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Cedar Point: Mean Streak Roller Coaster Set To Close In September

By Sandra Johnson
Published on: 04:29 PST, Aug 1, 2016

If Cedar Point’s Mean Streak is one of your favorite roller coasters, you might want to hit up the amusement park before Mean Streak is gone. On Monday, Cedar Point announced that Mean Streak will stop running “forever” on September 16, 2016.

The park made the announcement via their YouTube page, where in the video a lumberjack can be seen hacking away at Mean Streak with an ax.

The video was captioned simply, “We’re saying goodbye to the park’s massive wooden thriller. Get your last rides in before it’s too late!”

According to Jason McClure, the vice president and general manager of Cedar Point, Mean Streak has to close in order to make way for other, newer attractions.

“Mean Streak has, and always will be a significant part of our roller coaster legacy at Cedar Point. But we have our sights set on the future of FrontierTown, and unfortunately, that means Mean Streak has to leave our lineup of world-class attractions.”

When Mean Streak opened at Cedar Point in 1991, it was the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. The coaster, which stood 161 feet tall, reached speeds of 65 miles per hour.

In the 25 years since, Mean Streak has become a favorite mainstay of the park — due in part to its short lines — and some fans were sad to hear of the news that Cedar Point is closing the ride. Although park officials have made it known that the ride will no longer be in operation, they declined to say whether the ride would be torn down.

The lack of a definitive answer regarding a tear-down has some hoping that Mean Streak will be incorporated into FrontierTown in one way or another.

In recent years, rumors have run rampant that Cedar Point could partner with Rocky Mountain Construction, a company that has made its name remaking wooden roller coasters into steel-wooden hybrids. The potential partnership, which fans on social media have been rallying for, would allow Cedar Point to keep Mean Streak’s original form while potentially making hills higher or curves tighter, according to Cleveland.com. Additionally, the steel track would allow the ride to be smoother.

That’s what Jeff Putz, the co-founder of Cedar Point fan site PointBuzz, believes Cedar Point will do with Mean Streak, he told Cleveland.com.

“I can’t imagine they’ll just tear it out and start over.”

The final Mean Streak rides are scheduled to take place from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on September 16, which is the opening weekend of Cedar Point’s HalloWeekends. After the final rides, a memorial ceremony and procession from FrontierTown will take place at 7:30 p.m., according to a press release.

“The coaster will lie in repose before burial so guests may see him for the last time,” Cedar Point’s Mean Streak press release reads.

Cedar Point has always been on the breaking edge of roller coasters, and in recent years, park officials have worked hard to make sure they give fans what they want. In 2014, for example, Cedar Point closed the Mantis, a standup roller coaster that was no longer a favorite among fans. In its place, Cedar Point opened a floorless roller coaster called Rougarou int he spring of 2015. Rougarou used the same tracks as the Mantis, but incorporated new train cars, according to Cleveland.com.

Will you be sad to see Cedar Point’s Mean Streak go? Was it among your favorite rides? Why or why not?

[Image via CedarPoint/Instagram]

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