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 Review of Millennium Force @ Cedar Point
5 Rating Posted by: shag9004 on 11/16/2007 1:15:00 PM
Date Ridden: Summer of 2006 and 2007. Also in the fall of 2007. Times Ridden: 17 in every seat at least once.

I have really been putting off this review. MIllenium Force is my favorite ride for a number of reasons and I just did not feel that with words I could do justice to what this coaster has done for me. I know that sounds sappy and that is why I have avoided this review since I joined the site. I assumed most people reviewed their favorite coasters first but I wanted to start with some of the more "out-of-the-way" rides. I think I was simply avoiding this ride review. Anyway, if you will permit, let me take you back in time to the summer of 2006. I had just gone through (and was still going through to be honest) the most difficult time in my life. I am a person of stability and that stability was yanked out from under me like a dirty old rug. I was not doing anything but staying at home in my log cabin at the foot of Lookout Mountain in Georgia when an old friend from high school who had heard about my problems sent me an email stating that he was planning a solo trip to what he called "The Roller Coaster Capital of the World" in a place called Sandusky, OH. I had only ridden about 20 coasters in my life (taking dates to 6 Flags in Atlanta or up to Lake Winnie to the ride the Cannonball) and had never heard of it. I told him I didnt want to go, so then he called....and called......and called. He wouldnt take no for an answer. I finally gave in and slept virtually the entire 12 hour ride up to Ohio while he drove and sung along to some old school Run-DMC. He was excited since it was something he had been thinking about doing for over 5 years but his children were not yet old enough. He had gotten permission from the family to take me off to "clear my head". I had ridden the local coasters but was not aware of what I was getting into. The next thing I remember is what became the greatest coaster moment of my life and a ride that led to a new hobby of visiting theme parks all over the country in the past two years. That moment was going up the unbelievably fast elevator cable lift to the top of the famous (so I now know...at the time I had no clue what Millenium Force was and had never heard of an elevator lift) Millenium Force hill while a slight mist was falling during early ride time on a Thursday morning in June. Before I knew it, we were at the top...(I remember staring out at Lake Eerie and then looking up and seeeing we were at the top). I looked over at my friend and asked if we were already at the top.....and then we dropped...and dropped.....and dropped. I had never even been on a hyper coaster before. I was actually more excited about riding Raptor but my buddy insisted that we go here first. I remember the drop with rain pelting me in the face. I remember the huge banked curve and blacking out slightly (I always do). I remember the underrated head choppers as you go around Millenium Island as the train zooms by the support posts. And I remember speed. An unbelievable amount of speed which is how the ride is built. MF offers different rides depending on where you are sitting but no matter where I ride, it is still my favorite ride in the world. The front offers the unbelievable view of going down the drop. The back offers the sensation of being not just pulled but completely THROWN over the 310 foot hill. But for some reason, I prefer the middle of the train that seems just as fast and offers some surprising airtime over the large hills scattered throughout the course. However, please dont assume that MF is built for airtime. It is not and that is why there are people who dislike it. The forces it offers are awesome but abundant air is not one of them. When riding it, you are going to get a smooth, fast and comfortable ride that you will never forget. This past summer (2007), we did a crazy thing that I came up with. We made the long trek to Agawam,
 

Review Comments

hrrytraver on 11/21/2007 11:49:37 AM said:
this coaster takes nicks a lot from folks. i dont know why, its obviously a fantastic ride with a brilliant design. i find it interesting how ratings and reviews work on this site. i read a lot of good reviews where a ride will get a high rating, such as an 8 or 9, but the reviews content is basically negative. this demonstrates, i think, the feeling that the objective perception of a ride is that its "good", "better than most" but the subjective sense is overwhelmed by some type of disappointment - "i.e. MF has no air." plus, people get bummed out by fanboys and hype so they backlash in the reactionary way.

in any event, i love this ride.

papa1958 on 11/21/2007 3:56:04 PM said:
Nice review shag and a good defense of your #1 choice.
shag9004 on 11/21/2007 7:29:57 PM said:
In my humble opinion, there are 5 coasters of the 212 I have ridden that deserve 10s. You can read about the three woodies in my other reviews but the only 2 steelies are both Intamin rides. I have never given a B and M a 10 even though they dominate my Top 10 list with great rides like their 3 hypers, Kraken and Hulk in Orlando, and the two great dive machines which I love. All of those rides are solid 9s but the two Intamin hypers (or Giga if you prefer for MF) seem to have something the others lack. I have received rides that I would rank as "10s" on a variety of coasters such as my first ride on TTD as Cedar Point, a front seat ride on the Raven at night, a ride on Magnum late at night when the mid-course breaks did not kick in, and even my first ride on the front of Desperado at night out in the Vegas desert. That however does not make those coasters 10s in my ratings. A coaster ranked a 10 should deliver a 10 ride on any seat and at any time. I think my 5 coasters do.
Timberman on 11/21/2007 11:34:08 PM said:
Thanks, shag9004, for a detailed, heartfelt review of what I agree is a roller coaster that is almost impossible not to love. MommaT and I made a pilgrimage to ride Steel Force at Dorney Park about a month after 9-11, and it was the turning point in pulling us out of the deep funk brought on by that event. Roller coasters have since become one of my chief sources of rejuvenation and stress relief. Keeping on keeping on, bro.
ginzo on 11/22/2007 11:17:56 AM said:
Throw me into the "MF is overrated" camp. Its frustrating that they build a huge coaster and dont put any airtime into it. There are points where you almost get some airtime, but then it doesnt happen. To me it almost seems like that giant lift hill killed the budget for the ride, and they couldnt afford to give it any real elements after that. I enjoy the ride, but I just consider it to be good, not great. Now that CP has a truly world class ride, I dont think Ill be spending much of the hotel ERT time over by MF in the future.

