The Cedar Point skyline grew in height, as construction crews worked over the weekend to secure Top Thrill 2’s final piece of track 420 feet above the park’s midway.
The final piece of red steel sports a “topping tree,” in time for the holiday season. The tradition of adding an evergreen tree by construction workers celebrates completion of the highest point of a structure and bring prosperity to the new addition. Watch the final piece of steel rise into the sky here:
The new vertical spike tower joins an existing 420-foot-tall top hat tower, giving Cedar Point two, 420-foot-tall roller coaster towers. Both towers now pop on the horizon above Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay as red and white track are married to charcoal-colored supports. IAAPA member Baynum Solutions completed painting of the ride’s original tower and track in November.
On the ground, the first of three trains is on the track. The lead and rear car from the blue train, debuted at IAAPA Expo in November, is on the rails awaiting commissioning. Learn more about the innovations of Top Thrill 2 from IAAPA News here:
Tony Clark, Cedar Point’s director of communications shared in an official Top Thrill 2 Pit Stop video, the sections of the blue train found on the IAAPA Expo trade show floor are temporarily connected to three cars from the silver train (click on the link above to see the trains be lifted onto the track). The pairing will allow engineers from Zampera to begin the test and adjust phase.
Meantime, all of the stators, provided by IAAPA member Intrasys, are in place and undergoing testing.
With the new tower in place, riders aboard the new Zamperla coaster will be launched at 101 mph in reverse, cruising skyward at a 90-degree angle on the new tower. The new reverse launch is the second of three launches on the new coaster. Top Thrill 2 is on schedule to debut during Cedar Point’s 2024 season.
The IAAPA News Hub was at Cedar Point when the park announced Top Thrill 2 and positioned the first steel column. See video from August 1 and hear from Cedar Point professionals here.
