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Mean Streak RMC Conversion Update #6: Some New but Mysterious Americana
Mean Streak, which is currently being converted into a hybrid coaster by Rocky Mountain Construction, has gained a lot of attention recently for many photos of its construction progress surfacing on the internet. Three notable photos, all of the same exact element on the ride, have been posted to forum sites such as Reddit. The most recent of which (shown to the right) displays the completion of a hill of sorts, including an American flag at the apex of it. You can see that banked track has been placed at the drop of the element, pointing towards a left turn after exiting the hill, but anything can happen at this point.
Some questions have arisen since this photo surfaced on Reddit.com in the evening of February 23. Many of them are valid, such as some that are questioning why the flag was placed at the top of this hill, and not saved for the lift hill.
If you are a theme park fanatic, you know that an American flag is typically used to
signify the "topping off" of a coaster, or when the coaster's last piece is placed. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the topping off of Millennium Force (pictured left), which can be found at the same amusement park as Mean Streak, Cedar Point in Ohio. Many other parks do the same, such as Kolmarden in Sweden. The park opened a wooden Topper Track coaster from RMC last year, named Wildfire. An American flag was used to signal the placement of the final piece of track on it (pictured below). Because of this, we know that the flag on Mean Streak is not signifying the final piece being placed, but rather something else
Typically, a lift hill is the tallest point on a roller coaster. This, however, is not always the case. Launched coasters sometimes have elements in their layouts higher than their lift hills. Also, the lift hill of Mean Streak could be a launch, which would make sense as to why the lift hasn't been completed. Another tradition is to place a small evergreen tree at the "topped off" point, but no tree can be seen.
As mentioned in an earlier post here on the Roller Coaster Daily Blog, a launched lift isn't possible on RMC Mean Streak as there is no flat section of track before the lift hill for handling rollbacks, but rather small, banked bunny hills. So this still begs the question, why put the flag on this hill?
Maybe we'll find out at Winter Chill Out 2017 on February 25.
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RMC Mean Streak photo courtesy of Reddit user jecole85
Millennium Force topping off photo courtesy of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company
In no way does Roller Coaster Daily encourage illegal photo taking or breaking laws. Please respect all rules and laws when visiting Cedar Point.
