Dominator

Drop Towers are any rides that have a tower structure in which a car is either launched up the tower only to freefall back down or the car is slowly hoisted to the top and then dropped. There are so many different makes of drop towers that I’m just bunching them all together. The towers for a standard drop tower can range from around 100ft to 250ft. The highest I’ve been on is Dominator at Dorney Park which boasts two 200 foot towers. The seating arrangement depends on the model; S&S drop towers usually have 10 or 12 seats while giant Intimin “Gyro Drops” have some 25+ seats.

The Ride

There are so many different types that I’ll just group them into 3 categories: Air Powered Towers, Drop Towers, and First Generation Towers.

Air Powered Towers

Double Shot

Air powered towers, as the name suggest, operate using air pressure.  They launch the car using air pressure and stop them using it as well. These types of towers are typically manufactured by S&S Power but a couple of other companies also produce them.

On the S&S made Double Shot at Keansburg Amusement Park, the car is launched to the top, at which point it abruptly stops at the top and is thrusted back downward, then again it’s launched up and once again the car gets blasted back downward. Each downward thrust throws riders off the seat for some mega airtime. The tower is only about 100 feet high but it’s the best drop tower I’ve been for airtime. Plus after one cycle they’ll check the harnesses and do it again!

Other towers use sheer height and speed to thrill people, such is the case with Dominator. The Dominator has two towers; one blasts the car upwards and the other hoists the car to the top at which point it simply drops. The blast side must have a 60mph or so launch, it’s very fast and very exciting. The drop side however is meant to scare the pants off people! The car slowly makes its way to the top of the 200 foot tower. Once at the top it just stops and waits for some 20 seconds before thrusting riders downward. It’s a lot of fun to me, but to some the anticipation of the drop may be almost painful. All S&S drop towers use air pressure to operate.

Drop Towers

AtmosFear at Morey's Piers, a pure drop tower.

These are the purist form of drop towers; you’re hoisted to the top and then dropped! There is typically no resistance during the drop other than that of the wheels that keep the car attatched to the tower.

Examples include the Intamin ‘gyro drops’ which hoist a large rotating ring of seats up to an insane height, at which point it pauses and then drops. ARM has a drop tower that raises a 12 person car up to the top and simply drops them about 140 feet. Kennywood amusement park has a drop tower with 6 or so individual 4 person seats which climb the tower at once and then drop at roughly the same time. All of these versions use a hoist mechanism and magnetic brakes to stop the car.

First Generation Towers

One final drop tower is of course the “first generation” freefall towers which very few parks have now. They use cars with wheels on the back and bottom which are hoisted to the top via an elevator system, the car is then pushed forward onto the drop track and then they fall straight down. The track levels out, leaving riders on their backs, and the car hits a brake run. The car then rolls down to the station and flips back upward during the transfer from the brakes to the bottom section. It’s such an awesome thing to watch in motion, unfortunately their almost completely gone now. Six Flags Great Adventure removed theirs, entitled “Stuntman’s Freefall” in 2006. The only one left as far as I know of is Demon Drop at Cedar Point in Ohio.

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