Top Thrill 2
2024
Top Thrill 2 is the tallest and fastest triple launch coaster in the world.
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In 2015, Cedar Point transformed the stand-up roller coaster Mantis into an exciting roller coaster, Rougarou. Valravn began diving into Cedar Point in 2016. Valravn was the world's tallest, fastest, and longest dive coaster. In 2016 Soak City was expanded and rethemed to become Cedar Point Shores Waterpark. Steel Vengeance opened in 2018. Steel Vengeance was the world's tallest, fastest, and longest hybrid roller coaster. Guests would create their own Western experience when Forbidden Frontier opened in 2019. Cedar Point had planned to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2020, but it would later be delayed to 2021 due to COVID-19. General improvements were added to Cedar Point in 2022. In 2023 The Boardwalk opened. The Boardwalk featured many rides for the entire family to enjoy together including Wild Mouse. All of this was only the build-up for what would become of Top Thrill Dragster, Debuting in 2024 as the all-new Top Thrill 2.
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Top Thrill 2 is the tallest and fastest roller coaster at Cedar Point. It is a very exciting ride, and it has a very long history. The story of Top Thrill 2 began all the way back in the spring of 2002.
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When Cedar Point opened in May 2002, the former Dodgem area had a construction fence with signs posted '' Cedar Point is building for the future.".
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Early in the 2002 season, Cedar Point started digging foundations into the ground for the new mystery project.
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During the entire summer, construction crews worked on filling in huge sections of the lagoons. The lagoons were dug in 1905 to help control the park's mosquito problem.
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With Chaos and Troika out of the way, the construction site would start to get bigger. The construction site would now stretch from near Camp Snoopy all the way to the lagoon that houses Iron Dragon's helix.
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Later on, during the summer, the new ride would start to become vertical. Guests would be able to see the ride grow over the fence. Cedar Point would still remain silent on what they were adding. Cedar Point kept the ride a secret because the ride was getting so much buzz. No other ride at that point in time had ever had so much publicity before it was announced.
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The ride would continue to get higher and higher. It eventually seemed to get taller than Millennium Force.
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It soon became clear that the new ride would be an extremely large roller coaster.
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The new ride was truly a marvel for the park to build.
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On January 9, 2003, Cedar Point announced it was building Top Thrill Dragster, the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster. The ride would be 420 feet tall and reach speeds of 120 MPH! Top Thrill Dragster would become Cedar Point's 4th roller coaster to break the height record.
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Cedar Point would spend the rest of the winter getting Top Thrill Dragster ready to open for the 2003 season.
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After 3 years of planning, and over a year of construction, Top Thrill Dragster would finally open to the public on May 4, 2003.
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Top Thrill Dragster opened to very mixed reviews. Less than 50 percent of the guests were interested in riding the ride.
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In the early years, the ride had a lot of downtime. It would take some time for Cedar Point to learn how to keep the ride running reliably.
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By 2005 the ride was way more reliable than it first was, but it would still go down frequently.
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Over the years the ride would spend a lot of time closed.
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The ride just wasn't as reliable as the park wanted it to be. It would also go down in any type of rain and winds over 35 MPH.
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On August 15, 2021, Top Thrill Dragster experienced an unfortunate ride accident that would cause the ride to close for the rest of the 2021 season.
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In March 2022, Cedar Point announced Top Thrill Dragster would be closed for the entire season.
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On Tuesday, September 6, 2022, Cedar Point announced that Top Thrill Dragster as we knew it had been retired. The park also stated that they were working on reimagining the ride.
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When the park reopened on Friday, September 9, 2022, all of Top Thrill Dragster was behind a construction fence.
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Cedar Point would use the good weather they had during Halloweekends to take ride sections down.
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On January 9, 2023, Cedar Point announced they were creating a new formula for thrills for 2024.
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During Winter Chillout in February 2023, it was noticed that Iron Dragon had missing sections of track.
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When Cedar Point opened for the 2023 season it was noticed that the park had built new footers in the Iron Dragon pond. This pond is located directly behind Top Thrill Dragster's station and the unloading station.
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Rumors would run wild as to what Cedar Point was doing with Top Thrill Dragster all through the 2023 season.
