The Millennium Force
By Jessica Chang
After riding several rides, The Millennium Force was my favorite. I even thought about riding it again, though the line was just too long, for obvious reasons of course. But I’m not the only one who feels that way. In fact, it has been rated the #1 Steel Coaster since 2001.
The 36 seat coach begins by launching out of the station onto the cable lift. After clearing the fifth cart out of nine, the lift latches onto the middle cart and pulls the coach at the 45 degree angle at 15 miles per hour. Then it reaches a short-lived world record height of 310 ft. The cart then drops 300 feet at a near vertical drop at 80 degrees, which set the longest drop on a complete circuit roller coast record in 2000. When it reaches the bottom, the car reaches 93 miles per hour. What helps the car accelerate is the 80 degrees angle drop and gravity, which falls at 32 feet per second per second. The horizontal motion should not slow the vertical motion. This is what helps pull you down and reach the record breaking speed.
Reaching the first bottom, the coach immediately climbs another hill of 169 feet.