Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

I bet it's their 2024 attraction announcement. Sometime in August of next year.

Bringing back Demon Drop! ZumanJaro Style. to free up Power Tower site by Matterhorn!

Random thought but didn’t TTD just get repainted not too long ago?

Worlds tallest BBQ restaurant.

Dutchman said:

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 was deliberating on this but I think scale is the name of the game...Xcelerator being only a fraction of TTD's size means a lot...running ~40 MPH slower changes a lot of the dynamics in terms of stability, safety, reliability, maintenance intervals. Case in point - I'm reminded of a story how in the early days TTD's trains were zooming by the proximity sensors too fast, failing to recognize trains & consequently throwing faults. That likely wasn't an issue on Xcelerator.

As for Kingda Ka....all bets are off.

If our reading of "As you know it" and "Reimagined" is correct, meaning dragster will reopen with an LSM Launch, then I predict that Dragster will reopen with brand new trains. My reasoning is that they would already have to reconfigure the current trains to work with the new launch system. I would want the trains that they used on Veliosicoaster. That would be awesome.

WZNM said:

Bringing back Demon Drop! ZumanJaro Style. to free up Power Tower site by Matterhorn!

Power Tower isn't just a drop tower. It's not a free fall as Demon Drop was. It actually launches riders up and launches riders down. Depending on the tower. All done with compressed air. I would be bummed to have it replaced by a free fall ride.

I wonder if they would enclose the launch track as part of a retheme, if the ride were to stay as it is today. Could make for a cool launch experience.

^ and a cool light show in the enclosure as you launch. Wouldn’t that be cool.

Cedar Point doesn't have a good history with maintaining ride theming... Maverick's tunnel, Magnum tunnels, the entirety of Disaster Transport....

They did at one time, a long time ago, but with the major management change in the late 1970's it started to be of a much lesser concern as the years went by. Robert Munger is said to have stated that if it doesn't directly affect the operation of an attraction it doesn't need to be there. This attitude was passed down to Dick Kinzel when he ascended first to the VP/GM position at Cedar Point , and ultimately that of CEO of Cedar Fair. The acquisition of Knott's Berry Farm by Cedar Fair has gradually started changing this, along with the retirement of Kinzel.

CPVet said:

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.

This is precisely what I don't want to happen but probably will.  Having launch sections further up the hill means less speed needed to clear the tower.  In other words... "Let's take a 0 - 120 mph in 3.8 second launch and downgrade it to a 5 - 75 mph in 6 second 'boost' like a modern day Mack launch snooze fest".  Great 😒

Am I the only old person on here who hears "reimagined" and "not as you know it" and thinks, "Nestea Plunge?"

Wait--don't answer that.

I say it gets a Rougarou style upgrade. New name and paint job and rerouted line to cover any safety concerns. Maybe figure out a way to reduce the number of proximity sensors for more up-time. To the general public it will be a new ride and still as fun as it ever was.

If reimagined at all resembles a roller coaster, let alone remain an Intamin roller coaster, well color me flabbergasted!!!

so over Intamin rides getting the axe. I get it but I still don’t like it.

I will remain cautiously optimistic that Intamin and CF can restore their relationship. And perhaps rebirth a coaster - which even in 2019 still excited me - into a better in every way version of itself - maybe something like pantheon (switch track, multi directional multi launch, back spike) could be integrated into the design.

because EVERYONE wants a rollback!

HotSauceJunky said:

I say it gets a Rougarou style upgrade. New name and paint job and rerouted line ...

If they go that route, there's a good chance it'll be ready for next season. If they add LSMs, or major track work, I don't have much confidence in seeing it till 24 at the earliest.

Rollback Coaster #1 - every train gets a rollback....... This Attraction is only available to FastLane Plus Prestige Rollback Edition Passholders and guests with a credit score over 825.

Dragster isn't dead. Its ... pining for the fjords.

Yesterday, I was quite confident that they wouldn't be making a LSM conversion. Today, I still think its unlikely, but to be honest, I'm a bit less confident in that opinion. Could the re-imagining of the ride be building a shed around the "high speed" section of the launch?

If you're Cedar Point, and you know that whatever Top Thrill Dragster becomes is still going to be a roller coaster-style ride that takes people to the top of the existing 420-foot-tall tower and then brings them back down, what do you gain by telling people that the ride "as you know it" is going away and then keeping the same basic ride experience there?

To me, this announcement isn't for people like us who are familiar with the differences between potential launch systems. It feels an awful lot like the intent is for people to read this and say, "Well, the roller coaster that goes that high and that fast isn't going to be a roller coaster that goes that high and that fast anymore."

Fully disagree.

I doubt seriously that once this attraction reopens it’ll even still be called TTD. This is an opportunity for better or worse for the park to completely close the book on TTD without completely removing it. I foresee an entirely new attraction that may have some callbacks to the original ride but slapping a new launch system on it with new trains and calling it a day is not re-imagining it.

I think that, much like the Wicked Twister diehards there are just too many folks wrapped up in the whole TTD isn’t going anywhere mentality. The ride is gone. Whatever takes its place is likely to be nothing like what exists currently. It’ll have similar elements sure, but it’s been proven over and over that an LSM conversion just isn’t the solution. Which means in its current form, the launch, overall height, and terrible up and down layout are going away. And the comparisons to Mantis have to stop. That’s not even remotely close.

Mean Streak? Maybe.