Mean Streak?

People are focused on Mean Streak as a possible RMC rebuild, but what about Gemini? Even though Gemini has steel track, the wood structure can certainly be adapted to use the RMC track. Gemini's numbers aren't what they once were and a new RMC dueling/racing coaster would be highly marketable, just like Colossus.

Years ago I had a piece of junk truck that I put money into just to keep it running until I could get something much better. I was not happy with the truck, actually I couldn't stand it but it did serve a purpose at the time and instead of just settling for a somewhat newer and less sucky vehicle I decided to wait until the time was right to get a new one that I knew I would like.

Just because MS hasn't been changed yet, or that they just refurbished the trains (which happens to very coaster every off season) doesn't mean that CP is happy with what they have. They could simply be waiting for the right time to make a move with MS to make sure whatever happens will be successful. I understand that people will throw around the names of coasters like Corkscrew, Blue Streak, and Mine Ride and say that they are also usually walk on - however all of these rides opened with the rest of the park.

The last time CP released numbers they looked like this in 2014:

1 GateKeeper 1,898,204

2 Millennium Force 1,721,918

3 Raptor 1,414,447

4 Magnum XL-200 1,355,861

5 Gemini 1,298,304

6 Maverick 1,153,896

7 Iron Dragon 1,092,242

8 Top Thrill Dragster 1,077,885

9 Mantis 925,667

10 Wicked Twister 794,264

While we don't know exactly how many rides MS gave we know it was equal to or less than 794,263 - this is a fact. We also know that MS has yet to open for the 2016 season and it is the only non-water ride one can say that about. If CP thought they had a gem in MS it would have opened already, simple as that. While I do agree that MS will remain this year and most likely next year as well, it gets much more doubtful after that.

Jeff said:

You're assuming that the brake is there because of structural issues and not something else. And I think that assumption is wrong.

OK, I'm confused. What else would it be?

Mean Streak is actually fun in the first half without it.

I thought I had read that the ride was trimmed because it was putting too much strain on the structure. And they had to re-profile the first turn as a result of trimming. Sounds to me like a design flaw.

JUnderhill said:

The last time CP released numbers they looked like this in 2014:

[list]

7 of those 10 are newer than Mean Streak, and therefore expected to have higher ridership. Gemini is not a fair comparison due to dual train operations. That leaves Magnum and Iron Dragon, which are both better coasters than Mean Streak. So nothing here is really unexpected. Mean Streak is definitely in the bottom "tier" of coasters at Cedar Point.

I think Mean Streak's location has a lot to do with it staying around. If Disaster Transport and Mean Streak had been switched, I think DT would still be around and MS would have been dumped for GateKeeper. Sitting on a piece of land with the Perimeter Road and railroad tracks on either side, I can see why they continue to choose to renovate other areas of the park (Marina entrance, Gemini Midway, Front Gate).

djDaemon said:
That's a very bad comparison. Using Mitch's poll, The Legend has been (for 7 years up until 2013) ranked anywhere between 31-45 worldwide. Mean Streak has been between 150-171 worldwide over that same time span. MS ranks far closer to Son of Beast than to The Legend. Apples and tambourines.

Investing in retracking of a coaster in the top 50 makes a hell of a lot more sense than doing so with one ranked outside the top 150. Maybe an RMC conversion makes sense, but I don't see how any amount of retracking would be a wise investment.

I'm wasn't comparing Mean Streak to The Legend......it's ludicrous to even think that. How in the world did you get that idea? I was talking about what GCI has done with The Legend and GhostRider as reasons to back my theory. They've altered the layout in a few spots on The Legend and GhostRider to add on to the ride experience as well as use a new type of wood ("Ipe" wood) for the track in some spots that, according to the Holiblog, will help with maintenance. So I'm using these things as evidence that they COULD do something very significant to the layout to make it better as well as help with maintenance.

And how would any of what you said about polls matter regarding to what Cedar Point wants to do? If they want to invest in something with the structure and it's something that would/could significantly make the ride experience better, what would a few million matter? They're going to do stuff that benefits the park and their portfolio. And if they think they could make it work, who's to say they WOULDNT do a huge refurbishment of Mean Streak? We don't know what kind of things they have looked into with regards to the ride. It could simply be on the chopping block, or it could get a huge update from either GCI or RMC.

I just find it ridiculous to suggest that they would/should bank the possibility of a serious transformation of a not so popular wooden coaster on a biased poll that hasn't updated since 2013. A poll that has little to do with a park that has already successfully tested the transformation of a past ride. I'm willing to bet they didn't care about "Mitch's Poll" when thinking about the floorless transformation.

perhaps CF is playing MS out as long as possible. Consider how many wooden Ohio roller coasters they have literally destroyed in the past decade.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the fire that mean streak had a few years ago was intentional? It wouldn't surprise me if it was....

