Based on the webcams, it looks like Millennium Force is indeed down. So I'm inclined to believe this. For fuck's sake parks need to stop skimping out on the maintenance budget.
I’m a good hour and a half away, but almost directly in the weather path of Cedar Point. What hits me tends to hit them just a little later.
It’s been gross all day. Rain on and off, wind with pretty high gusts. It can sometimes get worse before hitting Cedar Point too as the lake side has zero protection of any kind. Not an ideal park day.
This is what happens when the economy goes to shit and everyone is chasing infinite growth. Easiest fucking thing to cut back until it blows up in your face.
I feel like the same thing is happening with like the food industry for manufacturing food and their warehouses because there's been ever since covid so many more food recalls then there should be and it's just crazy. I mean there's no excuse for coasters and stuff too but like eating is an everyday essential and if we can't trust the food that's being that's being sold to us at grocery stores I just think it's crazy.
I feel like with like the parks and stuff like that that all these sue happy people suing when they had pre-existing health conditions and things on coasters and things that cost time and money I mean obviously Six Flags doesn't having a good maintenance track record and they need to stop skimping.
But if things keep going the way they are we're not even going to have roller coasters to be able to ride and enjoy anymore because I feel the government's going to be like oh they're too dangerous and shut them down or I feel of the parks keep getting sued and then they can't afford to stay open kind of like Glenwood Springs Colorado how to sell off the property to somebody else because after the person which obviously this was their fall or at least the right operators fall with mine drop ride where the person died but they didn't have that much insurance and the lawsuit was just crazy expensive.
Slightly OT: Did they remove the video webcams and replace them with static image webcams? :(
EDIT: nvm, the website was glitching and offered the preview image as actual webcam feed.
EDIT #2: I must say these "new" webcam angles suck big time, though.
Regardless if this is real, six flags maintenance needs to lock the fuck in. X2 happened because they let it get into that state. Goliath, lord knows but if the leading theory about a cracked restraint is true than that falls on maintenance, and this definitely falls on maintenance!
This is very concerning behavior. We shit on BGT a lot for how often their coasters go down (and it is pathetic), but thats from that company slashing their maintenance budget AND recognizing they cannot be run safety with those cuts. If Six Flags did the same but expected to still run at the same capacity, that is beyond gross negligence. We they don't staff enough for multiple train ops on the maintenance, then the coasters should be focused on 1 train. If you cannot guarantee the safety the coaster itself, it should not run at all.
Its still absolutely worth waiting for verified sources to validate stories and investigation results for the death on Goliath, but this is a lot worse if Six Flags was skimping out on necessary maintenance
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u/Zantac150American Eagle, The Bat, Whizzer, X2, Disaster Transport1d ago
I think the most damning thing is that Hersheypark kept their hyper open. That means that there was no official release from the manufacturer saying that they need to shut down the rides. That means that both Hershey and B&M this was the fault of Six Flags… and even before that announcement came, I had no doubts…
I've been avoiding the Goliath situation bcuz every report on it is way more descriptive than I'd like to know, but cracked restraint if true is wiiiiild
I guess that kingda ka was handled differently then... ka they rotated the trains out and would have 1 off for maintenance and rotate them out throughout the year keeping 2 trains on the track majority of the time.
I find it hard to believe their rides wouldnt get maintenance at least once a year when they are expected to be inspected more than once a year.
Granted their maintenance was quite lacking... ive found that to be the case at most six flags parks.
i don't think a pov will always show that hit on the final raven turn. what row/seat, etc. unless it's me taking the video cause damn, i got hit seemingly every time.
I think it was something everyone on the train can feel, old POV's dont show it, and the jolt only got bigger in the most recent POVs after it first started appearing
In the end that was kind of Six Flags cuz what Schilke designed was essentially what the 4D free spins are now but Six Flags/MM were like "No! Bigger! Crazier!"
