coasterbill

Top Thrill Dragster needs to be ridden in the front row. My suggestion is to ride it at least twice though, first get in the shortest line. It's an unreliable piece of crap so it would be a shame to miss the credit because you were waiting for the front. Then later wait for the front... it's SO worth the extra hour. Ride Raptor in the front too, it's a great ride and waiting for the front only adds 5 minutes to your wait. Oh... and I almost forgot. Cedar Point operates the Sky Ride like it's an olympic sport. It's amazing how fast they catch, load and dispatch cars and they run a ton of them at a time. Because of this I suggest riding this whenever possible because the wait is never more than 5 minutes even if the ramp is full, it offers a great view and your legs will thank you later. The train is a great transportation ride too but it requires a little more of a time investment than the Skyride. Seriously... the Skyride is your friend.

Dragster sways like crazy on the transition from the launch track to the vertical track up the tower. It's really cool to watch and it's done it since it opened.

If you know that it was posted 2 years ago why are you bringing it up now and saying that you hope it's just a rumor? Clearly it was just a rumor... At some point they'll remove the ride, but that tip he got seems like it was a bad tip.

This is just an amazing display of ineptitude. This is on pace to be the last new Six Flags ride that opens this year in any park and it's a relocated Wild Mouse from another Six Flags park.

lol, look closer at that video. They didn't slow the ride down, it just ran with one less car on media day because it kept rolling back with the heavier 5 car train it was designed for since it's an unreliable piece of crap. Because of that it flew over the top. It's slower in more recent videos because of the added weight, but if the ride ran those 12 seat trains from media day the line would be horrendous. Since they removed the tires and added the "extra" car (that the ride was always supposed to have) they increased the capacity of each train from 12 to 18.

Plus the consecutive rides, or doesn't SFMM do that? They do that, just not in the front or back rows. We got it when we went to Magic Mountain last year and had a blast.

Dragster just opened finally and they're moving the video cam to show the massive line forming. Before it opened the line was along the fence all the way back to Corkscrew.

Honestly with Fastlane Plus you'll have no problem doing everything you want to do. Just remember that the Bat at Kings Island doesn't have Fastlane so plan for that, but it's a great ride and worth waiting for. Have a great time!

Ouch. The lines for this thing were already going to be absurd. What are the chances they don't include it on the flash passes? Or maybe do like SFMM and make it a $15 or $20 per-ride upcharge on top of a platinum flash pass? It's six flags, so they are most definitely going to up charge it like they always do with their new attractions. I agree, they'll either do that or just require you to have a Gold or Platinum Flash Pass like they've done at Six Flags New England.

The most important tip is to make sure you get in line for the Beast around 9:15 - 9:30 at night. You're goal needs to be to get in line so that it's going to be completely dark when you ride, but there are enough people behind you in line that you get to ride in the front. They close the ride for awhile during the fireworks but that's awesome because it gives it the opportunity to get completely dark. This time of year it's not an easy thing to accomplish but it's worth planning around it because it's the best night ride in the world. The only other tips I have are to get there for early entry to Action zone. The Banshee line moves fast and when you're done with that you'll probably have time to ride the Bat too before they let everyone in. As soon as they open the park for everyone get to Firehawk and Flight of Fear because they get huge lines... especially Firehawk.

I thought of this too but it's not as drastic. In my opinion Bizarro's new trains suck big time, but despite that the ride is still really good. It's not what it once was, but it's probably the best coaster in the park (now that Goliath is so rough). Goliath was awesome and it's now just a flat out bad coaster. Like I said I prefer Flashback and Flashback is complete crap.

They actually have separate airgates for each row, though you do have to walk in front of the first row in the car to access the other seat in the back row. As of now the back airgates still function but they've welded a bar across the front of the queue for the back row of each car so nobody will get in line for those rows as they no longer exist.

The capacity is exactly the same as before... 32 riders. It seems to me that the only thing these new trains did was make the ride unbearably rough... there is one less belt to check, maybe that's why they think it increases capacity? Capacity won't be an issue when nobody rides it anymore though. In any case, this train is terrible.

Great Report!

It looks like Dragster is going to open today for the first time in a week. There is a huge line out in front of it and all of the trains are on the track.

