Let’s face it: there are few roller coasters on Earth that loom as large as Top Thrill Dragster. Sure, Cedar Point’s legendary ride opened as the tallest, fastest roller coaster on Earth; the first to shatter the 400-foot height barrier; the undisputed king of ride manufacturer Intamin’s boundary-pushing Accelerator ride model, using compressed hydraulic fluid to rapidly accelerate riders from 0 to 120 miles per hour in just four seconds. But we aren’t just talking about Dragster’s physical size. It is also an icon; a landmark; a rare member of the Coaster Pantheon, unanimously understood as a legend by any who proclaim to be coaster junkies.In fact, the story of Top Thrill Dragster is so high-octane, we told it in a standalone entry in our in-depth ride history series – Lost Legends: Top Thrill Dragster. That entry follows the ride from high-octane origins and through years of frustrating teething pains that led Cedar Fair’s CEO to call the ride “the worst mistake we ever made.” It’s almost as if he could see the future – when, in 2021, a piece of the ride’s Intamin-made trains broke loose, severely injuring a queuing guest. After nearly two decades, Dragster was officially retired, ending the problematic ride’s life with one final, monumental mess-up… Or so it seemed.Race On…
Image: Cedar Fair
In 2024, Cedar Point put the pedal to the metal once more with Top Thrill 2 – the long-anticipated overhaul of the record-breaking ride. The rebirth of Top Thrill Dragster had been a long time coming. But as we all know by now, the industry as a whole had changed a lot since Dragster’s birth in the heart of the Coaster Wars that spanned the 1990s and early 2000s…For example, after years of partnering on boundary-pushing, ultra-extreme, and often-temperamental rides, Cedar Fair (and Six Flags) more or less swore off of Swiss ride manufacturer Intamin, with one-too-many operational hurdles, design flaws, and even dangerous accidents seeming to plague their rides. (The “final straw,” it seems, is when Cedar Point’s Shoot the Rapids – an innocuous log flume – fell backwards down its lift hill, flipping the ride vehicle and trapping guests underwater in over-the-shoulder restraints. Only the quick action of onlookers who leapt into the flume to right to ship saved riders’ lives.)
Image: United Parks
Sure, it’s true that today, Intamin has reformed its previously-over-the-top ways and – in fact – has reached a new critical and commercial crescendo with rides like VelociCoaster, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Pantheon, and more. But suffice it to say that Cedar Fair has been pretty stalwart in its distance from Intamin. Especially given that it’s a piece of Intamin’s Dragster train design that caused grievous injury to a guest in 2021, we can imagine that even if Intamin did submit a proposal for the ride’s reimagining, Cedar Fair opted to go elsewhere. Unfortunately, it’s who they chose instead that’s become a problem…
