Millennium Force train is stuck on the lift hill 8:20pm 5/16/09

You are all making a lot more of this Millennium issue than needs to be made... First, the reason that the ride was making the "grinding" noise and stopping at the top so much is the trains were coming into unload so slow that the ride was block stopping at the top of the lift. This is a safety feature, and not a malfunction. The crew eventually adjusted to this, and it stopped.

There were some mechanical issues with the ride, but the cold temperatures today had a lot to do with the ride being down this morning. At colder temps, the train runs slower. If it runs too slow, the ride will issue a warning and shut down. Dragster's issue was also primarily weather related as well.

I don't work on MF anymore, but I am 99% confident this was not a lift motor issue.

Millennium ran sporadically today. Twice we saw it running from a distance, only to discover once we got to the entrance that it had closed again in the interim. We finally got our one ride of it in at 6:00 this evening -- my seven year old daughter's first MF ride! (She loved, said she was freaked out by the lift, and that she wanted to ride it again as soon as possible.)

After we rode it, I did notice an automatic stop on the lift, about 20 feet below the crest, for about 15 seconds until the preceding train had tripped the final brake run sensors. It caught my attention because the stop allowed the trains to settle back a foot or so and engage the chaindog -- a sound which you almost never hear on MF and which makes you take notice.

Poor TTD was having nothing but trouble today, it seemed (though we didn't ride it). Up again, down again, full load, mostly empty load -- it didn't make any difference. More rollbacks than Wal-Mart.

Yes! I was there saturday night, and finally got my first rollback! :) we were in the station having a rollback fest as the ride host (forgot his name) made it feel like a rollback fest! He called it "top thrill rollback" and everyone cheered or boooed when it rolled back or made it over. But I got mine at night in the yellow train.

I did hear millennium make that grind noise in the morning after we rode it for ERT. I looked up and saw the yellow train at the top, but it didn't slow down. When we rode it, it didn't make that noise, or I would have noticed. :)

It was a fun opening day, but was sad because skyscraper was down......

Its not a grind noise its the antirollbacks. Usually MF does not have the "click-click" going up because the cable actually lifts the train up enough that the dog does not engage the teeth. When the cable slows down or stops it goes slack and the train drops enough for the system to engage.

Actually, the train doesn't move at all when the cable engages (at least not in the way you are suggesting). The anti-roll back catches are connected to the wheels. As long as the wheels keep spinning forward fast enough, the catches stay tucked up away from the roll-back slots on the track. As soon as the train does not have the speed to keep them up, they flip down and engage, keeping the train from rolling back down the hill.

It's train specific too. So sometimes one of the trains will be more noisy than the others.

hooray for the TTRB! :-) (Top Thrill Rollback :-) ) Good one MIss Maverick

Millie was not up for ERT this morning. However from like noon on it was running smoothly.

Ryan

On sunday, I loved watching the GP bum rush MF. Some pointed to the stuck train and stopped, but most charged full speed lol.

I almost had a block stop at about 5:30 today. Just before we stopped completely the lift speed up again and tossed us over the hill. It scared the hell out of my 9 year old. It was about 65 and sunny out too so I don't know if it was the temperature or what but that was the first time since MF opened that I almost got stopped.
Also saw a rollback while in line for Magnum at about 12:30. Actually, I didn't see it at first but there was a big gasp and some commotion in the line and when I looked to where everyone was staring I saw the train rolling back down the tower.

Miss_Maverick07 said:
Yes! I was there saturday night, and finally got my first rollback! :) we were in the station having a rollback fest as the ride host (forgot his name) made it feel like a rollback fest! He called it "top thrill rollback" and everyone cheered or boooed when it rolled back or made it over. But I got mine at night in the yellow train.

I did hear millennium make that grind noise in the morning after we rode it for ERT. I looked up and saw the yellow train at the top, but it didn't slow down. When we rode it, it didn't make that noise, or I would have noticed. :)

It was a fun opening day, but was sad because skyscraper was down......

Don't fret, SkyScraper will be opening in the very near future, possibly tomorrow. ;)

I see skyscraper running now! And i see millie stuck again! haha. Pry do to some moron with there phone tho.

edit: just ran! cant wait for thursday!

I to saw MF suck again, but the train is already gone. So either it was a someone with a loose article or there learning to fix the problem quicker.

I've been watching for quite a while now and I've only seen 3 or 4 trains on MF. They must just be doing testing, because there's been at least a 15 minute interval between each one, sometimes up to almost 30 minutes. I'm gonna be there Thurs. and Friday, so I really hope all's well by then.

Everyone take a deep breath.

MF is fine.

Exhale...

Millie did go down for about 3 hours during the middle of the day today. However after that it recovered perfectly and finished through the night with no hiccups.

I think it is sad to say but TTD may have been the most consistent major ride over my two day trip yesterday and today. I take that back. Raptor was. However TTD only went down twice over the two days for one hour total. From what I know; Millie, WT, Maverick, Iron Dragon, Mantis all had problems at some point. Even DT had to be evacuated today due to a fire alarm going off.

Ryan

Throw Blue Streak in with the list problem children yesterday. It was down when we got to the park around 11 and then again it was down for most of the hour and 15 minutes that we spent in the Raptor line.

^ Yup just remembered that. I saw mechanics working on the breaks and took a picture. My buddy asked why and I said "It pretty much sums up my two days."

It was amazing how many rides went down at some point.

Ryan

I saw mechanics working on the breaks and took a picture.

What?!!?! Mechanics working when they should have been on break? Do they get paid overtime for this or do they just love their jobs so much that they volunteer?

Ohhhh, you meant they were working on the brakes. Now I understand. Of course, I affectionately wrote this reply.

^lol

And yes Dragster had a very bad start to the season. Not only did it not get a certain something the DAY OF OPENING DAY but also the weather was just horrible. It technically shouldn't have run the majority of Saturday and Sunday. Monday it ran fine because the weather was great, but the wind and cold temps on Saturday and Sunday were just relentless. And needless to say the fact that Skyscraper wasn't certified to run on fri, sat, sun or mon peeved me off even more.