So we visited the park yesterday and I wanted to give a report. I bash this park a lot for their bad operations and terrible employees but I have to give credit where credit is due, we actually had a great visit yesterday almost to the point where it didn't feel like the same park. Upon entering we noticed a banner over the entrance that says "voted one of the friendliest parks in the country" and proceeded to laugh and try to think of parks that were less friendly than the SFNE staff to kill time while we were waiting to enter. We could only come up with Jolly Roger's and Rye Playland... it was a struggle. lol I feel like whoever voted this one of the friendliest parks based on last year or any previous years had probably never been to the park or were just doing it out of sarcasm but the employees yesterday were not only very friendly across the board but were all very fast and efficient. Bizarro crews were dispatching trains as soon as the train on the course hit the brakes, every coaster was running all of it's available trains and employees were actually smiling... I seriously can't believe how much of an improvement the park has made between last year and this year. I still don't think they're the 5th friendliest park but they're pretty friendly... so kudos to SFNE. I guess before I get into the good things I should mention one really, really bad thing. I can honestly say that Goliath's new train is horrible. Last year I considered Goliath to be the best ride in the park, and now I'd say it's the second worst (you win Mind Eraser!). The spike is still great, but leveling out at the bottom and going through the station results in massive amounts of headbanging. The cobra roll beats the hell out of you too as does the bottom of the drop on the front spike. The only good parts of this ride are the loop and the first backwards ascent... it's a great layout and a great gimmick but it's way too painful to enjoy. I've never seen a ride go from being so great to so terrible so quickly. I don't understand the point of these new trains, they seem to have exactly the same amount of seats as the old ones, so why would Six Flags spend money on a train they don't need that doesn't increase capacity that results in a ton of downtime and makes a great ride terrible? At this point I think Flashback is the far superior boomerang and I hate flashback. I will say this, we rode it in the morning and then rode it again later to see if maybe it was just a bad seat and while I had an awful ride both times, my girlfriend really liked it the first time she rode it but hated it the second time. I'm a pretty tall guy and she's pretty short so height doesn't seem to be a factor, neither does inside or outside seat but I guess it's possible to get an enjoyable ride if you're lucky enough to be assigned a good seat but it's borderline criminal what they did to this ride (and as has been reported on other sites, the line gets much shorter throughout the day which is hopefully a sign that everyone hates these new trains, it's not just enthusiasts). On to better things... it was our first time on New England Sky Screamer and it's a great addition to the park, you can clearly see Hartford and (obviously) Springfield during the day and at night and the twisting seats are really cool. This ride is awesome... my only complaint is that the ride is very short. It doesn't even perform a full rotation at the top, as soon as the carriage reaches the top it starts coming down, it doesn't stop at the top at all. Other than that there was no big news with any of the rides. I'll give a really brief report on them. We were at the park from noon to 11 because it was passholder ERT on Pandemonium and Sky Screamer (we didn't even know what until after we got there) so we got a lot of rides in on both rides at night. Thunderbolt: I love this ride, at this point I've probably ridden it a hundred times in the last 15 years or so and it's been smooth and great every time in every single seat. Batman: See above, I love this ride. Bizarro: We rode it twice, once in the front. Not what it used to be but a great ride as always. Scream: One tower was running in combo mode, the other was running in drop mode (tower A so that's all it can do). No choice of tower obviously but since they both dropped it's not a big deal, we were lucky enough to get combo both times we rode it. Pandemonium: If you ever get the chance to ride a spinner with nobody on the other side you have to do it. We did it more times than I could count during ERT and it was completely insane. I don't give this little ride the credit it deserves because it's a lot of fun. The new lights look great. Cyclone: Suprisingly smooth in the front seat. It's a fun ride now but it doesn't do a whole lot... I enjoy the ride as is but if the rumors are true then it's going to be a million times better. Kontiki: I don't think I've ever ridden this ride before, why do they hide it in the back where nobody will ever find it? Buzzsaw: I'm glad this ride survived SFNE's mass ride removal program. It's great. New England Skyway: Every great manufacturer has made one or two lame rides where it seems like they didn't even try. Intamin has Fahrenheit, B&M has Oziris and Von Roll has the New England Skyway. Still, we rode it twice because we feel bad for it. It just wants to be loved... it's not it's fault it sucks. Houdini: We were the only 2 people on this ride... so naturally we sat on opposite sides. It was a lot of fun, the one at Great Adventure has way more effects both on the ride and in the pre-show but as many times as I ride this the illusion will never stop being awesome. Tomohawk: This is one of our favorite rides in the entire park... is that normal? Overall we had a great day, it's a real shame about Goliath's new train but besides that this park has taken huge steps forward this year.

Cedar Point is going to take a huge financial hit for this, it's a Saturday with perfect weather the day after Coastermania... and to be honest if they don't offer some kind of credit to all of their resort guests they're going to face an even bigger PR hit. I feel awful for the guests at the park and for the PR department as it's really not the park's fault at all.

Now that we know everyone is okay and it won't delay anything it's hard not to laugh at this. it's like the coaster gods are helping Six Flags on their quest to make sure no new ride ever opens on time.

Wow, that's an amazing prize. Very cool, but I don't blame you for riding Maverick either.

I found the working animations. The most recent ones that you could control don't work because they're calling on non-existant Flash files but the older animated gif files work. Night (Working) Day (Working) 2006 Version (Animation Doesn't Work) 2007 Version (Animation Doesn't Work)

Well... that's from the old Dragster status page they had back in 2003 since TTD was closed more than 50% of the season, so Pipe Scream was just a Pipe Dream back then.

Ahhh memories... I'm getting a little nostalgic.

Yes, but they're all on the transfer tracks where they've been since Monday unfortunately.

Gatekeeper's vests haven't been locking since last August in most seats. I think it's one of the smoothest coasters I've ever ridden.

Great report! I'd love to get to this park one day.