Mean Streak. What to do with it?

[Superbatboy]

When people say it's one of the worst coasters they've ever ridden I really feel like that's an exaggeration based solely on it's reputation which it only has because it's at Cedar Point.

Mean Streak really is that terrible, being stuck in a shipping crate during a 5.0 magnitude earthquake is what I can equate it to.

[CPSFMMCW]

Here's the thing. I think if CP ever does tear down Mean Streak, it would be almost pointless to say "Oh they're gonna replace it with a wood coaster." If anything, they would replace it with a steel coaster.

 

Another note. Cedar Fair has been very happy with B&M lately. And I know a lot of enthusiasts will not be happy with this, but there's a good chance the next major coaster installed at Cedar Point will be a B&M. I'm not saying RMC or GCI woodie isn't impossible, it just seems very unlikely. Not to mention, Cedar Point could easily do "most inversions on a coaster in North America" by installing an 8 inversion B&M. Not saying they'll go that route, but it seems like something Cedar Point would do (Not saying they would do that, the whole 8 inversion thing is just blind speculation. No need to take it seriously).

Heres my thing. Do we really think that Cedar Point would install another inverting steel coaster? They just got one, and it seems like they have plenty of coasters with inversions...not to mention they have practically every inversion out there, with the exception of pretzel loop. Flying coaster, anyone? That, I'd be fine with.

[Geauga Dog]

^If you look at Gatekeeper's first drop and Immelman it looks like a pretzel loop so technically they do have one.

 

As for Mean Streak I'd say let RMC do some of it's magic to the ride but keep it a wood coaster by putting topper track on it while making some radical changes to the layout like NTAG. Just because they did it to Texas Giant, Rattler, and Medusa Mexico it doesn't have to have steel Iron Horse track.

[Superbatboy]

In addition, with CPs love of breaking records, and their recent loss of a few coasters, this could allow them to take back their coaster capital title. They could break a lot of hybrid records with the new mean streak, and also claim the record for most hybrids in a park (Gemini).

I think CP already self-proclaims themself as the coaster capital even tho MM has the record. A lot like they disregarded Superman The Escape all those years claiming it was not a coaster but then included WT as part of their coaster count lol

[ajfelice]

They could break a lot of hybrid records with the new mean streak, and also claim the record for most hybrids in a park (Gemini).

 

I don't think Cedar Point or any park in the world really cares about having the most hybrid coasters in the world. The General Public wouldn't catch onto that very well either as they really don't care if a coaster is hybrid or not, or even know what hybrid is.

[coasterchitchat]

Cedar Point sends the trains to PTC every winter for rehab. The ride is OK at the beginning of the season but it just gets way rocky, shaky at the end of the season. If they tore it down, I hope they install a RMC Woodie with most inversions, tallest (200 ft but NOT like Son of Beast,) fastest, steepest wooden roller coaster in the world. I know it sound dumb, but Cedar Point loves breaking the record. Cedar Fair loves trying new stuff with Cedar Point, for example, Magnum XL-200, Raptor, Mantis, Millenmum Force, and GateKeeper. They tried those and they all successful expect for Mantis. They put the successful style coasters out at their other parks. They could do a GCI Woodie, but it just isn't that good for Cedar Point. GCI makes woodies in the 50 MPH range while Cedar Point needs a 60+ MPH woodie. If they RMC Hybired it, it's OK, and Texas Giant is similar so it would be nice, but it think they need some more wooden coasters, a QUALITY wooden coaster.

[tororific]

I agree that Cedar Point likes "record breaking" coasters, even if in subcategories. It would not be very difficult to RMC / Iron Horse Mean Streak to be the tallest, fastest "wooden" coaster in the world to take the record away from Goliath. You already have a 160ft. hill structure built -- would take much to punch that up by 26 ft. to get the tallest, longest, fastest drop. You could even go 40ft to be the only 200 ft woodie. Not sure what all the collateral consequences would be on the remainder of the ride (i.e., would be very expensive if you needed to increase all the other hills by 20-40ft feet, even with overbanks).

 

That would be an investment that I could see Cedar Point going after to get enough marketing bang-for-the-buck.

[smallpox]

I admit I haven't ridden it for a few years, but Mean Streak is my #1 least favorite coaster. Looks amazing, but the ride was just total garbage, completely devoid of fun or thrills. burn it to the ground. I don't care what goes up in its place.

 

why bother RMCing such a boring layout?? why spend all that money to turn a horrible ride into a mediocre one?

[BBH]

^Keep in mind that Mean Streak's layout is very similar to the original Texas Giant in that it's essentially one giant, undulating helix. If RMC was to throw a few more extreme elements into Meaner Streak, they could have something even more successful than NTG on their hands.

