Happy Roller Coaster Day, everyone. To continue with my series of roller coaster posts, I want to focus this one on a Rocky Mountain Construction masterpiece named Steel Vengeance. This coaster, located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, was originally a Dinn Corporation wooden coaster named Mean Streak. Mean Streak operated for 25 seasons from 1991 to 2016. I was able to go on it 3 times in 2006 during my first trip to Cedar Point. It’s safe to say that it was a rough coaster, despite having trim brakes that were installed at the first drop (among other places). After the 2016 season, the people at Rocky Mountain Construction came in and made Mean Streak to the steel hybrid that it is today. Steel Vengeance opened in 2018 in the Frontier Town section of the park. It broke plenty of world records, including the most airtime on any coaster in the world as well as being the tallest, fastest, and longest hybrid coaster at the time. I was able to go on this coaster 4 times during my trip to Cedar Point in August of 2021 (once per day). There is a lot to go through in the layout, so let’s get started.
After going through the queue, which like Hulk and Velocicoaster requires all loose articles to be put in a locker due to metal detectors, we get up some stairs onto the coaster train itself. With seatbelts clicked on and the lap bars lowered, we’re set to go through the ride’s course. After the train is dispatched from the station, it goes through a straight section passing the maintenance track. It then turns around and dips into back to back bunny hops before going up the 205 foot tall lift hill. I will say this about the chain lift: it is the loudest one that I have heard on a coaster. Climbing up the hill, there are great views of the park if you look right. As soon as the train reaches the top, the wild ride begins. The 200 foot tall first drop is straight down at a 90 degree angle. After the drop, there is a small bunny hop with a lot of air time since you enter that at the top speed of 74 miles per hour. The bunny hop is followed by the first huge airtime hill that turns to the right and lifts you out of your seat, regardless of where you’re sitting. After that, there is another airtime hill that turns to the right. However, there is an outer bank curve that creates a weird airtime moment that is still awesome. After dropping down and getting your picture taken, the train then hops up and climbs up a zero-g roll that leads to a twisted section under the lift hill. The train then goes through the structure of the lift hill in a quick zero-g stall that drops to a double up. During this double up, the train twists and turns left to the mid course brake run. The train slows down a bit before dropping down and going through a couple of bunny hops. This sequence preludes the first of two inside the structure moments of twists and flips. A bunny hop after the flip is the precursor to the second inside the structure moment where you get very close to the structure beams. I had to duck every time I was under the structure on Steel Vengeance. After the second under the structure moment, the ride concludes with 6 straight quick pops of airtime and the final brake run back to the station.
(Here is the POV of Steel Vengeance, provided by Cedar Point’s YouTube page.)
Going into my first ride on Steel Vengeance back in August of 2021, I was expecting a great ride from start to finish after seeing multiple POVs of it over the years on YouTube. After my first of 4 rides (3 in the front row), I was amazed by the experience. The airtime was the wildest that I have ever experienced in any coaster. Given that it has the most airtime of any coaster worldwide, I had plenty of out of my seat moments. I was safe during the inversions despite the coaster only having lap bars and shin guards. During the times when the train was going through the structure, I had to duck a few times because it looked the the beams were so close to hitting my head. I loved the ride each time I went on it, especially the night one on the third night with my mom. After considering it for a couple of weeks after my trip, I decided that Steel Vengeance was my number one coaster not only at Cedar Point, but overall as well.
I will conclude with this: if you haven’t been on Steel Vengeance or haven’t been to Cedar Point, I highly recommend that you go there and experience Steel Vengeance, plus every other major coaster at the park. Thank you for reading this post and stay tuned for my next one on another Cedar Point coaster: Millennium Force. Hope you all have a wonderful day.
(Here are some pictures of Steel Vengeance that I took during my trip in August of 2021.)
(Me with my mom after the night ride on Steel Vengeance.)
Comments