Steel Vengeance

Wooden roller coaster

Cedar Point revealed in 1990 that a new roller coaster would be built for the 1991 season. It was officially named Mean Streak on October 24, 1990.[2] Construction began two months earlier in late August 1990 with land preparation.[3] It continued through the rest of the year and spring of the following year.[4][5] Mean Streak opened with the park's seasonal debut on May 11, 1991,[6] in the Frontiertown section of the park behind one of Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad's stations.[7] The ride's media day press conference was held on May 22, 1991.[8]

Mean Streak was one of eleven roller coasters designed and manufactured by Ohio-based Dinn Corporation before the company went out of business in 1992.[9] It was a twister coaster model designed by Curtis D. Summers, and the ride cost $7.5 million to construct.[6] In September 2010, a small 5 ft section caught fire, which was quickly contained by firefighters to a small portion of the ride.[10]

Hybrid refurbishment

On August 1, 2016, Cedar Point announced that Mean Streak would offer its last rides to the public on September 16, 2016.[11][12] Park officials, however, declined to confirm that the ride was being torn down.[13] Following its closure, unconfirmed rumors emerged that the roller coaster was being refurbished by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC), a manufacturing company well known for its restoration work on existing wooden roller coasters.[14]

Cedar Point began teasing the public on the ride's future with the release of an 18-second teaser video entitled "They're Coming" on April 1, 2017. Cedar Point showed video shots briefly panning several elements of the rumored conversion.[15] Another similar video showing snippets of the new ride was released a few months later in June.[16] Three more videos were released over the summer of 2017, with catchphrases "They're rollin' in like thunder", "There's a score to settle", and "They stake their claim."[17] On August 16, 2017, Cedar Point held an official announcement for Steel Vengeance.[18] It was also announced that a virtual recreation of the ride would be made available in the PC video game, Planet Coaster.[19]

Steel Vengeance opened to the public on May 5, 2018,[20] but a minor collision between two trains forced Steel Vengeance to remain closed for most of its opening day.[21][22] The coaster resumed operation with only a single train while RMC investigated the issue and made modifications.[23][24] The ride was closed on certain weekday mornings to allow RMC to make repairs.[25] The park temporarily removed the ride from its Fast Lane Plus lineup and considered timed boarding passes as a result of its limited capacity.[23][25] Normal two-train operation resumed on June 1, 2018.[26][27]

Following an incident on Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion, where a phone hit a rider in the face during the ride, Cedar Point issued a temporary ban on cell phones when entering the ride's queue beginning in August 2018.[28][29] The ban was lifted the following season after zipper pouches were installed on the trains to safely secure loose items.[30][31] Metal detectors were installed in the queue, ensuring that all loose articles were placed in these pouches.[32] The pouches were removed in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the previous ban was reinstated.[33]

Mean Streak

After leaving the station, the Mean Streak train passed through the storage tracks and made a 180-degree turn to the right, before ascending the 161 ft lift hill. After cresting the top of the hill, the train dropped 155 ft at a 52-degree-angle, reaching a top speed of 65 mph. While dropping, riders went through a set of trim brakes on the first drop. Riders then went through a 123 ft twisted turnaround followed by a small airtime hill, and then another twisted turnaround. The train maneuvered over the lift hill and dipped down to the right. After that, the train traveled through the ride's structure and down another hill, turning to the left into the mid-course brake run. The train then dipped down to the left into another airtime hill. Riders then went through several small airtime hills and turned through the ride's structure followed by the final brake run.[40] One cycle of the ride lasted 3 minutes and 13 seconds, making it the former longest duration of any roller coaster at Cedar Point.[6][41]

When Mean Streak opened in 1991, it was the tallest wooden roller coaster in the world and featured the longest drop.[42] Upon closure in 2016, Mean Streak had the seventh tallest lift, the tenth fastest speed, the fourth longest track-length and the seventh longest drop.[43][44][45][46]

Steel Vengeance

After leaving the station, the train makes a 180-degree right turn, passes over two small bunny hills, and begins its ascent up the 205 ft chain lift hill. After cresting the top of the lift hill, the train drops 200 ft at a 90-degree angle, reaching its maximum speed of 74 mph. After this drop, the train traverses a speed hill followed by a climb into a larger airtime hill, which drops riders slightly to the right. Next, the train climbs up a left-turning, 116 ft outward-banked hill,[47] dips slightly right, and passes over a double up element, which leads to the first inversion, a zero-g roll variant.

The train dips right, passing underneath the lift hill into an overbanked turn to the right that incorporates an airtime hill, known as a wave turn, which leads into the second inversion, a zero-g stall. The train passes through the lift hill structure for a second time and dips down, entering another double up element into the mid-course brake run. This is followed by a sharp left turn into a short, steep drop that dips slightly left. The train then navigates an upward turn to the left, traverses another airtime hill, and rises once more into a slight left turn.

Next, the train enters a small drop into a high-speed overbanked left turn, which leads into the third inversion, another zero-g roll. It exits into a double-up and another high-speed overbanked left turn, followed by one last zero-g roll as the fourth inversion. There is a final overbanked left turn followed by a series of 6 small airtime hills for the finale, and then the train reaches the final brake run and returns to the loading station. One cycle of the ride lasts about 2 minutes and 30 seconds.[48]