March 9, 2000

Fast Facts About Building Cedar Point's Millennium Force

Sandusky, OH -- Try this on for size: what in the world does it take to build the tallest and fastest roller coaster on planet Earth? The folks at Cedar Point amusement park/resort know first-hand about the tedious construction of the 310-foot-tall, 92-mph "giga-coaster" called Millennium Force, which will open to the general public on Saturday, May 13. Are you counting the days? Before you do, count this:

* Two-year planning, design and development phase

* Seven-month construction project and two-month testing and inspection process

* 9,400 yards of concrete for 226 footers - or 262,000 feet of sidewalk. Talk about a long walk!

* 226 footers, with the largest ones measuring 56 feet wide by 56 feet long and five feet deep - that's about the size of a 3,000-square-foot house with a "crawl space" five feet deep!

* 229 pieces of individual track sections, topping the scale between 11,000-17,000 pounds each!

* 226 massive silver support columns; plus 2,413 steel pipe supports

* 175 truckloads of steel delivered to Cedar Point - what a haul!

* 19,000 bolts - how'd you like to tighten those up?

* Five cranes used on construction project - tallest one stretching a whopping 360 feet tall!

* 19 tons is the weight of one Millennium Force train, which is equivalent to the weight of three African elephants! Whoa!

* 24 wheels on one Millennium Force car; nine cars make up one train; 216 wheels on each of Millennium Force's three trains

* 1,100 feet of elevator cable for the prototype "lift system"

* 120 construction workers and project managers

* One 15-out-of-10-on-the-thrill-meter-world-record-breaking-"giga-coaster!"

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