Drop tower
A drop tower or big drop is a type of amusement ride incorporating a central structure or tower. Drop towers vary in height, passenger capacity, lift type, and brake type. Many are custom-made, although there are some mass-produced designs. The most widely sold drop towers have been manufactured by Intamin and S&S Sansei, however Larson International and Funtime have their own drop tower models available as well. Riders initially experience free fall, followed by rapid heavy deceleration.
The High Fall at Movie Park Germany
A drop tower at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk entitled the "Double Shot"
With most drop towers, a gondola carrying riders is lifted to the top of a large vertical structure, then released to free-fall down the tower. Brakes slow the gondola as it approaches the bottom of the ride. Some designs expand on this concept with features such as rotating gondolas, or several bounces before coming to rest.
Most drop towers require child riders to meet a minimum height; limits vary widely depending upon the nature of the tower, with a 9-metre (30 ft) tower for smaller children at least 95 centimetres (37 in) tall,[1] and a 37-metre (120 ft) tower for children at least 130 centimetres (51 in) tall.[2]
Drop tower designs
Mass-produced tower rides include:
- Double shot (air-powered blast up twice)
- Space shot (air-powered blast up)
- Super shot (drop down ride slowed by magnetic or air-power)
- Turbo drop (drop down ride slowed by air-power)
Tallest drop towers
| bold | Denotes drop tower is or was once the tallest in the world |
| italic | Denotes drop tower is either no longer operating or removed |
| Rank | Name | Park | Location | Drop height | Structural height | Manufacturer | Record holder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orlando FreeFall | ICON Park | Orlando, Florida, United States | 130 metres (430 ft) | Unknown | Funtime | December 2021 – Present |
| 2 | Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom | Six Flags Great Adventure | Jackson Township, New Jersey, United States | 126 metres (415 ft) | 139 metres (456 ft) | Intamin | July 2014 – December 2021 |
| 3 | Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom | Six Flags Magic Mountain | Valencia, California, United States | 120 metres (400 ft) | 126 metres (415 ft) | Intamin | July 2012 – July 2014 |
| 4 | The Giant Drop | Dreamworld | Coomera, Queensland, Australia | 115 metres (377 ft) | 120 metres (390 ft) | Intamin | December 1998 – July 2012 |
| 5 | Highlander | Hansa-Park | Sierksdorf, Germany | 103 metres (338 ft) | 120 metres (390 ft) | Funtime | N/A |
| 6 | La Venganza del Enigma | Parque Warner Madrid | Madrid, Spain | 100 metres (328 ft) | 115 metres (377 ft) | S&S Worldwide | N/A |
| - | Blue Fall | Sea Paradise | Yokohama, Japan | 100 metres (328 ft) | 107 metres (351 ft) | Intamin | N/A |
| 7 | Donjon de l'Extrême | Nigloland | Dolancourt, France | 95 metres (312 ft) | 105 metres (344 ft) | Funtime | N/A |
| 8 | Falcon's Fury | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay | Tampa Bay, Florida, United States | 94 metres (310 ft) | 102 metres (335 ft) | Intamin | N/A |
| 9 | Voltrum | Bayern-Park | Reisbach, Germany | 93 metres (305 ft) | 109 metres (358 ft) | Funtime | N/A |
| 10 | AtmosFear | Liseberg | Gothenburg, Sweden | 90 metres (295 ft) | 116 metres (381 ft) | Intamin | N/A |
| 11 | Hurakan Condor | PortAventura Park | Salou, Spain | 87 metres (285 ft) | 115 metres (377 ft) | Intamin | N/A |
| 12 | Global Burj | Global Village | Dubai, UAE | 85 metres (279 ft) | Unknown | Unknown | N/A |
| 13 | Drop Tower | Kings Dominion | Doswell, Virginia, United States | 83 metres (272 ft) | 96 metres (315 ft) | Intamin | N/A |
| 14 | Big Tower | Beto Carrero World | Penha, Santa Catarina, Brazil | 80 metres (264 ft) | 100 metres (328 ft) | Intamin | N/A |
| Drop Tower | Kings Island | Mason, Ohio, United States | 80 metres (264 ft) | 93 metres (305 ft) | Intamin | N/A |
Other notable examples
- Big Shot on the top of The Strat reaching 329 metres (1,081 ft) was the highest situated drop tower ride in the world, with a drop of 49 metres (160 ft) to a base 281 metres (921 ft) above ground level
- Space Probe located at Wonderland Sydney in Australia
- Apocalypse at Drayton Manor
- Detonator: Bombs Away at Thorpe Park
- Ice Blast at Pleasure Beach Blackpool
- AtmosFEAR at Morey's Piers, Wildwood, New Jersey
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at multiple Disney parks worldwide.
- Acrophobia at Six Flags Over Georgia
- Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! at Disney California Adventure Park
Injuries and accidents
- In 1999, a 12-year-old boy fell to his death on Drop Zone: Stunt Tower at Paramount's Great America after slipping from the ride's restraints, which were still locked at the end of the ride.[3][4]
- Following the Kentucky Kingdom (then-Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom) incident, all Intamin towers were temporarily closed and the Carowinds model was found to have stretched cables.[5]
- On February 24, 2012, 14-year-old Gabriella Yukari Nichimura died in an accident at Hopi Hari, Vinhedo, São Paulo State, Brazil. She fell from the drop tower ride "La Tour Eiffel" suffering cranial trauma and died on the way to the hospital. Initial investigations suggested the possibility of mechanical failure in the restraint latch.[6]
- On the evening of March 24, 2022, 14-year-old Tyre Sampson from Missouri fell to his death from the world's tallest drop tower ride, the Orlando FreeFall drop tower at ICON Park in Florida. The brand new attraction had only been open for three months at the time of the accident. As of today, the ride is temporarily shut down, and cause of the tragedy is still under investigation.[7] On April 18, 2022, it was discovered that two seats were intentionally modified so that the safety sensors generate a go signal for larger and therefore unsafe harness-to-seat gaps, presumably to accommodate larger riders, however it ultimately led to Tyre's death since he slipped through that gap toward the end of the drop when the ride slowed down. This is only one major factor and there could be other factors that may have caused this tragedy, such as weighing 320 pounds when the ride manual expresses a weight limit of 287 pounds, etc.
See also
References
- "Ride with 95cm height requirement". Archived from the original on 2012-07-02. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
- "Ride with 130cm height requirement". Archived from the original on 2016-04-03. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
- "Thrill ride lawsuits". Courier-Journal. June 23, 2007. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- "Drop Zone death: no charges, no explanation". RideAccidents.com. November 5, 1999. Archived from the original on April 20, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - "Carowinds Thrill Ride Closed for Inspection". (Wire Report). The Herald Online. June 22, 2007. Archived from the original on 2016-02-08. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- "Adolescente More Após Acidente em Parque de Diversões no Interior de SP" [Teenager Dies after an Amusement Park Accident in the Interior of SP] (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-08-30.
- Hanna, Melissa Alonso and Jason (2022-03-25). "A 14-year-old fell to his death from the new drop tower ride at Florida's ICON Park, authorities say". CTVNews. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
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