Jarrett
Most Obnoxious Member 2016
It's been rumored for seven years, fans have dreamed of the day it would come, it's taken almost two years to build, but after a construction job long enough for me to switch into and complete a whole college program, Cedar Point's monstrous Steel Vengeance is finally locked and loaded! The biggest job yet from RMC, the coaster geniuses that sparked my interest in manufacturing and ultimately got me to change my major, I was honored to not only go to the announcement last summer, but see one of my engineering idols Fred Grubb speak there in person. I've been up there a total of four times since Mean Streak was announced to be getting the axe, it's shown me what a little innovation can do in seven years for a little construction firm in Idaho that sometimes worked on coasters, and it's been nothing short of inspiring. It was a sentimental coaster to me before I even got on it.
Today I ride it.
The drive up was boring as always but I knew it would be worth it, and driving around the peninsula and seeing that monstrous RMC come into view was incredible. Pictures don't do it justice, it's absolutely massive, like a wall of truss that hits you like a ton of bricks from around the corner. Once I parked I got in line and the long wait to ride began. My friend Steve from Ottawa found me shortly after and waited with me.
They let us in, but Tony made it clear that we wouldn't get to ride just yet, and that there would be no line honored. Because there was other stuff to do!
This RMC might be the first thing offered at an event that was so important that people didn't scramble for the free food. But I'm glad it was offered. The food at the new Lusty Lil's is exactly what Kings Island is now serving at Coney BBQ, and that's not a bad thing at all. Free booze was nice too, I had a Miller Lite with one drink voucher and ripped the other one up, I'm such a lightweight and I did need to drive again in a few hours. Wouldn't want a repeat of the infamous Millennium Force ride of August 2016...
It continued to test in the background the whole time, taunting us...
With a fun little fireworks display, Steel Vengeance was open for business! I met back up with Steve as the two of us headed for the entrance, trying not to get trampled by the idiots who ran despite Tony's instructions not to. They need to do what KI did at MT Media Day, you walk to the ride or you don't ride the ride.
The time has come!
The queue gives you some breathtaking views of the ride, and walking under it provides the perfect perspective for just how massive this thing is.
It seems to sprawl out forever...
When you know that tiny thing is a standard RMC train blowing through that colossal element you get a sense for just how insane a project this was.
The sky was beautiful and set the stage perfectly for my first ride...
After an agonizing wait, we hit the station! Ended up taking second row of the front car behind this dad and his high school-aged daughter, both of who were apparently talking to Steve in the parking lot.
And it certainly didn't disappoint! A few good pops of floater right out of the station, the ejector over the first two elements is so sustained it seems to almost break the laws of physics. The rest of the ride was mixed with some pretty good pacing and pops of ejector ranging from about -.75 to -1.4, so middle of the road RMC airtime. And it just goes on forever. Favorite part was probably the dive off the high portion into the MCBR, least favorite was certainly that high portion up under the lift hill simply due to it lacking the vigor the rest of the ride has. Came back to the station impressed, but didn't see how it should rank anywhere above my top three, so it went at number four. The magnitude of the ejector wasn't as strong as Lightning Rod or Wicked Cyclone, and that hurt what was otherwise a flawless ride. The two in front of us were absolutely floored, the guy's daughter was so scared she was visibly shaking when we pulled back into the station.
After that, Steve went to ditch some of his stuff and we met up with the two in front of us to all ride together again, but sadly in a longer line.
But as they say on Survivor, there's a twist: Steve and I opted for the very back this time.
JESUS $%#& CHRIST.
The back seat of this ride is exactly that extra kick it needed to hit that number one spot! The ejector going over those first two elements actually reminded me of Skyrush, hitting close to -2 Gs but over longer intervals and providing much more interesting visuals while doing so. The high portion was about the same, all visuals and no interesting maneuvers, but that's when things started to change. After that lovely trip out of that second inversion into the MCBR, the ride starts to get much more ballsy. We're talking thigh-crushing ejector out of that double down and again through that off-axis hill into the structure. And after that overbank, the rest of the ride could simply be described as the $%&# hitting the fan. It blows right through that roll with no reverence at all, not slowing down and whipping you around like a washing machine in a fashion similar to how Maverick's barrel roll might have felt. Then it's into the wave turn, which exerts some great airtime when pulled through it in the back. There's a nice aggressive yank out of it and then just nothing but pops of ejector and aggressive twisting and turning all the way to one last pop into the brakes. Steve and I just kind of looked at each other, decided we both had a new number one, and laughed over a high five.
