Did Texas Giant lose it's thrill like Mean Streak?

They're both CD Summers woodies so I was wondering are they both trimmed like crazy or is that only Cedar Fair?

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We're not White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian. We're American!

Who says Mean Streak lost its thrill? Its still a fun ride, just not as fun.
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"The opposite of war isn't peace, its creation," Rent.

Show me a Dinn Summers that hasn't lost its thrill. They don't age well. At least Dinn's daughter gets it right.
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I'm assuming it has lost its thrill -- it's horrible. I like Mean Streak better, no joke. The ride is braked beyond belief, I thought Mean Streak had brakes!

As for a Summers - Dinn that hasn't lost thrill, I think Timber Wolf at WoF is pretty darn good!

TG is one killer ride!! It is the most thrilling wood coaster ive ben on. Cyclone at SFNE is right behind it.

BeastieBrent said:
Show me a Dinn Summers that hasn't lost its thrill. They don't age well. At least Dinn's daughter gets it right.
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Would even know what to add...perfectly said, although I thinki (lack of) maintenance has had a big hand in that as well as design...

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BeastieBrent said:
Show me a Dinn Summers that hasn't lost its thrill. They don't age well. At least Dinn's daughter gets it right.
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Texas Giant, Grizzly (PKD), Beast, Timberwolf, Thunder Run...Again, they might have been tamed down slightly, but they are still awesome rides. Two of those I absolutely love, and the other three get great reviews.

Texas Giant has a trim at the base of the drop, the midcourse, and a trim going into the helix, it has not lost its thrill at all. It is much harder to care for a wooden coaster in the heat of the Texas sun than up north (cough, mean streak, cough) and Mean Streak is still braked beyond believe. Sure, Texas Giant offers a wild ride, and is aging amazingly well in the Texas sun..look at Rattler :x

*** This post was edited by Xander on 10/23/2001. ***

Sure, I can see how relatively constant temperatures would cause poor aging, while constant expansion, contraction, expansion, contraction, etc causes no problems in the north. :rolleyes:

Having a winter is much harder on structures than heat. Have you ever noticed that roads in the north requre 5x the maintenance than southern roads? It's because the contraction in the winter, followed by the expansion in the summer causes cracks and potholes. The same stuff happens to wood.

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I rode TG for the first time last weekend, and I thought it was awesome, the best coaster in the park. I haven't rode all that many woodies, but it is my personal favorite. I by no means has lost its thrill. I also liked Grizzly at PKD, but TG is much smoother, at least when I rode it.

Texas Giant has NOT lost its thrill. I loved it, every part of it. Mean Streak cannot hold a candle to Texas Giant, it's almost laughable to even compare the two, IMO.

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"X" marks the spot in 2001, maybe!

IMO, Texas Giant has not lost its thrill. It did lose its double-up a few years ago and it does tend to get rough towards the end of season. However, recent winter breaks have brought about a goodly amount of retracking and heavy maintenance to keep the ride in good shape. Its not the best tracking woodie, but it still provides a wild ride that IMO is better than Mean Streak. Best of all, Texas Giant has a fabulous third act whereas Mean Streak (though bigger) just ends.

I didn't realize PKD's Grizzly was a Dinn? I know it looks similar, and has the three row cars the Dinns like to have, but as far as being by Dinn(?).

Mean Streak wasn't bad, boring, it was like driving around in a coaster train. The roughest part, IMO, was walking through the structure to get on. Teacups are meaner. I've never heard people bashing the Texas Giant until recently. Likewise, the comparisons of the two are a recent thing. An obvious new area to try to think in.
One of my favorite rides is a Dinn, the Georgia Cyclone, and although some say it's not in her best condition, every time I think about the last time I rode her and look at the pictures from this spring, for a "Dinn in bad, bad, shape" she looked and rode very, very well, IMO. I've been riding it since it were new, so maybe my perception is different.

