Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

A nice picture of the transition below

^ Case closed.

I looked at that myself just today. It’s clear the supports are the old ones.
I also went super nerd and rode Power Tower ⬇️ and requested seat 11 or 12 for a good view. I said to the op “You know what I’m doing, right?” And he said “Yeah, you and everyone else…” Anyway, seeing it in person made it all come clear, better than the drone vids. The footers are perfectly lined up with the station/launch/whatever and it’s also amazing how they’re crowding everything in there and creating space. It’s gonna be tight, and what is it? An engineering marvel? We’ll see.

While I’m an advocate for focusing on what is new for this year, I am curious when we will start to see teasers and how much construction will be taking place while the park is open this season. Obviously there is plenty to do in other areas that do not involve the alleged spike/tower, and I am excited to see it all happen.

I think the park knows that construction will lead to a lot of free publicity and therefore teasers should start to pop up real soon on social media and the temporary wall around the site, with an announcement being only about three months away.

Non-enthusiasts don't care. I promise.

We get it - we’re all a bunch of dorks who care about something of zero consequence in the grand scheme of things and it’s cool to pretend that you don’t care about those dorky things, even though we’re all on the same dorky enthusiast website 🙄But what’s your point? That hasn’t stopped the park from dropping teasers and hints in the past.

Jeff I think you are majorly misunderstanding a third demographic of people who go to the park, and that is non-enthusiast Cedar Point fans. They don't count credits or have an account on a website (pointbuzz, ***************, etc). But they regularly go and are engaged with what the park is doing.

Recently I was speaking with a friend who moved to Florida from Michigan, one of the first topics that came up was Cedar Point. He looked at me and said "Did you hear about Dragater closing" and then started to tell the people around us about what the ride was like. He isn't a certified ACE card holder or a mega dork, just a lifelong fan of Cedar Point.

They care about this, I'm sure just the fence up around dragster will have people getting excited.

One obvious hint is webcam #3. That is clearly the structure that will be positioned where the "lagoon maintenance" is in progress. Note the angle of the shingled roof that will gently crest the Iron Dragon track. Engineering marvel.

Some (or maybe even many) non enthusiasts do care. My cousin is a huge fan of Cedar Point and she and her husband take their children every year on opening day. But they rarely care about coasters or parks outside of Cedar Point. She was sure to text me the other day saying “hey cuz thought of you! Looks like they’re doing something with Dragster. Can’t wait to ride it”. I’m sure there are more like her.

CPVet:

We get it... But what’s your point?

I don't think many do get the point. As someone who has been at this now for 25 years, did a spell working in the business, and is close friends with more industry marketing people than I know what to do with, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the importance of enthusiasts and volume of people who care about what's going on behind the wall is completely overblown. Some of you think there's intention in every word and that many brain cycles are being committed to influence what some folks on the Internets are thinking. It just ain't what's going on.

Y'all think I'm trying to play some hipster card, but I'm just telling you how it is. I'm being self-aware... I know that if this site and the Internet disappeared tomorrow, it wouldn't matter at the park.

Considering the park is cashless, if the internet disappeared tomorrow, it would greatly matter to the park. Other than that statement, I agree with everything else you said.

If your next version of this forum, employ a laugh react so I can just laugh at comments like yours instead of responding. It would be much more satisfying for me. I mean, you kind of asked for a smart aleck response after all the "I've been doing blah blah blah, I know blah blah blah, I'm not a hipster, just self aware" jargon. Congratulations, you're the king of the enthusiasts! Imagine running an enthusiast page and then tearing people down for being enthusiasts.

Jeff:

if this site and the Internet disappeared tomorrow, it wouldn't matter at the park

I think it would. The park marketing team wouldn't have any enthusiast comments to hate-read over their lunch breaks. ;)

It seems pretty appropriate to me, when asked what my point was, to clarify what my point was, and back it up with my experience.

Be an enthusiast, fine, but break away from the idea that you matter that much to the people who know you're going to come no matter what. Does anyone really think that they're spending time worrying about people who are absolutely going to visit the park anyway?

No. No one thinks they're spending their time worried about what enthusiasts think. Anyone that even considers this a possibility can't live in reality.

The interpretation of an enthusiast 10 years ago is significantly different than today.

Go to 10 different people & you will get 10 different answers.

For myself- I just point out that the interviews Tony had opening day were initially to mainstream media which filtered to social media and wasn't directed specifically to enthusiasts (or crazy enthusiasts :)

Does crazy help the marketers differentiate between Real Enthusiasts and General Enthusiasts(GE)?

New LEL video posted 10 minutes ago showing construction activity starting in the infield. Looks like initial work on the switch track.