Millennium Force - CoasterBuzz

I was reading about MF on http://www.experiencethepoint.com and it says that towards the end of the summer when it opened it was much better. Also, it says that it sometimes takes the ride some time to warm up in the morning. Is there truth to these statements? How would the ride change?

~Nick

It has nothing to do with just MF. This is true for all coasters. Most rides change from hour to hour, day to day, month to month, year to year, etc. It is more pronounced on some more than others, particularly wood. Temperature, weather, wheel changes, TLC from the maintenance crew, etc. all contribute. Certain coasters take time to warm up in the morning. I once had the first 10 or so consecutive rides on a big woodie once and each ride was better than the last. It was quite interesting.

As for MF, I have had different rides on it. Although I haven't ridden it too much, I've had one really cold ride, several really hot rides, one in a torrential downpour, and one over a wheel that desperately needed changed. The difference is noticable!

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- Peabody

Every coaster needs time to "break in". When Millennium Force opened last year, it took until mid-July to get the right type of wheels on the train. Once the ride recieved the new wheels, and since the ride was in operation for several months, it was running better then before.

Millennium Force, along with many of Intamin's newer coasters, run better as the day moves on, since they need time to "break in". Ride Millennium Force as soon as it opens on Opening Day, and reride it around 8 o'clock in mid-August, and you will see what I mean. The same applies if you ride it in the morning than again at night. I don't have the exact numbers on me, but I have timed the ride in the morning then again in the evening and as the day moves on the amount of ride time shortens by a few seconds.

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Andrew Hyde
http://www.experiencethepoint.com

All coasters are better once they warm up. Intamins warm up pretty quick though. SROS at SFA isn't bad on the first ride, and by the third run through the trains are moving pretty well. Of course the best comes at night.
B&Ms seem to warm up up more slowly for some reason. I notice this more on the hypers than the acrobatic coasters. Apollo and Nitro both start out real slow in the morning. The operators can actually measure this since there are speed sensors, though you can measure the difference with just a watch. Once they get going though, they are great rides

*** This post was edited by Jim Fisher on 1/19/2002. ***

Anyone who can claim to feel a difference of one or two seconds in ride time is full of crap.

The different wheels on MF made little to no difference late in any day, once warmed up. The benefit came in the mornings on a cold, empty ride.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Well then I must be full of crap(or Millennium Force must really warm up), because to me when I take a morning ride I don't get nearly as much airtime(espcially one the 3rd hill) as I do later in the day.

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Andrew Hyde
http://www.experiencethepoint.com

*** This post was edited by Andrew on 1/19/2002. ***

Jeff said:
"Anyone who can claim to feel a difference of one or two seconds in ride time is full of crap."
Well how about 4 or five seconds? I think The Legend was about 10 secs shorter by midnight SRM than the first run of the day.

And I'm pretty damn sure epeople could tell the difference :)
jeremy
--but maybe that shouldnt count as it was "rain-aided"

Jeff said:
Anyone who can claim to feel a difference of one or two seconds in ride time is full of crap.

Considering I ride the same coasters everyday, umm yeah I can tell. I can tell you which train I'm on just by how fast it is running, and how smooth it is. For a person who doesn't ride them everyday it might be hard--but you are incorrect to think someone couldn't tell the difference...its part of our job.

Lets put it this way:

Last time i was at CP, i got two good rides on MF during the day. This was in August. By night, i got 2 rides in that were fantastic, and the thing was running like a complete bat out of hell. During the day i got good floatage on the magnum hill, but at night, on both rides, i floated all the way over it. I know that several others here have had the same experience, and if we are all "full of crap", then so be it.

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Father Lucifer, you never looked so sane. You did always did prefer the drizzle to the rain

At Coastermania last year, you could definitely tell a difference between the morning/afternnon rides from the ERT rides. That's the fastest I've ever seen MF, and the tunnels were deafening. I can't even imagine how many decibals it was in that first tunnel!

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