"Take me to that place.....higher!"

"Take me higher", a song by (who else than) Diana Ross means a lot to me! Not only because it is one of my favorite dance tracks by Diana and that I heard it for the first time on the radio when I came back from Oberstdorf after I passed my exam to become an ISU-judge..... It also translates to one of my other hobbies..... Rollercoaster's! I like them fast, long and high! "Take me to that place higher.........!" Top Thrill Dragster opened in 2003 in Sandusky, Ohio and was the highest and fastest Rollercoaster in the world at that time! With it's 27 seconds in total it probably was also the shortest ride ever!!! lol.
Anyway, that summer I got the chance to visit Cedar Point, the amusement park where it's located. At first I wasn't sure if I was gonna ride that beast which is 125 meters high with a 90° drop! As a real rollercoaster-fanatic I had to do it! I traveled all the way from Belgium to Ohio for this one so I wasn't gonna chicken out on it! The lines that day were about 4 hours for only 27 seconds!? This was too much!!! I was there all by myself cause I was on my way to Canada to judge there but made a stop-over in Ohio first! This gave me the advantage to sneak in so I didn't had to wait 4 hours in line! I was lucky cause there was a couple who were waiting in line and when they passed me the man asked if I wanted to ride with his wife cause he wasn't going on it! He was just waiting in line with her to keep her company. This means that I only had to wait in line for 45 minutes! The closer I got to the ride the more nervous I became! Normally I'm not nervous anymore but this time it was different!!! The highest coaster I did until then was only 68 meters... We took the last seat! If I was going to do it I decided to do it good from the beginning! I love the feeling you get when the train pulls down the last car over the hill! Air-tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmeeee......... Anyway, when we drove out of the station I automatically checked my seatbelt and lap bar once more. Waiting to be launched was the hardest part! My heart was beating like crazy! Then there was the launch!!! From 0 to 120 MILES/HOUR in only 4 seconds! My brain didn't register everything that passed me by until we hit the top of Top Thrill Dragster! What a spectacular view!!!! I didn't had much time to enjoy the scenery cause before I knew it we were on our way down! And down it went!!! BACKWARDS!!! We just had this rollback! We didn't make it to the top the first time! This was awesome! Never experienced something like that in my entire life! The second time we made it over the top which was also a great experience! The day after I did this coaster again and had about 10 launches but only 8 times we made it to the finish! If you want to ride it visit Cedar Point or just click on this link!

Ride it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfx5PPWOF6M&mode=related&search

Ride it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJwWdqgpY3A&mode=related&search

Rollback: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu8BvWR5bb4&mode=related&search

It can happen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2evYFDsCgVQ&mode=related&search


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