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. Riders experience free-fall initially, followed by rapid heavy deceleration.
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 activate to 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 exceed a minimum height; limits vary widely depending upon the nature of the tower, with a 30-foot (9 m) tower for smaller children from 37 inches (95 cm) tall, and a 115-foot (35 m) tower having a 51-inch (130 cm) restriction.
Video Drop tower
Ride designs
Mass-produced tower rides include:
- FlightLine Free Fall Ride
- Double Shot (air-powered blast up twice)
- Space Shot (air-powered blast up)
- Super Shot
- Turbo Drop (air-powered blast down)
- Intamin Drop Tower
- Flash Tower (Zamperla shot'n'drop tower)
- Z-Force (Zamperla shot'n'drop tower)
- Hurakan Condor (multi-ride with variants)
Maps Drop tower
Examples
Tallest vertical drop towers
Other notable examples
- Big Shot on the top of the Stratosphere Las Vegas reaching 1,081 feet (329 m) was the highest situated drop tower ride in the world, with a drop of 160 feet (49 m) to a base 921 feet (281 m) above ground level
- Space Probe located at Wonderland Sydney in Australia
- Drop Tower at five Cedar Fair parks
- Apocalypse at Drayton Manor
- Detonator at Thorpe Park
- Tango 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.
- Scream! at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags New England
- Dominator at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom
- Supreme Scream at Knott's Berry Farm
- Acrophobia at Six Flags Over Georgia
- Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! at Disney California Adventure Park
Injuries and accidents
- Following the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom incident, all Intamin towers were closed and the Carowinds model was found to have stretched cables.
- 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. Local police are investigating the accident. Initial investigations suggested the possibility of mechanical failure in the restraint latch.
See also
- Freefall
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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