Top Thrill Dragster: From Flawed To Flawless

In this video we follow up last weeks video of Cedar Points Nightmare Top Thrill Dragster. In this video we talk about how Top Thrill 2 came to be and how Top Thrill 2 saved Cedar Point dying ride.
00:00 Recap
00:42 Dragsters Closure
01:16 Official Announcement
02:03 Transformation
02:21 Top Thrill 2
03:03 Enhancements

[@jordydejong3376]

TTD used to be a flawed coaster indeed in the sense that it was a maintenance nightmare , but that launch was what made this ride special , and not just a glorified drop tower. Now that they changed the launch into a swing launch that element of this ride will be gone , its still gonna be a very awesome experience but in my opinion it goes from one one of the parks best coasters (top 3/4 ride) to probably somewhere around the 8-10th best coaster in the park. We still need to wait and see of course , but everyone is acting like this is going to be an improvement , while for cedar point it just a way to bring new life into a coaster that they would probably had to scrap anyways for maintenance cost and incidents alone. Its great that they decided to give it a second life in a new role but don't get your hopes up to much, it will never be as good as it used to be.

[@Foreignexchanger]

Its funny, the year I worked at Cedar point was the year the dragster debuted (2003). I was doing traffic control and that was also the year of the Northeast power Outage of August 14, 2003. Now, I am going back to work for them when the Dragster 2 Debuts. I'll be cleaning employee dorms this time though. Proud to scrub toilets if it is at Cedar Point though lol...

[@katieandkevinsears7724]

The launch was the best part of TTD. I don't think it will be as good a ride as it was.

[@kingcorgi7509]

The spike will be crazy

[@tracy4019]

I cannot wait to ride this. TTD was my favorite ride. And now this 🥰🥰🥰

[@mtbike13]

A bit early to make this call, don’t you think. Speculation is fun but let’s wait to actually ride it before calling it flawless.

[@kingcorgi7509]

Yea I just thought it was a good name for a video but it definitely will be a lot more reliable than the original

[@legendwingz0161]

@@kingcorgi7509 my thoughts on this are only slightly more reliable. why? sure, it had its technical issues. But you know what will always close a ride like that? adverse weather conditions/wind conditions. LSMs can be more reliable all they want, but i just don't think the change will be all that significant. IMO, anyway.

[@dera6347]

That "rollback" is going to make wait times in line very long. As is always the case with all rides that do this. Train 2 can not begin until train 1 has cleared the top of the arch. Due to this they may be one less train than the old way, possibly less two. The next trains wait time is increased by about 20 to 30 seconds in the new design. There could be one train in operation, a second getting staged and waiting to go, and a 3rd that is unloading. That 30 second delay will most likely have the third in station when the second is still loading. Extremely long wait times have killed rides like this before. Deja Vu at 6 Flags over Ga is one example, although that same ride is under many different names in different parks.

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

Still better than having it break down every 2 seconds

[@protowave]

​@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3odbig LSM systems also have awful downtime. this thing is gonna suuuuuuuuuuck

[@kingcorgi7509]

@protowave a lot less downtime then the original considering how many less moving parts they have

[@dera6347]

@@kingcorgi7509 True, although that increased wait time could result in the same number of people riding each day vs when it kept shutting down. Or even about the same number of riders for the year, vs the old setup. 20 to 30 seconds does not seem long, however it really adds up in hours, weeks, and months. Also the launch the ride is known for, is now gone. If a "roll back" is guaranteed, this means the launch is a bit slower than it used to be.

[@kingcorgi7509]

@@dera6347 yea but it definitely will make up in the long run

[@NoobWithBigHammer]

this aged well

[@kingcorgi7509]

Lmaooo I was gonna make a joke about this in the new video and I forgot to write it in the script

[@ClebyHerris]

I fully expect my boi kingda ka to get redone in the future

[@kingcorgi7509]

Pretty real

[@randomdefender1532]

Please no, ruining one intense launch was more than bad enough!

[@ClebyHerris]

⁠@@randomdefender1532I don’t want it either but if hydraulics aren’t reliable enough for cedar point then they aren’t reliable enough for six flags. I love the current kingda ka but it’s very temper-mental.

[@randomdefender1532]

@@ClebyHerris I'm glad I was able to get my rides in on it. I know it's New Jersey state law that the OTSR are there, and the hard aren't bad but I wish they'd replace them with the soft straps. Station Wait did a video on LSMs (Unfortunately KZbin won't let us put links in the comments anymore😡) that showed LSMs are capable of achieve the intensity of a hydraulic launch. I'm really surprised that in the 2020s engineers haven't figured out how to get a launch system that's as powerful as hydraulic or compressed air launches while making it as reliable as LSMs. Which LSMs haven't been pushed to their limits yet (and have the capability) and the acceleration of some LSM coasters like Red Force, ISpeed, and Junker isn't that much slower than that of some hydraulic launches. I really wish they'd keep TTD with one launch and just crank LSMs up and they can achieve the speed needed to clear the top hat.

[@ilikerollercoasters4757]

Are you using Travis Scott instrumentals for background music?

[@kingcorgi7509]

yea a lot of times I like to use beats that match the flow and tone of my voice and what I'm talking about I use other songs other than Travis though

[@marklinsey3079]

I agree it should be more reliable. The part I worry about is whether the launch is punchy. It looks like it will take longer to get up to top speed. Never rode TTD unfortunately, but I've ridden both Kingda Ka and Superman: Escape from Krypton, and Ka is leagues above just because of how crazy the launch is., How forceful the launch feels *really* makes or breaks this type of ride.

[@kingcorgi7509]

I don’t think it will be as punchy as the original but still 0 to 74 will be pretty good I think just take a look at maverick

[@ax8te]

@@kingcorgi7509no not even close, maverick gets to 70 in a bit over 3 seconds and tt2 looks like itll be about 6

[@kingcorgi7509]

true but i can still see it being a fun ride@@ax8te

[@tracy4019]

Agreed! The launch with the original TTD was great!

[@Jimmylovessalt]

@@ax8te remember that it is still being tested and the lsms are not to its full potential yet. When testing, parks tend to slow down the launch.

[@ggary04]

From Flawed to Flawless... You haven't even ridden it yet😂

[@kingcorgi7509]

It’s not about the ride experience it’s about the ride model itself

[@veroorozco1959]

0:41

[@kingcorgi7509]

Thank You Good Sir

[@randomdefender1532]

I'm not sure I'd call it "flawless" the 0-120 launch is gone and we don't even know if it'll be more reliable. To me swing launches are fun but I think they're very overrated and nothing mindblowing. Flawless would be if it kept the intense 0-120 launch but made it more reliable which I'm baffled that in the 2020s engineers still haven't figured out how to make that happen.

[@kingcorgi7509]

yea i agree i will miss the original launch however from a maintenance and reliability standpoint it is nearly perfect when compared to the original

[@doninwv]

@@kingcorgi7509 I don't give a shit about maintenance and reliability. Figure it out. It should be about the ride experience, and this will be much diminished.

[@kingcorgi7509]

@doninwv you’ve got to look at this as the company one of your most popular rides just almost killed someone and you’ve got to do something about it and everyone was watching it was a quick decision

[@randomdefender1532]

@@kingcorgi7509 There are rides that have had much worse accidents (actually did kill someone) that are still opened soo...

[@kingcorgi7509]

@@randomdefender1532 yes however none of which as iconic as the likes of top thrill dragster

[@doninwv]

I'll ride it and see, but this looks like it's going to suck. That launch was the money. This just looks slow and lazy.