Top Thrill 2! What we know about Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster announcement
The wait is over.
The 420-foot-tall coaster that has silently towered over the Cedar Point skyline for nearly two years since a piece of the Top Thrill Dragster came loose from one its trains and severely injured a Michigan woman waiting in the line below will roar back to life next summer.
Cedar Point has announced its plans for a reimagined coaster experience — dubbed the Top Thrill 2 — Tuesday morning.
The Top Thrill 2 will be the world’s tallest and fastest triple-launch strata roller coaster.
A strata coaster is any roller coaster that eclipses a height of 400 feet — a feat Cedar Point first pioneered back in 2003 when the Top Thrill Dragster opened.
The redesigned coaster will feature a second 420-foot-tall tower.
Carrie Boldman, vice president and general manager of Cedar Point, said "everything" was on the table, including potential demolition, when deciding what should become of the iconic ride.
It was decided to save it, Boldman said, but to completely reimagine the ride experience from a new launch system to lighter coaster trains.
"We feel like this is a one-of-a-kind coaster," she said. "We're really excited."
The redesign and construction is being preformed by Zamperla Rides and will be the first coaster to use the company's so-called lighter “Lightning” trains and a new LSM launch system.
Antonio Zamperla, president and CEO of Zamperla, said his company has been working on the design for the coaster for about a year and a half, including a new launch system that will rely on magnets.
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The goal all along, he said, was to keep the Dragster's huge tower and build off of that.
"This is an icon," he said. "You don't want to tear down an iconic piece. This is part of the skyline.
"It would be like removing a mountain."
Workers have been seen in and around the coaster for months and this weekend large pieces of coaster track arrived at the park along with a giant crane.
And on Tuesday morning, the first 19,460-pound piece of the new tower was put in place.
Mike Conley, Cedar Point's vice president of maintenance and construction, said guests to the park will be able to watch the new coaster take shape as the second tower slowly rises from the lagoon next to the Iron Dragon.
The goal is to have the tower and new track installed by the end of Halloweekends so work on the nearby midway and testing of the coaster can begin in the spring.
Top Thrill 2 by the numbers
The Top Thrill 2 will be the worlds fastest triple-launch strata coaster.
It will feature two 420-foot-tall towers and launch riders three times at 74 miles per hour, 101 mph and finally 120 mph.
The total track length will be 3,422 feet and take some two minutes from start to finish.
Passengers will board the coaster cars that will then slide over to the main track for the three launches.
There will be three racing themed coaster trains — one metallic blue, one metallic silver and a third one metallic black.
Did the plans for the new version of the Top Thrill Dragster leak?
There have been some recent social media posts claiming to reveal plans for the revamped coaster.
A few weeks ago, a post purporting to be a screenshot from the Cedar Point website listed facts and stats for the new coaster.
Cedar Point, in a rare move, responded quickly and said the post was a fake.
It turns out that was true.
Like much of the speculation, the post was false.
A post did surface over the weekend by amusement park enthusiasts claiming to be screenshots of an inadvertent post by ride manufacturer Zamperlaannouncing it has partnered with Cedar Point to reimagine the Dragster.
The inadvertent post was correct, as the announcement on Tuesday was identical to what has been circulating online.
The Zamperla redesign features three launches before the coaster train goes over the existing 420-foot-tall hill.
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Top Thrill Dragster accident
The roller coaster was immediately closed after the August 2021 mishap, and has never reopened.
A state investigation was launched and found loose bolts, signs of wear, deformation and impact marks on train cars and sections of track over the spot where a metal plate broke from the ride and fell striking the then 44-year-old woman.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture — charged with the inspection of amusement rides — found in its final report that Cedar Point had no knowledge the ride was in an unsafe condition the day of the accident.
State investigation:Cedar Point had no knowledge Top Thrill Dragster 'was in an unsafe condition,' state says
A lawsuit was recently filed by Michigan resident Rachel Hawes, who was struck in the head by piece of metal about the size of a hand. The lawsuit says she is permanently disabled and has already amassed some $2 million in medical expenses with future expenses expected to be more than $10 million.
Injury and lawsuit:Woman injured in 2021 by metal part from Top Thrill Dragster files lawsuit against Cedar Point
Top Thrill Dragster's checkered past
The Top Thrill Dragster dominates the Cedar Point skyline and when it opened in 2003, it was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world.
Those records were surpassed in 2005 by the Kingda Ka coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey.
Some 18 million people rode the coaster, which sent riders in the air at 120 mph in just 3.8 seconds, before its closure.
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From the start, Top Thrill Dragster was plagued by issues that led to its frequent closings as the park grappled with its original temperamental hydraulic system.
Riders were injured in a pair of previous mishaps on the coaster. In July 2004, four passengers were struck by flying debris from a frayed metal cable, and in 2016 two riders were injured when a launch cable detached from the coaster.
Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: What we know about Cedar Point's plans for the Top Thrill Dragster
