“Keep your arms down, head back, and hold on!” screams a voice from the speaker as the train pulls out of the station onto the launch track. Strapped in and ready to go, the butterflies begin to build in the riders stomach as the latch releases and the train is pulled back by a hydraulic system into a locked and loaded position. In the 4 seconds following that moment, the train will go from 0 to 120 miles per hour. After a short 30 second ride, the train will return to the station, leaving the rider questioning what actually just happened in that short period of time—this is Top Thrill Dragster.
Construction began on this absolute behemoth of the roller coaster world back in 2002. The ride was build by Intamin, a rollercoaster manufacturing company known for its incredible thrill rides of impeccable design. The project was designed by Werner Stengel, a German rollercoaster designer and engineer. At its completion in May of 2003, the 420 foot skyscraping thrill giver broke the record for tallest AND fastest rollercoaster of its time. Today, Top Thrill Dragster and King Da Ka are the only strata coasters, a rollercoaster exceeded 400 feet at its height, in existence. Since King Da Ka wasn’t built until 2005, this makes Top Thrill Dragster the first strata coaster to ever be built. After giving some in depth background on the ride, let’s strap in!
The ride taxis out of the station and comes to a stop, with approximately a quarter mile worth of track in front of it and facing this 420 foot mountain. There’s a stoplight positioned to the left of the train with a red light. As the train pulls back into launching position, the anticipation grows to a maximum. The stoplight quickly bursts through flashes of yellow and quickly changes to green as it launches the riders down the quarter mile run, hurling towards the 420 foot monster. By the time the train reaches the bottom of the hill, it has already accelerated to 120 miles per hour. The train then begins its ascent to the crest, where on a clear day in Sandusky OH, the city which sits on the south side of Lake Erie, riders can see Canada from the top of the hill. The ride goes over the crest, giving the riders the illusion of it potentially not making it over the top of the hill—which sometimes does happen! Fun fact: Sometimes, the hydraulic system doesn’t give the train enough energy, it doesn’t make it over the hill and it rolls back, in which case the riders get sent back up (this is on my bucket list, high-key). Anyway, after the ride crests the hill, it plummets towards the earth, reaccelerating to 120 miles per hour. The track flattens out again and it hits a series of breaks, bringing the ride to a speed slow enough to taxi it into the station.
Simply because the ride is the first of its kind and it broke the fastest and tallest rollercoaster of its time, it gets a 9 out of 10. 1 point off because, yes it is a thrilling ride (hence the name), but it’s way too short and it doesn’t have any other wow factors besides the height and speed. Definitely a must ride though for thrill seekers of all kinds.