Partial redesign for Mean Streak?

My problem with MS at this point in its life is it feels very unnatural as it navigates the course. And it seems as if many of the positive or it's ok reports on here come from people riding it after the original ride was slowed down. I'd prefer a 75 ft gravity induced drop over a 150+ ft trimmed, slow you down drop anyday. That was one of the big problems with Hercules, the best part of the ride was ruined and hence ruined everything thereafter. Riding MS now, although it isn't necessarily a bad ride but it's downright annoying how poorly it takes on that course; it's just too slow in some spots, much slower than it was meant to be. I'd rather ride any of the sub-100 ft woodies that just let the train go the course without trims. MS now doesn't ride the way a coaster should.

Dominator56, the Big Dipper's layout hasn't been altered at all by Cedar Fair. Funtime did some minor reprofiliong of the second hill in the 1980 rebuild and also they eventually removed the double dip on the fourth hill a few years later. Only thing Cedar Fair made sure they did was throw seatbelts in the trains. But hey....that's their middle name now isn't it?!! Cedar *seatbelt* Fair. :)

Wood Coaster Fan Club - "Sharing a Passion for the Classics"

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bigboy said:
What is with the obsession with tearing down or tinkering with Mean Streak?... It was certainly FUN and is there really any other criteria that it needs to meet? If you go on rides looking for the truly orgasmic riding experience each and every time, you're going to walk away disappointed most of the time.

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I don't go on rides expecting every one to deliver an orgasmic experience but I do expect something that I can enjoy without getting a headache and cracking a few teeth. I'm glad that you have had fun on Mean Streak but as you can see from most of the people on this site, the majority of people don't feel nearly the same way as you do about the ride. Check my signature- it's pretty obvious that I'm not going to be the first person to support the demolition of a wood coaster- but there are a handful of wood rides out there (Hercules was one of them) that offer dreadful riding experiences. The way I see it, Mean Streak is a beautiful coaster with a lot of wasted potential, and unless the ride is fixed so that it is bearable for most riders, I can't say I completely support its existance.

The coaster has been gone over at least twice by two majore wood coaster companies. The first thing they did was add booster bents to every drop. The second was a complete redo of the first drop which wasn't the problem. The whole problem is there isn't enough runnoff before the curved first turn.

When it was new and cool out, It was a almost great ride. After it heated up though the coaster shook so hard in that first turn after the drop your neck was damn near snapped.

Final solution? Slow it down which in turn led to them lowering the third drop to keep it from valleying.

Like was said earlier. Tear it down or leave it. bout the only options they have left.

Chuck

If your park has only four rides, it might make sense to attempt to resurrect a poorly operating coaster. If your park has as many rides as Cedar Point, however, it would be pointless.

Until Mean Streak's maintenance costs become prohibitive, until people stop riding Mean Streak, and until Cedar Point becomes so cramped for real estate that Mean Streak's footprint becomes essential to the park's future... they won't touch it.

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Thrillerman said:
Dominator56, the Big Dipper's layout hasn't been altered at all by Cedar Fair. Funtime did some minor reprofiliong of the second hill in the 1980 rebuild and also they eventually removed the double dip on the fourth hill a few years later.

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Thats what I meant, I wasn't talking about when Cedar Fair owns the park, I was talking as a whole over the years. You remain correct though.
As for mean streak, I'm sure we'll just sit and observe of what they want to do with it. There's a possiblity that they might never tear it down. I think if it ever did get partially redesigned, they'd always choose that option over tearing it out completely.

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Rob Ascough said:
Certainly the folks at GG or GCII could add a fantastic coaster to Mean Streak's lift hill!

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...a GG or GCII at the point would be a wet dream. I would like to see them cut off some of the height though. I think 160 is a bit too much for a woodie

This comes up so often, maybe there should just be a link to Chuck and Olsor's replies in a Mean Streak FAQ section. You guys nailed it. *** Edited 5/21/2005 12:47:25 PM UTC by Chaindog***

160 probably is a little high for a wood coaster although I'm curious to see how a tall one designed by the right people (Gravity Group) holds up after a few seasons. Hades is going to be a good test of what woodies can be designed to do in the future without "plug 'n' play" track.

i rode texas giant the year it was built and it was easily the craziest, most intense coaster i'd ever been on, at the time.

now, that was a long time ago.

i rode mean streak just last year, and it was a pretty-to-look-at but sad, pathetic thing sulking in the back of an amazing park.

if time and poor engineering has turned the former into the latter, then that is truly a travesty. a great woodie is a unique and wonderful thing, and, it seems, an endangered species. the trend today seemd to be towards shorter, more extreme steel beasts, like TTD and KK. while i love those rides as well, i feel they are no replacement for a good old-fashioned frighteningly disorienting ride down some wooden tracks.

I'm no engineer and I am no where close to being lucky enough to work in amusement park management, but I have thought about this subject before and always come to the same conclusion which is no. Cedar fair would be nuts to invest in redesigning the ride. It would be another disaster transport situation. The most feasible ideas would be to either tear it down or...some extensive rehab or...they could just leave as is which is the most practical idea at the moment.

I think we can pretty much come to the conclusion that Summers Dinn had some serious flaws with their designs. Texas Giant, Mean Streak, and Hercules were all designed by the company.

I don't think I've ever rode a Summers Dinn that runs as smooth as something by a CCI, or any other company. Even the later PTC's built in the late 70's are much smoother.

^ Perhaps, but 229 coasters and counting, my favorite coaster in the world is a Summers/Dinn.

The Georgia Cyclone.

Don't necessarily think that just because it's made by this company or that (I can name 3 CCIs that are more rough than GaCyclone) that it will not be smooth. I think about 90% of it is the park that it resides in and the maintenance that is performed on it.

Back on topic, there's no hope for Mean Streak, but it's still not so terrible that I don't give it a courtesy ride per trip.

This is basicly the same post I made in another thread on the same subject. The trim brakes don't make the ride any less rough for riders, it puts less stress on the ride's track.

It can still be a great ride. All they have to do is take those freaking trims off the lift hill! I rode it back in 2003 at night with the trims and lights turned off for employee ride night and the ride was un-freaking-believable. It was actually fun! Right after the ride, I thought that it was possibly more fun as a ride experience than Dragster. There were strong laterals (comparable to The Legend) and nice air throughout the whole ride, and it made the riders go nuts. Now I know how the ride used to be, and how it could be.

The only reason for the trim brakes is for maintenance purposes. It was designed so poorly that if they were to let it run as it was meant to without trims then it shakes itself apart and the carpenters have a hell of a time fixing it in the few hours before the park opens.

There is hope for Mean Streak, but I think that it would involve an entire course reprofile (or at least from the lift on) of Intamin's prefabricated track. It would be steelie smooth and it would be as intense as it was back in the day. And, yes, fun once again. I just hope that an increase in ridership would be justification enough for Cedar Point to install the new track.

How possible would it be to dismantle Mean Streak piece-by-piece and use the structure to build two smaller (better) wood coasters?

Like Six Flags did with SFGAm's Shockwave? ;)

And don't forget about Drachen Fire.

Coming soon, Drachen Wave!