Some more noticable things

The ride ops are telling all riders to keep hands down. They tell you as they come by to check the lap bar and on the microphone as you leave the station. About one half of the entire train, I've noticed, will still put their hands up for the first hill and after the fist hill nearly all riders hold their arms though the air. I think I've figured it out...Could it be that on the last turn on the island that the headchoper is too close to impact?? Could Intamin have designed it to suit the front lower part of the car and forgoten about the back of the car?? Or possible hands block faces during the photo?

Also, I finally have found the best seat on MF, the VERY FRONT. If you sit anywhere else you can't get the full view of just how steep and long that massasive hill really is. Besides that, it on of the best spots to get airtime.

ENJOY YOUR RIDE!

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Live for FUN!

GO SHAMROCKS!
GO WOLVERINES!

No they HAVE to say that because there isn't a ride op saying their spiel about keeping your hands inside the car. So they say it individually. The 3rd time I rode, I put my hands up while leaving the station and one of the ops said it again, and I was like, "Yeah right, whatever!"

Besides the head/arm chopper on the island I'm willing to bet that you could touch a support or two in the first banked turn. If they are making a point to tell people keep there hands down and inside the trains why don't they do that on all the rides where a rider could injury themselves. When I say make a point I mean having the ride ops tell every single person in the train. On Mean Streak, Gemini, and Magnum I can name plenty of places where one could touch a support yet when a ride op checks my bar on one of those rides I don't get a personal message to hold on. Telling people to hold on during a roller coaster ride is like telling people at a baseball game not to cheer when the home team hits a homerun. People get caught up in the moment and riding with your hands up is part of the experience. It was funny because the first time I saw the warning stickers in the train and ride ops were telling people to hold on I was sitting in the back of the train. Once the train crested the lift nearly the entire train had their hands up the entire ride. I just found it funny. I should also be noted that in the auto speil in the station it DOES tell people to hold on.

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daniel j. haverlock
'99 Magnum Count: 801
spiritofthepoint.com

Me and Jeff (screechnowl) had a quick little converstaion with a ride op one time while we were waiting to be dispatched. He told us to keep our hands down and inside the car at all times, and all that other mumbo jumbo. Jeff said," YEA RIGHT". The ride-op said "We have to say that for insurance reasons, hell I put my hands up on the coaster.". That is the only reason they tell you to keep your hands inside the car. It's plainly for insurance. Even though it looks like you are able to get your arm cut off by the tunnel or a headchopper on the island turnaround, you still have plenty of empty space between you and the object. I've noticed on Gemini, there are spots where you could grab the supports, but why would you, that would just be dumb, to much friction, lol, your train has a greater chance of loosing, lol.

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"The shade, is a tool, A device, a saviour"
My own summer (shove it)-Deftones

If you put your hands up and get your are hit on a suport can you suit (sp?!?). I mean I know they tell you "Keep you hands inside it car at all times" but I mean a lady sued McDonalds because she was driving with coffee and it burned her. He cup said "Hot, be careful." She won that case

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Millennium Force Rids:1
Magnum XL-200 Drop:3

I think the reason they tell everyone is because of insurance purposes. What if someone was to grab a support on the overbanked turns or get a finger chopped off by putting there hand in between cars ? They would get sued but, CP would win. The signs in all of the lines state that you must obey what the ride ops tell you due to some ordinance. Cedar Point could use the information to get out of a law suit which shouldn't have even happened if the rider would have followed the rules.

One ride op summed it up best who said to me (I must have looked at her a little strange or something after the instructions)
"You don't have to do it, you just have to hear it."

On the last night ride I ever had, I remembered Jeff saying how to look under the track on the overbanks. I did, and Mean Streak and the Giant Wheel look cool. When I did on the first turn I swore my hands were within 6 in. from the supports, but I didn't care I was having the time of my life.

When I heard my personal keep your hands inside the car message, I just said sure. Then the ride op stood there and read the the Ohio Revised Code to me, it was very very fun.

