Mean Streak is history!

Uh, you know they had the tallest inverted and stand-up coasters in there too, right?

Yeah, I suppose I should have included those. My fault for posting at work ;)

I also should have mentioned WT as being the tallest, fastest impulse (and invert for that matter).

Jeff said:
Blue Streak is a hundred times the ride that Mean Streak is.

Seriously? A hundred times better? Personally I would say it's probably twice, or perhaps thre times, as fun as MS. But hey, it's your opinion.

And as Wahoo mentioned, you can take any of the Kennywood woodies and they're far better rides as well, pre-dating Mean Streak by many decades.

Apples and pancakes. All the Kennywood woodies are terrain coasters. CP has no terrain, unless you count the "hill" under the miniature golf course at Challenge Park.

MS was never state of any art. It was always crap, built when the prevailing attitude was that height was all that mattered.

MS came before the new generation of designers showed us what a great woodie could be. There was certainly something to be re-learned from the classics: that size doesn't really matter, that you can do a lot with limited speed, that quick transitions and tight spacing of elements are more fun than showboating.

I think what MS showed was that the Bobs layout just doesn't cut it when you get above a certain height.

Huh, I guess not much changed over the next decade.

Nope. But it's still a beautiful coaster, with its own particular strengths and qualities. A coaster -- and especially a woodie -- has to be pretty crappy for me to want to see it knocked down.

Ensign Smith said:
Apples and pancakes. All the Kennywood woodies are terrain coasters. CP has no terrain, unless you count the "hill" under the miniature golf course at Challenge Park.

Are you implying that anyone who has only flat land to build on has a free pass to build crap?

MS came before the new generation of designers showed us what a great woodie could be.

Again, I don't see how that's relevant. Designers showed us what a good ride could be decades before. People love the Coney Island Cyclone, and Viper at Six Flags Great America is very similar (built in '95). I can't vouch for more older rides as I've just not been around as much as a lot of enthusiasts, but I don't see any excuse for Mean Streak (or any of the Summers-Dinn rides) sucking.

This is a battle of opinions. You say it sucks, I say it's not that bad.

Other than telling you again how completely wrong you are, I don't know what else to do. ;)

Jeff said:

Ensign Smith said:
Apples and pancakes. All the Kennywood woodies are terrain coasters. CP has no terrain, unless you count the "hill" under the miniature golf course at Challenge Park.

Are you implying that anyone who has only flat land to build on has a free pass to build crap?

If this were true then why is cedar point all over the top roller coasters list.

Lets also not forget that Mean Streak was voted #10 wooden coaster in the world in the world in 2006, advertized in 2007 at the park on mean streak.

The ride must have gone really down hill in a year!!

I don't think that poll was from the most reputable source out there. Look at the Amusement Today poll from the past 10 years. In 2007 it placed 39. I don't remember who the sign said the poll was done by but I don't remember it being by a very well known company.

Ensign Smith said:
This is a battle of opinions. You say it sucks, I say it's not that bad.

Other than telling you again how completely wrong you are, I don't know what else to do. ;)

Either way its not world class...

I don't think anybody is arguing that.

Vince982 said:
I don't think that poll was from the most reputable source out there. Look at the Amusement Today poll from the past 10 years. In 2007 it placed 39. I don't remember who the sign said the poll was done by but I don't remember it being by a very well known company.

I looked on amusement today's website, but they only list the 2007 awards. You might be right though, i just remember the sign on the track.c

I like Amusement Today but those polls are not exactly objective. Does Cedar Point do well every year? Sure. But, let's be honest...when Magnum and MF are drawing people to the park the other rides are going to benefit...as is the park in general. If a great majority of the responders to the poll live in the midwest then in all liklihood Cedar Point has been the oft-visited park.

I don't care what kind of terrain Kennywood has. Considering the age of those coasters and the lack of technology (computers) used in design and build you would expect any of today's coasters to be "better" than yesterday's but the reality is not the case. I think the idea for Mean Streak was to build a big ride...not necessarily a good ride. They succeeded in building a big ride.

And, you might say the same for TTD. Is it a big coaster? Yes. Is it a good coaster? I don't think so. It is a pretty exhilarting experience but I don't think it makes a good coaster at all.

Chief Wahoo said:

And, you might say the same for TTD. Is it a big coaster? Yes. Is it a good coaster? I don't think so. It is a pretty exhilarting experience but I don't think it makes a good coaster at all.

Maybe that is because TTD is a thrill ride, and not a coaster. ;)

Chief Wahoo said:
I like Amusement Today but those polls are not exactly objective. Does Cedar Point do well every year? Sure. But, let's be honest...when Magnum and MF are drawing people to the park the other rides are going to benefit...as is the park in general. If a great majority of the responders to the poll live in the midwest then in all liklihood Cedar Point has been the oft-visited park.

I don't care what kind of terrain Kennywood has. Considering the age of those coasters and the lack of technology (computers) used in design and build you would expect any of today's coasters to be "better" than yesterday's but the reality is not the case. I think the idea for Mean Streak was to build a big ride...not necessarily a good ride. They succeeded in building a big ride.

And, you might say the same for TTD. Is it a big coaster? Yes. Is it a good coaster? I don't think so. It is a pretty exhilarting experience but I don't think it makes a good coaster at all.

What else could they have done without paying 45-60 milllion dollars. It would have put the park in a great deal of debt. I'm sure if SF would have built this ride first, and the technoloy was proven to work efficiently, they would have built more to the ride than they did. They were the first once again, and it is still on the top ten roller coaster list. When it was first built it was just the thrill of going that high, but if you look at the reaction from EVERY train when waiting in line, you tell me it isn't a good coaster. Just because it is a short ride, doesn't mean it isn't a GREAT roller coaster.

O and What is the problem with those ratings? Millenium force would easily be Number 1 if they were'nt being objective!!

TTC...I don't think you can cry poverty about the lack of design elements in TTD. 45-60 million is nothing compared to the $1 billion they paid to buy the Paramount chain. But, that isn't apples vs apples and I understand that.

To me, TTD stands as one of the most obvious examples of a man flashing his package for attention. "That ain't a coaster...THIS is a coaster."

Don't get me wrong...TTD is quite the experience and I'm glad I rode it. But, I don't put it on my list of top 20 roller coasters.

I'll meet you half way...it is a GREAT ride...but it isn't a great roller coaster.

I'm gonna go with Chief on this one. TTD is a great thrill ride, but it is a mediocre AT BEST roller coaster.

TTC brings a level of blind fanboyism we haven't seen in awhile. And he's quickly becoming a whipping boy for it. :)

Dragster was a mistake. I'm not convinced the expense involved with maintaining it and just getting it to run regularly was worth it in the long run. The park's attendance was not permanently boosted by it, or even temporarily. If it didn't exist, I don't think the park would be any less successful.

The truth is, I haven't been on the ride since 2005, and frankly I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

I agree. TTD has fallen off my 'must-ride' list for any given trip. I'll put in a few rides a season, just because it's there or because other people I'm with want to ride it, but when I don't ride it I don't feel like I'm missing anything. It's a one trick pony, and an awfully brief one at that.

If TTD were yanked out of the park (not suggesting it's going to happen), it wouldn't bother me terribly, except in so far as it might increase waits for MF, Maverick and Magnum.

Yeah, TTD's best "element" is that it keeps a lot of people busy while I'm off riding better stuff. :)

IMO
taller/faster + steel = good (MF, TTD, 200ft+ B&Ms)
but not necessary anymore (mav, fahrenheit)

Taller/faster + wood = terrible (MS & SOB)

There's a 1 foot difference between the first drops on Mean Streak and Voyage.