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This is undoubtedly the best Top Thrill 2 analysis video I've seen. It's not whining or judging a book by its cover, and it gives an in-depth look behind Cedar Point's decisions. I agree with everything you said here.
People can complain “Oh it was a good ride.” All the want but at the end of the day if it’s a maintenance and financial headache you either fix it or replace it. Fixing and changing it is the correct play for “Good” rides. Even then if you think about it; by having a roll back launch and a spike they add two new elements to the ride which should make it more fun for GA as well.
I have oddly mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I do feel that the new design is quite cool, but on the other hand, whilst I have been an enthusiast for years, I have only been able to go to my home park (as I am still a young teenager) so I never got to experience the original Dragster, which I have always wanted to ride my entire life. Also, unrelated but it’s weird they would market the “rollback” when the only thing special about getting a rollback on the original ride was the fact that it was rare.
@@Spike-sk7qlHonestly if Cedar Point has the space for it, I could see them making a traditional coaster with a 500 ft hill. Creating a new class of coasters called Ubercoaster.
They really didn't though. The whole train might not even leave the pull up. A rollback on dragster meant the train got all the way up. If you were in the front, you made it over the crest, only to be pulled back uphill, only to fall backwards 420' almost immediately into the brakes. You almost felt like you were going to break the seat you were in, and end up in the lap of the person behind you.
I'm really just sad that I'll never get to experience that original launch. I'm still glad that I'll get to experience the rest of the ride, as a motorcyclist you learn quick that you don't feel speed, but you feel forces of acceleration, whether positive or negative. That said, you can see speed and I'm sure zooming past the queue on that third launch will have it's own thrill. Nice to see a channel that doesn't just pile hate on things because it's not their idea of ideal....then again, I've been following you since something like 2014 and keep coming back.
I'm not thrilled by the name but I get the idea behind the name, it makes sense. Overall I'm looking forward to the new ride, I loved Dragster so much and I always wanted a rollback on that ride. So this should still be a cool reimagining.
I have faith in Zamperla! I'm rooting for them since the rumors began and I am sure this project will change their future as a coaster manufacturer. Unfortunately I wasn't able to ride TTD, but I'm really looking forward to riding TT2. Let's gooo baby!
Out of the hundred or so times I visited Cedar Point over Dragster’s lifetime, I don’t think I ever saw it stay open continuously from open to close. It was a great ride when it worked, but it could never be counted on to work.
5:44 interesting timing, since it appears Knott's recently removed the Camp Bus ride as well as the kiddie coaster next to it. Maybe they'll put a new Zamperla family coaster in that spot? At least we still have Xcelerator, which is supposedly getting TTD's old launch parts.
the rename sounds about right to me - they kind of have to drop dragster because they changed to the triple launch, but they are keeping top thrill. but now I want to ride on a coaster with a strange name just because. some theme park should name a coaster, "fred"
Literally agree with 100% of what you said. Best Top Thrill video yet. Love the positivity. Love how unscripted it is. Most people are trying to give the ride flack for anything and everything. They say the launches are guaranteed to be weak (and well, if each launch/boost use the full launch track, that’s true, first launch will be 1G, second 0.4G, third even worse) but who says that’s what’s gonna happen? The new TTD could have great launches! Not as good as the OG but you got that spike too and the rollback. Again loving the positivity. We are not meant to criticize rides and complain before it’s even open, we’re meant to ride and enjoy them! It’s gonna be enjoyable! Going over the top hat no matter what preceded it is gonna be fun! Cmon people! Be like this guy! It’s gonna be good and reliable!
I'm sure the ride will be fun but I'm a little disappointed 1) its now not 0-120 mph+ (from a standstill) 2) It wasn't themed more to be like a drag race. In my opinion, they should have done the 0-70 mph launch and rollback to simulate the burnout at the start. Then do the 0-120 mph launch from a standing start. Which, I get is similar to what this is supposed to be, but not quite the same. But i guess if it's fun, it's fun
No other coaster at the moment can say it provides two massive drops like this. I'm most excited for the brief stall on the spike as I face down at every other coaster in the park. I'm very excited.
Professor Plutonium's Rocket Machine (or something like that) really would be the perfect name to any large ride hands down. I can just imagine how that would sound when people talk about it: "Hey, lets all meet up over at Professor Plutonium's Rocket Machine (or something like that) around 4pm. Alright, cool."
I keep bring up the fact that during colder days, TTD was being launched at 126 mphs. On top of that, what about windy days when it was also launched at 126 mph?
To me this is a massive improvement. To me the wait time for the top thrill usually being 45-1:15 simply wasn't worth the ride experience more than once a trip. You wait an hour and 15 maybe more if it breaks down as it was prone to, only for a ride experience that's about 15 seconds. And then you boil in the heat while they unload and load the cars in front of you. This will add some length and new thrills to the ride making its experience much more worth while. However! I will miss the 0-120 in 4 seconds aspect. The slow build up simply won't be able to beat that impressive acceleration. But I get it completely. Besides new jersey is equidistant to me, so if I want to experience hyper speed I can just go to great adventure
I drive from near Toronto to Cedar Fair and the last 4 times we went, TTD was down 3 times for the whole visit. A ride can be awesome but if its always down, the excitement will fizzle to visit a park where that is a main highlight. We still loved our visits but lack of a TTD ride was a disappointment. I think this redesign looks pretty cool.
