Drop Tower, formerly known as Drop Zone: Stunt Tower, is the name of five

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. T ...

amusement rides located at

Cedar Fair Cedar Fair, L.P., formally Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, is a publicly traded master limited partnership headquartered at its Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. The company owns and operates eleven amusement parks, nine included- ...

amusement parks in the United States and Canada. Each installation varies in size and capacity.

History

Prior to their acquisition by Cedar Fair, the five parks owned by

Paramount Parks Paramount Parks was the operator of Paramount's Kings Island, Paramount's Kings Dominion, Paramount's Great America, Paramount's Carowinds, and Paramount Canada's Wonderland, which annually attracted about 13 million patrons. National Amuseme ...

featured a

ride named ''Drop Zone: Stunt Tower'', in reference to the Paramount film of the same name. All were built by Swiss ride manufacturer Intamin, which consist of either Gyro Drop or Giant Drop models.

Martin & Vleminckx Martin & Vleminckx is a roller coaster manufacturing and construction company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with an affiliated office and manufacturing facility in Haines City, Florida, United States, and two subsidiaries, including a ...

constructed the Intamin-built Drop Tower at California's Great America. With the exception of both Kings Dominion's and Canada's Wonderland's towers, they are located in their park's various

backlot A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Uses Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...

themed areas. When Paramount owned and operated the parks, stunt performers performed an action scene periodically near the attraction depicting a performer falling from a platform. In 2006, Paramount Parks sold their amusement parks to

, which was followed by the removal of Paramount branding from each park. All five attractions were renamed ''Drop Tower: Scream Zone'' (commonly shortened to ''Drop Tower''), and the ''swirl'' logos associated with each were removed from the rides' signage. A serious incident occurred on Superman: Tower of Power at

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid Peop ...

, in which a rider's feet were severed by a loose cable, prompting each park to temporarily close their drop tower installation. They were closed as a precaution for several weeks and inspected, then eventually reopened.

Ride experience

Giant Drop

The three original drop towers, opening in 1996 and 1997 at Carowinds, California's Great America, and

Canada's Wonderland Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and the Great-West Life As ...

are Giant Drop models. They feature either four, five or six cars fitting four people on each one. Wonderland and Great America's models fall at a top speed of and are tall, while Carowinds' model falls at and is tall. All three are painted in rainbow colors with race track decals. In 2019, Drop Tower at California's Great America was given a brown and green tree-like paint scheme, paying homage to Northern California forests.

Gyro Drop

The two latest drop towers, installed in 1999 at

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expa ...

and 2003 at

Kings Dominion Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, north of Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 rides, shows and att ...

, are Gyro Drop models with one large circular car, reaching speeds of 67 and , respectively. Both the Kings Island and Kings Dominion ride claim to be the tallest Gyro Drop towers in the world. Kings Island's tower is measured as the tallest in the world, while Kings Dominion's tower utilizes brakes positioned closer to the ground, producing a longer drop than the tower at Kings Island.

Locations

* *''Drop height is only the space between the top of the tower and the braking, what is considered the "freefall" section.

Incidents

* On August 22, 1999, a 12-year-old boy was killed after falling from the Drop Tower installation at California's Great America. His family claimed the harness was not locked properly and he had a mental disability. An investigation was inconclusive and no charges were filed. Following the incident, the rest of the Drop Tower locations were shut down for inspections.

Records

California Great America's installation was the tallest vertical drop amusement park ride when it opened in 1996.

References

External links

Official page at Canada's Wonderland

Official page at Carowinds

Official page at Kings Dominion

Official page at Kings Island
{{Kings Dominion Drop tower rides California's Great America Carowinds Amusement rides manufactured by Intamin Amusement rides introduced in 1996 Amusement rides introduced in 1997 Amusement rides introduced in 1999 Amusement rides introduced in 2003 Cedar Fair attractions Canada's Wonderland Kings Island Kings Dominion