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Attraction Type
Roller Coaster
Attraction Status
Existing
Attraction Manufacturer
Zamperla
Attraction Model
Lightning
I do not think the train will be going 120 mph up the spike like it does the tophat. The curve for the spike does not need to be mirrored of the tophat side if it's taken at less speed. The curve can be tighter, allowing it to fit in that space.
 
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So if they’re not planning on making major changes to the station, how will this be able to run more than one train? I’m assuming it would have to, but I can’t envision how that will work
 
With all the crazy hopeful predictions of a super tall spike, I'm wondering if it will on the short side of a more logical guess. While an LSM launch needs to be longer than the hydraulic, with 3 full swing passes I wouldn't expect the launch track (space) to need to be as long as before, yet the ride overall will be stretched longer. Part of that could be a launchless bunny hill though. Perhaps it could start with a reverse launch like Drachen Spire, that one also was expected to have small back spike.

There has been some concern that the sense of anticipation will be lost due to the changes. But consider if the first pass only went a little up the top hat, looking straight up at the remaining 360 feet or so and then rolling back. That would be intimidating!

This is all to say we don't know much.
 
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I know a lot of thoosies are malding over Top Thrill going to Zamperla, but I'm excited to see what they do. Would I have preferred Intamin? Sure. That said, if Zamperla can pull this off, it's going to be an earthquake in the industry. Potentially having another premium (fingers crossed) manufacturer in the game would be great for everyone and it's rare that any of the lower-tier manufacturers get a shot like this.
 
It's the "if they can pull it off" that has me "malding". The list of manufacturers I would rather see on this project other than Zamperla is very, very long. Were Mack busy? Gerstlaurer? B&M? Or was Zamperla the only company crazy(stupid?) enough to touch this project?
 
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Intamin hopefuls, It's so over.


Hate to say "I told you so" but...

reddington-I-told-you-so.gif


Not only was Intamin never involved with this Dragster redo, Cedar Fair never even contacted them and let them know their intentions to modify it. It is a soured relationship between the two so don't expect any new Intamin at any CF park in the near future!!!
 
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It may be the case that Cedar Point is leading quite a bit of the design and coordination work in house and using Zamperla as the build contractor, vice it being a full Zamperla project.
 
It's so dang odd, the Zamperla thing. I recall an "insider" with a solid track record on a different forum, who adamantly claimed they had been briefed on the project, that Intamin was involved, and that Zamperla flat-out was not. Their original post was in November '22, and they edited it in May '23, removing any reference that they had been briefed on this project and of Intamin's involvement, but kept the insistence that Zamperla was not involved.

And, how's this for a segue, on the vague topic of "stuff ElToroRyan has claimed", after first breaking the Zamperla news, ElToroyRyan said that Cedar Fair execs recently went to IOA with the intention of sampling Velocicoaster, and were impressed by the ride. If that's true... why? What was the point? What did they want!?
 
And, how's this for a segue, on the vague topic of "stuff ElToroRyan has claimed", after first breaking the Zamperla news, ElToroyRyan said that Cedar Fair execs recently went to IOA with the intention of sampling Velocicoaster, and were impressed by the ride. If that's true... why? What was the point? What did they want!?

This is actually a very common industry occurrence. Park executives from one company will visit other park chains to gauge interest, hype and crowd reception of the main attractions and events.

This doesn’t mean that they’ll go back to their parks and add a clone or similar ride/coaster model or event — SEAS execs visited Canada’s Wonderland when Leviathan first opened but yet have to install a B&M Giga, but many park executives from various chains have visited BGW’s Christmastown over the last decade to see how they can do their own Holiday events.
 
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