FlippyTrick09 Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Demon Drop looks much larger than Freefall at Six Flags of Georgia, is that so? I wish these rides were still relatively popular, I always loved riding them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 ^ I believe all first-generation Intamin Freefalls were identical---at least to my knowledge they only made one version. But I believe it depends on how they were marketed locally. SFMM advertised theirs as a "ten-story" drop, where Marriott's Great America (just up the state) advertised The Edge as being "131-feet tall," which was the actual height of the tower. For a long time, I too thought that theirs was taller than SFMM's, but it wasn't the case. Â Those two are the only ones I've ridden. As I recall, The Edge didn't seem to last very long. SFMM's lasted from 1982 till it was torn down earlier this year. Â Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teacups Make Me Sick Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Seeing this makes me sad that Great Adventure took out Freefall. I'm so bummed b/c that was one of my first "big-kid rides". Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DenDen Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 As I recall, The Edge didn't seem to last very long. Eric  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_at_Six_Flags_parks On May 22, 1984, 3 unnamed teenage boys were seriously injured when the ride vehicle fell back down the lift shaft  Could be why... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 ^ Yeah, I remember hearing about that incident. I don't know of any anti-rollback devices on the Freefall elevators---at least nothing audible to anyone waiting in line. Â Honestly, I didn't care much for the ride, which is why I only rode it when I was with people who had not ridden it. A polite host wouldn't say, "You go ride that while I wait here." Â A little trivia (which I'm sure I've shared here before): At one point, California's two Freefall rides were colored like Gumby and Pokey. SFMM's was "Gumby green" while GA's Edge was "Pokey red." Â Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude5 Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 This is sad... I just found out how these rides worked! I had never given them much attention, I figured it was only one car that went back and forth. Â You can learn alot from these updates! Thanks for posting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goliath513 Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Those two are the only ones I've ridden. As I recall, The Edge didn't seem to last very long. SFMM's lasted from 1982 till it was torn down earlier this year. Eric I didn't know it was still 2008.    The first Freefall I rode was SFMM's during its last season of operation. Last ride was in August 2007 right before it closed for good. Then, last summer I ride Demon Drop at Cedar Point. I rode that at least five times while there. It still drew a pretty large line (even longer than on some of the coasters) when I was there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montezooma Posted January 2, 2009 Author Share Posted January 2, 2009 After the Gurnee accident all the Free Falls where closed down for longer than a month. Â The major change that was made was the sequencing of the cars while the ride was in operation. If you watch the video on the Demon Drop you can see that once one car is lifted up the elevator shaft the next car moves into position underneath it. After the accident the lower car would not move into that position until the car above it was out of the tower and in the postion to fall. This was to prevent one car from falling onto the one below as was the case in Gurnee. Â Six Flags over Texas & Six Flags Magic Mountain's Free Falls were the only two that had the spread legs at the bottom of the towers and at the time they opened they did not have the stair case that went up the side of the towers. Â It is also interesting to look at the rendering of the Free Fall from the Intamin catalog. They show that the capacity was based on 14 cars of 2-3 passengers per car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Those two are the only ones I've ridden. As I recall, The Edge didn't seem to last very long. SFMM's lasted from 1982 till it was torn down earlier this year. Eric I didn't know it was still 2008. .  or it was torn down yesterday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Yeah, time moves a bit slower here in SoCal! Â But at least I haven't written "2008" on any of my checks yet. I usually do that at some point. Â Also, at the bottom left of this picture, notice the yellow and orange Freefall on the brochure. It looks like Marriott used SFMM's ride for their picture, being that there aren't any hills that close to GA. And it has the spread legs mentioned by Shane. Â Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montezooma Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 Here are a few more pictures I found of Texas Cliffhanger at Six Flags over Texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanlv Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Thanks Shane. It never cared to much for these rides, but wanted for my son to experience one before they are all gone. Luckily we were able to get on the one in Nagashima Spaland in Japan this past summer. When we visited Cedar Point Demon Drop was closed. Thanks again for this wonderful thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astroworldfan1 Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 AstroWorld's Free Fall didn't last very long (14 years) compared to the others.  -Tatum  EDIT: From Six Flags Houston.com  Here's a possible explanation to why it lists SFMidAm as a Free Fall home:  The attraction (SFAW's Skyscreamer) was shipped to Six Flags Mid America in St. Louis, but was never re-assembled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vffreak07 Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I love those 1st gen freefalls. They provide such a unique & scary experience. Sort of like a zipper! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I've always been amazed that the brakes never failed and a car never shot off the end of the track. This generation of Freefalls was truly terrifying, but great. Thanks for the awesome update Shane! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montezooma Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 Time to take a commercial break form our normal programming. Â While downloading my videos to TPR TV I have come across some commercials that I overlooked during the TV commercials posts so I thought I would post them here. Â Kings Island [tprtv]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=KingsIslandcommercial[/tprtv] Â Kings Island [tprtv]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=KingsIslandDoItAll[/tprtv] Â Circus Circus [tprtv]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=CircusCircus[/tprtv] Â Bell's Amusement Park [tprtv]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Bells[/tprtv] Â World's of Fun [tprtv]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=FuryoftheNile[/tprtv] Â Six Flags Magic Mountain [tprtv]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=SFMMSpringBreak[/tprtv] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Wow I had no idea Information Society is playing SFMM. I wonder if tickets are still available. I better hurry down to Tower Records and see if I can still get a ticket before it sells out. Pure energy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montezooma Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 ^ Did you also see that TLC was on the lineup? That is the concert that caused the big riot at the park. After that riot they stopped having concerts there. Â I have seen some GREAT concerts at Magic Mountain: Howard Jones, Go-Go's and Missing Persons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xmeister Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I have a question about Circus Circus in those days. Does anyone remember a skyway system that took you from the Adventuredome to the main Casino? Â I know of the tracked tramway, parts of which are still operating, but I remember a Skyway system being there as well that was like a more modern version of Disneyland's old Skyway. Â Does anyone know what happened to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montezooma Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 Yes there used to be a sky ride that took you from the main entrance back to the Grand Slam Canyon. It was removed and sold to Water World in Denver, CO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 So I "Don't go chasing waterfalls", do tell about the riot Shane. I hope I don't appear as a "Creep" for asking. Â WOW Missing Persons! I totally would've loved to see them back in the day. They've certainly been missing for far too long now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montezooma Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 Well I don't know all the details so maybe someone else with more knowledge can tell the story. Â From what I remember, TLC was scheduled to do a show and it was part of the admission but there wasn't room in the venue for everyone that wanted to attend so there was a HUGE riot and they had to close down the park and call out the riot squad. It was huge news in SO CAL and lots of bad publicity for the Mountain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Pipeline dream here.... Â I've always wanted to have a 'new'version of the 'FirstGen' freefall rides- and I could SO see this being a great addition to a park looking for a 'fun, new' additon- The current round of Intamin Freefalls, while thrilling, leave me not only bored, but also rather disappointed with the ending- anticlimatic, really. I could see, with technoloy improvements, a newer version of this ride- and I'd be first in line for it, no matter where it was.... Â I have very fond memories of Demon Drop at CP- it was my first, and only, FirstGen Freefall ride-I rode it three times in a row before breaking it (Yes, that was me screaming at the ride that day!) I wsih now I'd spent more time on it as opposed to "Disaster transport." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 On the topic of Intamin First gen towers, I work in a DVD transfer lab, putting film and stuff onto DVD. To my surprise this morning when doing an order, I happen to see this orange I-beam structure on a little thumbnail picture. I thought "Hmm..drop tower?" When I clicked on it out of curiosity, sure enough, it was a first gen tower...to top it off, it was CGA's "The Edge." Not sure if it was the film or not but did they really lift up that fast up the shaft? I've never ridden one of these. Â Just shortly after the tower clip, there were some short clips of CGA's Demon coming down the drop (POV), Tidal Wave, Lobster (A spin/puke that no longer exists) and a short/shaky POV of Whizzer. I just thought it was coincidental that I see someone's footage of the Edge just after yesterday watching the videos you posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 That TLC riot sounds worse than the madness that ensued when Timothy Bottoms made a special guest appearance at the Sparks concert for the Great American Revolution grand opening. That was really psycho! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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