I feel that they could have done more to make the ride more unique/intense. Ex: Speed hills on launch, maybe a spiraling spike, and a higher rollback, but, eh, whatever I guess.
@@carsonsmith3728what incentive does cedar point have to give top thrill inversions? Literally none. It’s super unnecessary for an update that’s meant to be focused on reliability. If you want inversions at cedar point there is all ready 28 in the park go find them on the other coasters.
Thank you for your analysis on this. Sad that I never experienced it in its original form, but definitely looking forward to a built-in roll-back. And as much as I love your regular videos, the unscripted style on this one was fun and relaxing; thanks!
It will be very fun. The hangtime on the Spike will be really awesome. I like the name. You can still call it “Top Thrill”. The only worry I have is that the wait will be very long. Also I hope they keep the queue music! Lol
well thought out & informative reply (Also, if there was an accidental leak via an intern:: sis ive been there, you're doing ur thing and interest has never been more SPIKED!!) Anyway love to to see TPC putting out content: love ur attention to detail & background, plz keep it up...shout out to NE parks :)
And yes. Lsm is significantly more reliable than hydraulics. The immense pressure needed for hydraulics can cause many issues, especially used so intensely. Lsm its just a matter of "how much electricity can we supply to get this f*cker goin!" And unless theres a short or software issue it should work. The hydraulic sling system had many points of failure. Including the same 2 present in lsm. However, as stated in my other comment ill miss that sling to 120 launch
I like this. Combines Wicked Twister and top thrill. The speed at the opening might change. With the lighter/more ridged trains the speeds at first might be to see how these trains and launch system act. Just my theory. I also think this will be a much smoother ride experience. At least it’ll be longer than 17 seconds haha
The first thing that came to my mind upon seeing the news earlier today was the fact the new trains are not pictured having any kind of over the shoulder restraint like Kingda Ka has (unnecessarily so I would assume) and that TTD never had. The single lap bar restraint was vital to the comfort of the ride and I hope this new train has a comfortable seat and restraint and smooth ride overall.
You can be so funny! I like your Pepto-Bismal coaster concept. There used to be a very bad dessert at work (some artificial strawberry moose) that I named the "Pepto-Bismal" dessert. I am a big fan of great food and Nexium! My guess is that like me, you like Club Sandwiches! Just add let us, tomato and left over turkey to your bacon and cheese!
Love the info in this video- a healthy relationship with the engineers is incredibly important, plus the safety and maintenance issues with the other supplier must have absolutely been part of the decision. Also re:failed coasters, 100% agree there too. A really fun ride can be an economic disaster. A good movie can flop, a great album can bomb, good things sometimes have problems. Fingers crossed Zamperla can fix all these issues, those new cars look amazing.
This is great for a maintenance standpoint, but the only thing I see here is a throughput nightmare, needing the launch track three times for one train for such a big coaster (which I guess is better than being shut down half the time for maintenance). We’ll see how this plays out
I think the new color scheme and -- presumably new -- lighting package will make the track pop in a way that TTD did not. Think of a massive red and white ribbon floating up in the sky. However, I think they missed an opportunity to enclose the lower portions of the launch. A tunnel with immersive theming/effects would have been a nice distraction from the lesser acceleration. Something space-themed, with the ride vehicles ramping up to a speed sufficient to open a wormhole would have been really cool.
Cedar fair also had a good relationship with s&s and i would rather have a air compressed launch with a turn around and a airtime hill id rather see that then a lsm from zamparala
Year 3024. Stats. 900mph 1900ft tall. Name "Jupiter God" Coaster enthusiast:"no bunny hilly" "bad name" "bad que line"" "don't like the colors" "bad capacity" Ideal coaster enthusiast coaster Rather have a coaster with a couple bunny hills" "Wild lady bug" from lake county fair. Has an amazing color scheme, great que line, great capacity. It's the ultime thrill 1
I have a feeling that 120mph isn't going to be fast enough for the lighter trains to get over the top hat. Anyone remember when they switched the trains on Son of Beast? The lighter trains couldn't complete the loop.
The original dragster rarely actually reached 120. It was always like 5-8mph slower than 120. I don’t think the lighter trains will make too much of a difference especially if it actually reaches advertised speed.
Top Thrill Disaster. Do you think CP is tracking the less than enthusiastic response? The perception by so many that it’s a wreck. I would feel so guilty and full of angst for messing up an icon. Hopefully in 2025 someone is brought in to fix it.
Good video…I think the ride looks pretty cool. I do however feel what the main complaint will be, is the power of the initial launch. I know we will still hit the same speed, but not quit in the same way as going from 0 - 120mph. However the 101mph backwards launch, well that could be the new epic part of Top Thrill! Looking forward to 2024!
