History
Planning for Top Thrill Dragster started around 2000 when Millennium Force opened. Footers started being poured during the winter of 2001-2002 then were covered up during the 2002 operating season. To construct the roller coaster, the park had to use a 480 feet (150 m) crane, only one of four in the United States. Vertical construction started in fall 2002, months before the announcement. By October 2002, the roller coaster had reached 200 feet (61 m). The ride was announced on January 9, 2003 and the structure was finished shortly after. It is tied with Millennium Force for being the two largest investments in Cedar Point history. The announcement revealed the park's goal to build "the tallest and fastest roller coaster on earth", reaching 420 feet (130 m) and accelerating up to 120 miles per hour (193 km/h) in 4 seconds. On March 10, 2003, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company filed a trademark for the name Top Thrill Dragster.
Top Thrill Dragster's media day was held on May 1, 2003 then it officially opened to the public on May 4. It became the "tallest" and "fastest" roller coaster in the world overtaking both world records from Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spa Land that was just built three years earlier. It lost the title of being the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster when Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure opened in May 2005. Intamin designed both Kingda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster, and the two share a similar design and layout that differs primarily by the theme and the additional hill featured on Kingda Ka.
The ride had constant downtime in its first couple seasons. Several problems such as the ride's hydraulic system and launch cable caused the ride to experience downtime. Top Thrill Dragster was also closed in 2003 for the annual event, CoasterMania.
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