited with the Timberliner testing and SO bummed when the idea failed). Hershey's Wildcat is a good early GCI/PTC.. As is SFA's Roar... Unacceptable with PTCs! I ride Wildcat every year, and complain that it's a bit jarring.. But the Millennium Flyers make it, for me, completely tolerable. In that sense, Knott's has an absolute winner with the MFs and complete re-track.

Yet I sit here in utter glee. It is prime time in Sandusky. This is the one. This will be Epic!

gamerguy said:

0g said:

I have never seen coaster enthusiasts so excited for the REMOVAL of a coaster before.

Did you forget about Viper at gradv?

Viper: Toro as Mean Streak: CF RMC #1 (it's a working title)...

August, I have no doubt that if this is a Rocky Mountain coaster, that it will have decent capacity. Six Flags isn't exactly known for making high ridership a high priority. I doubt the revised ride will hit the ridership of Gatekeeper, but it may be on par with Maverick. Speaking of Maverick, I would surmise that Cedar Point might put in a dual load station like Maverick, if it is RMC'd.

Story I read from Detroit paper says it is being demolished for future development.

When I first visited CP in '98 (summer between 8th-9th grade for me), Mean Streak was one of "The Big 4", as advertised by the park - alongside Magnum, Raptor, and Mantis. Its significance then put it pretty high on my list for a while- and it was a super fun ride! Again in 2000 it was still great imo. I'm sure it's changed a lot in the last 16 years (since my last visit), and that the renovation is necessary, but it still instills emotion on some level, to hear of its final year!

^^ Cedar Point has mentioned future development but not actually used the word "demolish" in anything I've seen yet. Until CP uses the word demolish or the thing gets pushed over I'm not assuming anything like some of the writers for these papers have.

^^I agree. Somewhat.
I tend to be a sentimental person and it always saddens me too when a ride goes away.
But Mean Streak was never all that much fun. It followed Texas Giant's rough opening season, and in spite of that, Cedar Point felt some need to have one too. They went for a ride that was similar but larger and smoother, thinking that would avoid the trouble they were experiencing in Arlington. The result was a design that lacked force, thrills, and was rough anyway. Built by a man who never set his ass down on a coaster, no less.
We waited three hours on Mean Streak's opening day and I clearly remember thinking it wasn't worth it. After that came years of decline and a patchwork of remedies that only served to dumb the ride down further.
I've had a few decent rides on Mean Streak. I remember one particularly slow night at the park when I rode MS several times, always in the front seat. Night time was kind to the ride, and the high turn over the station was always the best part. But otherwise it was never a ride I was particularly interested in. Sadly. We had all looked so forward to it.

I'm pretty sure Cedar Point's goal for the present is to keep themselves in the news about this for a while. And that's fine, it seems to be the drawn out way a lot of things go these days. But I'm weary of things like pre-announcement announcements, news outlets attempting to make stories out of nothing, and then getting the actual real news in dribs and drabs. So while we wait I'm choosing not to compulse about what it may or may not be. They know what it is, they already have it set, but apparently the scheme is to whip up a frenzy of speculation. I think I'm content to wait.

It sure seemed fun enough for you to leave your favorite lighter on it... 😉

I got to ride Mean Streak either in 1991 or 1992 (my memory is a little hazy on that fact) and I remember being impressed. The structure was (and is) really beautiful and I loved that queue was in the center of the ride. It really felt like you were at a cathedral. I was in awe of the ride moving around me as I waited. I don't recall my exact opinions of the ride at the time but they were certainly more positive than negative.

Revisiting the ride over the years of course makes you sad for what has become. I still think the ride looks good and I am still a sucker for any ride that spends that much time inside its own structure. With that said, the jackhammering and the bad tracking around some of the slower turns really made it too painful and too lousy of a ride to experience more than once for novelty sake.

I do hope that this gets to be some new RMC retrofit.

I rode it twice in 2006 I think, the last time I was at Cedar Point. My family took the strategy of going to the back of the park first to avoid lines, and it worked. Mean Streak was a walk on and when we got off, walked right back on a second time. It was an enjoyable ride, I have no negative opinions of it, contrary to a lot of people. It wasn't rough at all that I remember. But aesthetically, this ride is the anchor of the tip of the peninsula. I can't imagine Cedar Point without this giant wooden beast at the very point of the point. I hope it's up for RMC rather than demolition. But I always hear rumors about how Cedar Fair can't do RMC because Six Flags has a monopoly on them. Is that true in this case?