This ride is similar not exact but similar to Eejanaika at Fuji Q Highland the only difference is X2 is their prototype and the other one came out 4 years later and is more reliable but they have a lot more rotating turns, there's like a total of 14 compared to X2's 3 and because of the extra speed, tighter radius on modern transitions, and continuous seat manipulation, Eejanaika pulls noticeably higher, sustained positive and rotational forces, leaving virtually none of the brief pacing breaks found on X2. So if people were having aneurysms due to g-forces on X2 then it would be happening with Eejanaika.
This country is going to shit. These are all downstream effects. Corporate numbers must go up at all costs. Deregulations across many sectors at the federal level and business leaders start feeling like they can cut corners.
I know in the back of my mind these are EXTREMELY rare events but we were assured what happend with Dragster was a freak incident. This shouldn't happen again PERIOD let alone just a few years later. I'm crossing my fingers this wasn't related to Millie but man if it is, my confidence will be sorely shaken. Two major mechanical failures in a week isn't a coincidence if something similar ends up being the verdict in the Goliath situation.
100% bro im with you, they can only say "these are rare events" so many times before people start calling bullshit. It's been getting worse and worse, it's sad.
Yeah I have no idea if this came off the ride or not but I really really doubt it is a flag plate if it is. It's like an inch thick piece of mild steel with poorly centered and drilled holes. There really would not be a reason for it to be anywhere that thick. It honestly looks more like some sort of spacer for something.
From my time working there, that really doesn't look like any piece of millennium Force I've ever seen.
The closest thing I can think of to that is the mounting plate for the magnetic brake in the middle, with its two bolt holes holding on the magnetic fin but that piece was welded to the car.
Edit: The more I think about this, this really doesn't look like anything from a roller coaster, it has two holes drilled in one side and what looks to be an opening for a hole. The other side, the piece of metal itself looks really beat up and worn out, which with the refurbishment these trains get every year isn't normal, it looks like it could be a gusset plate or a spacer for something but nothing like that exists on millennium horse trains that I know of.
I think this needs to be a little higher up in the comments. I know the mods are trying to police some of the speculation of SF maintenance. Not being totally sure where this piece actually came from isn't helping anything. If it came from the train, totally warranted. But if it came off the tent, and coincidentally it's windy and rainy at CP....well...
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u/ZerbaSteVe, Velocicoaster, Fury 325, Copperhead Strike, Skyrush1d ago
I could be wrong but it kind of looks like aluminum. Most flag plates that I know of would be some sort of steel as the sensors look for magnetic changes from a ferrous material being close.
It's hard to tell from the picture, but that looks like quite a thick piece of metal. I can't picture where something like that would be on a train or what its purpose would be. For reference, this is what the flag plates looked like on TTD:
From a vid that I found online, it looks like MF uses similar flag plates to the above (an L bracket.) You can see it resting above the proximity sensors in the pic below. So while something may have fallen from the ride (still doubtful on that), I don't think it's a flag plate.
Six flags aside, costs and inflation have made so many places start cutting corners and adjusting alloys and things. People are seeing metal fail in machines where it's never failed before.
It's similar to how all cars had really cloudy and yellowed headlights form the 2000s. Turns out most of the suppliers that made them were sourcing plastic from the same place and that place cut corners and the mixture they used cause it to yellow way too soon.
Not saying that's the issue here, but it's been a concern. Is hope the suppliers intamin uses are stringent enough with qc to catch this stuff. But it can be hard if it takes many years to show up.
This could be 4 incidents now related to metal fatigue.
I mean Busch Gardens Tampa had all but 2 coasters down in certain times of the year this year cuz of maintenance issues. Shoot the raft ride had the water feature collapse this year
The rapids cave collapsed because of the enormous sinkhole that also damaged Kumba's footers, let's not blame unavoidable natural occurrences on... anything other than nature.
Yellowed headlights is preferable to the current scenario of high color temperature being blasted right into my eyes from 500 feet away any time the road/terrain isn't glass smooth.
This is something that really needs to be said. Both companies have different strengths and different flaws, but the flaws combined have basically destroyed the chain.
