Down on 6/14?

One of my friends was telling MF was down on Tuesday the 14 of June. He said it was windy, and they had some problems. anyone know the real reason?

I was there on Tuesday and rode it twice. Everytime I walked by the ride it seemed to be up and running.

Millennium Force was open on the 14th and was operating normally. The ride may have gone down for 10 minutes or so if there was a seatbelt alarm or something, but after a safety check and a reset the ride would be restarted with no extended downtime.

By the way, do NOT ever try to unbuckle your seatbelt on a roller coaster. It is dangerous, against the law, and will get you immediately expelled from the park. Millennium Force and other rides have sensors on the seatbelts that can actually stop the ride if a seatbelt is undone. This does happen occasionally, and the lift will stop and someone will come up the lift and recheck each belt individually before the ride will restart. If someone has intentionally unbuckled their seatbelt, Cedar Point Police will be waiting for them at the end of the ride.

Rode the force today, twice, with only on prob. this morning. We got in early, resort pass, marina entrance, first in line. :} MF was down for mech. reasons, later found out it was the elevator that was broken, anyway, they gave us freeway passes, early, and told us if we wanted to wait we could so we did. Ride opened at 9:25, rode front row, first train, awsome. Ride was running very fast and smooth. Came back at 1pm for freeway and rode last row, also awsome. On the first ride we had to wait outside station, stacked, while they tried to help a larger women buckle her belt, which they accomplished. By the second ride they were hitting interval. My compliments to the MF crew, they were fast, efficiant, helpfull, and joking around and having a good time, like the old days. :}

No, that's just a myth. At Cedar Point there is no direct connection to the ride computer and the seat belts on any of the coasters...the flat newer flat rides may be a different story though. On the coasters that would require some kind of wireless connection and a sensor in the control booth for each corresponding seat on the trains, and that type of technology isn't used by the park.

If the ride is stopped on the lift or while the ride is pulling out of the station it is due to the attentive ride ops who call a hold.

I believe Millennium Force does have a sensor on the seatbelts. Perhaps I am wrong and it is just a ride op watching the cameras VERY CLOSELY, but how else do you explain the train stopping near the top of the lift for someone that has undone their seatbelt. It happens a few times per week.

There is no sensor - trust us. The way MF is set up, there is a proper spot to stop a train for a seatbelt. I am not sure of exactly where it is, but I can tell you it is not the very bottom of the lift - it is up a ways. The reason for this is that if they stop it too early, the trains moving from unload to load, and ready to unload will be caught in a spot where it is difficult to get them moving again. It's something to do with the drive tires, but trust me - if they stop the train too low, it's going to be 30-40 minutes of downtime instead of 10. Someone who's worked that ride could probably explain it better than me, but I know there's an issue with stopping it too low.

And those cameras are pretty worthless for seeing seatbelts - especially on the left side of the train. ;) Unbuckled seatbelts are most often noticed as the train is leaving the station.

I continue to fail to understand why someone would unbuckle their belt. If I wanted to get THAT much air, I'd jump off a bridge.

MrScott

MrScott said:
I continue to fail to understand why someone would unbuckle their belt.

A: Low I.Q.
B: Wants to die(why??) and thinks unbuckeling the belt will help.
C:They just stupid!! :)
D: both A and C since they both mean the same thing.

Help me understand..but it seems like this year they are "stopping the ride" more now then they have ever done in the last 5 years becuase of people undoing their seatbelt. Why all of a sudden are there more frequent stops? I honestly haven't ever heard, in the last 5 years, of MF being stopped on the lift because of a seatbelt issue. Raptor, yeah, MF, no.

If it is a computer generated deal, great! Where was that for the last 5 years? Is it because of more attentive ride ops (although I highly doubt that, MF crews have ALWAYS been aware of seat belts for the last 5 years)?

Or, really, are guests getting that brain dead? At Michigans Adventure, it states on a sign "If you return with your seatbelt unfastened, you will be ejected from the park".. yeah, how about ejected from the freaking ride! HELLO!

Could be because most guest have to have the belt ultra tight to get the required slack, they feel it isn't comfortable and take it off (low IQ and all).

Matt is on the right track... but thats because he has some inside sources ;-) . On MF, if a seatbelt is seen getting unfastened a hold is called, and the ride must be "manually" stopped at a very specific spot on the lift. The spot is roughly where the last car has crossed onto the first 45 degree track piece... If it is stopped too early or too late, the trains will have to be manually pushed to get them in contact with the drive tires again.... causing more downtime and more than likely a write up for the poor unfortunate ride host. If done correctly, a hold called for a seatbelt should only be a 10-15 minute downtime max, however when it is stopped at the wrong spot (almost 75% of the holds last season) the downtime will likely be 45 minutes - 1 hour. Ahh... its nice being a guest again...