Millennium Force overhauls

Are there going to have to be any major overhauls on MF this winter. Maybe a new track section or a train overhaul. The coaster was put together so fast last year that something could have gone wrong and be uneven or some settling might be occurring. Does CP even try to even out coaster track that is crooked due to settling?? I doubt that's the case with Magnum but that would make it a smoother ride. (expensive undertaking) Just curious-end of the season is coming pretty quickly.

It'll be neat if Jeffrey Spartan (or anyone-Jeff) goes to CP again this winter and gets some shots of trains in the parking lot (we haven't seen that done with MF's yet) and maybe just some other pic's.

I have photos of the cars covered in plastic, with bubble wrap on the lap bars. I'd show them to you if I could, honestly!

They'll overhaul the trains, as they do with every coaster in the off season. They'll likely overhaul some of the rotating components of the lift system as well (though I doubt the flywheels that go the length of the lift). But the track is bolted together at precise tolerances, there's nothing to do there.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 43

I have a bad feeling that they may add a break on the ride kinda like they did w/ Mantis and Mean Streak (hint,hint)...

People, please remember that CP will not "break" the ride. They may "brake" the ride. Get it? Brake means stop or slow, break means separate into pieces. Sorry, I don't mean to nit pick, but the mistakes really look bad when you're trying to read something.

And it would require a rather large engineering feat to add brakes to the ride.
Look at how long the brake run at the end is.. and the train is STILL screaming into the retractable brake run at that point. Have you ever seen an empty train hit that brake run?? JUST makes it through still rolling.

It would require a VERY long straight section of track (you think it's any coincidence that the only decent lenghts true pieces of straight track are at the end and hold brakes?) to affect the ride.

I just don't see them adding them.. this thing was made for speed, and it's doign it's job well..

P.S. Now adding some LIM motors along the track to speed things up would be.. naw.. don't need for THAT rumor to get started...

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Looking for me?? Check The Red Garter...

My guess is they won't. They have the second fastest coaster on the face of the planet, they might loose that title by putting a brake.

Why the hell would they add a brake? Yeah, I know they made provisions for them with the brackets, but to do it "because they did it with Mantis and Mean Streak?" Did you ever stop to consider for just a moment how illogical that is? That's like saying I'm going to sell my car because my brother sold his, even though mine is only two years-old and his was ten.

Please, think before you post.

Thank you, Pete, for clearing that up. Illiteracy sucks.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 43

why did they add the brakes to Mantis and MS in the first place?? with people talling about black-outs and such, wouldn't adding a brake seem like a "pound a few nails in it" fix-all solution?? seems like it was for Mantis and MS...but just to go on the record here..PLEASE don'r put any brakes on MF!! it's perfect the way it is!!

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--servo, For whom the off-season has already started...

After my experience last Sunday, I'm thinking perhaps it would be a good idea for them to add some additional, controllable braking to the approach runway so that they can more precisely control the train speed as it approaches the safety brake, so that they can avoid overshoots like the one they had Sunday (Jeff: If you want to put my TR: from r.r-c in the trip report section, be my guest...I don't have any good way to do it). That, or put the advancing tires around the station on a more frequent replacement interval; those are pretty chewed up (insert Firestone joke here).

Of course the ride will get a full overhaul just like the other coasters. They will review their maintenance data for this season, they will inspect all the wire ropes, they will inspect all the bearings on the lift pulleys, check the pulley surfaces for wear, make sure all the motors work, replace the wheels on the catch wagon, NDT more parts than you knew the ride had on it, tear down the trains and rebuild them, check the structural bolts and make sure they are properly torqued...In general, they will do a full off-season overhaul just as they do on all of their rides.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

First off, no one has actually blacked out. If you black out, you lose consciousness, and no one here has done that. The light-headed feeling you get accompanied by blurred vision isn't the same thing, and it doesn't cause discomfort or structural problems to the ride.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 43

Why don't the ride ops just adjust those brakes underneath the train? ;)

I always laughed at people who say they blacked out on rides. The only way I see you could black out on rides is if you get your head hit really hard on an OTSR while riding Mantis.
-Mike
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"You can never Safety Dance enough"

I tried to black out on Mantis, but I couldn't.

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"Brian Griese was running as if his dad was chasing him with a stick"

they really couldnt put a brake on it anyways there are times it barely makes it over the hills so i dont know where they would put them i love hitting the break run and the noise it makes is awesome

They wouldn't brake it in the morning, but they would do it in the afternoons and night, but then again, why would they brake it at ALL?!

i know no one has actually blacked out, but you all know how things get misinterpreted....besides, MF just wouldn't be MF without those feelings.

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--servo, For whom the off-season has already started...

As I see it, there'd be no possible way to add breaks to MF. The brakes would slow it down too much and it wouldn't make it around the course. With no one on it, and without being warmed up, it has actually rolled back on the magnum hill.. with or without people, and any brakes before that hill, it would never make it up the hill... *** This post was edited by marcusb@alltel.net on 9/17/2000. ***

Once again, use "brake" not "break"

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T BREAK MILLENNIUM FORCE!!!!! LOL!! It just wouldn't be right. ;)

I don't know for certain, but a couple of us were looking real hard at the track where it goes over the tunnel and lagoon to the island. One person suggested that perhaps one of the track sections there is specially designed to make it easier to clear a rollback by breaking the rails at that point and sliding the train off a car at a time... Just thought I'd figure out a context where it actually makes sense to break Millennium Force... :) --Dave Althoff, Jr.

LOL, RideMan.

Here's something to chew on...Why would you throw on brakes to a ride that was made for SPEED. Also for a ride that when not warmed up without passengers, barly makes the second island hop. The reason they put brakes on MS (most likly because of wear and tear), and Mantis (to intense for the GP). MF on the other hand, is not too intense for the GP, and is holding up well. Get where I'm going here.

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MF Laps-14