It's hard to put into words how incredible this roller coaster is but I will do my best. It is also hard to not look at this ride and be amazed. At least to me it is a visually stunning ride. I took the picture above in our visit in June of 2013. Here is a bit more of the layout from a picture I got online. There are so many great pictures of this ride you just have to Google them.
You are looking at a ride that was completed in the year 2000 so Millennium Force is an appropriate name for such an amazing ride. It was the dawn of a new millennium and Cedar Point pulled out all of the stops with this coaster. It was the first roller coaster to be built with a staggering height over 300 feet (310 ft to be exact). It was the first roller coaster to go over 90 miles an hour (93 mph to be exact). It's setting is superb. It is located right on the edge of the park next to Lake Erie and if you are lucky and sitting in the left hand seat of the train you get this great or not so great feeling, depending on how much of a wimp you are, feeling like you will fall into the lake. I myself find it to be one of the more awesome moments on a roller coaster. Then again, I am the one writing a coaster blog for goodness sake!
Did I mention this coaster goes up a 310 foot lift hill, drops you 300 feet at 80 degrees (for those of you math wizards that is just 10 degrees shy of being a vertical or straight down drop), and reaches speeds of up to 93 miles per hour!? The view from the top is breathtaking, the drop is intense, and the ride is absolutely exhilarating.
You start by boarding the train, fastening your seat belt, and then pulling down a t-bar across your lap. It is actually quite comfortable and you are perfectly secure in a way that the ride experience is very enjoyable without being too restricted. You are pulled up the 310 foot lift hill by an elevator cable which is pretty neat. You come right out of the station and all you see is a 45 degree angled lift hill going up over 300 feet tall! Talk about a good way to to get antsy for a first time rider. It's a pretty fast lift and it actually gets faster as you approach around 200 feet in the air which only adds to the excitement.
You are at the top. It's so high you get beautiful views of the lake, most of Cedar Point, and the soon-to-be 300 foot drop you are about to experience. The drop is so fast and abrupt you barely have time to think before you are whisked around a 'u' shaped turn-around. You reach speeds of 93 miles per hour here and you can feel how fast the ride takes you. After the turn-around you go through a tunnel and into a 182 foot tall hill with great air time and solid views again. Then it is nothing but speed the rest of the way.
The ride never lets up and everyone on the train is screaming and yelling with their hands up. It is one of those coasters that for some reason just forces (no pun intended) a person to just, live and let live, and put their hands up. Most trains you see on Millennium Force will have a car full of riders with their hands up. It is just that fun. You will hit two more hills, (both with solid air time) one of which is 169 feet tall, before the ride ends. Yeah that's taller than hills on most regular sized roller coasters. You then go through another tunnel and hit another small hill and turn-around back into the brakes.
At the end of the ride you see people with huge smiles on their faces, clapping their hands, and giving high fives. I hope you can see why this roller coaster remains at my number one. I don't think I have ever found a person say it's a bad ride or that they didn't like it. Most coaster enthusiasts have it in their top ten and a lot as their favorite coaster like me. I'll never forget how nervous I was when I first rode this back on July 4th, 2007. I had no idea how it was going to feel on my body going on a coaster that high dropping at those kind of speeds. Needless to say it has left a lasting impression on me. I have probably ridden it over 50 times now since that first ride. I have been on a lot of great roller coasters yet Millennium Force still delivers. I don't know if there will ever be another roller coaster top this one for me but for the time being Millennium Force you are number one.
For most of you that know me, know that I am a fan of amusement parks especially roller coasters. I have a few passions in life other than, of course, my family and Jesus Christ. I will list them here in no particular order: Kentucky basketball, buying and selling sports cards, and roller coasters. I will be focusing all my efforts here on roller coasters and other theme park information. I know that I like to talk about amusement parks and roller coasters a lot and have become aware that this is annoying to some. I understand that most people just aren't as excited about roller coasters and theme parks as I am so this is a good way for me to talk about something I love to do without always jabbering about it all the time out loud. I just can't help how enthusiastic I am about this hobby and when someone asks me a question or if I see something cool, neat, or new in the amusement industry I have to talk about it. So, instead of boring people around me with my constant coaster chatter I figured I would just bore you here instead. Hopefully it won't be that bad though. Maybe, just maybe, this blog will motivate someone to go to a new amusement park they've never been to or ride a roller coaster they've never ridden before.
I am new to this blog stuff so bear with me. I also know that I am not the best writer and sometimes can talk out loud about a topic better than writing about it. Anyway, this blog is really meant to be for me to express my feelings about amusement parks, roller coasters, and trips that I have gone on or will go on, hopefully in the future. It will give me an avenue to write about my hobby rather than talk about it all the time. I will give credit to my lovely wife Ashley for the title of my blog: Collin on Coasters. It really is an awesome title and I'm glad she suggested it to me. I don't think I could have ever come up with that.
For those of you who will read this blog I'm sure you have the question of why do you have such a passion for roller coasters? When did it start and why is it that important to you? The short answer would be that I just really love the feeling I get when I step into an amusement park and then hop on a roller coaster. It takes me away from the world and puts me in a place where I can just have fun and put a smile on my face. It gives me the opportunity to scream and yell and feel young again. I love hearing the screams from the rides, smelling the food, and just looking at all of the rides in motion. I don't even recall when the first time was that I attended an amusement park. If I had to guess it was around the early 1990's. I don't think I really got that excited about roller coasters until 1995 though. I used to attend the local park Kentucky Kingdom with my Dad. My Dad hasn't always been in my life or helped me much, since we lived 350 miles apart as I was growing up, but I will credit him for helping me overcome my fear of roller coasters and start this passion in my life.
The year was 1995 and the only roller coaster I had ever ridden was the Starchaser at Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky. The ride really didn't do that much. It was in the dark and really wasn't all that thrilling however I do remember being very nervous when I rode it. Dare I say, I was a bit of a wuss back then. The park had another roller coaster called Vampire which went upside down a total of six times. It was a coaster that I just wasn't prepared to experience just yet. I remember my Dad would ride it and I would just watch him. I really felt bad because I just couldn't do it. I couldn't get on this looping roller coaster. My Dad kept urging me, pleading with me to just do it and that it wouldn't be that bad. I'm not sure what finally happened with my thought process but I finally caved. I said to myself I better ride this thing or I may never ride a roller coaster or overcome my fears ever in life. It was at this moment I knew I had reached a huge milestone. I was only twelve years old but I did it. I sat down in the seat of that roller coaster car and pushed the harness down over my shoulders. I was so nervous I could hardly move. Then it happened. The train inched backwards up the lift hill. At the top the car released and down the train went through the course of those first three loops. Then it went up the other lift hill and dropped backwards through those three loops again. After it was over I was overjoyed and excited that I had finally done it! I had ridden my first upside down roller coaster and knew from that point on I would not be scared anymore to ride rides and roller coasters.
So it had started. My journey of roller coaster riding had begun. I have now ridden 156 different roller coasters and have been to 22 different amusement parks. I have been a member of two roller coaster clubs: Coasterbuzz and American Coaster Enthusiasts (which I am currently a member of). I hope I am able to share my experiences and expertise on the subject of roller coasters and amusement parks through this blog as best as I know how. If you ever have a question about a park or coaster just let me know and I'll be happy to discuss it with you. Thank-you for viewing Collin on Coasters and remember life is like a roller coaster, so ride on!
