Mean Streak isn't mean anymore!

Yes I am referring to PKI's Vortex..my hubby liked it while i got serious whiplash from it and didn't recover fully yet.

he thinks that SFGAD"s Scream Machine is worse..I disagree. The first drop was cool but after that it really bangs you around and this is in the front car too.

" MS beats Wildcat, Lightning Racer, and Thunderbolt"..

I think you have had too many rides on MS and suffer from brain damage if you think it beats Lightning Racer..:)

Although MS is an impressive looking coaster, it is the only coaster I have never ridden more than once. I was sure that the ride ops were going to have to call an ambulance for me when I got off. I wish I had bought the on-ride pic of me clutching the seat in front of me with a horrified look on my face!

Does it have potential? Yes. Does it need a lot of work before I will ride it again? You bet!

-----------------
*** 74 coasters and still counting ***

If you had a death grip on the seat in front of you no wonder it hurt you. Loosen Up

-----------------
The Beast and Night, They go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly

CoasterMom said:

I think you have had too many rides on MS and suffer from brain damage if you think it beats Lightning Racer..

Well, I am a fan of accuracy over pleasantries myself, so......but not having ridden LR yet, I can only ASSUME. Mean Streak on my first rides several years ago was still a pretty good ride. During CoasterMania, I got a few rides during ERT - better than most recent rides, but this thing is still a train wreck in comparison to "the good ole days". It's still beautiful to look at, but is no longer beautiful to ride....

With a LOT of work and considerable investment, CCI/GCI could do something to make it a great ride again....I just don't expect to see that happen....bummer.

ITS ALWAYS THE OLD PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE HEADBANGING AND ROUHNESS. I SAY IF U CANT TAKE THE HEAT GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN. STEVENS SAID IT BEST" EVERY TRUE ENTHUSIAST ENJOYS TO BE ROUGHED AROUND A LITTLE."

STOP YELLING!

I disagree about true enthusiasts enjoying being roughed around a little. I think so many B&Ms exist and are at the tops of many enthusiast's lists because they enjoy their smoothness.

I personally prefer wooden coasters a tad to steel, because they do shake me up a bit. However, I do draw the line at unecessary roughness....read Hercules and Mean Streak. Guess I am just over the hill in that respect.

Shaggy

-----------------
Shaggy
A.K.A. John K.

Even though it pisses me off, I have a soft spot for the MS. WE have to remember that it's not MS fault. A lot of us know what it can do, but they just won't let it perform.

And CoasterMom... OH hell yeah baby! Lightning Racer is flat out the best.

-------------
Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions

They won't let it perform? Go back and read Charles's post. The thing was so bad by late in the afternoon it was unridable. I can only begin to imagine the complaints they got about it then. It's the only coaster I've ever ridden that shook the glasses off my face. Pull the brakes off and it's back to the same old awful ride.

I do think a litte reprofiling would help...

-----------------
Without the chaindog, you'd never get up the lifthill...

Its not that the mean streak is rough.. but its boring , this giant woody used to be about speed.. now it just chugs along .

-----------------
You really need to get some more BRAN in your diet

Yeah, I'm also not sure where Dante's comment came from... I consider myself to be an enthusiast, (who, like Shaggs, enjoys being roughed up on a wooden coaster (read: Gwazi) as long as it isn't overblown and painful) and most of the steel rides in my top 10 (Raptor, Raging Bull, Magnum, Alpengeist, Apollo, Hulk, V2, WT, etc...) are there because I can re-ride them, and I don't have to worry about pain.

Conversely, I'd ask you to take a look at some of the steel coasters I consider to be the worst I've ridden. Shockwave at SFGAm and a few Serial Thrillers come to mind. In fact, I vow not to ride Shockwave for at least the rest of the year, as the last time I rode it (8 days ago) I had a pounding headache.

That sort of thing can happen to anyone. Do you have to enjoy a good beating to be considered an enusiast?

And, so my rant doesn't get deleted for being OT, :) Mean Streak should go down for a little bit so the CP engineers can take a good look at the situation and decide what they're going to do. If they want help, look at SFGAm's Viper, quite possibly the smoothest wooden coaster in existance.