 

To be fair, I don't think it'll happen, at most topper track. Would I love to see RMC get their hands on it after riding Outlaw Run and knowing what they're capable of? Of course, but I just don't think it's likely.

[jynx242]

Question - I keep hearing that Mean Streak has a similar layout to the Original Texas Giant.

 

Did it used to be a great coaster. I rode Old Texas Giant when it was new - and it was a fantastic ride. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that Mean Streak was EVER fantastic. Just curious.

 

D.

[JonnyRCT3]

A layout re-design with topper track is the way to go!

[canadianparkfan]

I can understand that the "hybrid record" may not be worth going for, but when you think about it, parks put all sorts of crazy marketing campaigns, and make all sorts of claims. Half the time, someone who doesn't know anything about parks says that the biggest oaster in every park. or advertised on every TV commercial is the tallest and fastest in the nation/world. Hell, it even gets confusing for us enthusiasts sometimes!... For example, the goliath records... I know it's not the tallest (Colossus in Germany is), but what about the height and speed records??. It's all been pretty confusing.

 

Maybe with cedar fair seeming to be a little more reliable than SF with their claims, they wouldn't try to purposefully confuse people with the hybrid thing, but you never know... something tells me if they advertise the most of something (whether it be hybrid coasters, or coasters in general), and bill the Mean streak as the MEANER strek, or some marketing ploy like that, It might work.

 

I'm not a marketing/business expert by any means (mean... oh crap, no pun intended lol). I'm just going off of GP's reactions that I've seen, and my vague knowledge of how parks market their products. I could be completely wrong, just thought I'd put my thoughts out there though.

[JonnyRCT3]

^Which is why they should just stick with the topper track (it can do just as much as the I-BOX).

 

Mean Streak 2.0 can re-claim at it's wooden coaster records in the grand Cedar Point fashion. Easy to market.

[rcjp]

^I hadn't thought about that. When people said topper track what I imagined was the exact same layout only with new track but they could perfectly do the changes they would do with a hybrid but going for TT instead, keeping it wood. I suppose that would save a lot of money. Imagined if they made it a bit more than 30 ft taller, it could become the tallest woodie around, and that is something they could market really well. (maybe I'm going a bit too far, though)

[JRice92]

^Which is why they should just stick with the topper track (it can do just as much as the I-BOX).

 

Mean Streak 2.0 can re-claim at it's wooden coaster records in the grand Cedar Point fashion. Easy to market.

 

That's a great Idea! A total RMC redo of the coaster with topper track is an idea I can get behind. Basically I just want Cedar Point to have an awesome wood coaster back there.

[canadianparkfan]

^Which is why they should just stick with the topper track (it can do just as much as the I-BOX).

 

Mean Streak 2.0 can re-claim at it's wooden coaster records in the grand Cedar Point fashion. Easy to market.

Yeah, totally forgot what the topper track can do lol How'd I forget abou Goliath or Outlaw?!?

 

 

Just wondering, for those who've been on both outlaw run and an ibox ride, is there any noticeable differences between the two?

[GayCoasterGuy]

Question - I keep hearing that Mean Streak has a similar layout to the Original Texas Giant.

 

Did it used to be a great coaster. I rode Old Texas Giant when it was new - and it was a fantastic ride. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that Mean Streak was EVER fantastic. Just curious.

 

Here's the lowdown as I remember: Texas Giant opens at SFOT in 1990 to rave reviews. Within weeks, the ride is literally ripping itself apart. During Coaster Con 1990, cars are falling apart; one morning before ERT, a trim brake appears on the first drop. Halfway through the convention, the front of the blue train is put on the white train as car #1 of white is falling apart... you get the picture.

 

Cedar Point wants a "Texas Giant" but after hearing how the ride is ripping itself apart, they want a tamer version. Footers were already poured... So they changed to profile of the ride to have half the number of hills. TG had around 23 hills when new, MS had 12.

 

It was a great ride in 1991; fast and very smooth. The whole section from drop #3 to the mid course brake was incredible (that entire area was later tamed down). Compared to TG 1990, though, it was a baby ride.

[Superbatboy]

Question - I keep hearing that Mean Streak has a similar layout to the Original Texas Giant.

 

Did it used to be a great coaster. I rode Old Texas Giant when it was new - and it was a fantastic ride. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that Mean Streak was EVER fantastic. Just curious.

 

Here's the lowdown as I remember: Texas Giant opens at SFOT in 1990 to rave reviews. Within weeks, the ride is literally ripping itself apart. During Coaster Con 1990, cars are falling apart; one morning before ERT, a trim brake appears on the first drop. Halfway through the convention, the front of the blue train is put on the white train as car #1 of white is falling apart... you get the picture.

