Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

Tilt-a-Whirl:

read John H’s book

I mean, if we're giving our resumes, I'm in John's book.

As Brandon pointed out, attendance was the only thing that mattered in the Kinzel era. Dick liked attaching superlatives to rides, but at the end of the day, all he worried about was the ability to draw people in. If superlatives mattered, they works have beat the 1994 attendance record by now.

When Ouimet took over, his messaging to the press and investors was consistent. Reinforce the resort and bring it up to a higher standard, and plant the seed for future generations by emphasizing family. The coasters built since then are not particularly exotic or innovative, and two of them are conversions.

Whatever your insistence is that they've gotta do the ultimate thing is, it isn't rooted in the reality of the business. It's just about your feelings and nostalgia.

Untethered to reality. Feelings of nostalgia?

I live in Orlando. The theme park capital of the world. The 90’s and 00’s has nothing to do with this. It’s business. A theme park must continue to invest in marketable attractions to continue to turn a profit. See Guardians of the Galaxy. Velocicoaster. Orion. Ice Breaker. Iron Gwazi. Tron. Steel Vengeance. Pantheon.

Sure- the park has spent smart capital over the last ten years improving park infrastructure that was neglected during Kinzel. But the restaurants, the new Breakers, all of it is to support the real reason people go to Cedar Point- roller coasters.

What world are we living in where a theme park refurbing their marquee attraction to bring it up to 2022 standards is “untethered to reality”?

Ask any leadership team what the biggest challenge in their industry is. It’s staying relevant, ahead of the curve, to keep a competitive edge. It’s getting harder and harder to get people off their phones and into a theme park. The concept I’m proposing will do just that.

Obviously the park agrees- otherwise the cranes would be in Sandusky removing the ride, like most of you were so certain was going to happen.

I can attest to the fact very few people from GP know what actually happened at Dragster last August. You should hear what people tell me when they try to sound smart about it...if you didn't know any better, you'd think Dragster up & grew legs, grabbed a weapon, and hit the lady itself.

With that being said, the name and colors is what has to go to correct this PR blemish. It's a win-win for them, as shown by Rougarou & SV -- you get the marketability of a new ride without all the initial capital cost.

Nobody in their right mind would flip the lights back on with the existing hydraulic launch. I personally love the concept of observers being able to witness the launch only feet away from the action...there is nothing like watching the pure fear in riders eyes sitting there innocently waiting to blast off. It is what (in my eyes) made TTD special. With an LSM system and new trains, I think they could maintain the current midway interaction without sacrificing safety.

I'll go out on a limb and say they might not even need to reconfigure the queue with an updating brake system that doesn't shear bolts off every other day.

Sandusky is not Orlando. The parks here operate on a different level (I worked for one of those, too). The reality is that Cedar Point could tear down Dragster, do nothing with it, and it wouldn't matter. Cedar Point would move on, and nothing would change.

Jeff:

I mean, if we're giving our resumes, I'm in John's book.

Me too. :)

Tilt-a-Whirl:

What world are we living in where a theme park refurbing their marquee attraction to bring it up to 2022 standards is “untethered to reality”?

In what world would what you're describing be considered a "refurb?"

So, I know the current argument is over what will happen to the physical ride, but I'm curious about the direction they could go with theming.

As far as I'm aware, Cedar Fair still holds two trademark names (and probably more that I can't find) that haven't been used yet: Centurion and Polaris.

Either name would fit perfectly, but I think a space theme with the name "Polaris" (the north star) would fit incredibly well, especially with Millennium, Magnum, and Gemini all being vaguely sci-fi/space "themed" already.

I think themes and names are basically out of bounds. They could literally do anything.

I will use myself as an anecdotal test case. My kids are about grown and less interested so the annual family trip to CP (multi-day, staying at Breakers) stopped as of this past summer.

1. If CP tears down Dragster and only adds the new beach section with wild mouse ride that won't get us back to CP. (0% chance). I still think this is a good addition for park though.
2. If CP adds LSM and repaints Dragster, that won't move the needle a whole lot more in getting us back right away even though it was our families favorite ride. (~20% chance)
3. If CP does something big (by 2024) in addition to the LSM like adding more track and elements after the tophat, lighting, music, enclosure, theming; we are going back. (95% chance) This model I'm envisioning is not just another superlative but a thrilling and very unique new ride.

And I know this is anecdotal but I would guess my family may be fairly typical so multiply us by, say, 30,000 other families (wild guess). That does make a difference to attendance and park revenue no doubt. So maybe it is a pipe dream but why not go big and stay extremely relevant? They will get their money back in time.

The simple fact that you are posting here means you are not a typical park customer.

Cedar Fair announces record revenue for the year, with Dragster closed, and y'all are trying to explain why it's so important to have it or something equally grand. 😀

Construction walls are now up.
(photo via. /r/rollercoasters subreddit, @citkendall05 on Twitter)

But that's the point, they didn't get their money back with TTD, it's probably the biggest money pit that the park has ever owned. In fact there were warning signs, problems with the prototype "Xcellerator" Knott's that probably were an indicator that making a larger version was a bad idea. The coaster wars were winding down at that time, and there were higher ups that were trying to emphasize that they should be looking at developing the whole resort concept, and not dumping all their money into iron. As we know now that was largely ignored until after the change of leadership, but not until some lost their jobs.

Seems unwise to post a picture from the tractor your boss knows you're riding.

Jeff thats a straw man. I don't think anyone here is trying to argue that needs to have it or that it is 100% necessary. If Cedar Fair thinks they can make greater revenue without TTD(its replacement) they would just get rid of it. Clearly they think that whatever investment they are putting into the coaster will be better than removing it.

When I read their announcement at it says "However, Cedar Point's legacy of ride innovation continues." that makes me think of Cedar Point's legacy of breaking records. Cedar Point has a lot of power in the roller coaster industry. Word is they are the ones that got RMC to redesign their coaster trains. I could see them making this their big investment for 2024 and adding to the layout. I could also see them just Updating the launch to LSM or air compressor.

I wonder how much it costs them to set up that fence with the fancy paint. The little things.

djDaemon- You always want to stream your job of mowing the pavement. Its the only way to insure that you mowed the pavement properly.

But for real, I think thats against TOS? Posting pics from inside the closed park? Could be wrong.

Cedar Pointer:

Jeff thats a straw man. I don't think anyone here is trying to argue that needs to have it or that it is 100% necessary.

For real? Because all I've seen Tilt-a-Whirl argue is exactly that, that is has to be the super innovative slam dunk because it's always been that way and it's a destination and leader and whatever else he's been saying.

Could be wrong. Tilt-a-Whirl, is that what you mean?

Cedar Point is a destination. I live in North Carolina and there are people down here that will make the trip up IF they build a record breaking coaster. Cedar Point sees that in their attendance too. Attendance levels out with minor updates and spikes with big coasters. Those spikes are people coming from around the country.

I'm sure someone from Paris, France visits Cedar Point every year, too. These anecdote don't change the fact that the bulk of the attendance comes from the Cleveland and Detroit metros, with Indianapolis, Columbus and Pittsburgh as secondary markets. The long-tail beyond that is a small percentage, that, yes, includes people from North Carolina and "around the country."