Specific Type: Wooden
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Cedar Point in the late 1980’s began to turn into THE premier park for thrill seekers. Adding coasters such as Corkscrew as the first triple inverting coaster, Gemini as the world's tallest and fastest racing coaster (at that time), Avalanche Run (now Disaster Transport) as Ohio’s first bobsled coaster, Iron Dragon as Ohio’s only suspended coaster (at that time), followed by Magnum XL 200 being the first hyper coaster and the second coaster to top the 200 foot barrier, and lastly, a re-theme of Avalanche Run into Disaster Transport.
In 1990, Cedar Point seemed to be lacking in only one major area--a colossal wooden coaster. The only wooden coaster at that time was Blue Streak, until Cedar Point contacted the Dinn Corporation to build a wooden coaster. The Dinn Corporation is known in the industry for designing world class wooden coasters such as Dorney Park’s defunct wooden coasterHercules and Six Flags America's Wild One, originally Giant Coaster at Paragon Park. Work on Mean Streak began in 1990 when giant wooden supports of freshly cut and treated southern pine tree rose up. At the time, Mean Streak was the world’s tallest and fastest wooden coaster, though all that would change one decade later when another giant woodie took shape in Ohio, King's Island's Son of Beast Mean Streak is located in the back of the park in the area known as Frontiertown. Its massive structure towers over 161 feet, with more than one mile of wooden track. Mean Streaktravels at lightning-fast speeds of sixty-five miles per hour, living up to its name. As thrill-seekers exit the massive queuing ares, and make their way through the station to the trains, they are seated two across in one of the fourteen-rowed trains. You turn around out of the station and up into the lift as it pulls you up toward 161 feet in the air. Suddenly, you're at the top and your ready to streak through the course of this mean coaster, beginning with a 155-foot long first drop. Gaining speeds of up to sixty-five miles per hour, you go up a twisted turnaround that’s 123 feet high. You then go up another airtime hill after the twisted turnaround and rise up again for another turnaround. This turnaround goes around the lift hill, like the loop on Busch Gardens Africa’s Kumba. Then after the second turnaround, you head back down and up another turnaround, turning around left and into the mid course brake run to slow down one of the meanest coasters around. After the brakes, you head down another twisted drop to the left and straighten out. Then, you go up another airtime hill and dip down a little bit afterward. After the small dip, you gently rise up again into another turnaround, this time under the lift. After the fourth turnaround on this wild ride, you head up another airtime hill, followed by a turn with another airtime hill, then another turn with another dip into the first set of final brakes. You thought it was over, eh? Think again, another small dip after the first set of brakes into the next set of brakes before the station. After conquering Mean Streak, your back in the frontier themed town that is the only themed section at good old Cedar Point where you can conquer the sixteen other coasters at the park. Mean Streak today still lives up to its rank as one of the biggest wooden coasters around the world. It also remains a Cedar Point historic icon as well, including a recreation of this twisted coaster in none other than matchsticks inside Cedar Point’s Town Hall Museum. Still thrilling riders today, but not that big of a hit with enthusiasts, you can easily tell Mean Streak will stay at the Point for ages to come like its older sister wooden coaster, Blue Streak. Feeling lean and mean? Ride Mean Streak today, one wooden coaster that should never be underestimated. |
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