Good video man. Im not gonna ride it but its cool. ❤ keep the content coming. Waiting for the "bacon sanwich with cheese" coaster it will gruyere you the thrill of a life time.
If you want a coaster rename that's very similar to X2, there's Twister 3 at Elitch's, which got a refurb of the structure and trains (they added cars back after removing some in 2019), but since they added some AV effects in the tunnel, it got a sequel rename from Twister 2. But it is still a weird thing as there's a lot of drama over Elitch's and its land rights (reportedly it lost the land rights in 2019, but then the pandemic struck and there's been no news since, so this just feels weird)
One thing I thought they should have done (Not me complaining btw just was an idea), I thought they shoulda added a sort of airtime hill like ingda ka, they could have executed it to actually give airtime, but from a technical standpoint, it makes the brake run actually alot smoother then just straight.
I worked the original Top Thrill Dragster in 2012 and 2013, and I can easily tell you that 90% of the time it would go down (aka we would say for technical reasons) was because of the wind, not anything actually mechanical. But I am super excited to see the Zamperla version, as much as I loved the original, this version looks so much better
The enthusiast in me wishes they put an airtime hill on the launch track. The genuine roller coaster enjoyer in me is just happy to have dragster back.
Risking high 0-120mph acceleration for reliability is a big gamble. That first launch will just feel awkward at only 33% of the power compared to dragster. Could this new design also be the reason why Intamin pulled out also?
Top Thrill Dragster was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world when debuted and was the first Strata-Coaster. But the record-breaking success of the Dragster lead to the construction of its sister-coaster, Kingda Ka, breaking its sibling’s record. As for Zamperla, the manufacturer has a working relationship with many theme park chains around the world and it’s interesting to see them working on a roller coaster. This would definitely be something that I would like to ride if I ever find myself in Ohio since I live in New Jersey. But who knows, if Top Thrill 2 proves to be a success, maybe Zamperla would do the same for Top Thrill’s sister-coaster. (I’m only speculating, so please be respectful)
I don’t think people should sleep on that backward launch. Also, the front of the train should be no lower than 300 feet high when it hits the crest on the spike…so you are experiencing a vertical drop from the height of a Giga Coaster before hitting the original Top Thrill experience going over the top hat. 300-350 feet on a vertical spike is going to be insane. On top of that, I can see why they didn’t try to break the height record again, because if this is successful, I would be my annual salary that Kingda Ka goes through a similar change. Both rides had high profile issues during their existence, and KK is probably a time bomb just waiting for it’s next incident. So why bother chasing down a height record that will be broken by it’s near twin at another park?
As said on Coaster Josh's Video, i was expecting a 50mph reverse launche upwards the spike to the top and releasing the car. Everything else was as I expected it to be :D the straight / Non Twisted Spike reminds me of the Reverse Freefall Coaster Models. :D
Having been to Cedar Point a bunch of times when TTD was in operation it was always a dream of mine to experience a rollback and in all my visits I never even witnessed one. The intentional rollback is definitely an interesting addition.I wonder how high that first launch will get the train on though. The real question is, how likely is a rollback after the third launch.
Why would they not add one small air time hill, the roll back will only be coming down a third of the top hat so hardly a roll back at all. Idk very meh about this.
A lot of lip service has been given to the loss of hydraulic launch versus new swing launch. Which I think both are great. It's weird how little people mention the reliability and downtime. Like, how many people traveled hundreds or thousands of miles and spent hundreds or thousands of dollars and didn't get to ride TT1 before it closed? That's much more of a bummer to me than a change in launch. If many people never got to ride it because it was down, that sucks. Coasters should never be a thing that's like "lucky it was open and got to ride it on my vacation!" As long as TT2 is reliable, it's a winner. For both visitors and for the park and business. If you're solely focused on losing a 3 second adrenaline rush, idk, look at the big picture and what really matters. And what you have to gain with the redesign. 100 mph backwards launch? Sounds sick and something I've never experienced before.
My ONE and ONLY critique regarding the name, is since they did add the spike, I wish they would have given the name a nice nod to the late great Wicked Twister and maybe called it Wicked Dragster. I think something like that would have been SO cool. But also, just because it's called Top Thrill 2, doesn't mean they can't choose to rename it some time in the future. There are plenty of coasters over years that started out with one name, and then got renamed without making ANY changes to the coaster layout. So I'll keep hope alive that maybe one day, they will change it to Wicked Dragster or something else that gives a nod to what once was. As far as the coaster itself, preliminary thoughts are it looks COOL, I can't wait to ride it; I've been enjoying roller coasters for over 30yrs now. I'm lowkey intimidated by the spike, but I'm still gonna take on the beast that is Dragster. My momma didn't raise no punk lmao 😅🫡 I will say that a similar effect with the spike is experienced if you've ridden Superman Escape from Krypton at Six Flags Magic Mountain when it's launched backward. Similar in height, things like that. If I recall that sensation, it was mostly scary watching the ground get further and further beneath me as we rose up lol my eyes opened so wide! But once we went down I was cool 😎 So we will see. Gonna be interesting going through a rollback, a backward spike, down that spike, AND up and over a tophat all in one single ride lol.😅❤
