Millennium Force is a steel roller coaster located at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Manufactured by Intamin, it was the park's fourteenth roller coaster when it opened in 2000, dating back to the opening of Blue Streak in 1964. Upon completion, Millennium Force broke five world records and was the world's first giga coaster, a term coined by Intamin and Cedar Point to represent a roller coaster that exceeds in height. It was briefly the tallest and fastest in the world until Steel Dragon 2000 opened later the same year. The ride is also the third-longest roller coaster in North America following The Beast at Kings Island and Fury 325 at Carowinds.

Millennium Force features a cable lift hill with a drop, two tunnels, three overbanked turns, and three hills. The coaster also has a top speed of . Since its debut, Millennium Force has been voted the number one steel roller coaster ten times in Amusement Today<nowiki/>'s annual Golden Ticket Awards. Millennium Force remains the sixth fastest, sixth tallest, and seventh longest roller coaster in operation.

History

The planning, design and development phases of Millennium Force took place over four years, from 1996 to 2000. The first rumors that a new record-breaking roller coaster would be built at Cedar Point, which included speculation about a ten-inversion roller coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard and an Arrow Dynamics MegaLooper, began circulating in early 1998. A roller coaster from D. H. Morgan Manufacturing was also rumored. On July 2, 1999, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company filed a trademark for the name Millennium Force, which raised more speculation about what the ride would be like. About a week later, the first track pieces were seen at the park, and it was confirmed that the ride would be manufactured by Intamin. Cedar Point officials also confirmed that it would not have inversions.

Announcement and construction

Millennium Force was announced on July 22, 1999. It would be the tallest roller coaster in the world, taking the record from Fujiyama at Fuji-Q Highland in Japan. The ride cost $25 million to design and build. Cedar Point, Intamin, and Werner Stengel designed the layout of the ride. After the ride was announced, several disputes about whether Millennium Force or Superman: The Escape was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world arose between Cedar Point and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Superman: The Escape is high and its speed is ; however, it is a shuttle roller coaster, not a complete-circuit roller coaster.

Construction started in August 1999 when the site was cleared. Millennium Force was built in the Frontier Trail section of the park. The ride involved the relocation of the Giant Wheel and the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad. Two hundred twenty-six footers, each about deep were dug; the largest ones were . The lift hill was topped off in early January 2000.

The ride's construction took seven months, and 120 construction workers and project managers participated. Testing took two months. About a month after Millennium's debut, Cedar Point introduced a virtual queue system, "Ticket to Ride", which allowed visitors to buy a ticket then return later and wait in a shorter line.

Before the start of the 2004 season, Millennium Force's seat belts were modified because of an incident that occurred on Superman the Ride, a similar roller coaster at Six Flags New England. Audio played during the ascent up the cable lift hill, but it is believed to have been removed sometime between 2004-2010. While it is rumored that other audio may have been featured in the past, it is unknown. The roller coaster's layout was repainted over a three-year period, before the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons. In 2012, the park added a new LED lighting system.

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Millennium Force received a refresh for 2025. This included a repaint of the coaster, with the colors remaining the same, as well as a new control system that was installed, featuring a new lift drive motor.

Ride experience

Queue

Millennium Force's entrance is located behind the Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad's Millennium Midway station. The queue is situated between the ride's last overbanked turn and the station. A DJ booth was originally provided to entertain waiting visitors; the park's "Jamming DJ's" took requests for family friendly songs from people in the queue. The concrete base of the booth can still be seen as of 2025.

alt=Sign at Millennium Force’s entrance|left|thumb|Millennium Force’s entrance sign after its 25th anniversary update in May 2025

About a month after Millennium's debut, Cedar Point introduced a new queue system known as "Ticket to Ride" (later Fast Lane) to reduce the wait time. Visitors could buy tickets then return later and wait in a shorter line. In 2012, Cedar Point introduced its Fast Lane queue system on the ride; visitors can buy a wristband which enables them to wait in a shorter line. The system was tested at Kings Island the previous year, where it received positive reviews. This is followed by a small right-hand turn and another hill that leaves the island. The train then travels left through a second tunnel where the on-ride photo is taken, followed by a left turn and a small hill, passing by the queue. Finally, the train travels high through another right overbanked turn over the queue and is stopped by magnetic brakes. Passengers disembark the ride at an unloading station and the train moves to a second station where it is reloaded with passengers.

Characteristics

Manufacturer

Millennium Force is a Giga Coaster model designed by Werner Stengel and built by Swiss manufacturer Intamin. , Millennium Force is one of two Giga Coasters built by Intamin, the other being Pantherian at Kings Dominion.

Trains

thumb|upright|The trains seen on Millennium Force

Millennium Force operates with three fiberglass, stadium-style seating trains colored red, yellow, and blue. Each train has nine cars that seat four passengers, allowing a maximum capacity of 36 people per train and 1,300 riders an hour. Each train weighs 19 tons. Millennium Force's theme song is played in the station while riders are boarding. In 2024, 4 confirmed sets of dispatch audio were added for when a train exits the station. It is also unknown whether these audio sets had previously been featured before its current installment. Two projectors in the station were deactivated sometime in the 2000s, before being reintroduced in a new but limited fashion in 2024.

Track

The steel tubular track is long and the lift is approximately high. As both a high altitude and high velocity ride, Millennium Force is affected by unfavorable weather conditions such as rain, lightning or strong winds; under these conditions the ride is closed, but in light rain it can remain open.

Lighting

thumb|right|250px|Millennium Force, illuminated at night (2012)|alt=Steel structure illuminated at night

When the ride opened in 2000, Cedar Point chose High End Systems, headquartered in Austin, Texas, to light the ride. Rob Decker, Cedar Point's Corporate Director of Planning & Design, said that they thought they would have to mount multiple floodlights on the tower. However, they were able to install thirty EC-1 floodlights at the base of the lift hill structure which provided lighting throughout the ride's structure. Of the six main support towers, three had six EC-1s, and three towers had four EC-1s. The three tallest towers had another unit in the middle.

Over the years, the lights were not maintained and grew noticeably dimmer. In 2012, Cedar Point introduced a nighttime show, Luminosity&nbsp;— Ignite the Night!, to "re-energize" the park at the end of the day. New LED lights from Sunrise, Florida-based Chauvet Professional were installed to illuminate the ride. Twenty COLORado Range and ten COLORado Ridge wash lights were installed at the base of the lift hill structure.

Records

When it opened in May 2000, Millennium Force broke five world records among roller coasters and utilized a relatively new magnetic braking system instead of the commonly used friction brakes.

thumb|right|250px|The yellow train in the second overbanked turn on the island|alt=Roller coaster train on steel track

Roller coaster records

Millennium Force held the following records at the time of its debut: The ride received positive reactions from visitors, many of whom said it was smooth and very comfortable. Others said, "It'll scare the daylights out of you". In its first six years of operation, Millennium Force had over 10 million riders. By August 2012, Millennium had given more than 21 million rides. Bert the Conqueror, Off Limits, the Discovery Channel's Extreme Rides, and the National Geographic Channel's Super Coasters have featured Millennium Force. Out of over 500 roller coasters that Werner Stengel has engineered, he stated that Millennium Force is his favorite. In 2013, Time ranked Millennium Force as the top roller coaster in the United States.

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  • In July 2023, a duck flew into a moving train and reportedly became trapped between a seat and a portion of the ride train. The duck was removed by a guest, who turned it over to Guest Services, and the duck was later turned over to wildlife rehabilitation services.

References

  • Official Millennium Force page
  • Millennium Force at The Point Online
  • Millennium Force at Coaster-Net