Mean Streak´s final year?

It's between Intamin or Gravity Group. Intamin's look nice and give a great ride, they also feature cable lifts, so I'm guessing they'll fit in small places, BUT... If you've been paying attention to the news for the past 6-9 months, that ride called "The Voyage" has really turned the heads of all coaster fans everywhere. This thing was one of those rare rides that looked like a winner long before anyone even got on it. With all the reviews so far, it seems as though it has secured its place in #1 for a while. If only I could get to Indiana. :)

With all that said, I don't think this is the end of Mean Streak for a while. Maybe 10 years or so, but not in the near future.

*** Edited 5/29/2006 1:49:57 AM UTC by Gomez***

For as much as everyone knocks on it, I really like Mean Streak. Sure it might not be the fastest, tallest, or smoothest, but I really enjoy the ride. I would not be happy to see it go anytime soon.

Front seat at night will make you like it no matter what.

Well, I was in Indiana this weekend and rode The Voyage seven times, and I must say....I may never ride the Mean Streak again. The Voyage is an all-around amazing ride that never lets up from the beginning. If Cedar Point were to tear down the Mean Streak and build something else wooden, I wouldn't want anyone but the Gravity Group to build it. Sure, I've got a couple bruises from the Voyage, Raven, and Legend, but it was worth it. :)

I guess that I just have a personal attachment to mean streak as my first season at cedar Point as a kid was the season mean streak opened.... been to cedar point at least once each year since... I was upset to see WWL torn down as it was built the same year I was born... its disheartening to see things that are the same age as me torn down for being too old... what does that say about me???

Jeff Young said:
Well, I was in Indiana this weekend and rode The Voyage seven times, and I must say....I may never ride the Mean Streak again.

That's like saying MF was so good, I'm never going to ride Magnum again..

What do people expect from a ride called Mean Streak? It isn't called Mr. Nice Guy people! I still say y'all need to ride The Boss before you say MS is one of the worst woodies in this country. And I still ride The Boss in spite of the pain it causes. I'm not giving up on Six Flags eventually replacing the trains with PTCs. On a cooler day the Gerstlauer trains aren't that bad even. You just expect a woodie that goes over 60mph to be rough, right? And what is going to happen to The Voyage 10 years from now. If Holiday World keeps up with the EXTENSIVE track maintenance that ride will need it is not going to be a problem, but EVERY big woodie built in the last 15 years or so deteriorated faster than the parks expected. Let's hope that doesn't happen, but I personally won't be surprised if 5 to 10 years from now people start complaining of how painful a ride on The Voyage has become. Let's not get rid of Mean Streak until it needs a nurse at the station like the Traver Cyclones did.;)

Gomez said:
Front seat at night will make you like it no matter what.

I personally think the front seat of Mean Streak is the WORST ride I've ever had on it. I know people prefer the unimpeded view, but I just did not enjoy the ride. It had too much of the speed-up/slow-down effect for me. I LOVE the back seat!
*** Edited 5/29/2006 7:21:10 AM UTC by StLCPfan***

Gomez said:

That's like saying MF was so good, I'm never going to ride Magnum again..

See, that's different. MF and Magnum are both good rides. :) Until you get to Holiday World, you may not understand. Maybe I'm just not that "cultured" in wooden roller coasters, but up until now, I didn't think it was possible to build a wooden coaster 160+ feet tall and have it actually be an enjoyable ride. No, I haven't been to Europe to ride any of the Intamin pre-fab coasters, or anywhere else that has them. All I know is that even if Mean Streak is running the best that it ever has, it will still pale in comparison to the Voyage, simply because of the "downtime" during the ride. There are many times during the Mean Streak that it just feels like you're just going along and doing nothing. This is not the case on the Voyage. The ride is relentless all the way through and does not stop until you get to the brakes. I really don't mind that much getting beat up on a wooden coaster, but I certainly don't want to be bored on a ride while doing so, like I have been many times on the Mean Streak. Then, it also seems like the times that I haven't been bored on the Mean Streak, I come off with more aches and pains then any wooden coaster I've ever ridden. Again, I don't mind being beat up, but I don't want to be beat up so much that I have to end my day at Cedar Point because I can barely move.

Well, we went back to GL again last night and I thought i'd give Villain another go.

