It's just a ride

We've seen rides at Cedar Point come and go, before. We just didn't realize how hard it would be this time. It was different when the Mill Race and the nearby Dodgem Cars were removed. They were aging rides, aging right along with us all. Top Thrill Dragster shut down in August 2021 after a metal plate from a coaster train became disconnected and struck a rider waiting in line in the head, severely injuring her. It was jarring when the Cadillac Cars ride and especially the Turnpike Cars were removed. Those little cars were child-sized vehicles on a kids' highway, circling the figure eight track complete with an underpass/overpass. But the Top Thrill Dragster? Difficult as it might be to take, it appears it's curtains for the popular ride, which has been closed for more than year after a ride part fell and seriously injured a woman. Who could have imagined that any park anywhere would build a 420-foot "hill" for a 22-second track at a cost of $25 million or more, in the first place? There are greater minds everywhere who might be able to find other numbers to justify building it in the first place, maintaining it for just 19 years and now consigning it to an unknown future. For us, it doesn't add up and suggests a bad business decision, two or three, along the way might have been made in bringing it up and now mothballing it. We cannot say for sure. But for sure, that ride — launched in 2002 — was named right, from the start. It was a Top Thrill and it was a Dragster. We're glad to have experienced her and will miss the thrill.