BigBad

I've not ridden any of those, but I don't think those would be among my favorites. Taron could be, but that's because of how amazing people say it is, not because I'm particularly impressed. It looks fun, but not Fury or El Toro. (If I ever get to ride it, though, or any of the others you've listed, I'd be very happy to be wrong. I didn't think Knoebels' Phoenix looked impressive. Then I rode it, and it possibly could beat El Toro for my top wood coaster spot.) I don't think a 400ft top hat and then more stuff is necessary for a great launched coaster, though. Lightning Rod appears to have gotten it right. Storm Runner could have been longer if Hershey had wanted to make the kind of coaster that takes $20-25 million (the price of Ka and Dragster), not the $12.5 million listed on Wikipedia for Storm Runner.

With a launch, parks seem to build less interesting layouts. Consider Dragster. All it does is shoot up a top hat. It's fun, certainly, but there's not much to the layout. Compare that to Millennium Force, which has a long ride of smooth turns and hills. From situations like this, I have to conclude that a lifted coaster is more likely to appeal to me. Where I start to doubt this is with a ride like Maverick. This coaster is enjoyed because of it's tight turns and strong forces, right? The launch in the tunnel is fun, but we wouldn't feel like something were missing if Intamin had designed it to climb a second lift hill there and then drop down into the rest of the layout. If Intamin's plan for Dragster had been to chain or cable lift a train to the top and then drop down into a brake run, that would be missing something. So I think what I'd like to see is a launch into an interesting layout. I don't particularly care about climbing up a lift hill. Maybe the ideal would be an Intamin cable launch like Dragster/Ka up a hill that leads to a layout like the hypers and gigas that I like. This is part of why Lightning Rod appeals to me so much. (I have yet to ride.) The launch should be fun, but if the lift were made taller so that the drop reached the same speed at the bottom, the rest of the ride would be fun and still contend for the top wooden coaster in the world. And maybe the launch is really forceful. I'd be pretty happy to feel Dragster-style acceleration before going into an awesome layout.

How do the restraints on Taron compare to Skyrush? Both use overhead lap bars, and I can confirm that the ones on Skyrush are far from pleasant, but I've heard a lot of good about Mack's overhead lap bars that I'm wondering what improvements Intamin has made since 2012.

Could Toro even run in winter temperatures? I've heard rumors that it barely makes it through the layout when it's chilly, so I could imagine it stalling in 20-degree weather.

Are the overhead lap bars on Taron (or even Flying Aces) thought to be better than the ones on Skyrush?

I have yet to ride, but the launch isn't what made me think this would be the best wooden coaster in the world. It's the rest of the layout, particularly the quad down. If the speed as the train crests the top could be the same with a more traditional lift, then I wouldn't think any less of the coaster. A cable lift is unlikely to happen, though. Intamin would build it, agreed? Well why not have Intamin do LSM? The launched Intamin in Spain is LSM even though it looks like Dragster and Ka. That appears to be the preferred way of doing a launch. (Some of us think Intamin should have built the LSM from the beginning...)

I don't like Twisted Streak as a name. Actually, it's kind of cute, but "twisted" has been used on an RMC. Taken conversion name adjectives: Twisted (Colossus) Wicked (Cyclone) Iron (Rattler) New (Texas Giant) I'd like Cedar Point to be more creative. "Evil Streak" got mentioned in a NoLimits video's comments, and I've kind of liked the name since I saw it.

Would those for sure be the track and not the cross ties? I was hoping the Mean Streak conversion would be to topper track to keep the ride a wood coaster.

I wouldn't be one bit surprised if they go for a wooden hyper. Adding 40 feet seems fine. Another thought is that they could go underground to get the hyper-length drop, but I think that might be difficult that close to the lake.

The point could be to get that area to have a lot of traffic. If it isn't crowded now, it will be when an RMC opens, and then the area could have additional attractions over the next few years.

Could it be that they're removing Mean Streak and just building an RMC coaster in its place?

The first drop is awesome in the back row, but that's one moment on an entire coaster, and just for two people. It's hardly world class, and I wouldn't want Intamin to spend time building something like that at the expense of another Skyrush or Millennium Force.

I don't like the idea. RMC is a young company that builds world-class rides. I wouldn't want their time being taken up by a "family" coaster. What I do like is the idea of having a coaster that looks like a mine train in terms of appearance, but is certainly not a mine train in terms of intensity. RMC certainly could handle the layout, though I'm not sure that their current track styles look "mine train" enough.

The ride is called Maverick and set in the Old West. You should have had your bandana covering your mouth!

Don't we know that Cedar Fair is announcing the Mean Streak plan when the ride closes Friday?

I think the point is that Geauga Lake was supposed to be a big park but has gone out of business.

They said all I need is my confirmation code. I'd like to think that they'll also ask for my ID.

I think there about zero chance of RMC coming the Kennywood, let alone doing an Iron Horse conversion, but I'm not sure that I'd oppose an Iron Horse. Think about this: if the Jack Rabbit's double dip gets that kind of air and was built in 1921, what do you think Schilke could do?

Do I need a printed ticket, or would the link in the emailed receipt be enough?

A wooden coaster looks like this: Nothing says that a wooden coaster must look like this, but I prefer this look to what RMC does with the appearance. As for quality of ride, RMC does excellent work.

"The plot thickens" isn't nearly strong enough. I read the post again. He said he did this when he was 26. Jill was about to start ninth grade.

That girl with the pigtails was there with me...

I'd like to add rotation in the yaw axis to something like Falcon's Fury (though I have yet to ride) as well as invert riders. With riders facing out, vehicles slowly ascend up the tower before their immediate release at the top. This fall is aided to give ejector air rather than just zero-G floater. After falling, a high-G launch shoots vehicles up the tower. The acceleration ends to send the vehicles on a gravity-controlled ballistic trajectory that almost reaches the top. As vehicles near the top, the seats on each side turn 180 degrees in both yaw and pitch, completing a twisting front flip. Vehicles then descend at the speed of gravity with riders inverted but still facing out, now upside down and weightless. A pitch forward of 90 degrees puts riders supine for the high-G brake (for on-your-back Gs that you get on flying coasters). Once vehicles stop at the platform, the seats pitch and yaw back to their original position.

I was joking around. The calculation I ran gives me a 1.4mph difference between starting the drop at 5mph versus 15mph, and I've not even accounted for friction or air resistance.

Why would they not run it at full speed? Maybe that's what happened last year when I went there and thought the air was not quite what it used to be. (I had also ridden Skyrush a few weeks earlier.)