ThrillNetwork.com :: Top Thrill Dragster down for the rest of the season

News: Top Thrill Dragster down for the rest of the season

By CoastinKatie

Oct. 10th, 2005 -- Last night, Sunday October 9th, Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster was shut down for the rest of the season due to yet another mechanical failure.

The park has noted the replacement parts for this latest failure will not be delivered before it closes on October 30th, which ruled out the reopening of the ride. Top Thrill Dragster was previously down for several weeks due to another mechanical issue, which was solved in time for this operating weekend.

John Hildebrant, Vice President and General Manager of Cedar Point, did apologize for the inconvenience, but suggested that customers check out the other 15 roller coasters and attractions they have in the park for Halloweekends.

Intamin, the company that built both roller coasters, has had a lot of problems with their bigger accelerator coasters this season. Both coasters have been down for significant amounts of time, spanning anywhere from days and into weeks of closure.

Top Thrill Dragster has been down due to many confirmed computer problems as well as mechanical issues. Kingda Ka, has been down due to mechanical failure, that happened in early June when a train launched into the brakes.

During a test launch, Kingda Ka was involved in an incident causing damage to the train and the track's brake fins. As a result, it was kept standing, but not operating for over 2 months. On both websites, the parks do confirm that these coasters are "highly sophisticated machines" and may experience down time. Both parks are working very hard to keep these machines up and running so that the adrenaline rush you receive is delivered on a daily basis.

For daily updates on Top Thrill Dragster please visit http://www.cedarpoint.com/.