Mean Streak's roughness vs other woodies

Here's a question for the better-traveled enthusiasts on here, how does the roughness and bumpiness of Mean Streak compare to other wood coasters in this country? Just kind of curious since school hasn't let me travel as much as I would like to, and the only other wooden coasters I've gotten to ride besides Blue Streak & Mean Streak are the two at Michigan's Adventure.

I'm mostly curious how it stacks up versus the Beast; I'm going to Kings Island later this summer and it'd be useful to have a decent idea of what to expect in comparison to a ride I've just recently ridden.

Every time I walk away from Mean Streak I find myself wishing there was either a chiropractor or a massage therapist waiting at the bottom of the exit. The Beast has a few rough spots but overall is a much more enjoyable experience.

The beast: The wait for the front seat is worth it, also you must ride it again at night. It's amazing.

I've ridden rougher. Then again, I like it rough, so I enjoy them. The only ride I rode once and never again due to roughness was Son of Beast.

Williams Grove Cyclone I remember being brutal. (I also remember ascending the lift hill, looking down and seeing a park employee hammering a nail into the support structure....)

For me anytime a wooden coaster train has three rows per car, I always sit in the middle seat. It's a much better ride, as when you sit over a wheel you feel every bump. Then with the wooden coasters that only sit four to a car like Mean Streak, the front seat will always be the smoothest out of the rest of the train. Remember riding the Voyage when it was brand new, you could sit in any seat and it was a pretty smooth ride. Even in the back. Then the next that was not the case, I can only ride that in the front seat.

Kind of the same thing with Son of Beast, when it first open it was ok smooth. Next year it was totally different, remember the lap bar left yellow and black bruises on my thigh muscles. I would say Son of Beast would have been the roughness wooden coast I've ever been on.

I like the Beast, I'm not as a big fan of it as others though. Of course it's much better than Mean Streak in my opinion and like others have said, sit in the very front. Wood coaster heaven for me is Phoenix at Knoebels and Ravine Flyer 2 at Waldameer. They are much smoother than MS, plus alot more fun.

i don't think Mean Streak is that bad, Timberwolf at WOF is bad. Hades was also bad, not sure about Hades 360 though. Finally Wildcat at Hershey can be bad... i feel like all the attention in maintaining there wooden coasters goes to the Lightning Racer anyway

There's nothing as bad as Mean Streak, except maybe Son Of Beast - my family cheered a few years ago when SOB was leveled, and wish the fire on Mean Streak a few years ago would have burned that space waster to the ground.

The Beast on the other hand, we all love. Sit towards the front (2nd car is our fave). The only part that is pretty rough is the double helix after the 2nd lift hill at very end of ride. When approaching that tunnel, I try to brace myself, but usually wind up with a bruise on my arm. Worth it though - great ride!

Personally the worst woody I've ridded was Gwazi toward the end of its life. On the rough side yes, but I actually like Mean Streak. I'll ride it 2 or 3 times in a row.

I rode The Beast Last week for the first time and was impresses with how smooth it was for a woody. Couldn't tell you what the best seat is, but even in the back it was a good ride. A night ride on The Beast is nothing short of Awesome!

CCI coasters do not age well, and it appears that nothing short of a complete re tracking does any good and even with that is only a short term fix. When Ghostrider opened at Knotts it was a world class ride. Now it's to the point that I won't ride it at all. It's brutal, and these old bones just won't tolerate that degree of pounding anymore. There has been a fair amount of discussion why this is, and ultimately it seems to point to the type of wood that CCI used on their rides don't have the same aging properties as wood that was used in the old school rides.

To be fair, there have been a lot of subtle changes about the way they build them over time, carrying on into the Gravity Group era. I'm not an engineer, so I don't pretend to understand them, but they've been explained to me by engineers. When you combine that with a good maintenance team, I think they can be pretty durable rides. I thought The Voyage ran really well this year, even after the turn around's re-do a few years back.

Was stuck behind a train off-load on Friday, so we were the first train out afterwards. The drop trims were indeed turned off for that run. I can't say I really noticed the extra speed, but was neat regardless.

When I was at the park Friday, Mean Streak only seemed to be running one train. That was after a storm so maybe they wait for the tracks to dry before putting more trains on?

Also, that was probably the roughest ride I have ever had on it. It was terrible. Beautiful structure but not so good ride!

I thought it was running rougher than usual last Tuesday. It wasn't a pleasant ride and I normally enjoy it.

noggin said:

I've ridden rougher. Then again, I like it rough, so I enjoy them. The only ride I rode once and never again due to roughness was Son of Beast.

^ That's what she said! I agree though noggin, Son Of Beast was the worst wooden roller coaster I have ever ridden. Now that Son of Beast is no more, I have to say that Hurler at Kings Dominion is the worst.

You haven't been on Ghostrider yet, have you.........

I haven't made it to the West coast since 2004 either. Is Ghostrider really that bad? I thought that wooden roller coaster was on the Travel Channel in the past for being one of the best?

I personally think Racer at KI is rougher than Mean Streak but to me still rideable. To me the worst is Wilde Beast at Canada's Wonderland. It's on my very short list of coasters that I'll never ride again, the only other being SkyRush at Hershey.