Mean Streak 2011

Okay, here's my assessment from today. We scored two rides on MS, one in red 1-1, another in red 4-1.

Both rides were quite pleasant, though the front seat was noticeably smoother than the fourth row. Both rides were rough, but of the 'enjoyably so' variety, as opposed to the 'Oh my god, do they have a chiropractor on duty?' type.

If the coaster stays near this level for at least part of this season, I'll have to bump it up two levels of classification, from 'Banned', through 'Once a season just on the principle' to 'Try to ride at least once a visit if possible'.

A big thumbs up. This, coupled with the work done on BS, dramatically improves the stock of woodies at CP.

So glad to hear you had a good experience as well, Ensign. It will indeed be interesting to see if it is still as good in August.

I would find it fairly unlikely for the ride not to experience some loss over the course of even a few months. I just hope it's not dramatic.

To put my experience in perspective, MS yesterday offered gentler rides than two other coasters at the park, Corkscrew and...believe it or not, Magnum. CS offered the roughest, 'bad' Arrow ride I've ever received; it bashed Ava so hard she actually cried for a few seconds. The new paint job looks sweet on the structure, but the beauty is glossing over a ride that desperately needs new and better ergonomically designed trains to handle the jerkiness.

Magnum, much to my disappointment, was shuddering, practically jackhammering in a way I don't remember it doing. Our one ride was in our new traditional spot, middle bench of the last car, which may have had something to do with it. Not sure. It almost felt like the wheel assemblies had too much play in them and weren't gripping the track as precisely as they should for a smooth ride. I don't know.

I rode MS last year after going to Hibachi in the Breakers... Bad move... I'm hesitant to ride MS this weekend. I'm trusting you guys on your assessments.

I rode Mean Streak when I had some time off last week. I had all of the Gold Train to myself in the middle of the day. Rode in seat 1-1 and loved every minute of it. Even without the extra weight of other riders it was a much better ride than in years past.

Actually when I worked the ride in 04 you could have a trimless ride...on 2 variables.This did work til mid 2009 after Mean Streak suffered 2 valleys on back to back days in June. 1. Late at night running empty trains on a cool day speeds going into safeties would be to low so they would open the trim. 2. If they train was HELD aka a hold where the train was stopped completely in transfers having the last car in parking brake. This happens when people do something stupid like take off their seatbelt pull out a camera etc. The prox right after the transfers before the trim to the lift knows the speed since it was stopped in transfers with the last car being held by the brake the train crept over the prox opening up the trims on the drop. This no longer works as after the back to back valleys on consecutive days in 09 in morning testing a photo eye dictates how many heads are in the train operating the trim.

Ah, so now it is controlled by photo eye. That makes sense. If there is people -> use trim, no people -> no trim.

So in other words, everybody duck!

That kind of makes sense, but it kind of doesn't...because the train has those wretched headrests which, to a photo-eye, probably look like heads...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Wow, I must say...it's really nice to see a thread overwhelmingly positive about Mean Streak for a change.

It's amazing how much the experience varies on wooden coasters, year-to-year, day-to-day, and even hour-to-hour. With the perpetual maintenance required to keep them running smoothly, it's really surprising that parks are still choosing to build traditional wooden coasters. Though initially more costly, it'd seem like Intamin's prefab wooden track would be the new standard. Has El Toro aged well?

And yes, Ensign, Magnum has been giving some pretty jolting rides as of late, along with other aging Arrows. While I still think it's a great ride, there were times last year when I surprised at just how rough it was in areas like the pretzel turn. I wonder if the metal is warped, or if the trains need new wheels / rehab (que RideMan)? It seems that Intamin's steel coasters are aging much more gracefully.

I couldn't believe that people were actually *cheering* when the ride op asked how their ride on MS was. I mean, usually people are swearing, but trains and trains were very happy. Being straight up though, I feel the only noticeable change was on the first turn with all that new wood. The rest of the ride is, indeed, better, but it still isn't a "must ride" in my opinion.

