Kicking off the new year, let's look at some of the most anticipated new attractions of 2024. First up, the biggest "new" coaster of the year.
In 2003, Cedar Point captured records for the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster when it opened Top Thrill Dragster, an Intamin Accelerator coaster with the absurd stats of a 120 mph launch sending riders up a 420-foot Top Hat hill. Dragster thrilled fans for almost two decades, until a 2021 accident that seriously injured a woman waiting in the ride's queue prompted a rethink of what had become an ongoing maintenance challenge for the park.
The result? A reimagining of the Top Thrill experience, calling upon Zamperla to add a spike tower to the ride's track, transforming the old Dragster into a new three-launch ride - Top Thrill 2.
Instead of launching from the station to 120 mph, Top Thrill 2 will send riders forward at a much more manageable 74 mph. That won't get them up the 420-foot Top Hat, so every ride will get a rollback to the station, where a 101 mph reverse launch up the new spike tower, from where riders will drop back again to the station for the third launch, now up to 120 mph for that trip up and over the Top Hat.
Cedar Point has posted a multi-part video series about the transformation of the ride.
Cedar Point opens for its 2024 season in May. Keep following Theme Park Insider for more coverage of Top Thrill 2, as well as many of the other new attractions coming to major theme parks this year. A great way to keep up with all that is to sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
I'm toying with the idea of a Cedar Point trip this year as I haven't been in a few years, and while Top Thrill 2 isn't something I see a great need to rush out and ride, it is definitely swaying the needle in the Point's favor. Even though I don't expect the ride to match the original, I hope it is still a major success, as pulling off a project like this would definitely show the industry that Zamperla has reached the point where they're a competitive option on par with the American, German, and Swiss manufacturers that dominate the steel coaster industry.
I'm also batting around the idea of a quick Cedar Point trip if I can get a good flight deal this summer. Top Thrill 2 is certainly a factor, but it's also been several years since I've been out that way. It'd be nice to do a day at both Cedar Point and Kings Island, which I've never visited.
Jacob, I definitely enjoyed Kings Island when I visited the first time back in 2010. I do plan to go back as soon as my son is tall enough to get on coasters.
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Consider me lightly intrigued by this, but I'm not about to jet off to Sandusky in May to ride a revamped coaster that is 3 steps beyond what Zamperla has ever attempted before. Despite decent, apparently successful, testing, I'm still skeptical that this coaster will have the appeal worthy of what are likely to be hours-long waits. We were probably going to visit Cedar Point this summer regardless of whether TT2 was happening, so it's definitely a plus, but I don't think I would make a trip to Cedar Point just for this.