"ITS ALWAYS THE OLD PEOPLE COMPLAINING "...

you think 29 is old? Where do you go to school lil boy? Probably nowhere if you think 29 is old and you can't spell. :P

I don't mind a rough ride..Hercules has gotten rougher over the years and so has Wildcat at Hershey...but Mean Streak having 2 BRAKES on the first hill turned me off.

Son of Beast is still a rough ride on certain days..my husband has the bruises on his thighs from the lap bar smacking into him. My daughter and I rode SOB in the 2nd seat..first car and the ride was smooth on Sunday..but MONDAy..it was a totally different ride..alot rougher.

When we rode Beast a few years ago..it was smoother then, then now..but I still love it and it is my fave woody.

MS has to be revamped alot...take out the brakes on the hills, and shorten the drop a little..

I went to CP last year for the first time and my 7 year old daughter thought it was a POS. It's obvious that the ride crawls through the course, even to a 7 year old(with a 40 coaster track record, BTW).

but 29 is old... ;)

I love MS and I don't care whether other people like or dislike it.

-----------------
www.EverythingRollerCoaster.com
~IMO, Vortex at PGA is the Stand-up Batman.

Dude, Im 37 and just loved to be shookup, Tossed about as long as it dosn't injure you!

I also like smooth coasters. Viper at SFGAM must be the smoothest woodie I have ever ridden with a cool whirring noise in the backseat and good airtime.

Mom, When they let Meanie run at it's potential its first and second years, you could get a fun almost painless ride. Infact the only problem was the first turn after the first drop. After the coaster heated up it shook so hard your neck that it was just pure pain and I truthfully on two ocations would have gotten off right then if it was possible. If you were lucky enough not to get shook to death you got a good fast thrilling ride.

Shallow the drop and let it run is what I say. Many coasters have had their first drop shallowed. Wild One 9ft, Riverside Cyclone 15ft, Screechin Eagle 13ft. Did it ruin one of them? IMHO NO!

Chuck

-----------------
Charles Nungester
Lesourdsville Lake, The great American amusement park opens the season June 6th Thurs-Sun every week. Park phone is (513)539-2193

Why is everyone complaining about Mean Streak? Personally, I do not think it is that rough at all, but it does crawl over each hill. Actually, I got some floating airtime on the entire 5th hill this year! It seems as if nobody has ridden Psyclone at SFMM, talk about painfull and crawling through the hills...

-----------------
Take a good look at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure because in a few years the Sea World side will look exactly like it does, a zoo.

Mean Streak is a decent ride that has a little air on the 4th hill....it's not that slow because of the brakes. It gives a nice long ride. I will see if my opinion stays as I am going to CP tommorow

Brent..I doubt it..I can safely tell you that the coaster has changed from even 2 years back..it was a fun coaster..it flew with alot of air time..but not anymore..it crawls that even my grandmom can get out and run along side of it..maybe even pass it! LOL!

Denise Larrick should be hired to restore her father's masterpiece to it's former glory. Perhaps this is why she doesn't like to build them too small?

-----------------
Off with the trims!
My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
Woodencoaster.com

It's a beautiful coaster SCULPTURE. It was my favorite the first year it opened. In '94 it bruised my spine badly, and still kicks in whenever I get in that hard form fitted seat it lines up perfectly with the injury. (it takes brains to use hard seats on a rough coaster with no padding). I totally agree that there is a big difference between "out of control feeling" and "get the stretcher and morphine." I sure hope someday they rebuild it, now that they own Shivering Timbers, which is the whole other side of things (EXCELLLLLLLLENNNTTTTTT!!!!!) It makes me sad when I do my late walks at night after the park is closed, and there it stands all lit up.

My remedy:

Intamin Track, PADDED trains, goodbye headrests, 80 degree first drop, rebuild third hill for the long-lost airtime it once had, and.... reprofile the entire 2nd half, all the shallow dips after the mid-course brake, which is like being pulled down a sidewalk in a Red Flyer wagon with no wheels (scrape scrape scrape).

The reason the trims were added is because the ride was ripping itself apart. Monty Jasper told me that Mean Streak recieved many more complaints about roughness when it first opened. I dont think th non-enthusiast really notices, i think it is just our enthusiast minds that make this ride out to be bad.

-----------------
Its not THE Shivering Timbers, its just Shivering Timbers. And its pronounced Michigan's Adventure.