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On July 11, 2023, Cedar Point tweeted on Twitter that they had started to put the ride back together. It was also reviewed that they had started to paint the supports grey and the track white.
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In late July 2023 Cedar Point would paint the ground and put signs on the fence to help tease the new ride experience to guests.
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On August 1, 2023, Cedar Point announced that Top Thrill Dragster would be upgraded to become Top Thrill 2 for the 2024 season.
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Top Thrill 2 would be the world's tallest and fastest triple-launch roller coaster on the planet!
A massive 420-foot-tall spike would be added to the design of the ride. |
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Top Thrill 2 would be a massive new project for Cedar Point.
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On August 1, 2023, Cedar Point started to build the spike.
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During the fall Cedar Point would build the spike. Each week the spike would grow higher and higher.
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Baynum Painting worked on painting the ride as the construction crew worked on building the other side of the ride. Painting a 420-foot tall roller coaster is no easy task.
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White the crews were building the spike the painting crew painted the station's structure where riders will load into the trains.
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The park also built a new electrical room that runs the launch system for the ride.
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The spike was built really fast. The weather was really good so crews were able to have an easier time putting the ride together.
When Cedar Point closed for the 2023 season, the spike was about 200 feet tall. |
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Top Thrill 2 was topped off on Sunday, December 3, 2023.
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On Saturday, December 9, 2023, Cedar Point started testing Top Thrill 2. This is the first time a roller coaster has ever run at Cedar Point in December.
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After the first initial test runs construction crews would start slowing down for holiday breaks. Once they went back to work they started converting the station for the ride.
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The ride would get an all-new start of the art control system that would operate the ride.
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In February 2024 crews worked to get the station ready. This included forming the foundations for where riders would board the ride and installing the control system.
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By late February crews had installed the air gates and were working on putting the station for the ridge together.
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In March 2024 crews worked on putting the low zone fences on the ride. The ride would get new themed fences like what you would find at an actual raceway.
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In March the construction crew worked on putting in the queue for the ride. It features a roof that will protect riders from the elements.
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Over in the station, the construction crew has been working on putting up the walls. They have also been programming the ride and fine-tuning it for operations that will begin in a few months.
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The trains have been put back on the track. As the park tests the ride system they have to run the trains one at a time. Eventually, they add all 3 trains as testing progresses.
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By Late March construction crews were working on putting the look and feel of the midway together.
The signed for the ride were made by Brady Signs of Sandusky, Ohio. |
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Top Thrill 2 opened on Saturday, May 4, 2024 to rave reviews. Riders loved the ride and it was in instant hit.
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Top Thrill 2 operated pretty regularly during its first week of operation. The ride did go down a few times, but nothing that was taking a long time for the park to get the ride back in operation.
Riders would report that the ride would be a bit ''shaky'' during certain periods of time. Top Thrill 2 did not operate on Saturday, May 11, 2024. |
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On Sunday, May 12, 2024, Cedar Point announced that Top Thrill 2 would be closed for an extended amount of time while the ride manufacturer completed a modification to the ride's trains.
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Top Thrill 2 Ride Facts:
Height: 420 feet
Launch Speed: 1st launch 74 MPH
2nd launch 101 MPH
3rd launch 120 MPH
Inversions: 0
Type: triple launch strada coaster
Trains: 3
Length: 3,422 feet
Company: Zamperla
Opened: May 04, 2024
Number of Coaster in 2024: 18
Height: 420 feet
Launch Speed: 1st launch 74 MPH
2nd launch 101 MPH
3rd launch 120 MPH
Inversions: 0
Type: triple launch strada coaster
Trains: 3
Length: 3,422 feet
Company: Zamperla
Opened: May 04, 2024
Number of Coaster in 2024: 18
Top Thrill 2 World Records:
-World's tallest triple launch coaster. (420 feet)
-World's fastest triple launch coaster. (120 MPH)
-First roller coaster in the world with two elements over 400 feet.
-World's fastest backward launch. (101 MPH)
-World's tallest triple launch coaster. (420 feet)
-World's fastest triple launch coaster. (120 MPH)
-First roller coaster in the world with two elements over 400 feet.
-World's fastest backward launch. (101 MPH)