Force DOWN 7/15 with problems

I was at the park with my girlfriend yesterday and it was a 'Forceless day to say the least. At the entrance there was a sign stating "Millennium Force will be closed today." All of the toll booths, ticket windows, park entrances, and even the door to the park ops department all had similar signs.

Word around the park is that the storm on Saturday brought lightning that hit the ride and did a number on the electrical system. Whether this is true or not I *don't* know, but it would make sense...the park obviously knew the ride would have no chance of opening far enough in advance to get all of those signs out.

No word as to when the ride will reopen either, although it may already have. Whoever visits today or sometime soon please report back.

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James Draeger
C G & C P

MF was running today (Sunday).

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Cedar Point Virtual Midway
http://www.schmidty.com/cpvirtual

Yes it was, Walt... and Old Timer Tim, Stephanie saw you pass by Friday's (we think) while consuming some, uh, beverages. Was that you on the beach?

The problem with getting this story straight is that everyone says something different. Someone said the computer got fried, but what kind of electrician puts the computer in any position to get any kind of hit from lightning? If that's a real problem, why have a lightning rod?

Whatever the case, apparently some kind of replacement part was flown in and the ride ran at about 11:30 Saturday night.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 35

The thing about lightning is that it's capable of jumping three feet from wire to wire, and to any conductive surface. Insulation meaning exactly diddly. So... if the computer is anywhere near a pole lightning could be channeled through, or in-line with anything like that, it can get fried depending on the whim of the bolt.

We weren't on the beach, but we did pass by Friday's around 5pm yesterday afternoon on the way to the car. Was this the time of the alleged sighting?

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Cedar Point Virtual Midway
http://www.schmidty.com/cpvirtual

If you were at the park late enough on Saturday, the park did open Millennium Force at 10 mins till 12. I got to ride it back car at 12:30 at nite.

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Visit Cedar Point-on-Lake Erie http://cedarpoint.virtualave.net

Sighting it was! Yep, that's when we were there.

Did I mention that I'll be glad when they have this ride totally figured out?

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 35

Jeff -

I think alot of us will be very happy when most of the kinks worked out of this ride. Trying to pick a day when you have a good chance of getting to ride MF seems to be a real crapshoot.

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Ain't it neat to have your butt out of the seat.

I was at CP on 7-14 and rode MF about 30 mins before the storms came that closed MF. It was an awesome sight to go up the lift hill and see the black storm clouds heading for CP. After the rides reopened we had hoped to ride the MF once more. Unfortunately, I was told by a worker by the que line for MF that it was struck by lightning and had no idea when it would reopen. A sign that I knew it wasn't going to open anytime soon was that at night while other rides had their colorful lights flashing, the MF was standing completely in the dark. *** This post was edited by rblv on 7/17/2000. ***

So how many days this season has Millennium Force not operated at all or opened very late in the day? Three?

Your odds of catching Millennium Force on a day when it is operating are still better than your odds of catching Son of Beast on a day when it is operating...!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Actually, it seems like your odds of catching MF when its NOT operating are about the same of catching SOB when it is ... ;)

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Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill.

Some friends and I drove out from New Jersey and were at the park on Saturday for the first time. We were devastated to find out the Force was closed, but stopped back on Sunday (if only for a few hours and a lot of money!) just to ride - and it was completely worth it! Our only regret was that we couldn't ride it more, especially at night - I wish I had noticed that it had started running again that Saturday! That would have made the trip :) Its funny that it started running, as I had stopped by guest services around 11 pm to see if it would be running on Sunday, and the individual I talked to said probably - the part was being flown in from California and would hopefully be up by the afternoon. The rumor that I heard was the ride had been struck and was not grounded correctly, but who knows.
The ride and park were amazing - it put Six Flags of New Jersey to shame. I'll definitely be back soon!