CP is not high on my list of places to visit, but theres a very strong chance it will become my home park next year.
coaster05 on 11/22/2007 11:42:00 AM said:
^What is CPs world class ride that you speak of.
shag9004 on 11/22/2007 12:02:47 PM said:
You know Ginzo, you may be right about the budget. Intamin can obviously build rides with airtime. But it seems like maybe they thought a 310 foot lift hill would be a big enough draw in itself. I think they designed MF with nothing but speed in mind and in that they succeeded. The ride is a wonderful experience and the general public loves it hence the long lines.

I really do not want to get lumped into the "CP Fanboy" group as I appreciate rides from all parks, but I think CP has 5 world class coasters which no other park can boast of. And even better, when Ive been there they have been running every ride at full capacity. I think only Disney beats them for getting people on and off rides and making the lines move quickly.

Coaster05, I think he is probably talking about Maverick in which he is correct. Its a great ride.

ginzo on 11/22/2007 3:07:53 PM said:
Yeah, I was talking about Maverick, which is my current #1 steel.

Id say Great Adventures coaster collection has CP beaten, by a long shot. The last time I went to CP it was a capacity nightmare. TTD, Raptor, Maverick, half of Skyhawk, MaxAir, and a few more didnt open with the park. They posted a 90 minute wait for Blue Streak! Their operations are decent, but Ive seen better. Every time I go several major rides typically fail to open with the park. And they should be horsewhipped for Mavericks "single rider line".
coaster05 on 11/23/2007 9:10:24 AM said:
^I agree with the idea of their capacity. It is no longer anywhere closes to what it was. When I went Blue Streak was constantly stacked along with several other rides. That single rider line is an absolute mess also. IMO CP has forgotten what has made them great in place of owning half of the country.
shag9004 on 11/23/2007 10:03:47 AM said:
I do not doubt anything you guys are saying. However on my last two trips in June and Oct. everything was up and at full capacity. At the end of the night we rode TTD 5 times in one hour as they were running 5 trains. Maverick had all 6 trains running and both MIllenium Force and Raptor were running all three of theirs.IN june (granted it was on a Thursday) we rode got in almost 40 coaster rides in one day.

I guess all parks have good days and bad days but in the 49 parks Ive been to over the past two years, CP has beaten everyone except Disney in rider capacity.....in my experience that is. Also at CP, if you are in line before the park closes you get to ride. Iknow that Maverick went down right at the end of the night on this last trip so they took everyone who was still waiting, walked them over to Millenium FOrce and let them have their last ride there. Can you see 6 Flags doing that? However, this has been true only at CP and, to a lesser extent Knotts. The Paramount Parks have been horrible about capacity.

Please understand I am not trying to defend a park. I am only defending my experiences there. The Maverick single rider line is ridiculous.....I agree with that.

ginzo on 11/23/2007 11:24:01 AM said:
Plenty of parks will let you enter a queue before closing to get a last ride in after the park closes. CP does take it to an extreme in that Ive seen them running TTD 3 hours after the park closed. Of course, thats more an artifact of the insane CP lines than anything else. But I dont think CP has better operations than SFGAm, SFGAdv, and SFoG. Six Flags bashers typically bring up Magic Mountain, and try to act like that dump represents the whole chain. This ignores the fact that Six Flags was desparately trying to sell Magic Mountain last year, but couldnt find anyone dumb enough to take it off their hands.
coaster05 on 11/23/2007 7:47:21 PM said:
El Toro let people into there line right up to closing and also let a whole train except on seat go again to accomadate the last two riders in line. Sf easily has as good of operations as the CF chain. EASILY.
shag9004 on 11/24/2007 6:14:54 PM said:
I am by no means defending the Cedar Fair chain. I think it is stupid that the Volcano and Hypersonic lines at PKD close one hour BEFORE the park closes. That is absolute garbage. I have also seen poor operations at other CF parks. However, Cedar Point has proven in my experiences only to have the best capacity at their park other than Disney. I am also a huge 6 Flags fan as well. I hope the parks continue to compete against one another so that we the park-goers benefit. 6 Flags Over GA is my home park and GOliath is very well run there along with most of their other rides. Superman UF is very slow but other than that, I love my home park. I have also had good experiences with Great Adventure and the crew was abolutely awesome at Superman ROS in New England.

However, my 6 days spent in Cedar Point in the past two years have been the greatest coaster riding days of my life. Thanks for all the comments and opinions.

coaster05 on 11/24/2007 10:12:22 PM said:
Up til a couple years I would have totally agreed with you. however even at CP the last couple times I have went, it just has not been the same. Their capacity is still better then most, but It is no where close to Disney anymore and in my opinion cant even match the busch parks or universal.
shag9004 on 12/20/2007 2:47:43 PM said:
I will be visiting Disney and Busch Gardens in FLorida in the next month. I hope their capacity is still as good as you say. I honestly feel that the problem with CPs capacity is the weather. This past summer they shut down MF for about 15 minutes due to some very slight sprinkles. The ride op said that any time they shut down a ride, they have to run three cycles before allowing riders on. That meant that if there were 3 trains running, that it was 9 rides before they would let you on. That seemed a little excessive. I think the cooler temperatures up there cause problems with the rides. So far, I guess I have been lucky. The thing about CP is that if one or two rides are down, there are still 15 others to jump on. I think that helps.
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