Me with the new #1!
The ride's lighting package from when it was Mean Streak remains exactly the same and the structure is lit up beautifully at night, still appearing to glow against the dark sky as it used to. However, they added these really cool lift lights. They look like little functioning period oil lanterns, complete with little flickering flames inside of them. No way to tell if they're real or not but they look really cool!
Went for a ride with my friend Brandon next, who not only rode Lightning Rod with me but also watched the Steel Vengeance announcement with me in August! He also lead the RMC chant when Fred Grubb got on stage.
I have a really odd thing for these part ID tags welded to the tracks. L means it's the left rail (not present on the Raptors), 576 is the joint number (it adjoins to the other 576 L on the piece to which it's bolted), and MS means "Mean Streak," or any other two letters (usually but not always the old ride name for an I-box, park name for a Topper). I like them so much I actually found a font similar to it to make the logo for my RMC fan group on Facebook.
The three trains have different boiler colors, assuming that's supposed to be a boiler. Maybe it's not, it looks like one. Anyway, Digger is silver, Chess is gold (shown), and Blackjack is gunmetal.
Best nerd shot I could get of the new train chassis. These trains run really well!
After this I had made arrangements to meet up with two people who work in the industry who had inspired me greatly...
As I got off the ride and anxiously waited, I heard someone yell "Jarrett!" And there standing in front of me, were none other than Anne Irvine and Brian Ondrey! This couple are the masterminds behind coaster control systems company Irivine Ondrey Engineering! Anne works as the company's CEO while Brian is their president and head engineer, who also happens to be a licensed professional engineer. I'm in mechanical engineering and their work pertains more to electrical, but like me, Anne's time in the industry started out as a childhood dream. Like I'm doing with my life now, she worked for it, and now she and Brian are living the dream! She posts a lot about how it feels to be working in the industry on IOE's Facebook and responds to a lot of my comments with nothing but encouragement. This past winter I had decided to give up working in the industry simply due to my gross lack of social skills, and when I made the post on Facebook, Brian stepped right in and told me to get back in there, that I don't have to please everyone, that not everyone is going to like me, I just have to work to better myself and I can achieve anything. Two truly incredible people, both to talk to and to give your ride a brain.
Mark of quality on a pretty aesthetically pleasing panel!
Maverick was open during the event (and needless to say, it was a walk on), so the three of us headed over to take a lap on that. They said they had been extremely busy not only with SV but after, it was off to SFGAm for Mardi Gras Hangover's control system. But Anne said there's nothing better she'd love to be doing with her life and if you really want to do it, it's something worth working for. I showed both of them the steering wheel I designed and made for our SAE Baja Buggy for capstone at school and they loved it! Brian isn't nearly as talkative as Anne is but we did talk engineering a bit.
Me with Brian and Anne! Call me crazy, but riding Steel Vengeance was almost as good as getting to meet these two! They're so cool and friendly in person, and to get good luck wishes for them so close to graduation has probably been my biggest honor yet.
Afterwards, it was last ride of the night time! I chose to go with Ethan, a fellow coaster gamer from Michigan.
He took this blurry test seat photo of me!
And it blew me away. As a night ride, it combines everything that's awesome about night rides on both Magnum and Millennium. Gorgeous view, darkness all around, and once she warms up...damn! It rips right through that last lap of the ride and it's perfect for it! This might be the best ride I've ever gotten on a roller coaster!
On-Ride Photo camera is at an awkward angle but at least it got me enjoying myself!
After I got done, only one more train was sent and we were kicked out of the park and sent home with a box that I was told contained "A VHS tape of Mean Streak."
After this I grabbed a 24-ounce Molson Ice from a gas station on the way back to my hotel to sit down and get some rest before going home to continue finals the next day. Well I got to the hotel and decided to open my box...
It's a piece of Mean Streak's old wood with a nice laser cut Steel Vengeance logo plate screwed into it! These are uniquely numbered so there's not another one like it, mine is 109. It's probably one of my favorite roller coaster things I own.
I wanted a hat but they were $20 for just a hat without a coaster-friendly clasp, $25 for one with a snapback clasp and an included shirt. So here's my second Steel Vengeance shirt!
And the hat!
One for the keychain rack, probably next to my Mean Streak keychain.
And finally, a Coasterdynamix Nanocoaster of my new #1! It is missing the third lap, which I think was due to paint process or packaging reasons but I know has put some people off of buying it. It was probably one of the easier ones to put together though, I love it. It's my first one that came painted, and it helps that you no longer have to punch them out of the sheet metal.
