MF Media Day (5/11) (way long)
By the number of trucks and television crews crowding the Millennium Force midway, you'd think that someone was hiding a little Cuban boy there!
Like everything else Cedar Point does, this was a world-class event, with media from all over the place. I did interviews with a crew from Kentucky or Virginia or something like that, as well as a national live drop with the Fox News Channel (the reporter was a bigger dork than us and said the ride was "smoother than Jack Daniels"). What an incredible range of media at this thing.
Before I transitioned to an "Internet professional," I was a TV guy, and loved all the toys out there. Temporary TV facilities were cool, as Classic Video out of Cleveland had two full Avid suites as well as the ever-cool Panasonic laptop-style DVCPRO editors. I was surprised at how many of the non-Cleveland affiliates were using digital formats, mostly DVCPRO. They also had three satellite feeds booked all day, using platforms with low cameras next to the bunny hop to place the first hill in the background. It looked fabulous just before the sunrise, when they were tag-teaming different morning shows from across the country.
The food was outstanding. Breakfast was served in the Midway Market, and we're talking full-blown buffet. Good stuff! Scrambeled eggs, hash browns, pancakes, French toast, fruit, juice... it made a 6am arrival a lot easier to deal with.
Lunch was served in Coasters, where the usual food was available. The pricing was suspiciously off the menu. They rounded the afternoon out with wagons for drinks, water and sandwiches on the midway. Lots of free food. Free is good.
Now the ride... I didn't hit it as hard as I would have liked to, because I was busy eating free food, chatting it up with the marketing folks and the official site folks, the guy from Classic Video, etc.
Twenty laps on the day! For the most part, you could just exit the train and take the special access gate back to the load platform. The "fast yank" out of the station was in order, and I finally got a better appreciation for how the lift and roll-backs work. There were a lot of added touches in the station, including red neon over the length of the train and additional plastic covering along the sled track and between the kicker wheels.
My new favorite thing to do on the ride is look over the side on the high turns. When you do this, it's like you're looking at the horizon under the track upside down. On the left side you can do it on the second isle turn, on the right you can do it in the first turn (with the finger supports flying by), the first isle turn and the last turn, where you'll see the entire Summer Spectacular screen.
The ride gets better and better every time I ride. This is not a ride that will scare the crap out of you, but a ride that will just nail you with its power. The pullout is extreme in seat 5-1, where the Intamin engineer said you can experience the most G's. I flirted with red-outs on several occassions. Wow! I did actually notice the Davis-Bessy (sp?) power plant on the horizon this time, and it is many, many miles up the coast.
Getting trains on and off through the transfer is very quick. They took one off briefly to adjust the camera rig.
The Hot Shots people were there testing the system, which crashed a few times. The printers also couldn't handle the demand of free prints. Naturally, one guy (who embarassed his club with a certain jacket on) actually got hostile toward the Hot Shots rep complaining about the five minutes he had been waiting. Geeze, he got it free under extreme cirumstances. The other problem they had was the timing, which was still not quite on.
Now about the lift... I guess they're going to slow it down a bit when they try to nail down the three-train deal tomorrow. The lift sled engages a hook near the back of the fourth car. The large pin in the sled backs under the hook, and you can hear and feel it drop over the other side. It reverses direction, pulls the cable tight and WOOOOSH! You're 22 seconds away from the world's finest drop.
The anti-rollback disengagement has been the real problem so far, and it makes a nasty noise when it drags. I saw them messing with these strange little tires several times since last weekend. When sitting in 5-1, I noticed a pair just under the back of car 4 in contact with the lift sled track. That's when it became obvious that the wheels generate some kind of electro-magnetic field or something that retracts the roll-backs under that car when they roll on the edges of the sled track. There were several spare wheels of these kind under the storage track.
That's a long-winded story, but thanks for reading it!
-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 22
Like everything else Cedar Point does, this was a world-class event, with media from all over the place. I did interviews with a crew from Kentucky or Virginia or something like that, as well as a national live drop with the Fox News Channel (the reporter was a bigger dork than us and said the ride was "smoother than Jack Daniels"). What an incredible range of media at this thing.
Before I transitioned to an "Internet professional," I was a TV guy, and loved all the toys out there. Temporary TV facilities were cool, as Classic Video out of Cleveland had two full Avid suites as well as the ever-cool Panasonic laptop-style DVCPRO editors. I was surprised at how many of the non-Cleveland affiliates were using digital formats, mostly DVCPRO. They also had three satellite feeds booked all day, using platforms with low cameras next to the bunny hop to place the first hill in the background. It looked fabulous just before the sunrise, when they were tag-teaming different morning shows from across the country.
The food was outstanding. Breakfast was served in the Midway Market, and we're talking full-blown buffet. Good stuff! Scrambeled eggs, hash browns, pancakes, French toast, fruit, juice... it made a 6am arrival a lot easier to deal with.
Lunch was served in Coasters, where the usual food was available. The pricing was suspiciously off the menu. They rounded the afternoon out with wagons for drinks, water and sandwiches on the midway. Lots of free food. Free is good.
Now the ride... I didn't hit it as hard as I would have liked to, because I was busy eating free food, chatting it up with the marketing folks and the official site folks, the guy from Classic Video, etc.