How could he be almost stuck by it while sitting in the lounge? It has a roof. So if it almost stuck them in the lounge ... Would that mean that piece fell from the lounge structure?
Been a while since I worked Millie, but if I remember right these are used in the process for tensioning and repair of the 3 sets of anti rollbacks. We used to constantly see them on the work bench under the transfer track. The holes are so they can temporarily secure it while working on it. My best guess is someone left them accidentally on while working on the train.
I'm pretty sure this is not the flag plates or any piece of metal from MF. Some comments have also pointed this out, but it looks far too thick and inconsistent to belong to a piece of machinery like a coaster train.
Especially when you compare to the flag plate that was on Dragster, which is not only L-shaped but also a lot thinner and more precisely cut
6
u/ZerbaSteVe, Velocicoaster, Fury 325, Copperhead Strike, Skyrush1d ago
This also looks like aluminum. Flag plates need to be ferrous, so some kind of steel, for prox sensors to pick them up.
I think six flags is a heaping pile but I still think this is someone trying to either make up a story or drastically over exaggerate what happened. Doesn't even look like a flag plate which makes me think even more that someone was just like "Oh yea, I know a term the news told me that I can call it to make people believe me"
If i had a nickel for every time a flag plate fell from an Intamin at Cedar Point. I’d have ten cents, which isn’t a lot, but it is more than it should be.
First X2 at SFMM, then Goliath at SFOG, and now Millie at Cedar Point? What is going on? Why are all of these things happening back to back now? This isn't good! Six Flags needs to do something!
Not really. People are still gonna buy the season passes, schools are still gonna plan the field trips, they have to make an occasional settlement here or there…its not gonna affect their bottom line.
Yeah it's crazy I mean definitely there is maintenance Cuts but I always wonder like yeah they've had wooden coasters but as far as like steel ones like have they had like a long-term studies on these steel coasters cuz they haven't necessarily been around long enough to know like what happens to the steel coasters towards the end of their lifespan like are they actually still reliable and safe or like things that they thought they may not need replacing like a restrain or something maybe.
Like for parks for like the bnm coasters they don't necessarily replace the actual metal bar of the restraint it's supposed to withstand the lifetime of the trains lifespan. The only thing they ever replace is the Molded polyurethane foam cushions. Like the top phone part of the clamshell.
I just wonder if they don't realize that after like years and years of stress on those that maybe they're going to realize now if that is the case on what happens all these need to be replaced at least once or a couple times during the lifespan of its training when before they're like oh this is over engineered it's good enough and will last the length of the train.
Like I always wonder when they say oh this coaster will last this many cycles before it's no good anymore but I guess they do test simulations but how accurate are the test simulations on a computer like do they really know that it's going to last that many cycles or what.
even tho u aren’t an engineer ur thinking with ur head and logic and you’re right, the coasters haven’t been around long enough to know the long term affects and lifespans of these different types of coasters. who knows how much force goliath was putting on the restraints and wearing them down, and who knows how thoroughly those can possibly even be checked
The do non destructive testing to test for cracks in the frames with magnets and or xray. The problem is this not getting booted back together properly after they get taken apart to be inspected/tested
Interesting. But they leave the metal bar on the restraint right cuz from what I was getting I thought they only just replaced the top clamshell rubber piece. But do they have to take off the bar for that or can they just undo some screws underneath and remove that rubber piece cuz that's what I thought they did I don't know.
I was there today. I did not see this happen but from what the attendant at the front said it checks out. They said, “it’s going to be down awhile, they need to inspect each train completely then do a lot of cycling.” It was still down when I left.
Also… I’ve worked around coasters for many years. I don’t think this is a flag plate. It looks like part of a friction brake from a B&M. If it did come off Millie then I’d wager it’s part of what couples the train to the cable lift or part of a piece that helps drive tires catch the train underneath. Hard to say.
I was being checked into the lounge when this happened. Apparently the plate fell over by the cabanas. When I was on Millennium Force, maintenance was working on a (red?) train, and the ride was closing to transfer the train after my ride.