What an incredible way to welcome a new coaster into the world! Hats off to Cedar Point for putting on such an incredible event, hats off to RMC for not only working their way up to the position to build this massive machine but for doing such a great job with it, and hats off to Irvine Ondrey Engineering and especially Anne and Brian for doing such a great job and being such wonderful people! I'll certainly be back here this summer to ride!
Today I ride it.
The drive up was boring as always but I knew it would be worth it, and driving around the peninsula and seeing that monstrous RMC come into view was incredible. Pictures don't do it justice, it's absolutely massive, like a wall of truss that hits you like a ton of bricks from around the corner. Once I parked I got in line and the long wait to ride began. My friend Steve from Ottawa found me shortly after and waited with me.
They let us in, but Tony made it clear that we wouldn't get to ride just yet, and that there would be no line honored. Because there was other stuff to do!
This RMC might be the first thing offered at an event that was so important that people didn't scramble for the free food. But I'm glad it was offered. The food at the new Lusty Lil's is exactly what Kings Island is now serving at Coney BBQ, and that's not a bad thing at all. Free booze was nice too, I had a Miller Lite with one drink voucher and ripped the other one up, I'm such a lightweight and I did need to drive again in a few hours. Wouldn't want a repeat of the infamous Millennium Force ride of August 2016...
It continued to test in the background the whole time, taunting us...
With a fun little fireworks display, Steel Vengeance was open for business! I met back up with Steve as the two of us headed for the entrance, trying not to get trampled by the idiots who ran despite Tony's instructions not to. They need to do what KI did at MT Media Day, you walk to the ride or you don't ride the ride.
The time has come!
The queue gives you some breathtaking views of the ride, and walking under it provides the perfect perspective for just how massive this thing is.
It seems to sprawl out forever...
When you know that tiny thing is a standard RMC train blowing through that colossal element you get a sense for just how insane a project this was.
The sky was beautiful and set the stage perfectly for my first ride...
After an agonizing wait, we hit the station! Ended up taking second row of the front car behind this dad and his high school-aged daughter, both of who were apparently talking to Steve in the parking lot.
And it certainly didn't disappoint! A few good pops of floater right out of the station, the ejector over the first two elements is so sustained it seems to almost break the laws of physics. The rest of the ride was mixed with some pretty good pacing and pops of ejector ranging from about -.75 to -1.4, so middle of the road RMC airtime. And it just goes on forever. Favorite part was probably the dive off the high portion into the MCBR, least favorite was certainly that high portion up under the lift hill simply due to it lacking the vigor the rest of the ride has. Came back to the station impressed, but didn't see how it should rank anywhere above my top three, so it went at number four. The magnitude of the ejector wasn't as strong as Lightning Rod or Wicked Cyclone, and that hurt what was otherwise a flawless ride. The two in front of us were absolutely floored, the guy's daughter was so scared she was visibly shaking when we pulled back into the station.
After that, Steve went to ditch some of his stuff and we met up with the two in front of us to all ride together again, but sadly in a longer line.
But as they say on Survivor, there's a twist: Steve and I opted for the very back this time.
JESUS $%#& CHRIST.
The back seat of this ride is exactly that extra kick it needed to hit that number one spot! The ejector going over those first two elements actually reminded me of Skyrush, hitting close to -2 Gs but over longer intervals and providing much more interesting visuals while doing so. The high portion was about the same, all visuals and no interesting maneuvers, but that's when things started to change. After that lovely trip out of that second inversion into the MCBR, the ride starts to get much more ballsy. We're talking thigh-crushing ejector out of that double down and again through that off-axis hill into the structure. And after that overbank, the rest of the ride could simply be described as the $%&# hitting the fan. It blows right through that roll with no reverence at all, not slowing down and whipping you around like a washing machine in a fashion similar to how Maverick's barrel roll might have felt. Then it's into the wave turn, which exerts some great airtime when pulled through it in the back. There's a nice aggressive yank out of it and then just nothing but pops of ejector and aggressive twisting and turning all the way to one last pop into the brakes. Steve and I just kind of looked at each other, decided we both had a new number one, and laughed over a high five.
Me with the new #1!
The ride's lighting package from when it was Mean Streak remains exactly the same and the structure is lit up beautifully at night, still appearing to glow against the dark sky as it used to. However, they added these really cool lift lights. They look like little functioning period oil lanterns, complete with little flickering flames inside of them. No way to tell if they're real or not but they look really cool!
