Cedar Point releases first on-ride video of Top Thrill 2

"Our 3rd and final train, the black train, has arrived".

Uh, this coaster is really only going to have 3 trains? As if lines weren't bad enough for the original incarnation of this ride, TT2 is going to average 2-3 hour waits. I guess it makes sense given the longer ride time, but just 3 trains leaves no room for error. If something goes wrong on one of the trains, it will bring operations from a crawl to a near-standstill.

That first forward launch is surprisingly weak, not even making it to the twist. Given that Superman: The Escape can make it to 100 MPH with an initial launch track that's about the same length as the one on TT2, yet Cedar Point's coaster barely looks to exceed 80 MPH on that first forward launch. It also looks like the coaster flies over the top hat when it does clear the main tower, which kind of defeats the purpose of being 420 feet above the ground - guests losing the opportunity to look around and enjoy the view. Having ridden the original (and Kingda Ka) multiple times, I preferred the times were the train had just enough momentum to clear the top hat with time to look at the surrounding scenery before plunging and twisting back to earth.

@Russell Meyer, totally agree about capacity...ideally, at least 4 trains with 2 in load/unload and one on deck with one running the course. didn't they use to run 5 trains and the course was shorter? ugh, i will make sure i only come on a weekday as close to off season as possible.

as far as the ride experience, i am looking forward to looking straight down the spike and if seated closer to the back, that could a whole new climax to this ride.

@mbrussmco - TTD had 6 trains (2 in load, 2 in unload, 1 in staging, and 1 on course), though it frequently operated with just 4 or 5 trains, with one perpetually on the maintenance track (or taken apart). I guess the one positive will be that they'll probably load just one train at a time (perhaps even eliminating the separate unload and load platforms), so it will allow the line to move consistently all the way to boarding (if the queue manager wasn't there or didn't know what they were doing, it caused a lot of uneven loading of the front and back trains on the loading platform that could dramatically alter wait times). However, I just don't understand why they don't have additional trains to allow for at least one in a staging area after loading even though it can't be on course (like Ice Breaker).

Having done a few different reverse launch coasters with vertical spikes (Pantheon, Ice Breaker, and Superman: The Escape - when it was running backwards), the view from the rear seat is pretty cool, but the best aspect of a reverse spike is the force you get when the train curves up into the spike. Given that TT2 will reportedly get trains up to over 100 MPH on the reverse launch, there's going to be some serious g's generated on the curve up to that spike. However, I still don't think that feature is going to be enough to counter what are going to be obscene and ridiculous wait times for this coaster. With the longer cycle time and fewer trains, I anticipate that TT2 won't top 600 pph of throughput on most days (assuming @30 cycles per hour), which is pretty pathetic for a headline attraction at "America's Roller Coast". RCDB.com is estimating 1,000 pph, but I highly doubt they get anywhere close to that.

To me it makes sense to me that they only operate 3 trains because of the rides layout and the way it goes back and forth, adding more trains would add more complication (which leads to more downtime) than it's worth. They should be able to hit the rides dispatch interval while running 3 so adding more moving parts and complexity to a major attraction with questionable reliability would pass a point of diminishing returns (to me at least).

I agree with Russel its a shortsighted decision to only purchase 3 trains. This ride needs 3 trains at all times, period, and if one train is having a problem its going to be a sh*tshow only running 2.

Capacity will be a major issue and sadly it would not surprise me at all if CP tries offers some tiered Fastpass that cost like $50 extra for one ride on it.

@the_man4 - There's no doubt Cedar Point will put TT2 on the highest tier of Fastlane (currently called Fastlane Plus).

I think it ultimately depends on whether they have separate loading and unloading platforms like the original TTD. If they're going to unload and load at the same time, then 3 trains will probably work fine (1 train entering the circuit as one is coming into the station and the 3rd loading/unloading). However, if they're going to keep separate unload and load platforms, they're going to loose some efficiency even if the ops crew is tight.

For those curious about operation of this ride, it's going to be functionally identical to the way Millennium Force operates. There will be separate load and unload platforms so that operations can keep up the tempo, with the idea being that there will never be a need to stop a train outside the station. Theoretically, the load station should be able to dispatch and the unload station should be able to advance before the third train returns, so with smooth operation I'm guessing 35-40 trains per hour (based on the cycle time in the video), which would yield 700-800 riders per hour (the RCDB stat is outdated and based on the ride's original configuration, but I've heard first-hand that was impossible to actually achieve). While there are enough blocks that the ride could probably operate with four trains, I'm doubtful doing so would significantly affect throughput due to the length of the swing cycle (it looks to be a minimum interval of about 81 seconds). The real question is going to be whether Top Thrill 2 can manage to achieve significantly better uptime or not, because that more than anything else was responsible for Dragster's enormous waits. As for the skip the line option, Cedar Point has already confirmed it will be included on Fast Lane Plus just like Top Thrill Dragster was, but guests will only be able to use the Fast Lane once for the attraction and will need to purchase the new single ride passes if they wish to skip the line again.