Changing seat style?

I think that this off season they should put in bucket seats on the Millennium Force trains so that all sized riders can ride. What do you think? Do you have an even better idea of what they can do? I'm thinking of writing to Cedar Point and giving them my idea.

I honestly think that would be a bad idea. Yes, more people would ride but it would take away that unsafe feeling on the ride. If they did this I feel it would ruin the excitement and the fear of danger on the ride. This is just my opinion.

I don't think that reworking the seats to be a bit deeper with slightly different lapbars would kill the "fear of danger" in a near vertical drop, overbanked turns, and speeds in excess of 90mph... The best solution appears to be retrofitting TTD seats onto the MF trains, seats that keep the riders in the proper positions so the T bars can work the way they were designed.

i disagree also. I LOVE the Millennium Force seats now. They are comfortable (to me anyways), and they just look sooo cool! I would give anything to have one!

I swear, some of you people are really weird...

Anyway, I think timbers01 is on the right track...replace the seats and lap bars on Millennium Force with the deeper, more angled seat and longer, bent-neck lap bar as seen on Top Thrill Dragster, and if there is any safety problem with the coaster's seating (I am not completely convinced that there is a problem on Millennium Force, but the changes would not be bad ones) the problem will be solved. That won't change the rider size issue, though, unless Cedar Fair completely gives up on Intamin and assumes liability for the seat design. I don't see that happening anytime soon unless Cedar Fair actually finds a flaw with Millennium Force that Intamin won't acknowledge.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

So, the little guys must all be skipping TTD if that is the case that bucket seats aren't safe for them? It would not be a huge difference.

I think that they should just leave the seating as it is on Millennium Force.

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RideMan-

replace the seats and lap bars on Millennium Force with the deeper, more angled seat and longer, bent-neck lap bar as seen on Top Thrill Dragster
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The lap bar on Dragster is the samething on Millennium.

http://www.pointbuzz.com/Gallery.aspx?i=1094

this is Millennium's seat

http://www.pointbuzz.com/Gallery.aspx?i=706

this is Dragster seat

When you look at both of these pics. you will see that the lap bar is the same thing. What I think is going on, the newer roller coaster that are being built are having the Hydraulic lap bars. I also think that they should leave the seat belts the same too.

No, the lapbar is not the same thing. If you notice, MF has a straight post whereas Dragster has a bend in the post about 6 inches before the padding. This allows for a better fit with the lapbar against the body.

Also, I believe both MF and TTD use a hydraulic system on the lap-bars to hold them in place. So there is no difference there, only with the bend in the post that holds the lapbar.

Ugh... the deeper seats do not preclude smaller people from riding. If anything, it pins them in better.

Top Thrill Dragster seats would be okay for Millennium I was thinking of someting different sorry

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Jeff said:
Ugh... the deeper seats do not preclude smaller people from riding. If anything, it pins them in better.

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Jeff,

Is there any reason, in your opinion why CP couldn't demand for Intamin to retrofit MF with the TTD style seating? Do you have any other ideas? I know for me that I can ride TTD but not MF, wouldn't this then bring several of us larger individuals back into being able to ride? I also know that for the last four years I personally never did feel unsafe riding MF, but that is neither here nor there, if Intamin designated these changes, then shouldn't Intamin help to solve the problem in a more reasonable manner than we have come up with so far? I can pull an inch of slack on TTD, but haven't even been able to buckle on MF. Either way, if they can do something to help, it would seem to be in CP and Intamin's best interest to do something cooperatively.

I know that I am doing all that I can for my part by staying active and working out to make sure that this isn't an issue for me, but what about for all the hundreds, maybe thousands of other ppl that CP has to turn away by this "knee jerk reaction" by Intamin?

If they put TTD like seats on MF, then there would be a feeling of to much around you when you ride. That's not what Intamin wanted people to feel when they ride MF. It would take away from the ride as I said before.

The last few times I've been to CP, I didn't see more than 2 people get turned away from MF. *** Edited 7/21/2004 4:18:03 PM UTC by raptorman95***

First off, Hooty: Don't try to correct RideMan...he's always right :-P

Second, retrofitting the seats is prob. more complicated than we all think. Who's going to pay for it? I don't think CP can just demand new seats from Intamin. It the terms of the contract state that after a certain date, CP is in control of Millennium Force...that being said, CP would have to foot the bill for the retrofit. Think about it...if you bought a car, and then a year or two later they same manufacturer puts a better stereo system in your model, do you have any right to go and demand the newer stereo?

Perhaps RideMan can fill us in on this... What of the state inspection and certification program...if MF gets new seats and lap bars mid-season, will each train have to be re-certified by the state? What did they do when they added the two seats to the rear of TTD? If this is the case, then perhaps CP will wait until the end of the season to retrofit MF when they have time for inspection and yearly certification.

Oh, and I don't think it's meant that the 'headrest' portion of the TTD seat would be on MF, just the actual seat and backrest portion.

=seth *** Edited 7/21/2004 4:46:42 PM UTC by Seth Oakley***

RaptorMan, I totally agree with you. Intamin wanted to have the cars as open as possible so people could get a great view of everything. On dragster in my case, since I am smaller, I can still see a view, but not as much as I can on Millennium Force. I like how they designed the seats on MF, they are very unique+ open so to say, giving a great ride.

Funny, Seth. :)

I'm not always right, of course. Just most of the time.

I'm guessing that if the Millennium Force seats were replaced with the Dragster seats as seen here (the same Dragster seat photo that Hooty supplied) but with the addition of the Millennium Force headrests as seen here (not the Dragster headrests as seen here), most people would not notice the difference. The difference, incidentally, is about four inches between the seat back and the roll-over at the front edge of the seat.

Jeff is right about the smaller rider issue, too. The difference in seats makes all riders more secure; it doesn't make the seat more accommodating to larger riders at the expense of smaller ones. The lap bar change is even more significant, as it allows the lap bar to come down further, again on any rider.

Finally, Chasity, I think I have some bad news for you. About a month ago, the seat belts were re-routed on the Dragster trains, bringing the belt routing in line with what has always been the belt path on Millennium Force. So if you can't get the Millennium Force belt to go, Dragster may now be a problem.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Dave,

I rode Dragster last weekend, see trip reports.

Chasity

I don't think so.

See, Chasity? I said I wasn't always right! :)

Glad to hear Dragster wasn't a problem.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

AHHH, RideMan is fallible! Are their no SURE THINGS left in the universe? Oh dear...

The feeling of openess on Dragster, in my opinion, is only limited because of the headrests. The larger seats really don't feel that much different than Millennium Force...in fact, I dind't realize they were different until I rode the two rides back to back.

Hell I didn't realize they were different until someone pointed out the changes, headrests excluded...