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Tyler Adams

yeah i think i came pretty close to the overbank supprts too... exactly how close are they? and also how low are those "headchoppers" anyone know?

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HA HA HA, MELLENIUM FORCE, YEAH BUDDY!

Sorry, but you've seen the safety envelope panel they tied to the train in the pull through, and it sure looked to me like it went through the ride unharmed.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 29

Think of it this way Jeff, say during the pull through one of the pegs sticking out was knocked off during the test in the first banked turn. Wouldn't they just replace that peg with another one just to make sure that that same area is clear?

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daniel j. haverlock
'99 Magnum Count: 801
spiritofthepoint.com

Look at it this way...
Cedar Point's operations division is paranoid about this ride. I don't know why, but they are scared out of their minds that something bad is going to happen on Millennium Force. To make things worse, there are lots of riders out there who, for some strange reason, will say all kinds of idiotic things about their ride experiences. It doesn't take long for "It felt like the support was inches away from my fingers" to become "I hit a support with my fingers", and the next thing you know, the park is trying to figure out how it happened. Truth is, it didn't happen, but the park has no way of knowing that. All they know for sure is that whenever you try to make a system idiot-proof, somebody comes up with a better idiot.

One of these days they'll figure out that they've got themselves an outstanding ride, they'll get to know it the way they know Magnum, and they'll relax a bit. Maybe they'll even drop the height restriction to 48" which is where it should have been from the beginning. But that is going to take a while, and a few seasons far more typical than last season was for the industry in general.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
*** This post was edited by RideMan on 6/19/2000. ***

For the love of God, DON'T RAISE THE HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS!!! Do you realize how much longer that would make the lines?

"What if someone was to grab a support on the overbanked turns or get a finger chopped off by putting there hand in between cars ? They would get sued but, CP would win." No, CP would lose. If someone pulled out a hammer while on the lift hill of MF, smashed the crap out of their lap bar, ripped open their seat belt and jumped to their death, and their family sued, they (the family) would win. It may not make sense, but that's the way it is. (By the way, in case you read this and say that's insane, similar things have happened at other parks and the parks almost always lose - or settle - the lawsuit. I have actually posted examples on other threads. It's a crazy world ...).
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Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill.

The story alone wouldn't stand up in court but the park would probably settle before that happened.

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Dispatch Master, This is Transport one! I'm losing control, I'm losing control!

Dave couldn't be more right. This may be the most hyped ride ever and so it is only resonable that people's opinions of their expiences on it would be equally hyped.

Remember what Ron Toomer said about injury complaints. You get the most claimed injuries when a ride is new and then they drop off quickly after the second and third years, even though no changes are made to the ride.

This weekend was the first time i've heard them say don't raise your hands, last week they just said keep hands in the car.

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Whats life if you never get to the point?
MF: 12, CP: 6
www.angelfire.com/oh4/hurricane6

When I rode in the front car for the first time, the ride-op looked me in the eye and told me, "keep your arms inside the train at all time, do you understand?" I gave him the thumbs up sign and he just said, "I'll take that as a 'yes'". Well, being in front car for the first time, how could I NOT hold my arms up as I experienced that train whooshing 300ft down the wonderful hill, lifting me out of my seat in pure amazement(sp?)!!!! That was my best ride ever.
Then the second time that day, the ride op came and asked me if I could reasd the sticker on the back of the seat in front of me. Of course I said yes, but I didn't say I'd do what it said.
I understand the whole insurance thing, so I just cooperate with the ride-ops when they ask me a question, but I don't always obey exactly hatr they say. Whatever, my hand are ALWAYS up during the entire ride. MF is THE best:o)
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MF and that's my Final Answer ;)
MF count:15 *** This post was edited by Gooober on 6/22/2000. ***

Jeff- Was the panel on the train during the pull through the size that anyone could reach from their seat, or just if they were sitting up? What about those guys that lean out on the overbanked turns? could they reach the supports without leaving thier seats?

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HA HA HA, MELLENIUM FORCE, YEAH BUDDY!