What should Cedar Point do to improve the mean Streak or should they just give up?

Kevinj said:
...all this "special work" being done will result in the same boring, horribly paced experience...

Exactly. Good thing they got an early start! ;)

That said, it is still pretty to look at.

That's my concern with the possibility of a Texas Giant-esque makeover of MS. It may make MS infinitely more fun to ride, but the aesthetic beauty of the ride, as is, would likely be compromised with such a modification, given how radically some of the elements have been modified on TG. Given the cost, it might be a better option to just raze the site and start anew.

I concur with you there. At first glance, New Texas Giant (at least to myself) has an "odd" look to it. Then again, the ride experience may be good enough to warrant the change. As far as I know no humans have actually ridden NTG yet, correct? I know it has been testing quite a bit. I also wonder if its "look" is complete. Red-colored rails was a curious choice, IMO.

If the ride experience was as good as it looks like it could be, I personally could forgive the loss of some anesthetic appeal.

Kevinj said:
...anesthetic appeal.

Some "anesthetic" appeal may be just what Mean Streak needs! ;)

I'll just leave it unedited as a fantastic Freudian slip. While typing.

I can't remember a year when Mean Streak closed early, but it is worth noting that it's only in the last few years that the operating season extended well into October, let lone into early November. So closing early last season doesn't necessarily mean they started early, it just means they started on-time.

You may recall that the first drop brakes were added because John Pierce was brought in to "fix" Mean Streak. Pierce's "fixes" always seemed to involve raising the bottom of the first drop (Wild One, Rattler, Arkansas Twister...) and Cedar Point did not want to do that, so the brakes were added in an effort to achieve the same result. Oddly enough, the position of the brakes suggests they are intended to protect the second hill, which right now actually suffers because the train isn't going through it fast enough. Either that, or they have no idea what the brakes are supposed to be protecting, because if it was the third hill or something later in the ride, the brakes could have been installed on that short second drop.

Personally, I think they need to bring in someone who understands wood coaster dynamics and go from there. The ride might actually be salvageable, but it needs a better train design, much better ergonomic design (i.e. softer seats and no headrests) and the curves need some tweaking, either they need cut down or the banking needs to be reduced. Most of all, the brakes need to go and the ride needs to run quite a lot faster.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The Mean Streak is a very scary ride. I've only been to Cedar Point once, and I had never been on a roller coaster before that, so most of the rides that most consider not too bad are extremely scary to me.
I'm very small, and on the Mean Streak I was thrown around and after I got off the ride, I was sore. The drops are terrifying, but the ride was kind of fun.
So if they remove it from the park, I wouldn't be sad. If they keep it, I might ride it again. :)

Mean Streak is a great ride, yes it is rough and throws you around but that is what old and wood coasters do. That is the character of the ride and all wood coasters have their own personality, as I like to call it.

There's a difference between a wooden coaster that throws you around and one that beats you like a red-headed step child. Mean Streak does the latter.

I've ridden enough of the Dinn/CCI mega coasters to come to the conclusion that the technology can not accomadate the speed that they are running at. Ghostrider was a breathtaking experience the first couple of years, but it soon became such a brutal experience that my wife and I refuse to ride it. It has been acknowledged that these beasts don't age well, and no amount of retracking or reprofiling brings them back to their original state, let alone improve them. The designers had pushed the technology (which was at least 70 plus years old at the time) to the limits. There is a reason that none of the very few rides built in the past that were built to such extremes (Harry Traver's) didn't last long. They beat themselves to death, and beat the public up to the point that they ceased to make money after a few seasons. Rising maintenance costs and decreasing ticket sales sealed their fate quickly. It wouldn't surprise me that the only reasons Mean Streak is still standing is either ego, or the accountants have figured a way to keep writing it off.

I don't know if it was solely a product of the reduced train operation, but last season had some of the longest lines I've seen on MS in a long time. When I was there for Pedal to the Point, which is on an August Saturday, the line was actually into the switchbacks.

I can't even begin to imagine how you would go about determining a specific coaster's revenue worth inside a general admission park, but its presence back there (along with Maverick) probably boosts the sales of the food/beer stands around that area of the park. So, someone has probably figured out that the operation cost is worth it.

The sad fact is that Cedar Fair, as a business, isn't interested in the promotion of the arts any more than a giant record label. The Black Eyed Peas are almost objectively terrible, but people buy into it, for reasons almost as inexplicable as those that make people get back in line for Mean Streak. As long as they both run in the black, nobody will TAER DOWN either, unfortunately.

Which I guess makes Holiday World the Matador Records of theme parks, but I seriously digress...

The ridership numbers vs maintenance costs is how they determine what goes and what stays, plain and simple. The general public keeps enough seats full to justify keeping it running. As long as that happens, not much is going to change.Answered my own question. ;)

I've improved the title of this thread for you.

This topic isn't too old so I thought I'd bring it back. Since they are working on Mean Streak for the second straight year in a row, does anybody think that Mean Streak will be a better roller coaster once they fix the areas that need it? Personally, I only found it rough in a couple spots last year and think that it will be so much smoother than it was in 2011.

I don't think smoother will necessarily equal to a better ride, just that it will "ride" better in the areas that were re tracked. It's still the same layout and those trims are still there. :)

I actually like Mean Streak, I have to sit in the front row though. I find the front to be the smoothest... Well I wouldn't even say smooth. But I find riding in the front much more bearable than anywhere else on the ride. As strange at it may sound, I find it a fun ride. I wouldn't be disappointed if for some reason they decided to take it down.. That would leave A LOT of room for a coaster :) If they were to one day replace Mean Streak for another coaster, I would want it to be a wooden coaster, a nice GCI. Every amusement park needs a stand out wooden roller coaster. Right now, Mean Streak is a stand out woodie IMO, but I believe it stands out more for the painful rides and random trims. You can't really consider Blue Streak a stand out woodie either.. i believe that GCI would bring the park a great wooden coaster, and I hope than when CP does decide to add a new wooden coaster, they go with GCI. Something like Renegade... I think it's in Minnesota...?

To me, GCI is somewhat like the B&M of wooden coasters. Many large parks have one. With that said, to me riding a single GCI doesn't feel very different from another (B&M hypercoasters and standups are the same way). Don't get me wrong, GCI makes amazing rides, but pretty much all of them feature an 80-105ft drop, a couple bunny hops, few fast turns, and never go over 3500 feet in track length.

If Mean Streak were to be demolished for a much smaller wooden coaster, the ride wouldn't really stand out. However, if GCI were to bring something very different from their previous projects to Cedar Point, it would definitely be a stand out ride.

Actually this the longest of the 3 coasters they have over 3500'

4817' long

147' tall

131' drop

Is the one you are talking about the "Mountain Flyer" roller coaster in China? I totally forgot about that one.

What if Cedar Point teamed up with Gravity Group? I was thinking just in some spots where it the train turns. This way you could put some 90 degree banking turns in there. Crazy wish list I know. :)

I would love that. I haven't seen 2 of their coasters very similar in design. Plus Gravity Group isn't afraid to have large drops.