Cedar Point 2023

Nobody ever got decapitated by Top Thrill Dragster.

And nobody ever will, because they are hopefully working on plans to remove it as soon as possible.

PyroKinesis09 said:

And nobody ever will, because they are hopefully working on plans to remove it as soon as possible.

Boo

^No need to quote the previous message.

^^I'm not a Dragster super fan, but it's definitely a unique, awe-inspiring attraction. Standing at the bottom of the towering structure and watching trains shoot vertically up that thing is still truly impressive to this day. So just curious, what did Dragster do to you personally?

I enjoy riding Dragster and watching it. Just because you don't like a ride or attraction is no reason to remove it.

I like TTD. Watched the construction of it on a daily basis. Still remember the construction worker taking a piss on the webcam. Would sit in the bleachers and watch it launch time after time.

Once it came within inches of killing a person, it's time to go.

^Did you have the same opinion when the cable frayed very early in the ride's life (or subsequently after)? Or the early dragster tire decorations flying off the train? It's had numerous issues over the years that one could argue were near-misses. But the park identified issues and mitigated them as best they could. Obviously this last incident was the most severe in terms of bodily injury and therefore it looks the worst from a public acceptance standpoint. But that failure mode can be mitigated just like any other.

TTD is, in my opinion, easily one of the most overrated coasters anywhere, more so than The Beast, which is saying a lot. It's stupid short, and aside from the launch offers no thrill that interests me, even if the wait were only like 15 minutes. I'd sooner pour lemon juice in self-inflicted papercuts beneath my fingernails than wait an hour to ride it.

And yet, I wouldn't want to see it removed. It's iconic, simultaneously represents the best and worst of the Coaster Wars, many people do love it (so it keeps other lines shorter), and it's a lot of fun to watch launch from the Midway.

Also look at other attractions in the industry (Mine drop at Glenwood Caverns, drop tower at ICON park, looping coaster at IB, for instance) that have had fatal accidents, but are also likely re-opening. In most, if not all, of these cases, the failures could have been prevented. And after an accident, those prevention measures are identified and improved upon.

That's a valid point. If other rides have had worse accidents but will reopen, then TTD should be able to as well. But I wonder if CP wants to use this accident as an "excuse" to remove the ride. It's expensive to maintain/operate and takes up a large area. Could potentially leave up the tower structure as decor as a nod to the parks history.

While it's not in my top three at the park, I still think it belongs there. It's iconic, especially for those folks who have never been. It's cool to recommend coworkers to bring their families and tell them about the coaster that's over 400ft tall

I don't see that happening. If they tear it down, or eventually reopen/remodel it, the incident will mostly be forgotten and only live on as a footnote in the history books. If they leave the tower up, it'll only be a memory of 'that ride they had to shut down because it almost killed someone'.

It would be nice to know their plans though, even if it's just an update to the 'this ride will not open in 2022' sign. Think they'll sell more 2023 passes while people are unsure of it's future?

djDaemon said:

TTD is, in my opinion, easily one of the most overrated coasters anywhere, more so than The Beast, which is saying a lot. It's stupid short, and aside from the launch offers no thrill that interests me,

Except for the thrill of being on the train that gets stuck at the very top of the tower and needs a worker to come up and nudge it over the arc. (that and a roll-back would be interesting, I've never experienced either.)

Top Thrill Droptower

If TTD gets shut down for good I think CP absolutely needs to build another world class E ticket coaster. I mean for being considered one of the top parks in the world for thrill coasters losing TTD in the lineup is a big step down. I took my daughters to CP for 8 years straight as they grew up and that was always the “scariest”, most unique and thrilling experience in the park. We loved pretty much all the coasters but that was the topic of conversation it seemed most years. It’s just too big and too unique of an attraction in the CP lineup to remove it and not replace it with a similarly world class attraction.

For all intents and purposes it's "not there" this year and they seem to be doing just fine. They'll put in a big new ride if they think it's best for the park. A park with Steel Vengeance, Millennium Force, Maverick, Valravn, and Gatekeeper already has modern "world class" attractions. The number of guests that would not come if Dragster is removed is inconsequential.

Yeah, realistically, they can probably 'coast' along on their current lineup for a while. It stings a bit when they still call themselves the 'roller coaster capital of the world'.

Magic mountain's up to 20 coasters now. I remember the rumors CP was going to do 20 for 2020. I know quantity isn't everything, but if CP isn't updating, the parks with shiny new stuff start to look more attractive to those who can pick and choose.

Or maybe some of us are way off and the majority actually prefer new resort stuff to new coasters.

CP could have built 5,000 coasters, and that still wouldn't have gotten my family to spend our hard earned money staying at Breakers. The massive and overdue investment in the resort side is what led to that for us and clearly many, many others.

And the same is true on the food, entertainment, and family-friendly side. SF can keep fighting the coaster wars (against no one), while everyone else ups their game on being well-rounded, and we'll see how that works out for SF in the long run.

Xcelllerator (Knotts) has been closed for some time. They recently painted it, but it has not been open since last year, and management is not commenting on it's status. Could corporate be pulling the pin on these Intamin money pits?

I'm kind of curious how all the other parks that have gotten Intamins have done with them, whether the hangar queen/money pit thing is a manufacturer-wide issue or if it's just from Cedar Fair's Intamins having been disproportionately experimental/prototypes for a given style of coaster.

Also kind of curious how the maintenance costs stack up versus, say, an aging Arrow megalooper or suspended.

That being said, it does seem like there's been a quiet push to trim out the biggest maintenance monsters, and launches do definitely scale up the costs regardless of the manufacturer.

CP has multiple multi-year plans for the park. I wonder if the TTD issue cancelled/changed/altered any of the plans.

For example; the Wicked Twister plan has been in the works since they closed and demolished the old aquarium/All Wheels Extreme stadium. These plans are out in place, and construction contracts are signed years in advance, I'd assume.