Augustmueller said:
perhaps CF is playing MS out as long as possible. Consider how many wooden Ohio roller coasters they have literally destroyed in the past decade.

Decisions to keep or not keep Mean Streak will never have anything to do with the closing of Geauga Lake and Son of Beast. They have nothing to do with each other.

Thabto said:

I thought I had read that the ride was trimmed because it was putting too much strain on the structure. And they had to re-profile the first turn as a result of trimming. Sounds to me like a design flaw.

That's what I have always heard, and I am not even sure where I heard that, or read that (probably here years and years ago).

What else could it be? Still befuddled.

I was searching around for anything on the circumstances surrounding the trim brakes and the best I could find was right here on PointBuzz. RideMan has a good description of the situation towards the bottom of the page.

https://pointbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/mean-streak---better/2

Thanks for pulling that up. While it does inform how that changes were made, it doesn't exactly cover why changes were necessary to start with. My understanding was that it was for maintenance as the structure was vibrating more than it should have been, causing higher frequency of repairs.

Yes it did explain why the changes were required...

..." the problem with the signature "Summers/Dinn Curve", the high-banked curves that made up Mean Streak's second and third hill peaks. Heck, I didn't understand it myself until I got beaten up by Son of Beast a few times and really watched what was happening. The basic problem is that the hill is so high and banked so steeply that when the train gets to the apex of the curve, it isn't moving fast enough (=too high) to stay stuck to the outside rail, so gravity pulls the train to the inside (=too steep) and the train oscillates back and forth.

In all the tweaking, the hills have been chopped down and the banking largely eliminated, and that's fixed much of the banging around. The trouble is, with the shorter hills, that messes up the speed requirements for the now-underbanked curves, so they have to slow the train down."

TTD 120mph said:

After seeing the markings over opening weekend, I was debating with my other coaster friends what could be happening and GCI came to mind. And considering what they are currently doing with GhostRider, I think CP going with them for some kind of project is very possible. It'd be interesting to see what they could do. Something like a serious retrack with a slightly altered (and more superior) layout with new Millennium Flyer trains.

Adam, your post really got me to thinking (especially the part that I bold-typed). We have all assumed that the Challenge Park removal of skyscraper and the go-karts are for a Soak city expansion for 2017, right? What if in fact the relocation of Ripcord to MF Island (it's been rumored) and the removal of the other 2 rides is in fact for a revamp and expansion of Mean Streak's track stretching over close to the Magnum lift hill? Now THAT would be cool. See a park map for the NEW footprint that I'm talking about.

MS is 5427 feet long. The Beast at KI (longest woodie) is at 7359. Add 2000 feet of new track, you now have the new longest Woodie on the planet, Add 3000 feet and you've just killed 2 birds w/one stone. Longest woodie AND longest coaster on the planet. That would be an awesome marketing campaign and stat for the park, it would reuse an existing coaster w/o scrapping it (ala Mantis), and would give CP another 2 world records. Would it be easy to reroute the back perimeter road and is there enought room to add 3000 feet of additional track to the current MS layout in the old Challenge park area of the park? absolutely. Now THIS is something the park should consider. Thoughts?

That's quite the idea but I think the big problem there is if it could maintain the speed with that additional track length. I'm no engineer but I would guess no. :/

TAER IT DOWN!!!!

Cedar Point usually makes plans 3 to 5 years in advance. This means that CP had already decided that Disaster Transport and Mantis were "less that satisfactory" in whatever they decided were the standards needed to be met. Just cause CP has not torn down or changed MS yet does not mean that CP thinks it meets its standards whatever they may be. I believe that MS (yes that means it is an opinion) probably not where CP wants it to be. They don't make these decisions the year before they actually make them. If CP were to change MS for the 2018 season then that means they made up their minds sometime around 2013

Also I don't think the problems that caused the Trim to come into place were structural, but more because original design was causing excess wear to the tracks, not the structure supporting them which happened with Son of Beast.

I, for one, would trust Rideman's description.

People ask him questions for a good reason. :)

I think a revamped layout w/ added track could be done if you cut down the height on the current banked tall 2nd hill in half and bring it lower to the ground. The additional added track would have to be in the 75 foot tall range also. Hell, we're forgetting that MS has an inner 2nd track that the trains seem to have no problem going around, that and the fact the brakes have to be slammed at the end now to stop the momentum. I think it could be done especially with the first drop hill trims taken off and with a newer shortened 2nd hill. How many people said Mantis couldn't be altered to a floorless? Anythings possible and this would breathe new life into a 25 year old ride.

But if you lengthen the track won't that mess with the heartline thingymabobber? ;)