A drop tower is a type of amusement park ride incorporating a central tower structure with one or more Gondola lift 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.
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.
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 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:
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Double shot (air-powered blast up twice)
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Space shot (air-powered blast up)
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Super shot (drop down ride slowed by magnetic or air-power)
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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 |
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| — | | Six Flags Great Adventure | Jackson Township, New Jersey, United States | | | Intamin | July 2014 – November 2024 |
| — | Orlando FreeFall | Icon Park | Orlando, Florida, United States | 120 metres (400 feet) | 130 metres (430 feet) | Funtime | |
| 1 | July 2012 – July 2014. November 2024 – Current |
| 2 | December 1998 – July 2012 |
| 3 | Highlander | Hansa-Park | Sierksdorf, Germany | | | Funtime | |
| |
| — | Blue Fall | Sea Paradise | Yokohama, Japan | | | Intamin | |
| 5 | Donjon de l'Extrême | Nigloland | Dolancourt, France | | | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| — | |
| 8 | |
| 9 | |
| 10 | UFO Gyro Drop | Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village | Yuchr Shiang, Nantou County, Taiwan | 85 metres (280 ft) | 110 metres
(360 ft) | Intamin | |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Drop Tower | Kings Dominion||Doswell, Virginia, United States ||||||Intamin| |
| 13 | |
| 14 | |
| The Plunge | |
Other notable examples
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Big Shot on the top of The Strat reaching was the highest situated drop tower ride in the world, with a drop of to a base above ground level
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Space Probe located at Wonderland Sydney in Australia
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Apocalypse at Drayton Manor
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Detonator at Thorpe Park
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at Pleasure Beach Blackpool
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AtmosFEAR at Morey's Piers, Wildwood, New Jersey
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The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at multiple Disney parks worldwide.
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Acrophobia at Six Flags Over Georgia
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at Disney California Adventure Park
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Giant Drop at Six Flags Great America
Injuries and accidents
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On August 22, 1999, 12-year-old Joshua Smurphat fell to his death on (Drop Tower) at Paramount's Great America (California's Great America) after slipping from the ride's restraints, which were still locked at the end of the ride.
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On June 21, 2007 (park operating as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom), a 13-year-old girl from Louisville, Kentucky had both feet cut off above the ankle when one of the ride's cables snapped during operation.
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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.
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On the evening of January 3, 2018, 8 persons (five females and three males aged 12 to 18, including Danica Villas) were injured suffering "cervical Spasm" after Fun Drop Tower Ride at the amusement park Circle of Fun in Quezon Memorial Circle suddenly dropped.
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On the evening of September 5, 2021, 6-year-old Wongel Estifanos died on the Haunted Mine Drop ride after being separated from her seat and falling to her death. It has been determined that the girl was actually sitting on top of her seatbelt rather than the seatbelt being tight on her lap. A forensic pathologist identified the cause of death as blunt-force trauma. The official report by the Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety blamed a lack of procedures and inadequate training of two ride operators to ensure that Estifanos was properly buckled in.
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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 been open for only three months at the time of the accident.
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On September 5, 2022, a drop tower in India failed to slow down then crashed to ground, injuring 16.
See also