It was actually worse last night than it was on opening day. I wasn't even going to attempt Big Dipper seeing as that it was worse than Villain.

Has anyone that's complaining about Mean Streak ridden Villain or Big Dipper at GL this year? I'm not so sure anyone would complain about it if they had.

I've rode all three this year and would have to say that the worst wooden coaster ride i've experienced would be Big Dipper with Villain not far behind from the ride yesterday. Mean Streak falls into 3rd place in my book.

What it seems like to me is that CF isn't taking care of their woodies like other parks are. There was a post a while back about how well KW's wooden coasters run and how smooth they are. The three woodies at KW were built in '21, '24 and '27. You can take the roughness from all three of those coasters and combine it and it wouldn't come close to what I experienced on Big Dipper.

KW uses grease on their tracks while CF uses a graphite composite if memory serves me correctly. While it may be more environmentally friendly and less expensive (not sure about this one, just a guess), it sure is worse for the ride experience.

It may have something to do with the grease/graphite, it may have to do with the trains themselves it may have to do with the temperature or a combination of all. I did notice on Wolf Bobs last night that it was a much less boring ride on the train from Legend than it was on one from Villain. Again, i'm not sure if this was due to weather conditions because opening day it was 55 degrees outside and they were running Villain's old train while last night it was 85 degrees and they had Legend's old train running.

No matter the case, something needs to be looked at with the wooden coasters CF is managing. This is just a thought and hopefully may shed some light on the subject, not intended to put CF down 'cause they have the best park experience hands down overall. I, personally love wooden coasters and would hate to go to a park and not want to ride any of them because I know i'll be visiting my chiropractor the next day for sure.

I don't think Mean Streak will be leaving the park any time soon. The next coaster that I think will be torn down is Disaster Transport, but that is a whole nother topic. I've ridden Mean Streak several times this season and it has been enjoyable. It is bumpy sure, but this is how it is supposed to be. Even though they might not have all the riders like MF, Magnum or Raptor, with the addition of SkyHawk and the new coaster coming in '07 more people will be in the back of the park. I think you'll see MS numbers and wait times go up in this season and more so next.

Í didn´t know it was supposed to be bumpy. I remember my first ride (and yes, I already heard it was rough), and after the first drop, I just wanted to get off. It just felt like it had triangular wheels or something. My back was sore the rest of the day and I didn´t feel like riding anything else for quite a while. My friend said something like "I think my spine just shattered..." ;) Guess I´m not into the bumpiness...

^ No, this was exactly what was felt and shared by myself also.

Unfortunately it's even worse on Villain and Big Dipper...just a warning.

Wolf Bobs isn't so bad now that it's all retracked, just hope they're running Legend's old train.

It was pretty rough yesterday, but I kinda doubt they'll bring it down soon. I think maybe they could change the trains rather thann retrack it. I know hypersonic SLC has pneumatic tires and a suspension system. maybe they could make somethin like that for the ride.

Screamomatic said:

All they need to do is retrack the entire ride, and it'll make it smoother, and get rid of the trims on the first drop...

The trims are there to protect the ride so it does not tear up the wood.

Predator at SFDL is amazing... So much more thrilling. No, im not joking. Then again, ive never rode it anywhere but the front. I learned from the old RWB days @ GL...

I think it would benifit and only gain profits if MS was torn down. If they did, they could build a new GCI twister or such for 4-8 million or so (Not sure of the going rate) and instead of putting in 500,000 in off-season maintance each year for MS, they can pull profit with both marketing and decline in maintance costs. Make's sense no?

Mean Streak is a long ride. That's one thing I like about it. I've often wondered why can't they just add a pad to the seat and the seatback. Don't you think that would help tremendously. I won't even try going in the back the way it is now.

I believe that Mean Streak is going no where. It'll stay put.

I went on MS several times when it opened, and it was relatively smooth. The second season, due to weathering or whatever, it suddenly became too much like being rolled up in a tarp and having a group of thugs beat the crap out of you with baseball bats. I didn't go on it for a few years after that, then tried it again in 99 or so and remembered why I hadn't been on it in a while. I haven't been on it again since. I think it's unfortunate that an expensive, beautiful wooden coaster is so brutal and has such short lines. Still, it contributes to their coaster count and I don't see it going anywhere. It still has a lot of value to enthusiasts. I might try it again when they open a chiropractic office at the exit.