On this coaster, you're toast
Is it a coaster if it doesn't coast? That's about as much heat as Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster (below, at right)--the fastest, tallest roller coaster in the world, TTD for short--can spark in the world of coaster fans, where it seems, for once, no one's griping. "Nothing but raves," says Eric Minton, editor of the online newsletter gettheloop.com. When TTD opened on May 4, the Sandusky, Ohio, park had to give out bathroom passes to those in four-hour lines. All for a ride of less than 30 seconds--but what a ride. A hydraulic launch system sends the train from 0 to 120 in four seconds, up a 420-foot slope, then twisting back at top speed. "I couldn't scream the first couple seconds--the wind was rushing down my throat," says Robert Coker, author of Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seeker's Guide, who says TTD is the scariest coaster he's been on. "I'm jaded and analytical," says Minton. But in a picture taken at the launch, "My mouth and eyes are wide open, and it looks like I'm shouting something vulgar." -Holly J. Morris
This story appears in the May 26, 2003 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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