Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

I have been curious about the drone flying. It was mentioned somewhere in this thread that the airspace above the park is fair game to fly drones through as long as they are not being flown from on property. Is that correct? It seems like that would be a cause for concern if someone flies a bit too close to one of the coasters/rides. Maybe drones are not allowed to fly when the park is open for business?

^^To that point. When was the last time ever that any other manufacturer has worked on something of the caliber that we are expecting at this point. I just can’t fathom Cedar Fair asking Zamperla whose coaster portfolio is 90+% cookie cutter family coasters to come anywhere near a 400ft 125 mph behemoth that is being half reused from a previous ride. Based on the footer shape we are speculating is a spike I would instantly guess Intamin already based on it using the same spike config as Pantheon.

I don’t think people are hoping it’s Intamin. I think people are more so hoping it’s Intamin over Zamperla. Zamperla is a much riskier move than Intamin in every aspect. That’s like going to an architectural firm that has only ever designed cookie cutter residential floor plans and tapped them to design a skyscraper.

And right on cue...

High Flyer:

When’s the last time an Intamin coaster wasn’t ranked as one of the best in the world?

"One of the best in the world" from which perspective? The rider, or the owner and operator?

SpeedDemon:
Based on the footer shape...

Footer design isn't some arbitrary, artistic process. It's driven largely by loading scenario, not necessarily by who is designing it.

If we're basing speculation on shape of footer we could easily suggest CP is putting in three moderately sized windmills or three taller power poles

Way to ignore the rest of my entire point and picking on the least impactful part of my statement. You still have failed to answer the base question, Which other manufacturer has any track record period of being able to pull off what we assume is happening with TTD2.0? No one. And as a matter of fact Intamin just built and opened (Pantheon) effectively a mini proof of concept for the base idea of what most think TTD2 will be.

If "company X has never done Y, therefore X cannot do Y" is your argument, that same logic would dictate that Dragster would never have existed in the first place, because prior to TTD, Intamin had never built a 400+ foot tall hydraulic launch coaster. And yet here we are.

I mean, if you word it like that then yeah technically true. But Intamin had built Gigas and Xcelerator as a POC before building TTD. Zamperla’s biggest design on the other hand is a 200’ loop coaster that has never even been built. There is a difference between “Track record of building big + breaking records/doing something bigger than you’ve done before” and being so far out of the ballpark that you would be going up orders of magnitude instantly on project size

Prior to American Eagle, the grandest coaster Intamin ever built was Junior Gemini. Everyone has to start somewhere.

XS NightClub:

When we’ve visited Dispatch times for every Busch gardens Tampa ride is abysmal.

Yeah, I was just at BGT on Sunday, and I could NOT believe the horrific dispatch times on iron gwazi.

It was routinely 140 to 160 seconds (and that's not dispatch, that's just time in the station). I sure wish RMC would redesign these restraints (don't know if that's even possible)or the parks change the two-step process, because the capacity is just terrible on this rides.

Consider the restrains and dispatch on velocicoaster, which has lots of forces too (maybe not as strong as RMC), but isn't there some way to have the seat belt connect in a different way?

The Montu dispatch procedure was almost a monty python skit. They did their normal row by row check, front to back and then proceeded to come back to the front of the station and then had the dispatcher make an announcement to trigger another ceremonial walk to the back of the station to actually dispatch. It was mind-boggling why they are doing that.

As a rider, I tend to love Intamin coasters.

As a business, I completely get why CF would never work with them again.

I'm trying to figure out what would be more surprising to me: Intamin working on the TTD re-do or Zamperla doing it all?

SpeedDemon:

I mean, if you word it like that then yeah technically true.

I don't know why this makes me giggle, but it does.

Ford never built a true mass-market EV, and yet, they have the F-150 Lightning and the Mach-E. Google never made a phone, and now they're 7-ish generations in. Red never made a cinema camera (or anything), but now they do. It hardly seems like a stretch that an amusement ride company could build a big roller coaster.

