Guests are slowly winched up over 100 feet in the air, before plummeting back to the ground...
Guests are slowly winched up over 100 feet in the air, before plummeting back to the ground...
Theme Park | Thorpe Park |
---|---|
Park Area | Angry Birds Land |
Type | Drop Tower |
Audience | Thrillseekers |
Opened | 6 April 2001 (as "Detonator") 2014 ("Detonator: Bombs Away" retheme) |
Manufacturer | Fabbri |
Model | Megadrop |
Height | 115 ft |
Detonator
Detonator: Bombs Away lifts guests 115 feet into the air, momentarily giving them some great views over Thorpe Park, before dropping them back to the ground.
The ride is a Megadrop model drop tower from Fabbri which, unlike many drop towers, fires the drop car back to earth using pneumatics rather than simply relying on gravity. This gives a much more forceful drop, and creates a weightless feeling for riders as they are lifted out of their seats. I'm no fan of drop towers, but as they come, Detonator is one of the best.
With only twelve seats, Detonator has a low throughput which, together with its popularity, can mean long queues on busy days. At one stage it looked as though Thorpe may add a second tower ride next to Detonator to ease these issues, but this plan never came to fruition.
Detonator originally came to Thorpe Park in 2001 as a temporary attraction to fill the gap right in the middle of the park left by the 2001 Wicked Witches Haunt fire. The ride proved popular, and has become a permanent part of Thorpe's ride lineup. In 2014 it got a bit of a retheme and "Bombs Away" added to its name to fit in with the new Angry Birds Land.
Detonator's 115ft tower
The entrance to Detonator: Bombs Away!
Riders begin their ascent
Slowly climbing the tower
Still climbing
At the top
Dropping
Falling back to earth
Maintenance
Detonator from Amity Cove