SANDUSKY, Ohio — After months of speculation, Cedar Point has given an update on the status of its tallest and fastest roller coaster -- Top Thrill Dragster -- which took riders 420 feet high at speeds up to 120 mph.
While the ride as we know it will be retired after 19 seasons, Cedar Point shared new details shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday that says the park is working to create "a new and reimagined ride experience."
You can take a virtual front-seat ride on the Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster with this POV video below:
Here's the full statement from Cedar Point regarding the future of Top Thrill Dragster...
We have an important update to share regarding our Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster.
After 19 seasons in operation with 18 million riders experiencing the world’s first strata coaster, Top Thrill Dragster, as you know it, is being retired.
However, Cedar Point’s legacy of ride innovation continues. Our team is hard at work, creating a new and reimagined ride experience.
We’ll share more details and information at a later date.
This announcement comes just two days after parkgoers noticed the vehicle outside Top Thrill Dragster's exit area had been removed.
Earlier this year, Cedar Point had announced that Top Thrill Dragster would remain closed for the entire 2022 season. The ride's closure was first enacted last August after an incident in which a bracket came off the ride and struck a 44-year-old woman in the back of the head.
A 620-page report released in February by the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which oversees the state’s amusement parks, declared there was “insufficient evidence to find the action or inactions of Cedar Point violated any of the laws.” You can review that report HERE.
“Cedar Point has cooperated fully with ODA throughout its investigation into the incident and we will closely review the substance of ODA’s report," park officials said in a statement after the ODA report was released.
Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in a previous story on Feb. 18, 2022.
Top Thrill Dragster first opened at the Sandusky amusement park in 2003. Here’s how the ride was described on Cedar Point’s site:
Put the pedal to the metal because no speeding tickets are cited to Top Thrill Dragster. Three point eight….that’s 3.8… seconds. That is all it takes to go from a complete standstill to 120 miles per hour. You’ve never experienced speed like this. Even with a true drag strip “Christmas tree” light counting down the launch, you’ll never be ready for the pure adrenaline rush packed into a 17 second race. Riders are launched in the blink of an eye before sprinting straight up at a 90-degree incline. If you dare to open your eyes at the top you will see spectacular views only viewed by the bravest 420 feet in the air. But look quick, before you know it, you’re hurtling back to the ground in a 270- degree twist before crossing the finish line. We aren’t kidding when we say that this high-octane sprint to the checkered flag knows a thing or twenty about horsepower.