Using your analogy There is a difference between ford making a pickup truck they already make and tweaking it and Vespa suddenly deciding they want to make an EV Pickup. Or to use SRE123 analogy from above an architect who has only ever made basic residential designs suddenly being tapped to do a skyscraper. I just don’t see how you can make the jump from Zamperla’s reputation making flat rides and children’s rollercoasters to them being tapped to rework one of two coasters in the world over 400’. We want to talk about Intamin’s reputation when Zamperla doesn’t have a reputation at all in this sector!

veritas55:

. But the point remains: other than Shoot the Rapids, no one has pointed to a design or engineering flaw in Intamin's rides that has led to a serious injury of death. (But there is one more no one has mentioned: The Edge - first generation free fall at SFGam. That accident was an intamin design flaw.)

In 2021 a bystander was hit in the head with a flag plate from a train with such force that the victim still is recovering today. It also should be pointed out, flag plates are not exclusive to Intamin and the bolts just don't shear off or loosen up.

This is not the first time parts from TTD have come off with extreme velocity.

Safety incidents are not incidents that have serious injury or death, hence the term "near miss".

CPVet:

Is Sandor still with Intamin?

I believe so. In the 400+ pages of documents released after the accident investigation there was an email directly from Sandor to CP maintenance agreeing with/signing off on a reduced offseason maintenance program for the 2020/2021 offseason due to significantly reduced use in the 2020 season.

Browntggrr:

It also should be pointed out, flag plates are not exclusive to Intamin and the bolts just don't shear off or loosen up.

Ummm..

Wut?

Did you read the accident report? It sounded like what you said "just doesnt happen" was exactly what happened. 1 bolt loosened and then the other failed due to loading stresses. Bolts dont just loosen or shear? As another real world example...what about Chaos at MiA? And loads others, im sure.

SpeedDemon:

Using your analogy There is a difference between ford making a pickup truck they already make and tweaking it and Vespa suddenly deciding they want to make an EV Pickup. Or to use SRE123 analogy from above an architect who has only ever made basic residential designs suddenly being tapped to do a skyscraper. I just don’t see how you can make the jump from Zamperla’s reputation making flat rides and children’s rollercoasters to them being tapped to rework one of two coasters in the world over 400’. We want to talk about Intamin’s reputation when Zamperla doesn’t have a reputation at all in this sector!

Chiming in to say that just because a “company” hasn’t done anything of TTD’s caliber, doesn’t mean that the people employed by the company haven’t in their past careers. Zamperla seems very invested in their new Lightning Coaster model, and with the right team and some strategic hires, they might be able to do big things.

Guys. I figured it out. Triangle footers can really only mean one thing. 3 poles. Vertigo is coming back!

JoshBrown:

Ummm..

Wut?

Did you read the accident report? It sounded lime what you saud "just doesnt happen" was exactly what happened. 1 bolt loosened and then the other failed due to loading stresses. Bolts dont just loosen or shear? As another real world example...what about Chaos at MiA? And loads others, im sure.

The flag plate came off due to considerable vibration loosening the bolts on the flag plate on the end of trains which is why the theming came off as well.

It should also be pointed out that the only loading stress the bolts have are simply holding the flag plate in place.

Browntggrr:

veritas55:

. But the point remains: other than Shoot the Rapids, no one has pointed to a design or engineering flaw in Intamin's rides that has led to a serious injury of death. (But there is one more no one has mentioned: The Edge - first generation free fall at SFGam. That accident was an intamin design flaw.)

In 2021 a bystander was hit in the head with a flag plate from a train with such force that the victim still is recovering today. It also should be pointed out, flag plates are not exclusive to Intamin and the bolts just don't shear off or loosen up.

Let me make sure I got this right: are you suggesting that Intamin is at fault for a flag plate that flew off a train after nearly 20 years of service, with 20 years of intervening service requirements, maintenance requirements, and metallurgical x-rays? As other noted, Cedar Point did not do the normal off-season overhaul before the 2021 and worked with Intamin to do a more truncated one because of the reduced cycles in 2020 due to Covid (not that that was unreasonable by the way, but it's certainly worth noting that this incident followed the lack of a typical off-season complete maintenance overhaul).

But is the most likely explanation an Intamin design flaw, and not either a maintenance issue, a metallurgical flaw (that showed up 20 years later), or just some other factor? I don't think it's fair to say that is the most likely reason.