Mean Streak?

cpfourlife1 said:

Since you can't seem to figure it out I will provide you with the metric for Cedar Point's slogan.

Proof that Cedar Point's slogan is not subjective:

Once held the record for most coasters in one park....

.....Every year multipule Coasters are rated high (I am going to assume those are also subjective to you as well) such as Magnum, Raptor, TTD, and ofcourse the #1 MF.

And? Yes, indeed, those are all facts. But just like being the official slithernoggin of Great America, there's no objective definition of Roller Coaster Capital of the World. It's a slogan. Nothing more.

And Chicago is clearly the skyscraper capital of the world :-)

How can the area be prime real estate when the company has no capital to put into said prime real estate. Cedar Fair has 14 properties. All of which need new attractions to attract new guests. None of these other parks got a dive coaster or a coaster for that matter. Water parks and minor attractions were added almost company wide. So how does Cedar Fair look at Mean Streak and feel that it is a waste of "Prime Real Estate"?

How can you judge a rides popularity when it has been down? I would have rode it 2 times if it was open last weekend. I find it hard to believe that I should take your word for it that the ride is that bad. I've been there and rode it almost every visit. There were other people riding it too. I find it hard to believe that anyone sits back there and moniters the ridership of the ride while it's open. If so that's a sad life. Go enjoy the other rides.

Cedar Fair is not going to invest in huge capital projects at Cedar Point every year. Don't get your hopes up that Mean Streak will be replaced soon. As there are other parts of the park that are already cleared up for expansion.

^ hey, umm, there's a wonderful invention that monitors a ride's ridership, and it's on every major roller coaster and thrill ride. It's called a turnstile. Crazy, right? It keeps track of how many people go to ride it!

King island doesn't have turnstiles, how would they monitor ridership?

Just saying, there has to be other data they use as well

KI does too.. just not in the way you see. ;)

There are a lot of different types of "turnstiles" that are used that you don't even notice you walked through. Most don't have the bars that you turn, in fact they don't have anything in your path to make you aware you walked through a turnstile.

Mean Streak dod not open yesterday. They were running the gold and green trains empty most of the day, but the gates at the train tracks didn't even go up.

Also, I did see spray paint markings on a lot of the footers. I don't know if it means anything, but they were there. It only seemed to be on some of them and none were under the station from what I could see.

Here is a crappy picture:

I'm aware of modern sensor style turnstiles. However, it is my understanding that King's Island never had turnstiles. Never having them since opening in1972 , when I would assume standard turnstiles would have been mainly the only option.

As for turnstile counts, also keep in mind that a ride that is a walkon, but filling nearly every seat on each train will give the same number of rides per hour than if there is a 2 hour wait. Other than first thing in the morning or in the evening, Mean Streak usually isn't sending empty rows.

The last time real numbers were released by the park, as far as I can find at least, was 2014 and Mean Streak wasn't in the top 10 in terms of ridership for coasters.

The same things were said about Mantis before the transition... There was an hour wait on such and such a day, all three trains were full on such and such a day... However, these will be the exceptions rather than the norm. Cedar Point confirmed what most already knew, Mantis wasn't popular.

If CP wanted MS open already, it'd be open... The fact that it isn't open yet speaks volumes as to where it is at on CP's priority list. As a ride nears the end of its run there will be delayed openings, early closings, days where it simply won't open etc... These things have been, and are occurring with MS. No matter what a few here want to think, MS isn't that popular, popular enough to still be standing today -obviously. Popular enough to be around a few years from now? That's the question and in my opinion the answer is very doubtful it is.

Mantis would still see some decent wait times most afternoons, in part because it enjoyed prime location next to Millennium Force. When folks would head there and not want to wait in whatever long line had formed, they would often head to Mantis since it was right there. Add in permanent two train operation and Mantis actually saw decent lines on busier days right up until the end.

Part of Mean Streak's problem is the location. Obviously the poor ride experience is the main culprit, but a lot of folks go as far as Maverick and turn around. If Mean Streak traded places with Raptor, you would see a busy Mean Streak every morning simply because of location and you would easily be able to ride Raptor to your hearts content from 10am-noon every day.

The location argument has zero credibility from me. There were numerous days where MS was a multi-hour wait in the sweltering sun, all 3 trains running and they were full. I remember waiting many, many times in these lines to ride MS. Much of the MS infield was occupied by the que, including the area where the building is now.

A ride like MS should be the pull to bring crowds into an area, if MS were popular it should be able to bring people back to the area it occupies.

One doesn't need to stand at MS everyday to be able to observe a pattern, just as one doesn't have to stand by Raptor everyday to know that long lines in the morning will thin out as the afternoon wears on. Will there be exceptions to this Raptor pattern, certainly - but we all know that most of the time that statement will hold true.

Build it, and they will come.

It's true, and I know many here find it hard to believe that Mean Streak's line was 3 hours long, that there was no trim on the first drop, and Mean Streak Henry was just getting started.

That was the place to be in the park when it showed up.

And then it got neutered.

Operative Me, that is not a crappy picture, as most of the time people don't even bother to take a picture. :)

The slogan "roller coaster capital of the world" did have an objective metric originally: most coasters in a single park. That's what everyone understood the phrase to mean, and how the park promoted it. But once Magic Mountain bested them, they simply trademarked the slogan and claimed it was about quality rather than quantity. Which is fine by me, frankly. I just wish they'd stop pretending Pipe Scream is a coaster.

For that to be truly objective, the slogan would have to be Roller Coaster Count Captial Of The World.

By their own definition now, the slogan is subjective.

Nobody is arguing they didn't have a reason to use the claim, and as they would argue now they still do.
The fact is that the statement has no definable measurement or classification to it.

JUnderhill said:

....Mean Streak wasn't in the top 10 in terms of ridership for coasters.

This makes me think of this number from Wicked. :-) A ride doesn't have to be popular. Just good enough. I've said elsewhere: amusement parks are like recipes. A recipe may only require a teaspoon of cumin, but the cumin is a part of the overall recipe. And rides that enthusiasts don't like can play a role in the overall park operation.

If CP wanted MS open already, it'd be open... The fact that it isn't open yet speaks volumes as to where it is at on CP's priority list.

I'd say it speaks a paragraph or two, maybe. Why does it have to be open at a certain time? As long as its meeting whatever metrics Cedar Fair has for the ride, and as long as Cedar Fair has no other plans for that space, they'll continue to operate the ride.

Birdman: Roller coaster capital of the world has never had an objective metric. It was and is a slogan, nothing more. Magic Mountain "besting them" had nothing to do with trademarking a slogan.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=38E_IpUg3Vk

The answer to this discussion is very simple. CP is "The Roller Coaster Capital of the World" because the slogan is a registered trademark. No other park, at least in the U.S., can call themselves that. The criteria used to determine the coaster capital isn't important, it is exclusive to CP and can't be refuted.

On the Mean Streak footer markings, does anyone know if RMC conversions had footer markings like that before the ride was converted?

birdman said:

. I just wish they'd stop pretending Pipe Scream is a coaster.

Preach it, brother! That is NOT a coaster

If wicked twister is a coaster, so is pipe scream. It fits the definition of a roller coaster in that it is an amusement park ride with light railroad track and open cars, from which people ride on. If pipe scream is not a coaster, than neither are the Larson loops, Intamin impulses, Superman Escape from Krypton, powered coasters, or the Intamin Zac Spins or S&S free flies.