Top Thrill 2 Pit Stop, Episode 8: Station Steel

Tony said no seatbelts but then qualified it "at least to hold the harness down."

Said they are not ready to announce whether lights on tower and christmas tree will stay, music used for ride, etc.

Sounds like they follow this board because at one point they discussed "queue" versus "queue line."

Also said there will be a passholder preview and ability for people with keychains from coastermania last year to ride. Details of when/how to follow. And sounds like they may have charity auction like they have had sometimes in the past but nothing specific at all on that. Just a statement of more details to follow.

If you go to the park for the solar eclipse event (boardwalk only will be open), you will not be able to ride Top Thrill but Tony hinted you may get a chance to see it testing.

That was a great video. Mike is hilarious.

The video of Tony and Mike was really good. A lot of things stood out to me, but I don’t believe it’s been mentioned that the bleachers are staying. I wonder if that was a recent pivot because they clearly were not in the original animations.

Mike also mentioned the train gets to about 350-375 feet up the spike. He also confirmed that they can make the ride go faster, but there is “no need to”.

No plans for a Iron Dragon repaint in the near future, but Tony seems to be on board with returning to the original colors.

They both acknowledged two common wishlist items - fixing broken queue fans across the park and the Magnum bathrooms. They didn’t mention any changes coming, but did acknowledge both concerns.

Lastly, they mentioned the ability to launch a train immediately after the previous train clears the top hat. I find it unlikely they would often be in position to do so, but the block zones provide that opportunity.

One thing I noticed yesterday is now low to the ground the trains will be when they get even with the station on the backwards launch. Closer to the ground than Dragster trains were in the station (at least that I remember).

I had the same thoughts. It looks like two and a half to three feet tops. Going 101 mph that low to the ground will be insane.

So it's also the world's fastest Terra-Coaster?

Maverick00:

Lastly, they mentioned the ability to launch a train immediately after the previous train clears the top hat. I find it unlikely they would often be in position to do so, but the block zones provide that opportunity.

I think what he meant was that the launch block ends at the apex of the top hat, which will allow a second train to be dispatched into the launch block as soon as the previous one clears the top hat (and the switch track switches). Which they might be able to do, given that the station is setup with separate unload and load zones.

One thing that's not clear to me is whether or not these trains will have seatbelts. I haven't seen any in any of the WCO pictures, but Tony's odd wording seemed to indicate there would be seat belts. But if there aren't, that'll help with capacity as well.

Kevinj:

So it's also the world's fastest Terra-Coaster?

It creates a new category; Terra-Strata 🤣

Train will go 350-375 up the spike tower. Its also a Giga.

Terra-Giga-Strata

It rolls right off the tongue.

Guest 1: "What kind of roller coaster is this?"
Enthusiast: "Really?? It's clearly the world's first and tallest swing launch Giga Terra Strata-twister arguably Dive Coaster."