tndank Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 World's tallest drop tower set to open at 10am today. Wish I was there. Looks fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Any word on what the pricing for the new Drop Tower is going to be? I'm guessing it will be fairly high, but hopefully they offer some kind of combo ticket or half price re-ride or something. This will probably be a do it once and never again kind of attraction for me but a 400 ft. drop tower is a 400 ft. drop tower so I'm sure it will be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tndank Posted December 28, 2021 Author Share Posted December 28, 2021 If I see pricing any time soon I'll try and post it here for you. I have not seen that yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 I just saw on Twitter that the drop tower is $12 and the slingshot is $30. Not as bad as I was expecting for the drop tower honestly. $20 for the drop tower and the StarFlyer is a pretty decent deal, I will be stopping there with the kids next time we're in town for sure. Free Fall: $12 Sling Shot: $30 Combo: $40 Free Fall, Slingshot, & Starflyer: $50 Free Fall & Star Flyer: $20 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillseeker4552 Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 Anyone ridden the Orlando Free Fall? I hear reports that it is pretty insane. I'm wondering how it feels compared to Lex Luthor or Zumanjaro. Probably gonna head up and try it out in a couple weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dankeykang Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 Just rode it about an hour ago and liked it a lot. I'd say it was more forceful than Zumanjaro, I haven't ridden Lex Luthor so can't speak to that. The outward tilt a la Falcon's Fury is a nice touch, and it was fun to try and find the area's other parks up at the top. I went with the $20 ticket for the drop tower and Star Flyer and feel like it was a pretty decent value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 Looks like it stays up at the top for a decent amount of time too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 9 minutes ago, SharkTums said: Looks like it stays up at the top for a decent amount of time too! from the POVs I've watched of it .it looks like it stops the rotation. . then the seats tilt out. . .and THEN the chassis moves up the tower more for ~30 seconds more until it reaches the top of the tower and releases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlaKoaster Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Appalling news that a 14 year old boy died after falling from the Orlando Free Fall last night. As an enthusiast I can normally mentally piece together what happened when there is an accident but I'm drawing blanks as to how someone can fall from a 4 month old ride with overhead restraints. A tragic story, whoever and whatever is to blame. Teen dies after fall from drop tower ride at Orlando's ICON PARK, authorities say A teenager fell to his death while riding an Orlando-area drop tower attraction, according to officials with the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Several law enforcement officers, firefighters, and paramedics responded to ICON Park late Thursday evening after a 911 caller reported the incident at the popular tourist attraction on International Drive. Witnesses on the scene told deputies that someone had fallen off the Orlando Free Fall ride. The Orange County Sheriff's Office later confirmed that a 14-year-old boy was transported to the hospital, where he died from his injuries. Source: https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/orlando-drop-tower-ride-death 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinaalsgirl Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 WARNING: Be careful looking up this news. There's video and it's... Just, don't watch it. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garet Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 So the video is on some sites but it didn't feel right to post or screenshot with other people's faces in so I've cropped it on a point where the boy is facing away so for the sake of discussion here it is: Not sure whether it's ok to post the full video since it is pretty clear and stays on the boy for some time, I assume some members will look it up for discussion but maybe the mods will know more on what's acceptable here. It's hard to tell from the angle but was the person sitting in front of/on the bit that goes between your legs? Or was big enough that with the restraint that high (it departed with the restraint like that) that I guess once the seats tilted and it hit the brakes the gap would be big enough that he would have slipped right out since there's no seatbelt between the legs. One of the riders in the video literally says to the crew before departing 'Why doesn't this have like the little click bit, the seatbelt?' and he replies 'Seatbelts? There ain't any.' The crew even jokes as the ride departs 'Did you check your seatbelt?.. (not clear)... seatbelt seatbelt.' The first member of staff that runs in is on the phone presumably to the emergency services and the second lady who arrives says to the staff as soon as she arrives ' You did/didn't (not sure which she said) check him?' followed by 'You guys are sure you checked him?' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinaalsgirl Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 I cannot fathom the idea that this ride has zero belts. Like... not even a buckle to secure the harness to the seat, much less a seatbelt for redundancy? I'd thought someday I'd ride this whenever I make it back to Orlando, but knowing the way the restraints are... I wouldn't feel safe! But, yeah, to me he looks like he's a bigger-chested person, but also possibly has longer legs? I just can't tell from that angle. If this ride had had the restraints that Batman: The Ride at Six Flags STL, I'd have been doing the Walk of Shame like I did at the coaster because the harness wouldn't buckle over my large chest. I have absolutely zero problems accepting when I'm not gonna fit a ride and I'm just trying to get my head around how this poor kid (only 14!) would probably be alive if a buckle and/or belt had been part of the restraint system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlaKoaster Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Thanks for describing what happened (and for the warning) - so it appears he might have submarined under the restraint? Looking at that screenshot, it seems unbelievable that the restraint can actually lock at that position, and when you