 

Cedar Point wants a "Texas Giant" but after hearing how the ride is ripping itself apart, they want a tamer version. Footers were already poured... So they changed to profile of the ride to have half the number of hills. TG had around 23 hills when new, MS had 12.

 

It was a great ride in 1991; fast and very smooth. The whole section from drop #3 to the mid course brake was incredible (that entire area was later tamed down). Compared to TG 1990, though, it was a baby ride.

Wow definitely makes sense now why Mean Streak is so drawn out and boring

Edited June 17, 2014 by Superbatboy

[Geauga Dog]

The first few years Mean Streak was a pretty good ride but not fantastic. I remember seeing Curtis Summers standing near the exit on opening day watching the ride and seeing the rider's reactions.

 

Even though Mean Streak looks impressive I was always in awe over how Texas Giant looked in comparison.

[ZeroGravity55]

I honestly don't think the GP cares how many wooden roller coasters the park has and nor do I. Most of them would take a steel coaster over a woodie. Even if they do put the I-Box on it, the GP will still view it has a wooden coaster, because they see wooden supports. It shouldn't even matter if it's I-Box or topper track. They can both do the same things! As long as RMC gets hold of it and does crazy things with the track, I could care less if it uses topper track or I-box track.

[JonnyRCT3]

Which is exactly why topper track would be the way to go. Throw the tallest/fastest/steepest/twistiest into any add-campaign and you'll have people's attention.

[rcjp]

^Most inversions too, maybe, as it would only have to be four.

[coasterbill]

I never liked the term "GP" because I think the way enthusiasts talk about the "GP" is ridiculously condescending. There are stupid people everywhere but they're not a representation of everyone who's not an enthusiast but that's a conversation for another thread I guess (one that we've already had).

 

In my opinion if they take a ride that's anywhere from mediocre to terrible depending on who you talk to and make it awesome they shouldn't worry about stupid marketing gimmicks. El Toro didn't have any real gimmicks (steepest drop on a wood coaster, but who cares... 99% of people riding it didn't know that since the park didn't market it anywhere near the ride) but people still love it because it's an awesome ride, the same can be said for Maverick (someone might pull a stupid gimmick out of thin air but the ride didn't hold any important records when it opened). I don't know why people are so concerned with gimmicks and classifications (like saying they really want it to be a wood coaster because the park needs X amount of wood coasters or saying the ride needs x amount of inversions so it could have more inversions than any other wood coaster). If a coaster is really good and it's in a really popular park then a ton of people will ride it and tell other people how awesome it is. Pointless marketing angles are nice but they're not necessary.

[RCjunkie]

Here's the lowdown as I remember: Texas Giant opens at SFOT in 1990 to rave reviews. Within weeks, the ride is literally ripping itself apart. During Coaster Con 1990, cars are falling apart; one morning before ERT, a trim brake appears on the first drop. Halfway through the convention, the front of the blue train is put on the white train as car #1 of white is falling apart... you get the picture.

 

Cedar Point wants a "Texas Giant" but after hearing how the ride is ripping itself apart, they want a tamer version. Footers were already poured... So they changed to profile of the ride to have half the number of hills. TG had around 23 hills when new, MS had 12.

 

It was a great ride in 1991; fast and very smooth. The whole section from drop #3 to the mid course brake was incredible (that entire area was later tamed down). Compared to TG 1990, though, it was a baby ride.

 

Thanks for the back ground story that I have never heard before. I thought the ride was terrible because the original company that built it went bankrupt before completing it and another company had to come in and finish it and that is why it turned out so bad and that also happened to SOB so I thought that was a trend. Your also the first person I have read or heard who said it actually once a good ride, when I talk to the locals they keep saying it was bad from day one. Too bad it did not stay a nice ride because it looks good......and then you ride it and find out that is not true.

[rcjp]

In my opinion if they take a ride that's anywhere from mediocre to terrible depending on who you talk to and make it awesome they shouldn't worry about stupid marketing gimmicks. El Toro didn't have any real gimmicks (steepest drop on a wood coaster, but who cares... 99% of people riding it didn't know that since the park didn't market it anywhere near the ride) but people still love it because it's an awesome ride, the same can be said for Maverick (someone might pull a stupid gimmick out of thin air but the ride didn't hold any important records when it opened). I don't know why people are so concerned with gimmicks and classifications (like saying they really want it to be a wood coaster because the park needs X amount of wood coasters or saying the ride needs x amount of inversions so it could have more inversions than any other wood coaster). If a coaster is really good and it's in a really popular park then a ton of people will ride it and tell other people how awesome it is. Pointless marketing angles are nice but they're not necessary.

Sure. They're not necessary but I suppose if a park can market a few important records (like height) it won't do any harm. Of course there is the danger that a certain coaster will focus only on setting a particular record but if you have a great ride and, on top of that, it holds some records I suppose it might draw a little more attention.