Top Thrill Dragster Possibly Down for the Rest of the Year!

[Paradox]

So yesterday, Top Thrill Dragster broke down but this time, the park added barricades to the entrance which means that the ride will be down for some time. There are employees working in the area of the catch car brakes. The catch car seems to have collided with the brake fins thereby destroying them.

WHAT, NOOOOO!!!!!! The next day after my B-day lol.

Well they got millions of other rides so it's not like your day will really be ruined.

^ Thanks for the compliment! It's sort of shocking, though...

I'd love to know how it happened, as the brake fins are supposed to retract before the catch car launches.

[Coasterkidmwm]

I swear every other year this ride tries to commit suicide.

Jeez, it wrecked them, I wonder if other accelerators will close? Seems preeeety badly damaged

skyscraper wrote:

I'd love to know how it happened, as the brake fins are supposed to retract before the catch car launches.

Not the brake fins that stop the train in a rollback, the brake fins that stop the catch car at the end of the launch. Thing must've just gotten a bit loose and just shredded the brakes

Damn. Ya boy got chomped up...

Well they got millions of other rides so it's not like your day will really be ruined.

While you make a good point, they don't have many roller coasters that could make your day like TTD could. Maverick, MF, and GateKeeper are good day-makers too. And maybe Raptor, hard maybe Valravn. Most of the park is just occupation of land comprised of track and wheels. The sad thing about TTD being down for this long is that you spend your whole day circling around this giant beast of a roller coaster, knowing you can't ride it. Yeah you can argue that other roller coasters there are better- I'd agree with you- but I think a lot of newcomers would feel unfulfilled without getting TTD in their day. Even though it has broken down literally every day I've visited CP, I always yearn for it.

But Kingda Ka is better.

[Paradox]

I wouldn't care if Kingda Ka was down as it's pretty mediocre and stupid anyways.

[Coasterkidmwm]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was a fluke. Never heard of any of the other hydraulic launchers doing this.

[mkingy]

Paradox wrote:

I wouldn't care if Kingda Ka was down as it's pretty mediocre and stupid anyways.

Bit of a silly thing to say isn't it - Kingda Ka (and TTD) have international appeal being such massive rides which elevates them past mediocre. I'd be pretty gutted if I traveled to USA and either of these were not operating when I was there.

[Paradox]

Trust me you aren't missing anything with Kingda Ka. I've heard from almost everyone that TTD is better.

[mkingy]

The sentence carries literally no weight.

I should trust you because of somebody else's opinion?

Regardless of if TTD is better than Ka (which lets be clear here I'm not claiming one is better than the other) that doesn't make it mediocre and stupid.

I think I understand what you're saying - you've ridden TTD so Ka doesn't hold much attraction because at best it'll be a little bit better, but probably not so it's not worth the journey. But I disagree that makes it a stupid or mediocre ride. Or perhaps you think TTD is a mediocre ride too.

[Coasterkidmwm]

I'd ride it just for the launch even if it had no tophat.

Paradox wrote:

Trust me you aren't missing anything with Kingda Ka. I've heard from almost everyone that TTD is better.

as someone who has rode both Ka and TTD multiple times. Ka takes the cake, Ka's launch alone is insane and the height far surpasses the thrill of TTD.

I totally disagree. Having ridden both recently, Kingda Ka is much more rattly and rough than TTD is. The OTSRs also kill a lot of the freedom that TTD's T bars offer. In all honesty, TTD's launch even feels more forceful to me.

ff5629 wrote:

as someone who has rode both Ka and TTD multiple times. Ka takes the cake, Ka's launch alone is insane and the height far surpasses the thrill of TTD.

As someone else who has ridden them multiple times, I'm more than a little skeptical about your claim. An 8% difference in height and 6% in speed is *that* drastic to you? From the rider's perspective the difference is unnoticeable. The only differences that are noticeable are Ka's roughness and OTSRs. Whichever you like better, "far surpasses" is one of the biggest stretches I've ever heard on a coaster forum. And that's saying a lot.

Kingda Ka's launch is straight up savage. TTD's doesn't compare. TTD's launch stops accelerating so quickly that it almost feels like a moment of deceleration. Kingda Ka cranks you faster and faster in 4-5 YANKS and you're speeding up until the end of the launch run, which is where the difference is really noticeable.

Connor_The_Colossus wrote:

An 8% difference in height and 6% in speed is *that* drastic to you? From the rider's perspective the difference is unnoticeable. The only differences that are noticeable are Ka's roughness

Yes, the height difference is noticeable on the ride. Open your eyes brother. That ain't roughness, that's just Ka being a god damn powerbeast.

[Paradox]

Ka's launch is one of the most pathetic launches I've ever experienced. Xcelerator and Taron are better in every aspect.

I didn't say it was the best, I said it was better than TTD. You're outdoing yourself calling Ka's launch pathetic

GerstlCrazy wrote:

Connor_The_Colossus wrote:

An 8% difference in height and 6% in speed is *that* drastic to you? From the rider's perspective the difference is unnoticeable. The only differences that are noticeable are Ka's roughness

Yes, the height difference is noticeable on the ride. Open your eyes brother. That ain't roughness, that's just Ka being a god damn powerbeast.

Yes, brother, you're right. The naked eye can discern a noticeable difference between 420 and 456 feet while traveling at speed and only being able to look at one of them at a time. And if roughness means you're a power beast, then I guess Ka's front car isn't a power beast, only the back. Thank you for explaining these things.

GerstlCrazy wrote:

Kingda Ka's launch is straight up savage. TTD's doesn't compare. TTD's launch stops accelerating so quickly that it almost feels like a moment of deceleration. Kingda Ka cranks you faster and faster in 4-5 YANKS and you're speeding up until the end of the launch run, which is where the difference is really noticeable.

Connor_The_Colossus wrote:

An 8% difference in height and 6% in speed is *that* drastic to you? From the rider's perspective the difference is unnoticeable. The only differences that are noticeable are Ka's roughness

Yes, the height difference is noticeable on the ride. Open your eyes brother. That ain't roughness, that's just Ka being a god damn powerbeast.

TTD's launch is beautiful for that very reason. All the G's then a moment of what feels like stillness before sustaining huge g's, and then racing towards the sky.

It's actually very romantic.

There is more ego in this thread than a TPR thread.

CKidd wrote:

There is more ego in this thread than a TPR thread.

Part of that's on me. Though I still disagree with some of the hyperbole masquerading as objective fact in this thread, my response to ff5629 was more condescending than it needed to be.