Millennium Force at Cedar Point was shut down Friday after a metal bracket broke off a ride car mid-operation.
The bracket snapped while the coaster was in motion at the Sandusky, Ohio theme park, a Six Flags Entertainment representative told WOIO. No visitors or staff were struck by the falling piece, and no injuries were reported in the incident.
Park officials immediately halted the ride following the malfunction. The attraction remains closed pending a safety inspection, and passengers will not be allowed back on until that review is completed.
The Cedar Point closure comes amid heightened scrutiny of roller coaster safety at Six Flags properties following a fatal accident days earlier. At Six Flags Over Georgia near Atlanta, the “Goliath” hypercoaster was shut down for maintenance due to a wasp’s nest just hours before a deadly ejection, a parkgoer told The Post.
Hassan Kariem, 42, was killed when he was thrown from the high-speed coaster shortly before 4 p.m. Last Monday. Four children were also injured in that incident at the park outside Atlanta.
The back-to-back safety issues at two major Six Flags parks have put the company’s ride operations under intensified focus. Millennium Force, which debuted in 2000, is one of Cedar Point’s signature attractions and was previously billed as the world’s first complete circuit coaster to exceed 300 feet in height.
Six Flags acquired Cedar Point’s parent company, Cedar Fair, in a merger completed last year, bringing both parks under the same corporate umbrella. The combined entity operates numerous amusement and water parks across North America.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Division of Amusement Ride Safety typically oversees inspections at Cedar Point, though it was not immediately clear whether state regulators would conduct an independent review of the Millennium Force bracket failure.
A Six Flags Entertainment rep confirmed to WOIO that the bracket broke loose while the ride was active. The representative did not specify what caused the bracket to fail or how long the inspection process might take.
Cedar Point’s Top Thrill 2, a redesigned version of the former Top Thrill Dragster, is scheduled to open to the public this season at the same park.