Please describe Top Thrill Dragster.

Hi. I haven't yet gotten to ride Top Thrill Dragster, but have ridden the POV video many times. LOL For those of you that have gotten to ride it, would you mind putting your experience into words? I would love to read how the ride made you feel. What's the launch like? Other than the speed, can you tell the difference between it's prototype hydraulic launch system and a LIM launch system? What's the crest like? Does it have great airtime?

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Millennium circuits: 5
Raptor flights: 7
Total Coaster Count: 25

I have been able to ride TTD five times, thus far. It is actually pretty difficult to describe the feeling of acceleration--until you experience it for yourself, you can't possibly really understand. At any rate, I guess the best way I can describe it is to say it is stunning. Riders are pushed back into their seats and everything is racing past. The sound the cable makes is high-pitched and it keeps getting higher until the train is relesased. You don't hear that when you're riding... just when you're standing on the midway watching.

The first time you ride it, things will happen so fast you will probably barely be able to remember anything. If possible, try to remind yourself to look around when you reach the summit. The view from either side of the train is stupendous!

There is absolutely no air time. A word of warning... makes sure your bladder is as close to empty as possible before you take your seat because you will be STAPLED in. No wiggle room at all. Sometimes, this advice is difficult to follow because you can stand in line so long you will end up being uncomfortable anyway, but do your best.

I haven't been able to detect any substantial difference between hydraulic and LIM.

This puppy is FAST! It is also amazingly fun to ride, even with the spoilers and slicks gone and the smoke machine off. If you love adrenaline, this one will give you a BIG hit!

It is really hard to describe the ride, well other then WOW!!! The lanuch is awesome, but best from the front seat. i felt like someone was sitting on my chest while being launched, and when it curves up, it was kinda hard to keep my hands up! then going up it is amazing to watch the track come at you, then you twist to the right and still see about 100 feet to go up! it is just WOW! and when i started to crest i was outta my seat! it was just incredible, looking down on the Millennium Force was just unbelievable. looking straight down and seeing the twist it kinda looks like you aren't going to make it thru. and then all of a sudden you hit your seat and your at the finish line, and then your back in the station and you want to ride again. if this ride was any longer it wouldn't be as good, hills and over banked turns, would just take up time that i could use getting back inline!

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Ed Markey is my anti-drug.
Rollercoasters have proven to cause brain damage in stupid politicians. DAR-HOOT

trips to CP:6 Dragster:2 MFer:6 Magnum: 13 Running with the bulls for a 15 minutes dragster wait, Must be June!

One other thing to mention: on my first (and second) ride, I was screaming like a maniac, but only my friend next to me heard it. The wind is going past your ears so fast, you don't hear anything but what is immediately around you: just wind blowing in your ears at 120 mph. My friend sitting behind me never heard me scream. But in space, no one can hear you scream.

Also, a word of warning from experience. Yes, the lap bars are tight. Also, keep your shoulders back! The first time I launched, just out of excitement I had my hands out forward, probably with my fingers pointing in the direction of travel. What I guess I didn't realize is that my shoulders were forward of my hips, which put my center of gravity forward of the seat just a bit. When we hit the incline on the way up, instead of being pinned back to my seat, the force pulled my shoulders down toward my knees and I was practically bent in half. The force didn't last long, once we had straightened out at 90 degrees, but I felt that pull in my muscles for the rest of the day. Not that I'm complaining--- it was awesome! And now I know: keep arms down, head back and hold on.

I was only able to ride it once (front seat, of course), however I should say that it was the most intense ride I've ever experienced. I got to ride after a four hour wait (two of them from breakdowns) and I tell you, it was worth it. The launch is incredibly fast... I was out of my seat for the whole top hat crossing, which was awesome... Greatest airtime ever.. I was also able to keep my arms up for the whole ride...

Any words will come of short on trying to accurately describe the ride...

You have to experience it for yourself...

I'm not even going to try. It's like Millennium Force, there just arent any words you could possibly use for it.

I only been on TTD once and it was sp?? increible. The anticipation is the worst on this ride. When you get on the train you move foward and stop. The staging area is the scarest part of the ride. It seems like a hour then finally the christmas tree lights up yellow, yellow, yellow, green and you blast of like a rocket. The only way I could describe the feeling of the launch is to take WT's first launch and times it by 10.

The way up the tower happens so quickly your brain can't process what's happening. Going over the top you get a little air, then the train starts to head down. The view of Millennium Force is amazing. On the way down all you see is the ground and the yellow steel beams pass a few feet away from your head.

The ride is then over and there you have it, a ride on the best roller coaster in the world!!:)

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CP Coaster Guide
Top Thrill Dragster, the tallest, fastest, and the greatest coaster ever!

So much happens so quickly, the ride is really episodic. First, the launch feels like a direct challenge on your bodily integrity. Your lungs smack the back of your thoracic cage, and the surroundings seem to blow by and fall away like bits of scenery fallen off their track. In the next blip of consciousness you're vertical, then four hundred twenty feet up, and you think briefly to catch the view, but then you're going down, spinning, almost sure to hit the supports.

Then you're braking, and it's so smooth it's like stepping out of hyperspace onto a placid pond.

Tyson

Hi,

This is my first post here, but I have been reading the posts here for a while.

