Mean Streak´s final year?

I'm an airtime junkie and in my opinion mean streak has never had any airtime, but I still ride it every year because there isn't a line.

I'd say that MS is a good coaster, but it's one rough ride. I have watched the POV's on it and I have rode on it. The cam on the POV's shake sometimes so bad, it makes it hard to see what's going on. I'd say just replace the track with less imperfections that's all I have to say.

A friend of mine, who happens to participate in the design and building of wooden roller coasters for a certain "new" wood coaster company, explained the roughness of Mean Streak to me the last time I hung out with him at the point.

It has a lot to do with the way the support structure is spaced. I believe that the distance between each vertical support is 12 feet, which makes the track spongy and allows it to "dip" downward causing a wave-like track around the entire ride. It's not visible, but it translates to the jackhammer effect that you feel on your back.

Becca is right when it comes to the lateral shuffling. The ride needs to be able to have enough speed to keep it pinned to the outside edge of the turn or it is going to "hunt" for something to run on and bounce back and forth.

Combine those 2 kinds of shuffling, and you've got Mean Streak.

It seems this year that they have corrected some of the issues and it has been running better, still has a way to go, but I think it's running better than the Beast as of late.

-Josh

I know woodies are tempermental and depend on weather, etc. but we had a horrible ride on the gold train yesterday. It was honestly the worst ride I've had on it in years. Shuffling, jackhammering, you name it we had it in spades.

I thought it was smoother this year and thier wasnt any trims until towards the end so that was a good thing. I will always love this ride.

I rode it over the past few weeks and didn't notice much. Then this weekend I rode it and paid close attention, and I have to say how impressed I was... not that I wasn't before. ;)

I used to love riding MS - front, back, where-ever....until..... this new seat configuration.. Now as a tall fellow, its difficult to fit in for leg room, and hip room forget it.. I can't ride it now.. it really bites, I love the coaster tho.. I do have to agree it its laterally wavy and choppy in parts.. I dont know that I would tear it down, I would revert the seats back to the originals tho.

Mean Streak is really not that bad, i dont understand why people complain about it soo much. I've had rougher rides on Gemini, Corkscrew, and Magnum. The only thing i can complain about with this ride is the fact that it really doesn't pack a punch. No air time, and the laterals aren't that great (maybe its better this year?). the trim brakes really do affect the ride, but they will never be removed. But overall, its a decent coaster that should stay for a while.

I'll agree... The rides I have taken on Gemini and Magnum lately were definitely rougher than Mean Streak. For some reason the trains on Gemini this year feel like they're "dead weight" so to speak.

I think people remember how truely horrible the ride was about five or six years ago. And it has improved quite a bit.

But i have to agree with Becca on this one. If they fix the ride and allow it to run at designed speeds the general public will notice and ridership will increase. Right now too many people know that the ride has been a dog over recent years and they have written it off. Many i bring to the park won't ride it anymore, but we are the group who will continue to ride a ride that is painful just to see if it's getting better or worse. The one thing i have to ask is that would the increased ridership be enough for CP in their mind to justify the extra investment to fix the issues.

I would say yes. Chances are that whatever needs to be done with the engineering would cost far less that dismantling and rebuilding a new coaster. A properly tuned Mean Streak would have essentially an unlimited shelf life. Period. The final year is only discussed because the ride is such a poor performer.

CP_bound said:

Has anyone noticed how awful Blue Streak feels this year? On the "out" portion of the ride I actually made the comment, "Oh no, it's Mean Streak, but it's blue!"

Blue Streak is definately rougher and slower than it has been the last few years. I was one of the few up there for Coaster Mania ERT and got 8 re-rides. It's still a lot of fun, and definately not Mean Streak rough, but it's a bit bumpier than it was.

gener said:

If they fix the ride and allow it to run at designed speeds the general public will notice and ridership will increase.

Chances are that whatever needs to be done with the engineering would cost far less that dismantling and rebuilding a new coaster. A properly tuned Mean Streak would have essentially an unlimited shelf life. Period.

