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Cedar Point | Top Thrill 2 | Triple Launch Renovation | 2024

Sorry if this has been mentioned before but I can't stop thinking about it. But the whole Top Thrill 2 thing is so weird to me when it's very clear that Cedar Point wants to forget, and not even mention, the "original attraction" nor acknowledge its existence anymore. So why is it so similar?

Literally "Top Thrill" 2. Cedar Point REALLY does not want to talk about "Top Thrill" Dragster, they won't even refer to it by name. In Winter Chill Out Tony hated talking about the ride. They want to pretend it was never a thing & they clearly want to put it firmly in the past. So why take 2 words from the original name and keep its racing theme if you want to separate it from the original so desperately? The whole theme & name almost feels like a celebration of TTD? I don't understand what they're doing.
 
Sorry if this has been mentioned before but I can't stop thinking about it. But the whole Top Thrill 2 thing is so weird to me when it's very clear that Cedar Point wants to forget, and not even mention, the "original attraction" nor acknowledge its existence anymore. So why is it so similar?

Literally "Top Thrill" 2. Cedar Point REALLY does not want to talk about "Top Thrill" Dragster, they won't even refer to it by name. In Winter Chill Out Tony hated talking about the ride. They want to pretend it was never a thing & they clearly want to put it firmly in the past. So why take 2 words from the original name and keep its racing theme if you want to separate it from the original so desperately? The whole theme & name almost feels like a celebration of TTD? I don't understand what they're doing.
I mean there is a very real tragedy that led to the "demise" of Top Thrill Dragster. It's a simple PR tactic to put all of your eggs into reframing, and "never again" mention the predecessor, especially to not risk any attention of negative optics to the end of TTD's life.

And also it isn't as if a magic spell has been cast on Cedar Point park goers that TTD never existed. I will gladly bet anyone on a casual Cedar Point day this season; 20-30% of attendees won't even be aware of a TT2, and simple call it Top Thrill Dragster. (Corroborated by how many park goers are surprised to learn Mean Streak is actually now a steel coaster in the back!?) So you don't need to work against the naming archetype necessary with the retheme, as yes: they are still trying to evoke a Top Thrill/racing asthetic (even with Republica confirmed to reprise the station theme song).

So to the question: Is Cedar Point purposely trying to erase the history of Top Thrill Dragster? I'd answer not really, they are rather busy hyping up the new attraction. A similar tactic we have seen with Rougarou, Steel Vengeance, etc.
 
To be fair, the „Dragster“ part of it is no longer there. A main part of the concept of the original ride was to be like a Dragster-race with its intense acceleration. That is now gone and replaced by a (what appears to be) weak LSM launch. I am not into Dragster racing, but I feel like they usually don’t go backwards.
Technically, they transformed „Top Thrill Dragster“ into „Top Thrill Pull-back car“, so it just makes sense to drop the Dragster in the name.
Top Thrill 2 still shows which attraction it’s based on, and that it was „upgraded“.
 
A lot of great photo updates packed into the latest construction blog update: https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog/tt2-construction/top-thrill-2-construction-updates

Chief of which is signage photos, which are just mint. 🤌

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We also have some better vantage of the train color designs, which I am digging more on the grey and blue designs:

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EDIT: Batmobile has entered the chat!

 
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We have on-ride POV!


It is just a completely different ride than TTD. It could be better, could be worse - it's going to be hard to call until we get a few passes on it.

Color me optimistic on having more attraction versus a 16 second trick shot. On the whole I've found I generally prefer Aceelerators with longer layouts - Formula Rossa doesn't get the nod over TTD because it's faster, but because it's longer and has a far greater sense of speed. That is possibly what K'm most intrigued by - we're going to sitting at high speeds, a lot longer, than with TTD.
 
We have on-ride POV!


It is just a completely different ride than TTD. It could be better, could be worse - it's going to be hard to call until we get a few passes on it.

Color me optimistic on having more attraction versus a 16 second trick shot. On the whole I've found I generally prefer Aceelerators with longer layouts - Formula Rossa doesn't get the nod over TTD because it's faster, but because it's longer and has a far greater sense of speed. That is possibly what K'm most intrigued by - we're going to sitting at high speeds, a lot longer, than with TTD.
Not sure one can fully judge by the POV, but doesn't it look relatively shaky even in the new track sections? Was actually hoping the new trains would do a better job than the (aged) original ones but that's not obvious at all from what you see. Curious to hear the first reports on its smoothness after opening.
 
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