Maybe a stork got it from a nearby pick and pull car junkyard. It was going to use it to fortify its nest, but realized the cut on the right side isn’t really square and dropped it to save fuel economy on the stork’s trip home.
No, that is not true at all. In fact, the opposite is true. Only two current directors served on the board before the merger, and they were both on the legacy SIX BOD: Marilyn Spiegel and Chieh Huang.
u/Zantac150American Eagle, The Bat, Whizzer, X2, Disaster Transport1d ago
Their new CEO is not from either company. Or COO. Or CFO…
Cedar fair was primarily in charge, and then everyone stepped down and I kind of wonder if that’s because they all realized that this merger was a terrible idea …
My phone keeps trying to auto correct that to “murder” and I can’t say it’s all that wrong . 🤣
If this is true, at this point it is clear Six Flags only fixes things band-aid style instead of having steady maintenance all year. It seems pretty clear that in their debt, they have cut costs with macitence along with so many other important things.
There are high winds here today. Rides have been off and on all day for high winds/heavy rains. MF didn’t even open for early entry due to the wind so could just be down for wind. Hard to say
This is the second time in only a couple months. Same thing happened with Magnum XL. 2000 Cedar point staff has got to do better. This is unacceptable.
Doubtful. TTD was done for because of other factors. They've been putting a lot of care into MF the last few years. If anything it would get new trains.
The whole park would also get burnt to the ground by an angry mob before that happened
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u/Ill_Attorney_389AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHA1d agoedited 1d ago
Well, I think that settles it: Six Flags isn’t doing enough maintenance. I doubt they can even afford to do the right amount of maintenance, and I believe they would have if this whole merger never happened.
😆 six flags pre merger was a joke by most accounts and they carried slightly more debt to boot.
Cedar fair was definitely doing pretty well. I know last 3 or 4 years I went the ops were good though this past year it was rougher than usual.(October 2025 to October 2026 in judgement here)
I mean cedar fair pre merger had less debt than six flags. Post merger they have cut into the debt a bit but I think they have messed up by cutting maintenance too much
Is there any solid proof maintenance cuts have occurred at the previous cedar fair parks? Especially the primary parks like cedar point? This happened with TTD prior merger already.
I mean, if they were scaling back maintenance but ONLY for the original Six Flags parks, then that would just be just cartoonishly evil. I think it’s more likely that the entire chain is affected equally. Sure, there was the TTD incident, but this happening at the same time as the others makes me believe even Cedar Point is not immune to having non-ideal maintenance.
Yes. Look at pre and post merger maintenance wages. It was being posted all over the place how they reduced returning experienced employee wages. Maintenance workers I do not believe were excluded from those cuts.
Other than that I can only look at the ride uptime and frequency of breakdowns from YouTube, and redit...
Most have seen rides be down far more frequently. I myself noticed magnum was a lot more prone to going down last year than the other 3 years I went. Millenium was acting up something fierce but they had the new ride programming and lift motor. Maverick has been up and down a lot as always.
Steel vengeance has gone down for far longer extended periods midday than it used to. Rides are taking longer to get open in general. I particularly observed the steel vengeance issues on my own visit there as well reports and qeuetimes.com while I was in the state in late may/early june.
Its generally been a bit of a mess. Ops improved a bit in July onwards but still frequently had breakdowns.
Breakdowns have always been a thing... but they are getting reported much more frequently as of this past year or so.
Granted I still feel cedar point has some of the best ops in the business especially given the people count.. but other parks like kings island have been doing better.
Kings dominion had everything running for 80% of the time I was there a few weeks ago.
my husband was stabbed by a piece of metal on the end of the barrier line divider last month and had to get a tetanus shot. customer service didn't really care
Reputational damage, yes. Mechanical damage, no not at all. A single piece (held on by two bolts) came off of a train and struck a guest. It may have hit a brake fin that broke it loose. Dragster saw far worse damage during some of the launch cable snaps.
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u/Imaginos64 Magnum XL 200 1d ago
Since this was seemingly confirmed let's continue the discussion in this thread.