Completely agree about Magnum. GF and I rode it and couldn't believe how jerky it was. Definitely seems rougher than last year, especially on the pretzel. We usually love Magnum, but it seems really, really rough this year. I know roughness has always been a part of Magnum, but it seems to come closer to Corkscrew every year.

^^yes El Toro has aged just fine, a bit of roughness on the turn around but the rest of the ride is still butter.

Yes I'm quite happy with Mean Streak as well. I've always liked Mean Streak even since it's opening year! You know what's funny is that every year, everyone has complained more and more about Mean Streak. What I've always thought in my head was, you haven't ridden Son of Beast! Son of Beast to me was 10 times rougher than Mean Streak! I'm glad that Mean Streak was able to get the treatment it deserved this past off-season. I'm looking forward to Coaster Mania now to ride Mean Streak even more!

Wow, you are correct. To me, Mean Streak suffered from boredom, and a "meh" layout. Son of Beast just literally tried to kill you, and I would actually be in some type of discomfort the rest of the day.

I rode MS in both the front and very back in both 2009 and 2011 (yesterday). Both rides in the front were similar: reasonably rough, but dull with very little in terms of forces or thrills. Both rides in the back were similar: ouch. To me MS seems just as bad as it has always been, perhaps even worse than it was in 2009...

Son of Beast, in 2008, was amazing in the front seat with strong lateral and positive Gs, an occasional pop of airtime in a few select places, good drops, and fast speeds. But that was on the smoother blue train.

Both rides were best in the front row due to the smoothness and view.

Since I'm one of the 5% of the world that likes MS every ride on it is great for me.

Except riding it in the rain last Sat, that kinda sucked lol

OK, little update.

Went back for our last trip to CP for two days before Halloweekends. I snagged two rides on MS this trip, one in the gold train, and the other in the red. Two very, very different experiences.

In the gold train, I sat near the back...second to last seat. This was the best ride I have had on MS in years. I got pops of airtime (yes, the trim brake was active), it was comfortabley rowdy (moderately wooden-coaster rough...nothing uncomfortable or jarring...no jack-hammering, etc.). I was so pumped to hit it up again later on in the day.

A few hours later, same seat, different train. The entire ride, I was just waiting for it to be over. Not Son of Beast rough, but it jack-hammered through each banked turn, including the first, and had such little velocity I honestly though I was going to experience my first valley. Seriously. There was zero momentum. Of course, the second half was just a snooze fest.

I'm torn, Mean Streak.

Well, Kevin, it sounds like you've at least gotten some enjoyment out of Mean Streak this year, so that's at least an improvement over past years?

Wooden coasters are tough to figure out. I had the most amazing rides on King's Island's Beast and Racer last year. I thought they were about as smooth as you could get for wooden, and I fell in love with both of these all over again.

Well, the whole off season, I looked forward to the Beast again...possibly my most anticipated coaster after last season's great night rides. And I heard that Beast was running the best it has in ages this year, with all the new track work. Well, I finally got the chance to ride it a couple weeks ago...rode it 4 times over the course of the day in various locations, and it just seemed far rougher than I had ever remembered it...a hopping-type jarring.

I was stumped all day, trying to figure out of my anticipation ruined it, if I had aged over the offseason, or what the problem was. The Racer also felt much more rough (though it was the blue side rather than red of last year).

Maybe the varying roughness rides on MS and other wooden coasters is something to do with how filled they are? My Beast rides last year were all fully loaded trains, where as this year I went when the park was deader than dead...my friend and I were the only ones on the train each time. I'm assuming this was the problem, and I look forward to some better rides on Beast this year.

There was a moderate amount of jackhammering at the bottoms of the first two hills of the Voyage when I was at HW 5 days ago. It was noticeably rougher than during my visit last year. Goes to show it can happen anywhere, I guess.

^^ Yes, overall it is an improvement. Out of 4 rides this year, 3 have been good, with one of those actually being great.

I completely understand that part of the appeal to a wooden coaster is its "rowdiness". I love El Toro, but at the same time, it doesn't "feel" like a wooden coaster, it feels like MF.