Noon opening this week

Right... the long string of brakes on a downward incline will not stop the train. The brakes next to the exit ramp can retract and will stop a train.

I'm not sure why they're so noisy. I thought maybe they were slightly out of alignment, but the fins don't appear to have any kind of wear on them. To contrast, the brakes on S:ROS at Darien are very quiet.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 23

I think I know why the brakes are so noisy. If you look closely, you'll see a long blue cover plate on top of the brakes that runs the length of the entire brake run. I don't think that it's as tightly fastened as it could be, so you are getting some shaking and rattling between the brakes and the metal plate. That's the only idea I could come up with.

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Millennium Force: As fast as a male horsefly!

This could be someting on their list to solve, yellow being higher right now.

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"the Force of the new Millennium will be felt by those who choose to seek it... Beyond words... bey

It's closed today.

Sorry DaveM, but on Tuesday MF didn't run untill almost 1:00PM, not noon. We got in lina @9:00AM and got on the 2nd train/yellow.Yellow ran 2nd on Tuesday. It opened after 11:30AM yesterday I believe. We were farther back in the line. We did get 4 rides in yesterday, but paid the price of approx. 8 hours in line. Mostly about 2 hour waits Wed 17th. not counting the wait to get onto the queue for the 1st ride of the day.

Pete is correct about the anti-rollback disengagement system requiring the high speed to function. Wednesday morning, the red train was parked on the lift and when it started, it was noisier than Magnum until it got up to speed.

While waiting for the trains to be swapped yesterday I had an opportunity to chat with one of the crew members at length, and he noted that indeed, the big problem is that the unload approach brake has to be completely clear before the train on the lift can be allowed to crest. Originally, I guess the unload station had to be completely clear before the train on the back brake could move, but the change is to allow both of those trains to move together. That seems to work, as I saw it in action when they transferred trains. I think the motion starts as soon as the loading station is empty; I wouldn't be surprised if they try to push it even earlier...after all, there is a kicker wheel at the uptrack end of the loading station, and once the train starts to dispatch, there is no way for a following train to catch the lift pusher...as long as the train departing is faster than the train entering, they could move *all three* trains together.

There are three issues at work in the unload station that need to be addressed. The least problematic is that people are getting stuck in the train because the seat belt buckle is unfamiliar. Heck, they could probably fix that with a sign over the approach brake with a picture of the buckle and a sign saying "UNFASTEN SEAT BELT NOW".

The second problem is that people keep trying to exit the train to the left, since there is a platform there. I wonder if a piece of strap could be run from the outboard siderail of the left-hand seat to the grab-bar, much like the steel plates that used to be on the side of the Blue Streak.

Finally, I noticed that they were waiting for all exiting riders to start down the stairs or ramp before they sent the train into the loading station. While this is a good idea from a safety standpoint, it's bad for throughput. Perhaps they could simply wait until everyone is clear of the Yellow Line...install a light curtain or a touch mat if they're really worried about it...to speed up that process.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.