From my understanding (no laughing, please ;)), the amount of regular maintenance already performed on the ride (or any woodie, for that matter) is flippin' huge. So, while it would cost CP a considerable amount to tear it down an build something new in its place, I think it would still be a cheaper long-term solution than "fixing" it and performing maintenance on it to keep it going at is original speed.

Now, having said that, I don't see CP tearing it down anytime soon. Its a coaster that tries to round-out their selection, and replacing it with anything other than a woodie would leave a noticable void in terms of selection, regardless of ridership.

Wouldn't you think that the amount of maintenance would decrease if the ride was "fixed"?

Maintenance is a cost for any ride. And if they want to eliminate the large amount of maintenance needed on a wooden coaster then they should just tear it down. If they aren't willing to do that, like you suppose, then wouldn't it make sense to re-engineer the ride and reduce the maintenance costs over the long run? Everyone wins... right?

Now perhaps someone like the Rideman has a better understanding of the situation, but assuming that 1) a better, smoother ride would increase ridership, 2)the re-engineering of the track to fix the unusually high amount of wear and tear would decrease the maintenance costs 3) CP is unwilling to remove the ride

Why wouldn't they fix it and let it run at the designed speeds?

Woodies, by nature, require a very large amount of maintenance.

Its my understanding that if MS were to run at increased speeds, it would only increase the amount of wear-and-tear on the ride, thus requiring an increased amount of maintenance.

gener said:
Wouldn't you think that the amount of maintenance would decrease if the ride was "fixed"?

Now perhaps someone like the Rideman has a better understanding of the situation, but assuming that 1) a better, smoother ride would increase ridership, 2)the re-engineering of the track to fix the unusually high amount of wear and tear would decrease the maintenance costs 3) CP is unwilling to remove the ride

Why wouldn't they fix it and let it run at the designed speeds?

Re-posting what I said.

A friend of mine, who happens to participate in the design and building of wooden roller coasters for a certain "new" wood coaster company, explained the roughness of Mean Streak to me the last time I hung out with him at the point.

It has a lot to do with the way the support structure is spaced. I believe that the distance between each vertical support is 12 feet, which makes the track spongy and allows it to "dip" downward causing a wave-like track around the entire ride. It's not visible, but it translates to the jackhammer effect that you feel on your back.

Becca is right when it comes to the lateral shuffling. The ride needs to be able to have enough speed to keep it pinned to the outside edge of the turn or it is going to "hunt" for something to run on and bounce back and forth.

Combine those 2 kinds of shuffling, and you've got Mean Streak.

It seems this year that they have corrected some of the issues and it has been running better, still has a way to go, but I think it's running better than the Beast as of late.

-Josh

That's a description of the problem I've heard from more than one person who knows what they're talking about, Josh. I've also heard from the same non-idiot folks that the cost of correcting the spongy track problem could end up being more than the ride itself so it's not worth it.

Exactly. So I guess we're just going to have to....

"deal with it"

My dad absolutely LOVES Mean Streak the way it is. That's how a lot of people feel. Ridership seems low during the slower parts of the year because everyone is of in the areas of the park where there's other stuff to do.

I think in '07, MS will see an increase in ridership, since there's going to be something else to do back that way.

-Josh

I don't think that CP will tear down MS, even though on the CP web site the amount of people riding it each year is drastically decreasing. In 2004 they had 946,947 people and in 2005 they had 888,188 people. Thats a difference of 58,759 people that are riding other rides. They won't do it because they want to please everyone and those who like MS would be ticked off.

Also the roughness of the ride isn't the only reason people aren't riding it. When you have a park with more steel coasters than any other park, the average person is going to ride at a steel coaster before a woodie. You get the people with the short attention span and they are going to ride a steel coaster because of it's pretty colored paint job.

You have to look at rides given relative to some sort of attendance measure. For instance, when you look at the total rides given by MS, MF, Maggie & Raptor, and calculate the percentage of those total rides that were given by MS, here's what you get:

1. 2000 = 16.4%
2. 2001 = 14.8%
3. 2002 = 15.0%
4. 2003 = 14.5%
5. 2004 = 14.3%
6. 2005 = 14.7%

With the exception of 2000, there has been very little deviation.
*** Edited 6/7/2006 5:58:04 PM UTC by djDaemon***

OK I get what your saying. That would effect it. :)