Another MS rollback?

I was reading a post on RRC a couple of minutes ago about someone that witnessed Mean Streak's empty yellow train valley after the first drop. They said it occured around 8:30 PM last night. Can anyone confirm this?

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Back from lurking
New account, same name
KW 2002

Yes!

The last few times I rode it the trims were on very hard. It's bad when you take that first turn and fall to the right instead of getting thrown to the left.

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2002 Magnum--199
The world I love, the trains I hop, to be part of the wave can't stop.

I wasn't at the park, but I was also told that the yellow train rolled back empty while they were transferring.

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

It's true. On the first drop.

I usually don't advocate making a big deal of a park's misfortunes. But in the case of Mean Streak rolling back because of the way they mistreat the ride and because they won't let it run fast enough to clear the course...well, they deserve all the ridicule they get!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I would be inclined to agree with you Dave, but I really don't think they slow it down for craps and giggles or to piss off enthusiasts. Come on, you were there to hear Monty's reasoning.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"We used to hate people, now we just make fun of them. It's more effective that way." - KMFDM, "Dogma"

They slow it down because they've never bothered to figure out how to fix it. Or because they've written it off as 'not fixable'.

It wouldn't be so bad if they slowed it down just a little. But they have it running so slow that it barely makes the second hill when it's fully loaded. The way it was running yesterday, riding it was a complete waste of time and effort...and it was a walk-on at the time.

The braking on the first drop was so heavy that...well, do you remember the "Toothchipper" in that one Simpsons episode? Because that's how it ran down the first drop. Ever notice that the last brake caliper on Mean Streak's first drop is lower than the top of the second hill? Well, if the train stops on that caliper, there is absolutely no way that it's going to make the second hill. Rather than fix the ride right (and I don't pretend to know exactly what that would require, although I'm convinced a different train design would help) they have come up with a "patch" that saves them some money, effort, and down-time. But what they have done is to cause Mean Streak to commit the cardinal sin of roller coasters: They've made it BORING.

Yes, I heard Monty's reasoning. I've heard it a couple of times. And it's "his" ride; he ought to know what he's doing with it. But that doesn't automatically mean that what he's doing is the best thing for the ride.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Not to turn this into another MS bashing session but I must ask the following questions:

Why can parks run classic woodies that have similar intensity to MS and avoid putting trims ON THE FIRST DROP?!

I mean look at Ghost Rider. Look at The Pheonix. How about The Beast and Son of the Beast?

I didn't agree with Monty's reasoning after thinking of all of the twisters and out and backs out there that don't require this kind of manipulation to "keep maintenance costs down".

MS is a great ride, but deserves all of the criticism it is given. Maybe I should have reworded that sentence to "Cedar Point operates a great ride but they deserve all of the criticism they are given".

There's nothing similar about Ghostrider... nothing at all. It's much smaller and probably has twice the structure per foot of track.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"We used to hate people, now we just make fun of them. It's more effective that way." - KMFDM, "Dogma"

And the Beast is a moot point because PKI removed it's first drop trims in the offseason.

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Scott W. Short, Rail Junkie
mailto:scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

Good point about Ghostrider. Because of its location it received twice the support. My bad.

For those of us who don't know, what is Monty's reasoning for slowing down MS?

I really think they need to fix this ride. It looks great, but honestly I think it can sometimes be a piece of worthless junk. Just some big wooden thing in the back of the park thats no fun.

I'd like to know that also. What is so wrong with MS, that the trims on the first hill are going to correct?

I still say that CP must think that they don't really have a problem with this ride. Because if they did I'm sure they'd fix it.

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I was super before Superstew was cool!

I seem to remember hearing that they slow it down to keep it from shaking itself apart...thereby reducing maintenace costs.

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"If we go any faster, she'll blow apart for sure!"

Replace the train and the track with Intamin wood. The can promote it in the park brochure for next year like this. "Try the new and improved Mean Streak with the latest wood track technology. Faster and Smoother than ever with more weightlegness than ever!" That way they can promote it as a new ride. When I took my two rides on my trip last August once in the front and once on the back never had to wait more than 5 minutes and the ride almost gave me a head ache. In that case before I took my first ride that day I asked the operator if the brakes are on and he said "Yes, but you will need them." and I will have to agree that even though it took away most of the airtime he was right because of the Dinn Shuffle on the whole ride. Intamin track will smooth out the ride especially with Intamin trains and turning off the brakes. There my 2 trillion cents. :-)

Opps I spelled weighlessness wrong!

PINK FLOYD FANATIC said:
Opps I spelled weighlessness wrong!

Then use the 'Edit' feature to fix it.

Anyways, does Intamin build woodies? I've never heard of it. (Although I'm not saying it's not possible...)

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Tommy Penner - Variable X

It is a good ride without the trims, but when the trims are on (especially as hard as they've been lately) the ride is crap. I was there on Friday, and I've never seen it come as close to a rollback as what it was. As Dave said, it was like Tooth Chipper from the Simpsons because that second trim was literally stopping the train going over the hill. All day long the trains would hesitate and almost come to a complete stop on both the first and second turns. They had the back car closed off all day, and at one point in the day I saw that the whole back half of the train was empty. I agree that MS could be a great ride if CP would just put some money into fixing it up, which would include removal of the trims.

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-Chris Woodard
Just because you can't justify charging $3 for a Pepsi doesn't mean you can't charge $3 for a Pepsi.

Yes, Intamin has built Colossos(it NOT spelled Colossus as some people may think) @ Heide Park and is currently building Balder @ Liesberg. I think CP REALLY NEEDS an Intamin 220 foot tall, 70+ degree, 7500+ long AIRTIME FILLED hyperwoodie really bad!!!!

Intamin has built one wood coaster so far where the track sections are milled blocks of wood bolted together. They even use polyurethane wheels on it. A lot of people feel that it rides a lot like a steel coaster (with mad airtime).

However, what makes you so sure that would fix anything? Ever consider it might be the structure itself that is inadequate?

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"We used to hate people, now we just make fun of them. It's more effective that way." - KMFDM, "Dogma"