Down?

I hope it is up within a week, because me and my friends are going on May 30th and 31st. There are 8 of us going and five of them have never been. I hope its up then because it would be such a let down for those five to not get to ride it. Plus, we probably wont get to come back, we live 9 hours away, we're college students, and we're on a budget. Crossing my fingers for good luck!

According to CedarPoint.com Millennium Force will not be open Monday May22nd 2006 - Gosh.... Oh well, in light of the recent roller coaster accident, better safe than sorry.

Pure speculation here...

Trains in the unload station, on the storage track, and on the safety brake. This suggests that the area of interest may be the station.

In the station, there are two likely components of interest. One is the lift catchwagon, indicating a problem with the lift system, either with the lift, or with the catchwagon itself.

The other possibility is the advancing/braking motor at the uptrack end of the loading station, used for positioning and parking the train in the load station.

A friend indicated seeing from the train a small electric motor on the ground under the unload station. I did not see anything as I did not ride the train and that area is obscured by the concrete barrier when driving 'round the perimeter road.

The ride was pretty desolate today, suggesting that there is a parts procurement issue. There were certainly enough maintenance people around; they didn't spend their whole day resetting the lift chain on Wildcat... :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Of course I probably won't go on Dragster. I rode it twice so far this year, that's enough.

I'd rather ride Mean Streak, Gemini, Skyhawk, Magnum, Raptor, Power Tower, maXair and Wicked Twister than Dragster.

Rideman- that motor has been there for weeks.

And if that had been it, it could have been replaced in hours, not days :) so I doubt thats the case.

While sitting on the boat in the marina Saturday night (while having an adult beverage or two or three) we watched the red train stop up on the lift. It was there for quite a while. When they finally announced to the riders that there ride would begin again we watched as the yellow cable wheels at the bottom of the hill started to slowly turn. They were turning...but it took a while for the train to start moving. When they did it was quite a jammer of a start! We heard the grunts from the bottom of the hill! There must be quite a bit of slack in that cable! When the train made it over the hill the sled never returned.

At around 10pm that night we heard some truck action in the new parking lot. We took a look outside and there was a small crane loading something on to a truck. Not sure what it was...just interesting and thought that I'd mention it.
*** Edited 5/22/2006 11:08:31 AM UTC by Scott***

What is the my source? Good question? If its ok with everyone I'll keep that info to my self. Source actually said the down time could be any where between 3 days and 3 weeks depending on how bad the motor was damaged. Hopefully someone else can confirm the motor is the problem, as this info will be just a "rumor" until confirmed.

It better not be down 3 weeks. Im goin a week from sat and I would be pretty pissed if it was down.

Man does that stink. I just got back from a three day trip the 17th, 18th and 19th, and even with all that rain, I ended up riding MF 21 times.

Intamin is so reliable.

*shakes head*

I am surprised we have not seen an official news story about this yet...I mean a serious breakdown like this is usually mentioned - maybe it is not as serious as we think?

Lets all cross our fingers!!!!!

Coastern3rd said:
Intamin is so reliable.

*shakes head*

The ride has been running for 6 years now, and isn't the responsibility of Intamin anymore.

Assuming it is a gearbox, it is probably the original one. I'd say that's pretty damn reliable.

-Josh

6 years and the gear box goes out? Thats reliable? beyond 10 years and I would not complain.

If the ride is out of Intamins hands, it was still designed and built by Intamin. Cedar Point did not design it, and since they did not, I cannot blame them for the problem. It's Intamin's fault, Cedar Point has to have it fixed due to poor safety engineering on Intamins end.

If anyone has updated info on MF for Tuesday (05-23-06), please let me know. I had planned to go Tuesday and Wednesday, but I'm not going to drive 500 miles without the "Force".

Thanks

Check the CP website tonight around midnight - it should have the information about tomorrow posted by then.

Monty Jasper (VP of Cedar Point Maintenance) just sent this email.
I read your email and wanted to get you the answer to your question. Millennium Force will not be running on Tuesday and Wednesday (May 23 and 24). Please make your trip plans with that in mind.

The ride status is currently posted on our website. We will change it when we get the ride open again.

Sincerely Yours,


Monty Jasper
Vice-President of Maintenance/New Construction
and Assistant General Manager
Cedar Point *** Edited 5/22/2006 9:59:28 PM UTC by MagnumMiser***

Coastern3rd said:
6 years and the gear box goes out? Thats reliable? beyond 10 years and I would not complain.

I'm not sure about the amusement industry, but most things in the construction industry are only guarenteed for a year unless it's manufacture defect.

Figures, I planned on making my first trip this week too. :(

Good thing i rode millinum force 20 times 2 weeks ago