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

drop tower A drop tower is a type of amusement park ride incorporating a central tower structure with one or more gondolas attached. In a typical modern configuration, each gondola carrying riders is lifted to the top of the tower and then released t ...

amusement rides located at

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It was formed on July 2, 2024, following a merger between longtime rivals Cedar Fair and the former Six Flags ...

amusement parks in the United States and Canada. A fifth installation which operated at Carowinds closed after the 2024 season. Although each installation was manufactured by

Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein, best-known for designing and constructing Amusement ride, thrill rides and roller coasters at dozens of international theme parks, amusement parks and other e ...

, they all vary in size and capacity.

History

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

Paramount Parks Paramount Parks was a subsidiary of National Amusements-owned Viacom, headquartered at its Paramount's Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. At the time of its acquisition, the company owned and operated five amusement park/ wat ...

featured a

ride named ''Drop Zone: Stunt Tower'', in reference to the Paramount film of the same name. All were built by

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

ride manufacturer

, which consist of either Gyro Drop or Giant Drop models.

Martin & Vleminckx Martin & Vleminckx Ltd. (doing business as MV Rides) is a thrill ride and roller coaster manufacturing and construction company headquartered in Montreal, Québec, Canada with an affiliated office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a manufa ...

constructed the Intamin-built Drop Tower at

California's Great America California's Great America is an amusement park located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Owned and operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, it originally opened in 1976 as one of two parks built by the Marriott Corporation. ...

on the former site of a very similar ride called "The Edge", which was removed to make room for Drop Zone. 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 A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs stunt, daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as op ...

performed an action scene periodically near the attraction depicting a performer falling from a platform. In 2006, Paramount Parks sold their amusement parks to

Cedar Fair Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, or simply Cedar Fair, was an American company headquartered at its flagship Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. The company was a publicly traded master limited partnership that origina ...

, 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.

Ride experience

Giant Drop

The three original drop towers, opening in 1996 and 1997 at

Carowinds Carowinds is a amusement park primarily located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The park is owned and operated by Six Flags. Carowinds straddles the state line between North and South Carolina, adjacent to Interstate 77, with a portion of the park ...

, 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, Taft Broadcasting Company and the Gr ...

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 fell at and is tall. All three were originally painted in rainbow colors with race track decals. When Cedar fair owned the parks in 2006, the one in California was giving an only purple and red scheme. 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. On Canada’s Wonderland’s installation retains its original color scheme.

Gyro Drop

The two latest drop towers, installed in 1999 at

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park was built by Taft Broadcasting and opened in 1972. It was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Islan ...

and 2003 at

Kings Dominion Kings Dominion is an amusement park in Doswell, Virginia, United States, north of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, featuring over 60 rid ...

, 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. The Kings Island variant also spins on the way up, giving riders a view of the whole park.

Locations

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

Incidents

* On May 17, 1996, one of the cars on Drop Tower in Carowinds failed to ascend to the top of the tower after the safety control system locked the brakes. Park maintenance was unable to manually release the braking system. Three riders were stranded 160 feet (49 m) in the air for nearly three hours before being rescued. * On August 22, 1999, Joshua Smurphat, 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 Six Flags attractions Canada's Wonderland Kings Island Kings Dominion