Mean Streak's drop trims currently open...

I rode it Sunday as well. First half was very good. Second half....ehhhh.

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Scott W. Short
mailto:scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

I was not meaning our MS discussion directly caused the trims to open. :) I thought I saw mention here that CP officials have been known to read through this board? Maybe not. Anyways, I guess I was speaking from my own beliefs...if I had authority for MS decisions, and I saw people not only complaining, but talking of tearing the ride down, I'd do something about MS immediately. I just thought it was odd that I haven't had a trim-free ride for years on the first hill, and now they're suddenly open. I hope CP is experimenting.

About turnstile counts...I've seen this so many times here, and here's what I think. Turnstile counts have very little to do with the quality of rides; they are a measure of capacity. If turnstile counts were a measure of quality, Gemini would be CP's best ride by a large margin. A ride at CP could have a 2-minute wait the entire year, and it'd be running at maximum capacity. All I'm saying is that I doubt turnstile counts reflect opinions of MS. Complaints/reviews/personal judgements are reflections of the ride's quality.

Oh, and about steel reinforcements...I didn't mean cables; I'm talking about full-structure steel supports. I know I've seen them on wooden coasters before; does Mean Streak have them?

Also, why are brakes placed on a down-hill in the first place? It seems like a terrible decision (Mantis also). If CP was trying to minimize maintenance on the first bank, couldn't the brakes be placed on the way up, and be more effective?

Mean Streak has a wood structure with a lot of steel reinforcement in places. You are probably thinking of wood coasters that have a steel structure, like Villain at SFWoA.

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I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

What Mean Streak has a lot of is steel cladding on the ledgers. That is, the wood beam has steel plate bolted to it on one side. Oddly enough, the two crossbeams in my garage are built the same way, but with more bolts. :)

(No, I didn't build the garage...it was like that when I bought it.)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Mean Streak has a very interesting controlling system that measures the weight of the train when it is going up the hill and the speed at which it is going. So if the trim brakes don’t come one during the first hill of the rest of the ride is because you are on a light train and it needs to keep the speed of the train up so it does not roll back. And yes maybe you did just get a nice no trim ride but I don’t think so it is all up to the computer.
*** This post was edited by skyrideman 9/24/2003 11:20:28 AM ***

It doesn't weigh the train. What it does is to monitor the speed on consecutive trains. So the best way to get a fast ride on Mean Streak under normal conditions is to be on the first three fully-loaded trains after a bunch of empty or lightly-loaded trains.

The control system takes into account the wind, the recent history of train speeds, and the fact that there are usually three trains on the track. And who knows what else that I haven't heard about... :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

And they remain open still this weekend! What a ride!

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Blue people fly sideways when it rains....

Wow, I actually enjoyed Mean Streak. I think that the talk about the brakes being there to keep the ride less intense is completely stupid. The rough part is following the mid-course brake, so the drop trims don't really make a difference on intensity

I was very pleasantly suprirsed with my MS ride on 9/27. Even the dreaded mid-course did not grab as hard as usual, and the second half was also fun.

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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.

I actually bumped MS up my rankings this year to compensate for the trimless ride last (Saturday) night.

Now, if they would only make the final turn into a tunnel...

Well I rode it on 9/27 in the 2nd row and thought it was just awful! It vibrated so much it may have loosened some fillings. I know my back was no better for it. I actually liked it better with the brakes.

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tambo

The trick, tambo, is to ride sitting forward and relaxed...letting all the shaking go through your bottom.

I certainly hope it's running trimless on the 10th. It's been SO long since I've had an all out, "mean" streak ride.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm

I did assume the DRP and it was still like sitting on top of a jackhammer! I did like it when it first opened wide open, but Sunday for me at least, it was horrible.

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tambo

I made an exception and rode MS when I started hearing about trims being turned off on the first drop. What a ride!! (I never got to ride it during the trimless year or two.) The second half of the ride (after the midcourse brakes) still left way too much to be desired. We rode in the second to last row, relaxed, back not against the seat, and came off uninjured and actually debating a re-ride. I'd still love to ride the whole ride without the trims, etc. It's got so much potential...

Laura

(who may actually rethink suggesting they find another use for the MS land if they would fix it so that the trims could go away and some airtime would actually occur.)
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Awww, bad day? Take a different perspective on things. Try upside down, a barrel roll, a cobra roll or a corkscrew. Life can't be all that bad when your feet are over your head!

I rode it trimless twice during the day last Saturday. Once in back, once in front. Amazing ride, the first half anyway. I was a little confused because I rode again at about 9:30 that night, and the trims were on. The barely grabbed us, but it made a noticeable difference. Can anybody confirm that they were still off on Sunday?

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-Chris Woodard
Friday, September 18th, 2003 at 10:10 PM. It finally happened. Rollback on Dragster in the front seat of the gold train!

I think there's always going to be a groups of haters surrounding every wooden coaster. Some people expect all roller coasters to be as smooth as MF, and MS is obviously not going to meet that criteria.

I have yet to ride a wooden roller coaster that doesn't have the shakiness; that's a characteristic that defines the breed.

Last Friday, I rode Raptor, TTD, MF, Power Tower, Wicked Twister, and others, and I was craving a ride on Mean Streak. They were all fun, but so perfect. I wanted that traditional, rickety, loud ride for a change. Mean Streak's actual motion is very smooth, so those that complain should probably stick to the steel breed, expecially if the shakiness causes pain.

Has Mean Streak become more shaky over the years? I don't seem to remember much complaining its opening season. I haven't noticed a drastic difference; I just know that the trims have ruined the ride.

MS's problem isn't that it's rough. It's that (with the trims on) it's boring.

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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.

MS's problem is that it rough and boring. I have ridden plenty of "rough" roller coasters that shake you around with laterals and air-time (Legend, Raven, Cornball, Hoosier Hurricane) and those that just flat out beat you, in a good way (Beast, LoCoSuM, CI Cyclone), heck I even enjoyed SOB, but MS has a constant vibration with or without the 1st hill trims that seems to shake me to the core and that makes it a pain in the neck, and back, and kidneys....well you get the idea.

I know people love MS, and that's great, but to me it is no longer on my "ride" list.

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tambo
*** This post was edited by tambo 10/3/2003 9:20:38 AM ***

Trims were on last night, but I'm not sure how long as I only had one ride.

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HW 2K3: 3

When I went down the first hill Sunday afternoon...you sure could feel the trims on going down the hill.