consider the seat tips forwards 30 degrees, the bit between your legs would essentially become a tiny, slippery perch with nothing stopping you sliding out. The operators' words will haunt them for ever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garet Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 ^Just to be clear, he's talking to a different group of riders about seat belts. Their friend didn't want to ride and even states to the man he's filming to get their reaction because he asks the worker if they'll return to the same position they left which the crew member confirms. That's why the screenshot above is angled like that. You never see the workers speak to or interact with the boy who was in the accident. The video is presumably shot after restraints have been locked. You can see a blue coated worker pull down a restraint in the background on an empty chair. The middle rider of the group being filmed does pull down on his restraint to check he's locked in for certain and looks like he pulls up as well. Hard to tell from a video but they do look locked from that rider doing that. The only restraint checks that are actually on the camera is with the 3 filmed riders. The worker does pull on one of the 3 riders restraints shortly before the ride starts and another where he pulls lightly on the 2 men's restraints but not the girls just seconds before the ride starts to climb the tower. The internet is already full of pitchforks for the workers and a lot of claims 'They didn't check restraints' or taking his joke about seat belts as a sign the workers didn't fasten the boy's (non existent) seat belt. His joke sounded like he was pretending there was a belt next to the girl... something like Did you check your seat belt?.. on the left side, seat belt seat belt) and comments seem to be running with that meaning he didn't properly do checks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlaKoaster Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Thanks for clarifying, and also will we're making things clear, I wasn't blaming the operators at all (just in case anyone thought I was). As usual this accident appears to have been caused by a tragic sequence of events. A feel desperately sad for everyone involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastcoast Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 I watched a few of the Orlando bloggers ride this; and I thought the seating position for some of the larger riders looked questionable. Not an engineer but in my opinion having that belt between your legs helps a lot with rider confidence as well as keeping ride operators mindful to rider size issues. I will not watch that video. My thoughts are with the family. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 This is horrible. The conversation about whether or not they checked him makes it feel even more surreal that this could actually happen in the way that it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Wow, this is shocking and heartbreaking. I won't hazard a guess about what happened but I am very curious how this will all shake out. Sounds like having an air-gap between the restraint and seat was probably not the way to go for a ride that tilts you like a dump truck. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Absolutely horrifying. . .. and tho I'm not sure a seatbelt at the crotch would have prevented a "slip out" (if that's what happened). . . . I can't imagine what the family, the other riders, and the park staff are going thru right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRTeller Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 This is really hard to process how this could happen on a modern designed drop tower. Something similar happened years ago (decades) on California Great Americas drop tower which I believe resulted in the addition of seat belts as standard design practice. I get it's been decades and most people associate drop tower Intamin incidents with Six Flags, but there is a reason why they've standardized these practices in their design. It's shocking to me any other company wouldn't be aware of these precautions and why they're there from pretty much every manufacturer. Perhaps the operators should of known, but I could also see why they would think it would be fine. The joke they made was in bad taste, but the restraints do look snug on him. Really sad all around, I have a few larger friends that are his build type and we push to put them on rides stapling them with seat belts and such. We had a trip planned here we cancelled for last week, I get chills even thinking about it. Never even considered this was a possibility and will keep this incident in mind for them regarding rides and restraints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 It's a horrifying and terrible accident. Clearly the restraint and body shape of the boy did not work. A seatbelt might have helped but we have seen this exact accident before. I'm sure we'll see FunTime add seatbelts to all of their towers now but we also have to be careful with OTSR's positioning. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 ^ You get a vest, you get a vest, YOU get a vest, EVERYONE GETS VESTS! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haymaker Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 He fell during the brake sequence, its clear that the force of the stop caused him to slide out, so maybe the restraint went up on the way down and the braking caused him to lose his grip (if he was holding on). What an horrific thing to witness, my thoughts to all involved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelmadcow Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 This is a complex situation. Doesnt this ride tilt like falcons fury? The restraints on this ride are not appropriate for the tilting and Im sure its because this is a less expensive brand. This repurposing of existing parts was exacerbated by the 14 year olds size. After seeing the restraints and tower set up I would not have ridden this personally. I really only trust Intamin and S&S towers. Sad and traumatizing experience for everyone including on lookers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilrider Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 ^It does tilt, but 30 degrees I read today, not a full tilt onto your stomach like FF. That said, I can't believe such a ride does not have also have a secondary seatbelt restraint. Less than 3 months of operation and this ride already killed someone. Unbelievable. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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