Detonator (previously known as Detonator: Bombs Away from 2014–2021) is a tower ride at Thorpe Park in

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey, founded in AD 666 by Earconwald, St Erkenwald, and gained a municipal charter, market charter from Henry I of Engla ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

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, UK. It was manufactured by Fabbri and is a 'Mega Drop Tower'. It opened in 2001 along with two other 'flat' rides, Vortex and Zodiac. It is around and is not released via a computer. The ride operator at the bottom has a button, which can be pressed to make the car release at any time once the car has reached the top. Once released, the car is fired downwards by

pneumatics Pneumatics (from Greek 'wind, breath') is the use of gas or pressurized air in mechanical systems. Pneumatic systems used in industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A centrally located and electrically- ...

rather than simply falling under gravity, with the ride reaching a speed of 46 mph at the base of the drop, giving the impression of weightlessness for riders. For the 2011 season, on-ride photos were added. These were later removed in the 2013 season. .

History

In July 2000, Thorpe Park's Wicked Witches Haunt and part of Mr Rabbit's Tropical Travels were destroyed in a fire. Although Mr Rabbit's Tropical Travels was recovered and reopened later in the year, Wicked Witches Haunt was destroyed beyond repair. This left a vast open space in the park - to fill that space, they applied for temporary planning permission for a Fabbri Mega-Drop. In 2001 Detonator opened as the park’s tallest ride at 115 feet in replacement of Wicked Witches Haunt. The ride's success meant the park applied for extended planning permission, making this ride a permanent addition. In 2007, the ride opened with a new theme tune after the park decided it was no longer plausible to pay royalties for the original soundtrack. In 2014, with the opening of Angry Birds Land, Detonator was rethemed to "Detonator: Bombs Away". The theme tune used the same track as used in 2001 until 2016, when the theme tune was changed to a more upbeat tune mixed with sound effects from the ''Angry Birds'' video games. In 2022, both the online website as well as entrance signage to the ride had been updated, with the name once again as "Detonator". In 2024, the ride was rethemed to fit in with Big Easy Boulevard.

References

External links

Thorpe Park - Detonator

Detonator at Total Thorpe Park

{{coord, 51.403865, -0.515238, display=title Amusement rides introduced in 2001 Towers completed in 2001 Buildings and structures in Surrey Drop tower rides Thorpe Park Amusement rides manufactured by Fabbri Group