Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

I'm not going to be on board with the LSM theory until the park announces it's happening.

That being said, they're also not going to remove that tower anytime soon.

My hunch tells me that the tower gets converted into a Zumanajaro-type drop ride, freeing up even more space in the newly-empty Matterhorn/Scrambler area when they also get rid of Power Tower.

Man, sometimes I wonder if people have a fetish for removing popular rides that are causing no issues. Now we're removing Power Tower? Why? For what purpose?

scott sarah said:

Its a refurb people.. the letter says "as we know it" My bet is taller than Kingda ka and faster.

I'd be shocked if Cedar Point's response to this entire event where someone got critically injured is to make the ride taller and faster, bringing a ton of attention to it. I feel like they're likely re-theming and making the ride more mild so that it can operate more 'under the radar'.

All they are doing is removing the "finish" sign and replacing it with this.

mgou58 said:
That’s always been like that.

I think it's only been that way since Intamin retired the hydraulic launch option, but yes, the change long predates today's news.

PyroKinesis09 said:

Now we're removing Power Tower? Why? For what purpose?

As stated, because I believe it's being replaced with a different drop tower. This is how parks with limited space have to operate.

All parks have limited space.

djDaemon said:

All parks have limited space.

Except for Canadas Marineland 🤣

First time I ever looked at the Intamin site was this morning so not sure what it said prior. Wouldn't expect though that a manufacturer would effectively make an announcement before the owner of the particular ride did.

Removing the ride's launch cable prior to today's announcement would be consistent with a reimagined launch. But the park's announcement is so vague that it could mean anything. Seems like you would need to do more than re-paint/re-brand it. And taking it down and replacing it even with something somehow similar would appear to go too far based on that announcement. Lots of room in-between those two though.

Invertalon said:

They can always continue the LSM launch UP the spike. It doesn't need to remain on flat track, so I don't see why (unless the entire curvature upward still isn't enough) to get up to appropriate speed to clear the top, it can't be LSM without having to modify the height.

This is what I’ve been saying all along. No rule limiting the LSMs to only the flat track. Extend it a little bit along the curvature just like Intamin has done with some of their swing launch coasters like Pantheon and bam, 420 feet. Who knows, that might not even be necessary with advancements in LSMs since Red Force.

My understanding is that LSMs produce less thrust at higher speeds, so assuming that is true, it's not a given that putting LSMs on the non-horizontal(-ish) track would achieve anything.

It's very obvious the launch system will be gone. However, the major issue that caused life altering injuries wasn't part of the launch, but happened in the brake run. With all the markings that extend well beyond the ride's footprint, something major is going to be done. Could it be like the tower will be repurposed for a drop tower? Or this may be a crazy idea but what if they were to use the track on both sides of the tower to have 2 trains simultaneously be pulled to the top with cables with the trains going up in reverse and then it could be like a racing drop ride when both sides drop back down into the station. Don't know if that idea would even be plausible, but I think that could make a good use of the ride.

KevinJ, was that the Alaska sign just outside the Dispatch Master Transport station?

RMC's first steel coaster conversion.

Thabto said:

With all the markings that extend well beyond the ride's footprint, something major is going to be done.

Utility markings often exceed the construction site by a hundred feet or more. Meaning it would be normal to find markings near, for example, Pipe Scream, the Resort Entrance/Magnum, Breakers' parking lot, ID's queue, etc., without any excavation occurring outside of TTD's site.

That One Coaster Guy said:

retheme Dragster to Ohio's space history. Make it where the cars are rocket ships launching you to space and paint the ride blue and white with some red to match NASA colors. Could also redo the queue and put buildings in the infield that are like a space station guests walk through so that riders are protected

That would be an awesome retheme, actually. And have the station play Starset music. Most preferably the song Into the Unknown, but their whole discography works.

If the LSM idea is true that would take a lot of power and would definitely require significant electrical infrastructure work. The markings could extend that far out to tie into existing 14KV utility lines. On a side note I wonder where Wicked Twister was powered from, doubtful that would be enough capacity for an LSM on the scale of TTD but they might need multiple feeds for something like this anyway.

Thabto said:

It's very obvious the launch system will be gone. However, the major issue that caused life altering injuries wasn't part of the launch, but happened in the brake run.

While true that the launch wasn't directly responsible for the injuries, you could find the launch as secondarily liable by way of requiring the flag plate (metal piece used to signal the sensors along the track) in the first place. I don't think they were able to place the sensors down the centerline because of the width of the catch-car channel along the launch + rising brake fins. This forced them to offset the sensors within the launch, and as a (sad) result, add an additional failure point to the trains.

In today's world, the spine of the train's underbody is dual-purpose - contact LSMs/braking mechanisms and signal the sensors, making the flag plate obsolete.

Not surprised, they are going to try to recoup as much as they can from this lemon. It has spent considerably more time down than up during it's life. On a side note it's also going to be interesting to see what they do with Xcellerator at Knotts. It was the prototype, and has been down for about a year, although they did paint it last winter. This is a quick fix, compared to a built new replacement, as a spectacular requires a three to five year lead time. It'll be interesting to see what they do with both of these rides.

I’m really interested to see if this new version of TTD will be opening in 2023.