Twenty laps on the day! For the most part, you could just exit the train and take the special access gate back to the load platform. The "fast yank" out of the station was in order, and I finally got a better appreciation for how the lift and roll-backs work. There were a lot of added touches in the station, including red neon over the length of the train and additional plastic covering along the sled track and between the kicker wheels.
My new favorite thing to do on the ride is look over the side on the high turns. When you do this, it's like you're looking at the horizon under the track upside down. On the left side you can do it on the second isle turn, on the right you can do it in the first turn (with the finger supports flying by), the first isle turn and the last turn, where you'll see the entire Summer Spectacular screen.
The ride gets better and better every time I ride. This is not a ride that will scare the crap out of you, but a ride that will just nail you with its power. The pullout is extreme in seat 5-1, where the Intamin engineer said you can experience the most G's. I flirted with red-outs on several occassions. Wow! I did actually notice the Davis-Bessy (sp?) power plant on the horizon this time, and it is many, many miles up the coast.
Getting trains on and off through the transfer is very quick. They took one off briefly to adjust the camera rig.
The Hot Shots people were there testing the system, which crashed a few times. The printers also couldn't handle the demand of free prints. Naturally, one guy (who embarassed his club with a certain jacket on) actually got hostile toward the Hot Shots rep complaining about the five minutes he had been waiting. Geeze, he got it free under extreme cirumstances. The other problem they had was the timing, which was still not quite on.
Now about the lift... I guess they're going to slow it down a bit when they try to nail down the three-train deal tomorrow. The lift sled engages a hook near the back of the fourth car. The large pin in the sled backs under the hook, and you can hear and feel it drop over the other side. It reverses direction, pulls the cable tight and WOOOOSH! You're 22 seconds away from the world's finest drop.
The anti-rollback disengagement has been the real problem so far, and it makes a nasty noise when it drags. I saw them messing with these strange little tires several times since last weekend. When sitting in 5-1, I noticed a pair just under the back of car 4 in contact with the lift sled track. That's when it became obvious that the wheels generate some kind of electro-magnetic field or something that retracts the roll-backs under that car when they roll on the edges of the sled track. There were several spare wheels of these kind under the storage track.
That's a long-winded story, but thanks for reading it!
-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 22
Free is definitely good.
Cedar Point put on a great event. My only semi-complaint is the 2 hours I waited for reverse POV stills. But, after getting those things processed, I guess there is no way I can complain - incredible!
Thank you Cedar Point for an incredible day.
-------------
Tyler Adams
Cedar Point put on a great event. My only semi-complaint is the 2 hours I waited for reverse POV stills. But, after getting those things processed, I guess there is no way I can complain - incredible!
Thank you Cedar Point for an incredible day.
-------------
Tyler Adams
Great story jeff. That idiot reporter who interviewed you was dave sommers. He had the story for fox8 cleveland also. He wussed out on the drop and rode hands down. :( (he had a little problem remembering dan's name too) (almost time for my TR)
-------------
Welcome back Millennium Force riders...We all want to know how was your RIDE!!!!!
*** This post was edited by Hooper on 5/12/2000. *** *** This post was edited by Hooper on 5/12/2000. ***
-------------
Welcome back Millennium Force riders...We all want to know how was your RIDE!!!!!
*** This post was edited by Hooper on 5/12/2000. *** *** This post was edited by Hooper on 5/12/2000. ***
Jeff, you made it on our local news, all the way down here in southern West Virginia. It was our local Fox, which also doubles as our local ABC!
-------------
Jeremy M Johnson
cedarpointer@aol.com
-------------
Jeremy M Johnson
cedarpointer@aol.com
as usual, we here in Chicago heard and saw nothing...if it ain't the Chicago Flubs, er, Cubs, it aint news...
-------------
i'm back and my brain is still scrambled...
-------------
i'm back and my brain is still scrambled...
Hey Cedarpointer...what part of Southern WV are you from...I am from Mingo County and there has been articles in the Charleston Gazette and various papers!
-------------
Teresa T
-------------
Teresa T
Hey Cedarpointer... I couldn't remember what market that guy was from. He really had it together. Any chance you taped the story?
-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 22
-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 22
Nope, didnt tape it.Its one of those things where I was flipping through the channel's to catch which one of our locals had the story. I think the guys name was Kenny Bass..Im in Kanawha County, near Charleston.
-------------
Jeremy M Johnson
cedarpointer@aol.com
-------------
Jeremy M Johnson
cedarpointer@aol.com
Your ABC is the same as your FOX? I thought West Virginians were weird, but never that weird.:) Just kidding! Nice report Jeff, our TV station, WTMR out of Whitmer High School, Toledo, Ohio, tried to get in but got screwed out of the opportunity. Oh well, I already rode it Sunday, so that's okay!
(Typing Error Fix) *** This post was edited by Cayl on 5/12/2000. ***
(Typing Error Fix) *** This post was edited by Cayl on 5/12/2000. ***
Our FOX station just started doing a 10pm newscast and thats all they do! Jeff, if you wanted a tape you might be able to get one from WCHS www.wchstv.com.
-------------
Jeremy M Johnson
cedarpointer@aol.com
-------------
Jeremy M Johnson
cedarpointer@aol.com
You must be logged in to post