As for weather having its' way, I live in SEastern NC and our roads are crap. It's warm here almost always(there are some cold DAYS). Road quality varies state to state based on how much each state puts into the quality of thier roads. There's usually a "thud" when we cross the SC border as we hit smoother pavement. I-40 into Tennessee from Western NC is always under construction, it is redone every few years and can be quite a test on your suspension. While cold weather can lead to cracks in pavement, so can "nice" weather.
Weather may have a something to do with something to an extint, but our temperatures are not all that different and to extremes from each other. I would think a rollercoaster would be happy sitting at 70 or 95, that's a huge range as far as our comfort goes, but it's really not "all that", you know? When it's hot, they do seem to roll faster and smoother(the coasters), but they do that when it rains, and raining usually means cooler weather. Up north, the rides do experience the snow and ice kind of winter, but I can't see it shortening the life or quality of the ride. After all, after the expanding and contracting, and proper maintaining, the wood/steel goes back into its' original shape, they are the kinds of materials used because they do that kind of thing.

MeanStreak had a thrill to lose? Even when it first opened it was just the first drop and a lot of speed. Texas Giant is better now even with the brakes than MS ever was. Comparing TG to MS is like S:RoS SFNE to MF although the gap between the steelies is nowhere near the gap between TG and MS.

Soggy said:
"Texas Giant has NOT lost its thrill. I loved it, every part of it. Mean Streak cannot hold a candle to Texas Giant, it's almost laughable to even compare the two, IMO."

That's exactly what I thought before I rode TG this year. I was expecting top 15 if not top 10 wood.

First ride, Trim trim trim down the first drop, through the first half sans any air. I go to my friend, "Hey, at least it's smooth."

Then we come to a SCREECHING halt on the block brakes. Okay, wtf? Then the only midly interesting part of the ride, the drop out of the block brakes. After that, we're trimmed again, going around the helix. I yell to my friend on the lift hill now "This ride SUCKS!"

After almost rolling back around the lifthill, we finally make it to the famed "magic carpet ride" finale. I was excited to see if it would be good. So around we go, no airtime at all, no nothing. Wait, there was some screeching, sorry. Around the structure we go, to gasp, we hit another trim brake before the last bunny, and into the final brakes. I look at my friend in shock, and say "there's no way that just happened." Well, it did. BORing.

We rode again in the back, maybe one more spot of air, whole lotta nothin' though. BORing.

Comparing Mean Streak and Texas Giant isn't laughable -- the snoozer of a ride TG gives is the laughable part.

For the record, I think Mean Streak is very, very poor, but I have more fun on it than I did on TG. Way better location, too. Love that lake.

Did you even ride the same ride?? The Magic Carpet ending is insane! You probably rode it in the morning.

I rode front at about noon and back the next day at around dusk I'd like to say. I will DEFINITELY give TG another chance when I go back to SFoT, I'm not one to never ride a coaster again if I didn't like it -- however, my memory of the ride was that it just stunk up the place. I really want to like this ride, I think the layout it neat. It just didn't perform.

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Cedar Piont is nothing with out MF. Come to SFMM and see whats happening. Just give us a Giga coaster and bam. CP out of the pic.

Legendary, I rode the Texas Giant around the same time that you did (late May 2001). I had the same opinion of the Giant that you have. The ride was downright boring. Then I went back to Six Flags over Texas in September for Lone Star Coasterthon. I rode the Texas Giant again expecting the same boring ride. Boy was I wrong. The ride was great. In the morning, the trim on the first drop was turned off. Even later in the day with the brakes turned on the ride was hauling ass. At night, the ride was INSANE. The magic carpet finale was the best wooden coaster experience ever! The ride felt totally out of control. The train felt like it was trying to rip the track apart. I love the Texas Giant (when it runs like it should).

*** This post was edited by Buzzo on 10/23/2001. ***

I hope it's the same!!! Well, I haven't ridden it since they took that dyno-myte double-up out. I haven't heard of any changes since then. The 3 trim spots (first drop, mid-course, and helix entry) were all there the first year it opened. During the 1990 Coaster Con, they put that first drop trim overnight before a morning ride session. Also remember it having 7 car long trains? One day, they had to put the front car of the white train on the blue train temporarily. It was so wicked, the trains were getting shaken apart.

The Texas Giant is all about when you ride it. In all my "ridings" (or whatever) I found that the back seat at night during semi-cool weather delivers the best ride. After that wonderful experience last Saturday, I realize it's just as good as Titan- and that's a compliment.
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