Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

If the park laid out their plans for the next 5 years it would make the next 5 years boring. We'll know what they're doing to TTD before it opens in 2024 or whenever. Until then enjoy the suspense.

Plans have leaked early (Maverick, Gatekeeper).

It pissed me off because I know how much work goes into the prep for the announcements and a few of the folks doing that work.

I personally find the waiting and speculation fun. I don't want to go down a time-consuming rabbit hole of internet games (not sure if anyone here remembers what Hersheypark did for Farenheit, for example), but the waiting is just one of those "enjoy the ride" things.

PyroKinesis09:

you can't compare movies, something you watch with excitement hoping for a good plotline, to an amusement park saying what a ride is being updated to

Oh, but you most certainly can. Think of the suspense of waiting for the details as the movie itself. The scene everyone is waiting for is them making the announcement.

If they laid it all out, it would slowly fade to the back of people's minds. Think of it like this - it has happened to every one of us before. You really, really, really, really, really want that shirt/toy/video game/movie/new tablet/fancy meal, etc.. and you can't stop thinking about it until you finally treat yourself. Once you do, it slowly just becomes part of every day life, and you live with it until you set your sights on the next thing you really want.

It's really no different. Keeping the thought of "what could be" fresh in people's minds for a few months to a year keeps people interested. Steel Vengeance is one of the most recent and prime examples within the same industry, and even the same park.

Oh, and they did it with Dragster while it was being built, too. Right before our eyes - but they said nothing. It's a little entertaining "game" that works to generate interest, and being impatient doesn't change that for everyone else.

Cedar Point did tell us all what they’re doing. TTD is being re-imagined. The rest will be known in time.

I forget where it was from (Dollywood or Hershey possibly), but my favorite pre-announce PR comment on a coaster was "Oh, that is just a landscaping project." Steel was going vertical, and they still had the chutzpa to just play it cool with "just a landscaping project."

I wish someone would ignore modern marketing practice and let the fan base sit and debate far into the winter. Come a month before opening (or even better a week or less), launch a cannon-blast Announcement Ad Campaign. Imagine showing up to Opening Day, and not quite knowing what the new attraction was.

Hell yeah I hope they open the ride without even announcing it. Just gotta go to the guy at the front of the queue and ask him if its open

If they would have revealed the the way the 7 stranded castaways got off the Island in the first few episodes I wouldn't have had to suffer through seasons of disappointment. Nor would I need to watch "Rescue from Gilligans Island" to find out.

Again.. Im not an expert in the field but..

-Ive done a little research, and discovered new rollercoaster trains can run anywhere from 250k to 1M+ a piece. Im sure theres some kind of bulk deal if they get 4-6 trains, but im sure they would get the newest LSM trains with all the newest safety features. So that's aroun 4-6 million right there at least.

-Then you have, probably the big chunk. The electronics actual operatong components of the ride. This is the comouters and diagnostic systems, sensors, and things that run the ride. Everything was gutted completely from the station. They are designing the ride op system from scratch again. This is HUGE money.

-THEN you have a completely new launch system your buying and installing. Also big money.

Dragster cost 25M new when it was built (39M in today's dollars.).

Just swapping the launch system and modifying the station, track, and adding new trains is looking to be like a 10-15M investment.

Whereas you can buy a brand new multi launch coaster the size of Maverick and all trains included for around 30 million.

If youre already going to buy new guts, new trains, and sink 10-15M into a 20 year old ride .. when literally adding 4k fr of track to it and redesigning a new layout would.. by the math, be an extra 15M on top of that anyway?

Financially, it downt make sense to sink that kind a dough into dragster, unless yiure really doing a complete redo.

People here talk about value, and investment. Sinking 15M into a 20 year old ride, that is a capacity nightmare doesnt make dollars and sense.

What does is explanding the ride, rebranding it, and massively adding capacity.

Cedar Fair knows far better than you what does and does not make financial sense when it comes to cap ex.

Sit tight...

Why would the spend money on a multi launch coaster the size of Maverick? They already have Maverick!

Because Planet Coaster is real life.

BleauxJays:

Why would the spend money on a multi launch coaster the size of Maverick? They already have Maverick!

Well, because Maverick is very popular but not efficient. There was a time when second a 300’ coaster was considered.

If all that is happening to Dragster is simply a new launch system/controls, new trains and a retheme (which is what I suspect), Cedar Point has determined that Dragster is iconic enough and a big enough draw attendance-wise (they surely have numbers to back that up) to sink the money into this redo.

Indeed, and that spending more on some of the more fantastical suggestions above would be a poor investment.

"Why would Wonderland spend money on Leviathan when they've already got Behemoth?"

"Why would Carowinds spend money on Fury 325 when they've already got Intimidator?

"Why would Kings Island spend money on Orion when they've already got Diamondback?"

I could totally keep going, but I'm not gonna.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding your point, but each of those is an example of a park installing a giga while already having a hyper, so they were filling out their ride lineup by adding a "different" type of coaster. So if these examples are meant to counter or answer BleauxJays' comment, it's not a great argument.

I'll admit it's not a great argument, but then again I also feel like "Why put in X when they already have Y" rarely is as a general rule.

Short of literal off-the-shelf models like Boomerangs and various Wild Mice, I feel like "too similar" can get very subjective. Aside from the height difference, I feel like you could argue that Giga vs Hyper is much more similar in terms of ride experience than a hypothetical retrofitted multi-launching TTD vs Maverick.

CPVet:

...Cedar Point has determined that Dragster is iconic enough and a big enough draw attendance-wise (they surely have numbers to back that up) to sink the money into this redo.

That's a whole lot of assuming stuff. If the ride never came back, attendance wouldn't change. I can promise that. I think far more boring and likely explanations include:

• They're not ready to fully write-off the ride financially (don't know what the depreciation schedule is).
• They negotiated something with Intamin that is more favorable than suing them for building a lemon that seriously hurt someone.
• Considering the above, this is the most economical way to not reduce overall ride capacity.

Unlikely explanations include superlative titles, impact on attendance, anything that enthusiasts think.

Jeff, it’s completely plausible it’s a combination of all that. It’s becoming more and more common for parks to essentially replace an older iconic ride for no other reason than the ride has become what they see as an essential part of the park. Off the top of my head here are some examples:

Incredible Hulk @ Universal

Nemesis @ Alton Towers

Great Nor’Easter @ Morey’s Piers

Python @ Efteling

All of these rides were essentially rebuilt (Nemesis closes soon for a complete rebuild) because the park has deemed them essential to the park’s lineup. So while Intamin might be doing this as part of a settlement after the accident, it’s not a wild idea to think that Dragster also falls under as the same qualifications as the above rides.