Drop tower

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The Giant Drop at Dreamworld Giant Drop - Dreamworld.jpg
The Giant Drop at Dreamworld
The High Fall at Movie Park Germany Freefall moviepark.png
The High Fall at Movie Park Germany
A drop tower at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk entitled the "Double Shot" Drop tower Santa cruz boardwalk.JPG
A drop tower at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk entitled the "Double Shot"
Sky Ranch Philippines Drop tower ride.jpg
Sky Ranch Philippines

A drop tower is a type of amusement park ride incorporating a central tower structure with one or more gondolas attached. In a typical modern configuration, each gondola carrying riders is lifted to the top of the tower and then released to free fall back down to ground level. This produces a feeling of weightlessness followed by rapid deceleration. A magnetic braking system, or a variation that relies on pistons and air pressure, is used to safely bring the gondola to a complete stop. [1] One of the earliest drop towers configured as an amusement ride was a parachute ride that debuted at the 1939 New York World's Fair, which was inspired by paratrooper training devices used by the Soviet Union in the 1920s. [1] [2]

Contents

Swiss manufacturer Intamin renewed interest decades later when it pioneered the modern drop tower with an early iteration released in the 1980s, which was later refined to use magnetic braking systems in the 1990s. This led to larger models, such as the Giant Drop and Gyro Drop. S&S Sansei modified the concept and released their own variation that employs pneumatics, which involves pistons, air pressure, and steel cables to control the speed of the gondola at all times. This variation can move the gondola at speeds faster than free fall and can alternatively be configured to accelerate gondolas in the opposite direction, moving at fast speeds up the tower as well as down. [2]

Drop towers can vary in height and capacity, and some models are either mass-produced or custom. Newer features include gondolas that rotate along the vertical plane, tilting riders so they are facing the ground prior to the gondola's release. Falcon's Fury at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, for example, is a 335-foot (102 m) tower that rotates riders to face the ground, and then returns riders to an upright position as the gondola nears the end of the drop.

Drop tower designs

Mass-produced tower rides include:

Tallest drop towers

boldDenotes drop tower is or was once the tallest in the world
italicDenotes drop tower is either no longer operating or removed
RankNameParkLocationDrop heightStructural heightManufacturerRecord holder
--- Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom Six Flags Great Adventure Jackson Township, New Jersey, United States126 metres (415 ft)139 metres (456 ft) Intamin July 2014 – November 2024
---Orlando FreeFall Icon Park Orlando, Florida, United States120 metres (400 feet)130 metres (430 feet) Funtime December 28, 2021 - March 24, 2022
1 Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom Six Flags Magic Mountain Valencia, California, United States120 metres (400 ft)126 metres (415 ft) Intamin July 2012 – July 2014. November 2024 - Current
2 The Giant Drop Dreamworld Coomera, Queensland, Australia115 metres (377 ft)120 metres (390 ft) Intamin December 1998 – July 2012
3 Highlander Hansa-Park Sierksdorf, Germany103 metres (338 ft)120 metres (390 ft) Funtime
4La Venganza del Enigma Parque Warner Madrid Madrid, Spain100 metres (328 ft)115 metres (377 ft) S&S Worldwide
Blue Fall Sea Paradise Yokohama, Japan100 metres (328 ft)107 metres (351 ft) Intamin
5Donjon de l'Extrême Nigloland Dolancourt, France95 metres (312 ft)105 metres (344 ft) Funtime
6 Falcon's Fury Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Tampa Bay, Florida, United States94 metres (310 ft)102 metres (335 ft) Intamin
7VoltrumBayern-Park Reisbach, Germany93 metres (305 ft)109 metres (358 ft) Funtime
8Sky ScreamerMarineland of CanadaNiagara Falls, Ontario, Canada91 metres (300 ft)140 metres (450 ft)S&S – Sansei Technologies
9 AtmosFear Liseberg Gothenburg, Sweden 90 metres (295 ft)116 metres (381 ft) Intamin
10 Hurakan Condor PortAventura Park Salou, Spain87 metres (285 ft)115 metres (377 ft) Intamin
11UFO Gyro DropFormosan Aboriginal Culture VillageYuchr Shiang, Nantou County, Taiwan85 metres (280 ft)110 metres

(360 ft)

Intamin
12Global Burj Global Village Dubai, United Arab Emirates85 metres (279 ft)Un­knownUn­known
13Drop Tower Kings Dominion Doswell, Virginia, United States83 metres (272 ft)93 metres (305 ft) Intamin
14Big Tower Beto Carrero World Penha, Santa Catarina, Brazil80 metres (264 ft)100 metres (328 ft) Intamin
15 Drop Tower Kings Island Mason, Ohio, United States80 metres (264 ft)96 metres (315 ft) Intamin
The Plunge Kongeparken Ålgård, Rogaland, Norway80 metres (264 ft)Un­known Funtime

Other notable examples

Injuries and accidents

See also

Related Research Articles

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