Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

With regard to lagoon water used in the Dragster engine…

I don’t know details. I do know the lagoon was used as part of the cooling system (why not? It’s a huge heat sink…) which I presume involves a heat exchanger to transfer heat from the hydraulic oil on its way back to the reservoir to water circulated from the lagoon. It’s one of those things that has been identified by the park, but without much detail. It stands to reason that the combination of potentially elevated water temperatures and the need to keep the water a little cleaner might explain why the lagoon water changed color (due to an added tint and algaecide) when Dragster opened.

—Dave Althoff, Jr.

A closed circuit cooler make much more sense. With a heat exchanger in the water I can understand what that lagoon work may be related too. At first I thought it was pumping raw lagoon water through a cooling system and was trying to figure out how that works without making a mess of things.

Now why they would put it so far back when putting it by camp snoopy makes more sense too me has me stumped. Is that related to the big pump by the ID station I wonder? I've always been curious what the platform and pump is for and some days it seems like the lagoon color is richest there.

^That platform by the ID staircase is something I've wondered about as well. I've never heard it in action nor have I noticed ripples or bubbles around it. I imagine the lagoon has a few underwater workings that we are not privy to.

Isn't that where the pump lives that controls the lagoon water level?

Our factories (7 on site) just off a major river uses ditch water dug onto site just for this reason. We use this water in the winter to cool our equipment. A lot of equipment. It gets directly pumped in and ran through filters and interior heat exchangers. We have specialized filters for zebra mussels because they love the intakes. And their reproductive offspring find themselves making it further into the system and setting up shop further inside the system. We service this system in the summer because we require an enclosed chilled water system in warmer weather.

TwistedCircuits:

Now why they would put it so far back when putting it by camp snoopy makes more sense too me has me stumped.

Reading back, I don't see that Dave explicitly said the lagoon water was sourced near ID. But, like you, the context of the comment originally led me to assume exactly that. But I don't understand why they'd source water there, 900' from TTD's launch building, rather than the closest point of the same lagoon, which is barely 100' away.

Although it’s always fun to speculate, why does everyone keep saying that Top Thrill Dragster is going to potentially have a spike? The reason they had to tear out the break run, station, and launch is for the new zamperla trains.

Remember when they opened rougarou in 2015, they needed to modify the old mantis station to accommodate the new floor-less trains?

Plus I might be wrong; and if I am I’m sorry, but CP hasn’t made any announcements yet other than the 2024 video that we’ve already seen, and it looks to have the same layout in the video. If the layout was changing, I’m sure we would’ve heard something by now.

This thing 'aint gonna be no purple track coaster. I've seen videos on youtubes with purple track spikes, no way.

Plague on Wheels, that was my entire point. It’s gonna be the same layout with just a different launch & breaking system along with a new station to accommodate zamperla trains.

You're suggesting that they ripped out the entire station and launch for the new train's clearance? For Rougarou they didn't tear everything out, they just widened the clearance in the station.
I think it's a leap to say that ripping out the entire station and launch is for train clearance. Why haven't they removed the twist on the way down for the same reason?

Playing with the width opening in the concrete and track in the station is expected to accommodate new trains. Gutting everything down to the dirt is not.

(also the layout in the teaser video doesn't matter at all, they just showed the track and the tower, which is not a hint toward what they are doing to dragster whether new layout is coming or not).

Jeff:

Isn't that where the pump lives that controls the lagoon water level?

I would love to read a blog post about this. I find the history of making the lagoon and all maintenance that goes into it fascinating.

Jake10, I'll preface this by saying that this isn't any type of "proof", but have you missed the cofferdam placed directly in line with the launch side? Shaped in a way to fit a spike? Again, I'm not saying this is even related to TTD, but this development has increased this conversation about the possibility. You speak of the razing of the station and the like but seemed to have left out the detail that resulted in an uptick of speculation.

At this point, more mental gymnastics need to be performed in order to justify “lagoon maintenance” … whatever that is… than to justify a swing launch and a spike.

Exactly. The evidence has started to shift. Before we just had one statement from the park and some wishful thinking.

Now, it is still completely possible that we will just get Dragster renamed with a new launch. But there is a lot more currently going on that points to something more.

Either way right now is a fun time to speculate.

^CPVet, I'll have you know that gymnastics was a class that I greatly excelled at back in the 70's in high school. But, mental gymnastics not so much, after all it was the 70's. I am still "Team Lagoon Maintenance".

Frog Hopper King:

I think it's a leap to say that ripping out the entire station and launch is for train clearance. Why haven't they removed the twist on the way down for the same reason?

Well, they had intended to do it. There was that Sandusky area construction dude a few weeks ago that was supposed to start TTD demolition on some Monday, but he failed to pay his union dues & they scrapped the project.

Also, I want to say this is where the pump is for the cooling system

Frog Hopper King:

Either way right now is a fun time to speculate.

Taking SF Qiddiya "Spitfire" as a very baseline EXAMPLE,

I will "speculate" a non-twisting reverse spike that goes

just a BIT beyond vertical. POSSIBLY with some of

Intamin's vertical launch to get to <insert your height

preference here>.

Other add-ons, or mods to what remains standing now

(eg: the apex of the tophat) as "speculation" are all

fair game at this point in time. You're right... why not

have a bit o' fun with this... and maybe a lot of laughs

later on. It's harmless.

EDIT: The question of what ANY speculation does to

capacity is also a concern. True: a coaster that is

able to function for 10 hours a day is better that

one which is down frequently. But, a marquee non-

upcharge attraction at a major theme park should

be capable of respectable throughput. Or not... sure

to be corrected on that.

jimmyburke:

Well, they had intended to do it. There was that Sandusky area construction dude a few weeks ago that was supposed to start TTD demolition on some Monday, but he failed to pay his union dues & they scrapped the project.

One person didn't pay union dues and so Dragsters deconstruction hasn't happened? I must not be understanding this correctly. Can you explain this again?

Either way, I find it hard to believe that they had to completely remove the station and launch based on the new Zamperla trains

Jordan did they add that for SRE or was that just how they covered it up so it would blend in?

Casual your video made me think of something, Spike no spike or other layout changes, I can't believe I didn't think about brake run changes. Would it stand that they may incline the brake run more, not necessarily an airtime hill, but to a point that I've heard multiple times about dragster and millenniums flat brake runs being difficult when the trains are cold or they're loaded light?

It's not that difficult to imagine that multiple factors made station removal sensible. The new trains may have been a bit wider/narrower, which by itself might not have required a total station teardown. Maybe they could have heavily modified the station to accommodate the new trains. But it's also probable that the new trains' rows don't line up with the existing row queues, and that would have required further modification.

And then of course a new launch done by a different company would necessitate an entirely new controls system, plus new brakes and propulsion hardware. And installing new wiring, hardware, etc. would almost certainly be easier to install on a new station rather than trying to shoehorn all that into the existing structure.

So I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that something as "simple" as new trains/launch/controls would make a complete station teardown the preferred plan of attack.