Check this out! Has anybody been to Cedar Point? This place sounds like the be all and end all of amusement parks. SANDUSKY -- Speculation on the newest steel beast at Cedar Point came to a screeching halt this morning with a much-anticipated announcement: Meet the new Top Thrill Dragster. The $25 million Dragster roller coaster towers over just about anything near it at 420 feet -- or 42 stories high -- and propels riders up and down the first hill at a lunch-tossing speed of 120 mph. The "strata-coaster" gives Cedar Point bragging rights once again to the tallest and the fastest coaster in the world. Testing is expected to be finished by the May 4 opening of the park, according to a Web site diary updated this morning by Monty Jasper, vice president of maintenance and construction. "Because we'll be dealing with heat and speeds no one has ever contended with before, we're going to need a lot of time to deal with these issues," he wrote, "and Top Thrill Dragster will undergo extensive testing." Brought to coaster nuts by Switzerland-based Intamin -- the same company that designed 2002's Wicked Twister and 2000's Millennium Force -- the puzzling-looking thrill ride was the discourse of Internet sites for months. The only shortcoming to this coaster could be the amount of time it lasts, buzzes enthusiasts on various Web sites. At a short 30 seconds, its much faster than Millennium Force's 2 minute, 20 second ride. But, its speed off the first hill dwarfs Millennium's 92 mph. "It'll be short, but it'll be jam-packed with thrills," swears Robin Innes, director of public relations at Cedar Point. "I think they're going to say 'This is so great,' and once they get off, I think they're going to want to do it again." Here's how Dragster works: Riders take a seat in six 16-passenger trains designed to look like a futuristic drag racing car that feature stadium-type seating. They race up red and white steel tubular tracks, propelled by a hydraulic launch system so that within the first four seconds they are flying up the hill at 120 mph. The track turns about 90 degrees before cresting, then giving riders a freefall before screaming down again at 120 mph, only this time with a 270 twist. The latest offering by Cedar Point, named again this year the top amusement park in the world, trumps the Steel Dragon in Mie, Japan, which measures a now meager 318 feet. Dragster, too, will take the record for the fastest at a speed of 120 mph -- up and down the first frightening hill -- overthrowing another Japanese roller coaster called Dodonpa, which comes off the first hill at 106.8 mph. From the time the yellow support poles and red track appeared in the parking lot of nearby Soak City in September, coaster enthusiasts went nuts on the Web. They debated what it could be, contending everything from the possibilities of a dual racer coaster to the form that it eventually took. Two Web sites, CoasterBuzz.com and Guidetothepoint.com both called it with predictions that the oddly shaped coaster would parallel a similar one -- albeit a smaller one --at Knott's Berry Farm in Southern California, also owned by Cedar Point parent company Cedar Fair. In fact, enthusiasts at CoasterBuzz.com rose early this morning to check out the news, and most were prepared, but thrilled nonetheless. "OH MY GOD!!!!!" wrote one fan. "LOOK AT THOSE TRAINS!!! I WANT TO RIDE!!!" Others tempered their enthusiasm a little more, but still expressed excitement about the upcoming season. "Oh yeah, this has to be said: THANK YOU CEDAR POINT," wrote another. And one simply asked: "Is it May yet?" For more information or to check out photos of Top Thrill Dragster, go to the park's Web site at www.cedarpoint.com
I knew a chick from Toledo, and she spoke highly of Cedar Point. It's apparently a pretty awesome place with a lot of cool rollercoasters. I'll drop her an e-mail and see if I can get an update on this new coaster when it opens up...
How would you like to be one of the test ride subjects for THAT coaster? If something goes wrong, it will REALLY go wrong.
My friends all went there last summer; I was supposed to, but I became not well at the exact wrong time. This summer we're going again though. Looks like it'll be fun...
420 ft in the air in a big open roller coaster car? not a chance in hell for me. plain ol' cyclone/texas rattler-type coasters are hard enough for me to go up (can't stand heights in any sort of open setting), this would be insane. and i didn't even realize we were past the 100 mph barrier, now we're to 120 mph. of course for anyone who likes coasters, this must be some badass news, that thing is just unbelievable.
Sometimes I feel bad about being a fanboy of comics, anime, LOTR, Star Wars, etc. . . But then I see that there are places like coasterbuzz.com and I see roller coaster enthusiests getting interviewed on the travel channel while they spend their lives riding coasters all over the world and I feel a helluva a lot better.
In a word....NO F***ING WAY are you getting me on that. Did y'all check out the video? Ugh. Greased Lightning scared the **** out of me, and that's only 0-60 in 4 seconds. This is 0-120 in 4 seconds? And who's the saddistic b*stard who put a spiral in the downward run?
Then you get my point! Are you really so bored as to count the words? Damn, I thought my job was boring!
If you ever get down on yourself about whatever hobby or enthused activity you participate in...always remember, it's never as bad as a Beenie Baby collector!
To put things in perspective, the Transco Tower (Williams Tower) is 901ft tall (3rd tallest bldg in Houston). This rollercoaster is 420ft tall, so it's a little less than like going up half of the Transco Tower and coming back down at 120mph. No thank you.
