Tag Archives: Demon Drop

No new ride for Knott’s Berry Farm in 2010

From the Los Angeles Times

No new ride for Knott’s Berry Farm in 2010

Knott’s Berry Farm won’t be getting a “new” ride in 2010 after all.

The plan back in October was to relocate the 26-year-old Demon Drop thrill ride from sister park Cedar Point in Ohio to the Buena Park theme park. But parent company Cedar Fair has decided to ship the used drop tower to another theme park in the chain: Dorney Park in Allentown, Pa.

Dorney Park officials confirmed that the relocated Demon Drop would open during summer 2010, not by opening day (May 1) but probably by the Fourth of July. Theme park fan site NewsPlusNotes recently published photos of the disassembled ride in the Dorney Park parking lot.

Dorney Park will retain the Demon Drop name and logo, but may change the color scheme, according to park officials. The ride will be located in the northeast corner of the park near Thunder Creek Speedway go-carts. The existing Krazy Kars ride may have to be removed to make room for Demon Drop, officials said.

Knott’s officials acknowledged the 131-foot-tall drop tower would not have been a good fit physically or aesthetically next to the park’s iconic Ghost Town, where the ride was going to be installed.

Demon Drop features a four-passenger vehicle that rises up an elevator shaft, slides forward and falls down a curved track at 55 mph. Riders experience 2.5 seconds of weightlessness during the 99-foot drop.

Popular through the 1990s, the Intamin Freefall ride was replaced in many parks by newer, compressed-air tower rides, such as Knott’s own Supreme Scream (which debuted in 1998) and Dorney Park’s 200-foot-tall Dominator (installed in 2000).

The re-relocation of Demon Drop means Knott’s won’t be getting a new ride in 2010, but officials said the park might receive a new attraction. The ride reshuffling also halts plans to relocate Knott’s Screamin’ Swing to California’s Great America in Santa Clara. The 60-foot-tall swing ride will remain at Knott’s.

Demon dropped, Rapids rising at Cedar Point

From the Sandusky Register

SANDUSKY

CP_Demon_Drop_12012009aConstruction and deconstruction was happening at the same time at Cedar Point in Sandusky on Tuesday afternoon.

The 131 ft. tall Demon Drop was dismantled in preparation for a move to Cedar Fair’s park in Pennsylvania, Dorney Park. It will take 18 semi truckloads to transport the steel structure to Pennsylvania, according to Cedar Fair spokesman Robin Innes.

CP_Demon_Drop_12012009bAcross the peninsula in Frontiertown, Cedar Point’s new attraction for 2010, Shoot the Rapids, is in the early stages of construction with footers being poured and water and electric lines being run.

CP_Demon_Drop_12012009c

Knott’s Berry Farm to add 1980s-era thrill ride in 2010

From the Los Angeles Times

Knott’s Berry Farm’s new attraction for 2010 is an aging hand-me-down thrill ride that’s older than many of the Buena Park theme park’s patrons.

The Demon Drop attraction will be relocated from sister park Cedar Point in Ohio, where the ride debuted in 1983 — when Ronald Reagan was president, Michael Jackson introduced the moonwalk and leg warmers were in fashion.

Knott’s officials confirmed that the installation of the drop tower ride will begin in January with a grand opening scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend 2010. Knott’s will keep the Demon Drop name, color scheme and theme.

The 131-foot-tall tower features a four-passenger ride vehicle that rises up an elevator shaft, slides forward and falls down a curved track at 55 mph. Riders experience 2.5 seconds of weightlessness during the 99-foot drop.

Cedar Point has been trying to sell the $2.5-million Demon Drop for years as a used ride on the secondary market, with no success.

The recycled ride replaces the Screamin’ Swing, a pneumatically powered pendulum ride with a separate up-charge fee which rarely drew a crowd at Knott’s.

The Intamin Freefall thrill ride, which was popular through the 1990s, was replaced in many parks by the newer compressed-air tower rides — such as Knott’s own Supreme Scream, which debuted in 1998. Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia dismantled its aging Freefall ride in 2008.

Knott’s has had its share of problems with Intamin rides. In 2001, a 40-year-old woman fell out of the Perilous Plunge shoot-the-chute water ride and died. In September 2009, the launch cable on the Xcelerator roller coaster snapped and injured two riders.

Screamscape broke the news of the ride relocation after spotting the premature announcement in a city of Buena Park newsletter.