Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

It's not a rumor, it's wishful thinking. It's based on imagination, not knowledge.

Can't somebody just fly a drone over there and see what's going on?

I'm sure nobody around here has any issues with that...

Someone say drones?

Former "Smoking Area" near Power Tower is the perfect Drone launch site!

We need someone like bioreconstruct up here to constantly take aerial photos from a plane.

Clearly one of the Disney vloggers evacuated to Ohio. You guys, that's all that's going on!

RideMan:

Now that we know the original launch and parking systems are gone.

I can’t help but wonder: will they be back? Perhaps retrofit the old tack with new components? It would likely be easier to do so in a workshop (especially during the harsh weather off season).

I do imagine that if they go the LSM route, you have to reinforce the track because there's no vertical triangle action there. That's fine if you're pulling the train with a cable, but with motors in the track, the train is pushing off the track itself.

That makes total sense, but this shows that isn't really the case, either.

https://rcdb.com/10698.htm#p=73298

I think the tunnel launch on Maverick, and even Cheetah Hunt's launch tracks are just flat, too - but Maverick is in the tunnel and I don't have any photos.

Mavericks launch tunnel track is triangular.

Yeah here's the best shot of Cheetah hunt i could find. Flat track but significantly more posts and footings. I was wondering if additional foundation work would be needed https://rcdb.com/9456.htm#p=33641

I was under the impression that, when constructing Millennium Force, the box track was more expensive to manufacture than the triangle track, but the box track could span larger gaps between supports. Thus, when the ride is close to the ground, they used the triangle track as short supports are "cheap." When the ride is a bit off the ground, they used the box track as high supports are expensive.

As far as LSMs go, I don't see why the LSMs couldn't be applied to the box track. The horizontal forces of a LSM launch is going to be similar to the force the brake fins apply at the end of the ride, and on both Dragster and Maverick the brake run was / is neither the box nor the triangle track, but the two tube track. Then again, see how well the brake run worked out for them on Dragster. That said, I suspect the main reason that Maverick has the triangle track in its launch has more to do with the fact that its more cost effective than the box track, more so than structural reasons.

According to Cedar Point Nations FB page a significant amount of track has now been removed; on the launch side all track is gone up until the point where it turns vertical, and a majority of the brake run is missing as well.

As more pieces disappear I start to wonder about the LSM conversion theory. It still holds water for now given what’s been removed, but at what point do we start thinking differently? When vertical track disappears?

I'd say if they start putting up fences behind the tower and bring in cranes there. But I doubt, even if full removal is the plan, that they would do such a thing during the regular season.

If a full removal happens it's not being reimagined, it's being replaced.

Which is technically a reimagining of sorts. I'm very unsure of what is happening now.

That bare bones launch track though. Like toothpicks!

I fully expected the launch and brake run to be gone if they are doing what I expect; a replacement of the launch from aircraft carrier to something else.

What's being taken away isn't surprising, but the pace they are moving at is; mainly because there is some suddenly nearly forgotten construction happening up front.

I don't know about the rest of you, but the mystery of the whole thing is fun. It's nice not to be spoiled for once, and brings back memories of the days when TTD 1.0 was originally being built.