Top Thrill 2 train, up close

It's kind of an amazing coincidence that someone just happened to be filming the train with a handheld something from that vantage point when it happened.

Which is to say: I'm betting money it's fake.

I've seen it from a few different angles on social media. The park was open yesterday for a special event for the eclipse, so there were regular guests in the park.

I would bet money that every test launch was filmed by multiple people yesterday.

I sit corrected! I forgot about the eclipse thing.

Is it just me, or was that train moving over the top faster than normal? And if so, I'd imagine it's one of the testing parameters. Faster than normal, slower than normal, intentional rollbacks, etc?

If you watched the POV with Tony (and other testing videos), it seems like this speed over the tophat is the new norm, and not a testing anomaly.

That looks so thrilling, with a potential for negative gravity, but is it a good thing/bad thing? One of my favorite TTD moments (as the years went by) was when the launch would be just a tish slow allowing for a slower roll over the top. Nowhere at the park could you get a view from so high up, and the faster the trip the more fleeting that view would be.
I guess I’ll try to pay close attention on that vertical spike.

Slower trip over the tophat means slower third launch speed, which increases chances of rollbacks, which puts into play full launch backwards at 120+ mph, which puts leaving the tracks at top of spike into play, which means stopper is needed at top of spike. Park chose no spike with thrill of leaving tracks at top spike over extended view at top of tophat. Can't have everything (where would you put it). ;)

So, uh, like...what was the thing that ejected from the train?

Per Tony, it's a water ballast bag.
https://twitter.com/TonyCla...4146552848

Interesting that he placed the blame specifically on the manufacturer. Seems like he could have left that part out.

Manufacturer of the ballast bag, or the ride? I'm guessing the ride. In any case, thank goodness it came out on the top hat and not the spike, where it could've landed on someone.

Ride. It sounds like the manufacturer had not turned the ride over to CP Operations yet.

Sounds correct technically/legally in terms of who is in charge of the ride during this part of testing. But seems odd to me that Tony would assign blame in a public post where assigning blame wasn't really needed. Maybe the park is overly sensitive about the ride given history of it. May have had CF legal review his statement. Blaming the manufacturer seems like something a lawyer would add.

...or the PR department?

"Hey, man, it wasn't me!"

That's some pretty sweet air though.

PR people can be dumb like that too. Though saying it wasn't part of the guest restraint system should be enough from a PR perspective.

Eh. Transparency is kind of refreshing anymore.

Transparency when it is not your fault is easy. It's when its your fault that it gets unfun.

And that is assuming its true. Not like the manufacturer will contest it.