Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

@KevinJ - Men's Glee? My son was in that for a few years.

We finally have something in common. ;)

Yep. Ohio State Men's Glee Club; late 90's.

I really don't know what to make of the phrase "new ride experience", which I suppose is part of the fun.

@Kevinj Boo to you sir! 42-27 〽️

Walls being up this early certainly has me thinking this will be more than replacing the launch mechanism.

The webcam view has me thinking how quickly that shade of yellow fades. They just repainted what 5 years ago? Maybe if they re-paint again they can choose a color that holds up a bit.

Hopefully if they do, they get the combo deal that lets Iron Dragon get a new coat of paint out of it as well.

Good point!

Reports from the park that there is work being done on the launch area, using tools rather than torches, which is promising. Then again they carefully removed parts from WT as well, so... *shrug*

PyroKinesis09:

Walls being up this early certainly has me thinking this will be more than replacing the launch mechanism.

How is this any more an indicator than one for them tearing it down, or painting it purple?

Not sure you can blowtorch a mess of sensor wires & air lines.

I’m also still skeptical that you can tie together 20 year old steel track with new track.

While we’re at it, I’m equally as skeptical in the physics of dropping 400+ ft at 120 mph and banking into a helix / spike / loop / black hole that some folks are recommending here.

Do they still have the heart line roll track from Maverick? ;)

They are going to add a piece of movable track by the storage tracks.... build a 600 foot twisted spike behind the launch.... and another where the brake run is now and name it Wicked-er Twister! Dippin Dots guy told me, so it has to be true!

Jeff:

How is this any more an indicator than one for them tearing it down, or painting it purple?

Walls could certainly be up right now if they are tearing it done, sure. If they were painting it purple, I don't think they would be putting walls up in September of 2022.

Maybe they want to put on a couple extra coats.

magdrag95:

I’m also still skeptical that you can tie together 20 year old steel track with new track.

I'm not sure how significant a difference there is between 10-year old Arrow track and 20-year old Intamin track, but there's always the Steel Phantom conversion for a point of reference re: drastically changing a ride's layout while keeping portions of the original track intact.

magdrag95:

I’m equally as skeptical in the physics of dropping 400+ ft at 120 mph and banking into a helix / spike / loop / black hole that some folks are recommending here.

Trim brakes 😉 sort of how you hit brakes immediately after Maverick’s tunnel. But to be honest, the best concept I’ve seen is the video a few pages back of the Ice Breaker type launch.

magdrag95:

Not sure you can blowtorch a mess of sensor wires & air lines.

Want to bet? I'm an expert at that. :)

I really hope that they don’t go the direction of Zumanjaro on Kingda Ka. Leave power tower alone and make the reimagined TTD truly unique :)

What if Cedar Point installs the launch and current brake run with LSM's? Launch two trains racing you up the tower, then roll back into the brakes? It would then be more akin to drag racing. Everyone now gets a coveted rollback.

And they’d only have to buy two trains!
The trouble is that the straight track and the pull up on the launch side don’t match the pull out and the straight track on the brake side.
That’s a cute idea though.