The Giant Drop is a
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 ...
ride
Ride may refer to:
People
* MC Ride, a member of Death Grips
* Sally Ride (1951–2012), American astronaut
* William Ride (19262011), Australian zoologist
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Ride'' (1998 film), a 1998 comedy by Millicen ...
located at the
Dreamworld theme park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
on the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
, Australia. Manufactured by
Intamin, the ride was added in December 1998 to the existing
Dreamworld Tower which housed the
Tower of Terror. For fourteen years, The Giant Drop held the record for the tallest drop tower in the world.
The Giant Drop is one of Dreamworld's seven thrill rides. It has a height of and a maximum speed of , making it both the fastest and tallest amusement park ride in the
Southern Hemisphere.
The ride is themed to an
oil rig
{{about, , the mnemonic OIL RIG, Redox
An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling.
Kinds of oil rig include:
* Drilling rig, an apparatus for on-land oil drilling
* Drillship, a floating apparatus for offshore oil drilling ...
by “The Giant Oil Company”. There are many pieces of oil machinery located around the ride.
History
Construction of the
Dreamworld Tower began in 1996. On 23 January 1997, the
Tower of Terror officially opened to the public. Close to two years later, on 26 December 1998, The Giant Drop officially opened to the public as part of the Dreamworld Tower.
Additional theming was added around the base of the ride and the Vintage Car track was re-routed around the base of the tower. The cost to build The Giant Drop, had the Dreamworld Tower not been already standing, was published at
A$12 million.
Over 5 million people have been dropped to date.
In mid-2007, concerns were raised over the safety of Intamin drop towers after
an incident 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 ...
's
Superman: Tower of Power ride where a teenage girl had her feet severed after a cable had snapped. Despite the incident, Dreamworld continued to keep The Giant Drop operating, stating their ride's cables had daily and monthly checks. An independent safety audit concluded that "Dreamworld's safety standards are world class and second to none".
On 25 April 2022, The Giant Drop closed for a refurbishment which includes the installation of lighting, a repaint and continued removal of the track from the former
Tower of Terror II ride, which closed in November 2019. The ride is expected to reopen on 15 September 2022.
Characteristics
The Giant Drop is one of Dreamworld's seven thrill rides alongside
The Claw,
The Gold Coaster
The Gold Coaster is a steel roller coaster operating at Dreamworld. The roller coaster is one of the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere, after originally being the tallest when it was first built. Designed by Arrow Dynamics, built in Melbourn ...
,
Mick Doohan's Motocoaster
''Motocoaster'' is a long motorcycle roller coaster at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The A$10 million ride, constructed by Intamin and opened to the public in September 2007, was associated with Australian motorcycl ...
,
Pandamonium,
Steel Taipan and
Tail Spin. The ride reaches a maximum speed of and has a height of .
The Giant Drop consists of a pair of vertical tracks which attach to the flank of the Dreamworld Tower. Each track features one, eight-seat
floorless gondola in which riders are harnessed in by over-the-shoulder restraints.
Ride
Queue
Guests are to either access the entrance to the ride via a wooden staircase or a ramp. Guests then queue in an undercover oil themed outdoor queue before entering the indoor queue. Upon entry to the outdoor queue, a safety notice and a
Guinness World Record plaque are located at the main entrance. Guests then enter the indoor queue. The indoor queue is themed to an oil rig's control centre. The queue previously featured interactive features.
Ride
Catch cars lift the gondolas for a duration of approximately 90 seconds to a dynamic height of . Upon reaching the top of the tower, the gondolas are released into a free-fall, attaining a terminal velocity of before stopped by permanently mounted rare-earth magnets.
At this moment, the
on-ride photo is taken.
Upon opening, the eastern side of The Giant Drop featured a momentary pause shortly after the release from the top. This feature (which has been discontinued) demonstrated the fail-safe magnetic brakes.
Television
The Giant Drop has been featured on Australian
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
television show.
It was also featured on the 2009, American,
Travel Channel
Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...
documentary "''
Extreme Terror Rides''". In
2010 season of ''
The Amazing Race Asia
''The Amazing Race Asia'' is an Asian adventure reality game show based on the international ''Amazing Race'' franchise. Following the premise of other versions of the format, the show follows teams of two as they race across Asia and around th ...
'', teams were required to ride The Giant Drop and photograph Kenny
Koala
The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the w ...
, the park's mascot, waving the race flag once they've reached the top.
From 2003 and 2004, the ride was depicted at the start of the title sequence for the reality show ''
Big Brother Australia'', as the production was filmed at Dreamworld from 2001 to 2008 and 2012 to 2014.
Records
At the time of opening, in December 1998, ''The Giant Drop'' gained the Guinness World Record title of the ''"World's Tallest Vertical Drop Ride"''.
''The Giant Drop'' conceded the title on 7 July 2012, when ''
Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom'' opened at
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newh ...
located in California.
See also
*
Dreamworld Tower
*
Tower of Terror II
References
External links
Official webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giant Drop, The
Drop tower rides
Amusement rides manufactured by Intamin
Amusement rides introduced in 1998
Dreamworld (Australia)
Towers completed in 1998