Went for a ride with my friend Brandon next, who not only rode Lightning Rod with me but also watched the Steel Vengeance announcement with me in August! He also lead the RMC chant when Fred Grubb got on stage.
I have a really odd thing for these part ID tags welded to the tracks. L means it's the left rail (not present on the Raptors), 576 is the joint number (it adjoins to the other 576 L on the piece to which it's bolted), and MS means "Mean Streak," or any other two letters (usually but not always the old ride name for an I-box, park name for a Topper). I like them so much I actually found a font similar to it to make the logo for my RMC fan group on Facebook.
The three trains have different boiler colors, assuming that's supposed to be a boiler. Maybe it's not, it looks like one. Anyway, Digger is silver, Chess is gold (shown), and Blackjack is gunmetal.
Best nerd shot I could get of the new train chassis. These trains run really well!
After this I had made arrangements to meet up with two people who work in the industry who had inspired me greatly...
As I got off the ride and anxiously waited, I heard someone yell "Jarrett!" And there standing in front of me, were none other than Anne Irvine and Brian Ondrey! This couple are the masterminds behind coaster control systems company Irivine Ondrey Engineering! Anne works as the company's CEO while Brian is their president and head engineer, who also happens to be a licensed professional engineer. I'm in mechanical engineering and their work pertains more to electrical, but like me, Anne's time in the industry started out as a childhood dream. Like I'm doing with my life now, she worked for it, and now she and Brian are living the dream! She posts a lot about how it feels to be working in the industry on IOE's Facebook and responds to a lot of my comments with nothing but encouragement. This past winter I had decided to give up working in the industry simply due to my gross lack of social skills, and when I made the post on Facebook, Brian stepped right in and told me to get back in there, that I don't have to please everyone, that not everyone is going to like me, I just have to work to better myself and I can achieve anything. Two truly incredible people, both to talk to and to give your ride a brain.
Mark of quality on a pretty aesthetically pleasing panel!
Maverick was open during the event (and needless to say, it was a walk on), so the three of us headed over to take a lap on that. They said they had been extremely busy not only with SV but after, it was off to SFGAm for Mardi Gras Hangover's control system. But Anne said there's nothing better she'd love to be doing with her life and if you really want to do it, it's something worth working for. I showed both of them the steering wheel I designed and made for our SAE Baja Buggy for capstone at school and they loved it! Brian isn't nearly as talkative as Anne is but we did talk engineering a bit.
Me with Brian and Anne! Call me crazy, but riding Steel Vengeance was almost as good as getting to meet these two! They're so cool and friendly in person, and to get good luck wishes for them so close to graduation has probably been my biggest honor yet.
Afterwards, it was last ride of the night time! I chose to go with Ethan, a fellow coaster gamer from Michigan.
He took this blurry test seat photo of me!
And it blew me away. As a night ride, it combines everything that's awesome about night rides on both Magnum and Millennium. Gorgeous view, darkness all around, and once she warms up...damn! It rips right through that last lap of the ride and it's perfect for it! This might be the best ride I've ever gotten on a roller coaster!
On-Ride Photo camera is at an awkward angle but at least it got me enjoying myself!
After I got done, only one more train was sent and we were kicked out of the park and sent home with a box that I was told contained "A VHS tape of Mean Streak."
After this I grabbed a 24-ounce Molson Ice from a gas station on the way back to my hotel to sit down and get some rest before going home to continue finals the next day. Well I got to the hotel and decided to open my box...
It's a piece of Mean Streak's old wood with a nice laser cut Steel Vengeance logo plate screwed into it! These are uniquely numbered so there's not another one like it, mine is 109. It's probably one of my favorite roller coaster things I own.
I wanted a hat but they were $20 for just a hat without a coaster-friendly clasp, $25 for one with a snapback clasp and an included shirt. So here's my second Steel Vengeance shirt!
And the hat!
One for the keychain rack, probably next to my Mean Streak keychain.
And finally, a Coasterdynamix Nanocoaster of my new #1! It is missing the third lap, which I think was due to paint process or packaging reasons but I know has put some people off of buying it. It was probably one of the easier ones to put together though, I love it. It's my first one that came painted, and it helps that you no longer have to punch them out of the sheet metal.
What an incredible way to welcome a new coaster into the world! Hats off to Cedar Point for putting on such an incredible event, hats off to RMC for not only working their way up to the position to build this massive machine but for doing such a great job with it, and hats off to Irvine Ondrey Engineering and especially Anne and Brian for doing such a great job and being such wonderful people! I'll certainly be back here this summer to ride!