I've never ridden TTD, what's it like being up so high? I know I'll love it once I get on it, but this is the one roller coaster that scares me. I will get on it next week if it is open! :)
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TTD should be changed to TTL- Top Thrill Lawn Ornament!

5 words: 17 seconds of pure addrenaline

As I tell people who ask me about the ride when I'm at C.P., Going up 420 feet and dropping 400 feet is really not that big of a deal (at least I don't find that part scary). It is the launch that is so intense. Other than the launch itself, the second scariest thing about the ride is after the train has moved into the launch position and then moves back a few inches followed by the anti-rollback brake fins dropping down. I find that a little scary because you know what's about to happen.

I've been on it twice and the experience is still hard to talk about. Everything happens so fast that once u hit the break one, you're still wondering what the hell had just happened. Experience it yourself, it's amazing.

592 words: TTD is my favorite coaster. I've only ridden it once. I got the front seat of the second train so I got to see the train in front of me pull away. It was awesome to see the train pull away. It just kept going and going until I could barely see it and then it turned up to the sky. Then it was my turn. Then I heard the voice that says "Keep your head back, arms down, and hold on." When it says that the first 2 rows of the countdown lights turn on. I was sitting there waiting and waiting for those 40 or so seconds, which seemed like forever, for the brake fins to drop. All of a sudden I heard a hissing noise and my heart stopped because I thought it was the brake fins dropping (when the fins drop it makes a hissing noise). But I looked and the brake fins were still up and I realized the hissing was probably from Power Tower. Because of that I was looking right at the brake fins when they dropped. So now I looked at the countdown lights and I saw the third row light up. When you watch the countdown lights from off the ride the 3rd row of yellow to the green very quickly like in about 2 seconds (I think). But from on the ride the anticipation is so great that it seems like it takes like 3 seconds to just go from the 3rd to 4th row of lights. Then finally it turned green. We launched so fast I didn't see the grandstand. We just kept accelerating more and more and more. The force of the launch was so incredible. I tried to keep my hands out in front of me but it was so forceful it pulled my arms back and pinned them against the headrest. Then before I knew it I was heading strait up into the sky and we just kept going higher and higher. Finally we started the crest at the top and what amazing airtime at the top of this thing. So high with nothing around you. And then you start to head strait back down. Looking down the drop is soooooooo far and it looks so cool how the track almost forms a circle on the twist when you look at it from the beginning of the twist. So then we dropped. The twist was awesome. When I rode it was pretty dark and they had the lights that shine on the tower on. So when we dropped through the twist all we could see was the lights because they were so bright it made everything else too dark to see. But it was still awesome to see the lights spin around us. Then we flattened out and crossed the finish line. There I realized the speed this ride has. The wind pulls back your face and it feels like it's gonna rip off (if your in the front seat). And all the close objects make you feel like you're going so much faster. Then the brakes finally start to slow you down very smoothly. So what I am saying is that TTD is an incredible ride. Do not pass up this opportunity. I also think this is the kind of ride you have to go on a few times because each time you will notice more and more things. TTD is my favorite coaster but MF is right up there with it. TTD is also extremly smooth.
*** This post was edited by Ryan Adams 6/12/2003 4:32:43 PM ***

At first I didn't mind that this ride was closed for repairs, but now that I have read all this, I really really wish it was open since i will be going tomorow. Oh well thats life

How about in one word. . . . INSANE

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Admin- rollercoast.proboards16.com/

When your waiting at the starting line looking up at the tower it seems unreal.Just to think in a couple of seconds we'll be climbing that massive hill only to be flung straight down 400 feet while twisting at triple-digit speeds.The launch is insane,the pull up is a blur,the airtime at the top is sick,and the drop is the most intense drop on any coaster I've ever rode.Then it's a smooth stop at the brakes.One word-INSANE.
*** This post was edited by MillenniumTwister 6/11/2003 6:55:05 PM ***

It's hard to put it into words, but I'll give it a shot. I was kind of dissapointed on my visits. It seemed that the trains weren't moving nearly as fast as I thought they would. In fact, I never saw them leave the station. I have to say the LIM launch system is much faster. Now the crest is way up there and it really hurts your neck if you try to look at the top for too long. All in all, the ride looks really fun and I can't wait to look at it some more the next time I go. I hope I've captured my TTD experience because it's really difficult to let you know what it's going to be like when you go. You've got to experience it for yourself.

Closed. :(

But it's fun... I still like Magnum and Millennium Force more overall, but the launch is good on Dragster.

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18 straight years of real thrills and counting...
Being watched? http://www.lavasoftusa.com [Support forums moderator]

There is no one word to describe it because so many come into my head.

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3 TTD rides in 2 hours!

best way to describe the launch ok ready? here we go!

Ok now, have you ever watched Spaceballs?

You know that part where they go into LUDICRIS(sp?) SPEED?

well youk know how Spaceball 1 goes plaid?

just think of that when you launch and say it with me.......

OH MY GOD DRAGSTER 1 HAS GONE PLAID!

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Ed Markey is my anti-drug.
Rollercoasters have proven to cause brain damage in stupid politicians. DAR-HOOT

trips to CP:6 Dragster:2 MFer:6 Magnum: 13 Running with the bulls for a 15 minutes dragster wait, Must be June!