A Natural Force Simply known as "Millennium Force"

          Imagine hearing the following words and seeing the video below for the first time...how would you feel? Would you be excited, would you question any of the posed questions, would you try to be the first in line for this new ride? 

At the turn of the millennium, there were signs...
Was there something out there?
A higher intelligence?
A mysterious force at work?
Beyond words.
Beyond comprehension.
Beyond...Beyond... (echo: Beyond...)
What will the new millennium bring?
In theory:
A shadowy construct fathomed by scientists at their wits' end
of the quest for the answer to everything.
Beyond time, beyond space, beyond gravity, beyond dimensions we understand, a natural force simply known as 'Millennium Force'.
Somewhere, racing along the edge of the time-space continuum in the universe as we know it, it's out there.
Millennium Force, the future is riding on it.

          Millennium Force (MF) opened May 13, 2000. At 2 minutes, 45 minutes it broke 10 world records. The records that Millennium Force opened with were Tallest Coaster Ever (310ft), Fastest Coaster Ever (92mph), Longest Drop On A Coaster Ever (300ft), Steepest Non-Inversion Banked Turn Ever (122 Degrees), First Coater Ever To Use An Elevator Lift System, Most Coasters At One Park Ever (14), Most Rides At One Park Ever (68), First Ever Coaster To Top 300 Feet, Most Steel Coasters Ever At One Park (12), and Most Coaster Track At One Park Ever (44013 ft). Millennium Force Wikipedia Page As I said these records were broken in 2000. Most of these records have been broken since then, but for 10 world records to be broken with one coaster opening is pretty impressive.  As well as these records being broken Millennium Force since opening has won 11 Goldent Tickets Awards, never falling below 2nd place for Top Steel Coaster. More recently in 2010 MF was awarded the number 1 Top Steel Coaster. Golden Ticket Millennium Force Info The Golden Ticket Awards are seen as a big deal with parks because the awards are determined by surveys sent out by the Amusement Today Magazine to "seasoned park fans" and the parks pride themselves on how guests see the park.

          Millennium Force is an Intamin Giga Coaster. This coaster cost $25 million. Projected hourly capacity is 1300 riders. The coaster is 6595 feet long with the maximum height of 310 feet and drop of 300 feet. The maximum vertical angle at the drop is 80 degrees. The ride features a 310 foot lift hill,  169 foot and 182 foot air time hills and two tunnels. Millennium Force features no inversions. There are 3 trains with 9 cars per train. Each car features 2 rows with 2 seats making it a total of 36 riders per train. Each restraint is an individual hydraulic lap bar with a seatbelt. 

http://rcdb.com/594.htm?p=733

          I didn't get a chance to ride Millennium Force until this past season in early May. When I got to Cedar Point my two friends and I went over to Mantis to meet up with some other friends. Since they had just got off of Mantis they suggested we go ride MF. I tell you what, I was really scared. We got to the queue line, waited maybe a total of 10 minutes. We got in the back car of the blue train. I was wearing my Elmo T-Shirt, as we were being pulled by the Elevator Lift (which I think that system is the coolest ever) one of the ride ops kept yelling to me "Bye Elmo!" The ride ops at Millennium Force in my experience have always been wonderful. Anyway back to the ride. Climbing the hill was amazing and fast! I enjoyed seeing the lake right next to me! The drop was really cool and fun! It was definitely one of the smoothest coasters I have ever been on. The over-banked turns to me were really sweet and necessary...I'm pretty sure I would have browned out if they were not banked. The first tunnel was a complete surprise to me. I had no idea that there was even a tunnel on the ride (let alone 2)! I'm happy they went with a couple airtime hills as well! I love to get airtime! I found it interesting that they had some track above and below other track for a coaster like this. It was cool that there is an airtime hill next to the station and an over-banked turn over the queue line. One smart thing I think they did with this coaster was making it have two stations, one for entering the coaster and one for exiting the coaster. It allows for less confusion for guests and smoother operations. I found it really interesting that there were no inversions on this ride. However, it made my point more apparent, a coaster doesn't have to have inversions to be great. In fact Millennium Force is tied with Maverick for my top favorite Steel Coaster.  On this trip we closed the day out with 2 back to back rides. I even got on the last train of the day! I believe I will always ride this at opening and closing of my visits. 

          I do think that MF does need a coat of fresh paint. The colors are really starting to fade and I would love to see it as vibrant as ever! Mind you, I'm not complaining because I think the color that has faded makes the ride worse, I'm simply stating that I would like to see more paint :)! I found it weird when riding that the cat walk for the lift hill is on the opposite side of actual upside of the hill. The downward side features a ladder and then a steel catwalk as it gets to the peak of the hill...on the upward part of the hill it features a separate lift system for a basket that carries people up and down the hill in the basket if evacuation is necessary. In the below picture you can see the rails and wires for the basket.

http://cache.rcdb.com/anl0ii000heu63q0nm0eta.jpg

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