The Ride of the New Millennium at Cedar Point

Sandusky, OH -- "That was the best roller coaster I have ever been on!" screams David Reis, 40, of Chicago, Ill.

The Reis family drove more than five hours to the popular amusement park/resort to ride North America's tallest and fastest roller coaster, Millennium Force. "It was well worth the trip," quips mother, Hope Reis. "Our 10-year-old son, Steven, had checked out the ride on Cedar Point's Web site all winter long. He couldn't wait to ride it."

"It was great!" shouts an elated Steven. "That first drop is amazing."

"We've come to Cedar Point every year for the past 30 years," declares Maryann, 50, and 60-year-old Ed Gwiazdowski of Grand Blanc, Mich. "Cedar Point just keeps making bigger and better roller coasters, and Millennium Force is no exception. We just rode it and it was awesome!"

These are just a sample of the opinions overheard as riders exit the history-making Millennium Force roller coaster at Cedar Point. Millennium Force set the standard for record-breaking thrills by being the first coaster ever to top 300 feet and 93 mph. As a testament to the popularity of this gigantic scream machine, more than 1.2 million riders have challenged the 6,595 feet of brilliant blue track so far this summer.

In a recent poll conducted by Amusement Today, an industry publication that covers international amusement and water park news and trends, Millennium Force was voted No. 2 in the "Best Steel Roller Coaster in the World" category, only behind perennial favorite and Cedar Point's own Magnum XL-200. Millennium Force is the highest rated new coaster to ever appear on the poll.

Millennium Force's statistics are so staggering, they required certification. Recently two outside firms, Stalker Radar, Indianapolis, Ind., and John Hancock and Associates, Sandusky, Ohio, were brought to the historic amusement park to officially calculate the extraordinary height and outrageous speed of the new $25 million Millennium Force giga-coaster.

Stalker Radar found that Millennium Force actually reaches a maximum speed of 93 mph at the base of the enormous 310-foot-tall first hill!

"When I first saw Millennium Force running, I knew that it was moving at an incredible rate of speed," states Dave Lowry, representative for Stalker Radar. "Just watching it roar by is impressive!"

To verify Cedar Point's claim of the tallest roller coaster in North America, John Hancock and Associates was brought in as an outside, independent source to determine exactly how tall Millennium Force is. The official height of the monumental first hill was found to be a whopping 310 feet, 11 inches tall!

But there is more to Millennium Force than its first hill - a lot more! As the ride begins, guests travel up the first hill at a 45-degree angle, in sleek trains that offer tiered seating. Once at the top, riders plummet down the 300-foot-long drop at an outrageous 80-degree angle and reach speeds of an unimaginable 93 mph.

From there, they encounter a 169-foot-tall, 122-degree, overbanked (extremely banked, but not quite inverted) turn. After that, they zoom into a tunnel of complete darkness, only to emerge out the other side to face a towering 182-foot-tall hill. Riders will also encounter two more hills and two more overbanked turns before completing the 2-minute, 10-second journey that covers 13 acres and 1.25 miles of steel tubular track.

"That ride is great," proclaims Joe Kaczmarski, New Lenox, Ill., after his ride on Millennium Force. "That was some drop. Definitely, the best ride I have ever been on. We have nothing like this back home! I've got to ride this again!"