FUNWORLD TV AT CEDAR POINT
The Funworld team was invited to tour Top Thrill 2’s construction site before dawn. See video from the construction tour and hear from attractions professionals above.
Before Cedar Point opened its gates this morning (August 1, 2023), construction crews spent the hours after dawn lifting three massive columns into place that form the base of a new 420-foot-tall roller coaster.
Named Top Thrill 2, the new-for-2024 roller coaster will feature two towers—both stretching 420 feet tall—along with track outfitted by an all-new linear synchronous motor (LSM) launch system. The LSM motors will launch riders 74 mph forward as they climb a vertical tower. After a moment of weightlessness, the train will descend backwards and launch 101 mph in reverse. Trains will climb a new 420-foot-tall spike positioned at a 90-degree angle. Riders will again experience weightlessness before rolling back down the tower and rocketing to 120 mph forward, where they will then crest the first tower’s top hat element 420 feet above the Cedar Point peninsula, momentarily providing views of Sandusky Bay. The final drop dives into a 270-degree spiral before crossing the finish line.
“Top Thrill 2 will be the boldest and most advanced roller coaster Cedar Point has ever introduced,” says Carrie Boldman, vice president and general manager of Cedar Point. “Our stamp on the industry is in roller coaster innovation, and today, that’s solidified as we redefine the strata coaster into a mega-thrill that our guests will come from far and wide to experience.”
Boldman shares with Funworld that the park began discussing ways to reuse the 420-foot-tall tower of a previous roller coaster at the park more than a year ago.
“By the time we launch it, it will be a two-year process. That included talking to multiple people, about multiple options,” Boldman shared next to the construction site. “We found a concept from Zamperla that we really liked—we felt it was really a great path forward.”
Top Thrill 2 will be the third roller coaster built by Zamperla at Cedar Point. Wild Mouse opened as part of The Boardwalk in May, while Pipe Scream opened in 2014, adjacent to Top Thrill 2's original tower.
“Our relationship with Cedar Fair has been going on for decades,” says Antonio Zamperla, CEO of Zamperla Group, referencing the children’s rides made for Cedar Point’s Camp Snoopy that opened in 1999. “Now … there’s something pretty big: the second tallest and fastest coaster on Earth. We are so proud of this and the faith they put in us.”
The decision to name the new ride Top Thrill 2, pays homage to the world’s first strata coaster (a roller coaster standing more than 400 feet tall) that Cedar Point opened in 2003.
“A lot of people are asking us, ‘Why that name? Why did you use a piece of the former name in the new attraction?’ And the answer to that is simple,” says Tony Clark, the park's director of communications. “We are proud of that heritage. We’re proud of having that attraction at the park. That iconic tower is still remaining and that is what we really want to tie together. When guests come to the park in ’24 and see this all-new attraction, they’ll still see something familiar in the background—which is essentially the Top Thrill part—and they’ll also have this brand-new spike tower at 420 feet tall, which is the 2 part, i.e. 2.0. So when you combine those two—the heritage in the name, the respect for the history—but also this new generation of machine that we’ve created, that’s all put together from (some) of the original pieces, we’re really excited that it gets to be a legacy of this icon at our park.”
An artist’s rendering of the ride area shows a new grandstand for spectators, a revitalized merchandise location, and an entry portal complete with fresh signage and an oversized video wall.
Top Thrill 2 is advertised to open in 2024.
