First off, Millennium Force! We first went the 19th of may, and knew about the noon opening, but after seeing the line start to build at 10, we jumped in. It was freezing, had to be around 50 degrees or less, and it was drizzling for the entire first half of the day. Anyways, around 1 pm, they started testing the ride with water dummies in the middle, and ride ops in the front and back. They tested about 10 times, for about 20 mins, and then let people on. About the testing, they were running the yellow and blue trains, and neither of them flew over the third hill, they all crept over, even with people, I was kinda freaked out about it, but I knew they had it under control. We got on the ride around 1:30, and what a rush! Nothing can prepare you for this ride!!! Here's something that says what a damn good ride this is: My sister, before getting on MF, had lost her voice for over 4 months, because of something out of place with her vocal chords. My parents had taken her to 3 doctors, and she was starting voice therapy to get it back. She had missed over 30 days of school because of this, and even in the line for MF, I was poking fun at her, because all she could produce was a scratching noise. NO MORE. The minute she got off MF, her voice was back. I couldn't believe that this would actually happen, but her voice came back. She was jumping up and down, and screaming "I CAN TALK I CAN TALK!!!" She said that on the ride, she couldn't make any noise for some strange reason, and when she got off, she was back to normal! If that doesn't explain what a great ride this is, nothing can. Everyone was cheering, and screaming when a train would come by or leave the station. One thing I noticed on the 19th, was that the yellow train went a LOT slower than the blue, why is this? The yellow crept through everything later on in the course, where the blue one hauled. I dont understand why this would be, since they are all the same. oh yeah, I think it was the 3rd car of the 9 on the yellow train, was roped off the entire day. Anyways, it went slow on the 19th, because there was a really strong wind, I can't believe how much an effect it makes. On the 20th, it didn't compare. There was no wind, and no sign of the trains slowing down. On the 19th, we slowed way down as we crested the third hill, and on the 20th, we flew over it, and got a whole bunch of floating air. NIGHT RIDES ARE AMAZING!!!! We thought we had it planned out that it would be night time, since we got in line at 6:30 pm, with the ride ops saying it was a 4 hour wait. It wasn't, it was more like a 3 hour wait, so (yes we're insane) we let people pass us in the line for an extra half hour. We had tried to get a night ride the day before, but it went down at 8 pm, because of problems with the anti rollbacks, and something else about the rubber grips on the tow that pulls the train up weren't gripping right or something. So we were determined to get a night ride, and everyone passing us gave us crazy looks. IT WAS WORTH IT! Forget what you know about riding it during the daytime, this is it, it seems so much faster!! This has got to be the biggest rush, the second hill (turnaround) is completely dark, so you go flying up, not seeing any supports, and all you see , are the people ahead of you, and the lights of the park below. No track, No nothing. We have a 2 and a half hour drive home, and as we were leaving the ride around 10pm, we somehow ended up back in line, again. That's how addicting this ride is!!! The second time was even better, as it was even darker than before. But when we got off the second time, you wont believe this. They STILL had the line open! Yes, there were about 100 people still getting on and off, and on, AT MIDNIGHT!!! Just to let you know how cool that was, the park CLOSED AT 10! Everyone was going nuts the whole time, and the ride ops were awake and kicking, they were so energetic. It was probably the greatest night of my life, no joke.
Anyways, now I'm going to talk about Mean Streak, why meanstreak? Because it's back! It was smooth!!!!!!!!!!! It has now soared to my #1 wooden coaster spot, and I actually liked it better than mantis. I usually would come off this ride screaming in pain, etc., but I came off this ride, and ran back in line! It's that good, so everyone, give it another chance. Kudos to the carpenters and cp, for saving such a great ride. I actually got 3 moments of floating air on it, and long moments too.
Cedar Point is better than ever this year, and if you havent ridden MF yet, do it! NOW! It's the most amazing ride I've ever been on, and it demolishes all my other fav. rides, by far. Everything will seem sooo slow from now on.
*** This post was edited by Clarkbar on 5/21/2000. ***
*** This post was edited by Clarkbar on 5/21/2000. ***
Great Story!
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Millennium Force: As fast as a male horsefly!
All this story does is depresses me even more that I can't get to CP until July :)
I was one of the people who passed your family waiting on the ramp. We got on just as night settled in. It was the most wonderful ride I was ever on. Even though I can normally hardly see without my glasses, I had no problem seeing with the force of 92 MPH against my eyeballs!! This was my first time back to The Point sence '93 (Blame Uncle Sam) So the Mantis was also a new experience. WOW!!
We took the boss with us, He had not been on a coaster sence the 70's and within 15 min of entering the park he was on the Magnum, We managed to get Magnum, Mean Streak, Mine Ride, and Gemini all in in the first 90 min at the park, then the lines began. - My only regret was waiting in line for the Raptor and having it quit, I guess I will have to go back later this summer and not on a Saturday!
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kneemeister