Mean Streak, next to go??

Augustmueller said:

And comparing a kiddy ride to a major coaster means that you don't understand.

Disagree. He was making the point that, regardless of the type of ride, the majority of the park's guests don't ride the ride. Popularity based on anecdotal, intermittent observations of guests who dislike a ride just are not the metric the company uses to decide which rides stay or go.

As long as Mean Streak meets the metrics the park does use to judge a ride's value, and, as long as Cedar Fair has no better use for the space, Mean Streak will remain where it is.

Shane Denmark said:

Is Mean Streak popular? Sure, people ride it. But do they return to it?

Whether they ride again doesn't really matter. Let's say park management has determined that Mean Streak needs to attract 118 riders per hour. They don't care if that's 118 people riding once, 29 people riding four times or one Mean Streak fan riding 118 times.

CPGuru said:

When parts become obsolete and maintenance costs outweigh the benefits of keeping a ride, the ride must come down.

BlueStreak must have some very common parts...I love that ride. I don't think it gets the credit it deserves!

Blue Streak has always been and always will be my favorite ride in the park. Nothing compares to a ride on Blue Streak on a summer afternoon as the sun sets over the bay.

Tony said at No Coaster a few years back that with WildCat and Fascination, one of the considerations leading to their removals was that the manufacturers no longer sold replacement parts (WildCat) or no longer existed (Fascination), and the park's machine shop had to manufacture the individual parts.

Judging a ride on "repeat or return" riders is kind of arbitrary considering on most visits to the park I generally only ride rides once each visit. Except for maybe MF and Raptor that tend to get repeat rides. For me, who visits enough I refuse to ever buy fastlane, at Point I refuse to wait for Maverick more then once. Magnum beats the hell out of me so I ride it once, GateKeeper bores me to death so I ride it once.

However, rides like Mean Streak and Corkscrew have been downgraded to usually 1 spin a season, I dislike them that much and ride them for the sake of riding them... cause to me, any given season these rides could be gone.

Other then your fastlane crowd or mega fans of any individual ride I would care to guess that a majority of park visits on any given day only ride attractions once per visit.

Essentially I think the only real numbers us as a fandom can look at are the yearly numbers that Tony posts, which I don't think he posted a 2015 list. And even then we don't know the magical formula that puts an attraction on the removal list. But with a ride as new as StR being removed I can safely assume the Ouimet formula is not as complicated as the Kinzel era formula.

WolfBobs said:

... I dislike them that much and ride them for the sake of riding them...

I'm sorry, but that makes no sense to me. Why do something you dislike?

I'm making the point that MS is not a popular ride. That's all. I'm not concerned with business models and metrics. I'm not concerned if the ride stays, goes, gets redesigned, or nothing at all. I'm just providing my personal observations and opinion.

Augustmueller said:

I'm making the point that MS is not a popular ride. That's all.

It doesn't have to be a popular ride. It just needs to be a ride that meets the park's metrics. Based on my anecdotal (which seems to be your metric for a ride's popularity) observations, Mean Streak is more popular than Snoopy's Deep Sea Divers; should that ride be removed from the park since it doesn't meet your definition of popular?

I'm not concerned with business models and metrics.

Fortunately for we enthusiasts, Cedar Fair is concerned with business models and metrics.

It doesn't have to be a popular ride. You're correct. And I will continue to visit the park and never ride MS, CCMR, Snoopy's deep sea divers, and countless other attractions.

At least that will make those lines shorter ;)

campfreak06 said:

CPGuru said:

When parts become obsolete and maintenance costs outweigh the benefits of keeping a ride, the ride must come down.

BlueStreak must have some very common parts...I love that ride. I don't think it gets the credit it deserves!

Thankfully PTC still exists to care for roller coasters like BlueStreak. Unfortunately for Iron Dragon, Arrow went out of business and suspended coasters have been dropping like flies. I believe there are around a dozen left, down from 50 or so at their peak.

Hopefully CF can keep The Bat going for years, that suspended ride is intense (if short) and so much better than Iron Dragon. I'd say ship the parts to King's Island where they can provide some thrills.

That said, I do see the appeal of ID as a mild coaster for young an old alike that are afraid of more intense coasters. So a replacement may have to come first before parting it out for KI. :)

It dawned on me today. Something that I hadn't thought about, maybe ever. Our final middle school "ski trip" was always at CP. long before the Internet, the ACE quarterly kept me informed about the world and there was one thing on my mind in 1992. MEAN STREAK. we literally ran the length of the park to get in line. This was my very first visit to the point, and MS was incredible! I do care about MS after all. I just wish better for it.
Wood has its limits and if anyone understands this, it's certainly cedar fair. There are undoubtedly plans for MS future, here's to hoping that it's run inducing!

I would cry the day they take out Iron Dragon. I lost my coaster virginity to her!

noggin said:

WolfBobs said:

... I dislike them that much and ride them for the sake of riding them...

I'm sorry, but that makes no sense to me. Why do something you dislike?

It may sound ridiculous but after missing the closing of GL due to living out of state at the time I don't want to miss the opportunity to ride something at least once per season while I can. Which is why I usually do 1 spin on some rides each season.. if anything I can always say "yep.. still don't like it." And like I said in the part of the statement you didn't quote, in my opinion said rides could be removed at any given time. Kinda like eating a food you know you hate, but decided to give it a go every once and a while to see if your taste buds change. lol

And about Arrow suspended coasters. Only 10 were ever built according to RCDB (not 50 as stated above) and of those only 5 are still operating. http://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=2&mo=8300

Okay... doesn't really make sense to me, doing things you know you don't enjoy, but if it makes you happy, all good.

As far as not being able to get parts for the Wildcat, they must not have tried very hard. Anton's son Wieland supplies parts for all of his father's rides

http://www.vdv.org/english/inhalt_mitglieder_schwarzkopf.htm

Plain and simple they just needed the space

I would be very sad if Iron Dragon was taken out. What could possibly replace it that would fit the area as well as ID does? I don't foresee it being taken out within at least 5-10 years. I could definitely see MS or Corkscrew going first.

^^ I could see a larger version of FireChaser Express from Dollywood easily replacing ID using the same amount of land and pretty much following ID's path around the lagoon. By larger I mean length wise to accommodate a 3rd and maybe 4th train for capacity, not height or height restriction. This would also serve as a larger family attraction having a 39" height requirement, 39-48" must ride with an adult.

I could also see a Mack Spinner like Cobra's Curse taking residence where ID currently is. However, I think back where StR was would make more sense. Which also has a minimum height requirement of just 42". These would be wonderful additions and help round out the coaster collection by offering new family friendly experiences.

Personally, I do hope ID stays for a long time.

I get exactly what Wolf Bobs is saying. There are coasters I don't particularly care for, but will still give them a courtesy lap once or twice a season. Both for the "might as well, it's here" and the "just in case next time it isn't here" factor.

Chris49 said:

Campfreak06, enough with the sexual innuendos already.

Fine...I deleted that ONE post. But you imply there are more. Let me know where they are and I will delete them as well....And if you think the Iron Dragon Coaster Virginity post is sexual innuendo, then you need to ask your 3rd grade teacher to block you from this page.