The Orlando Free Fall is the world’s tallest free standing drop tower.
Located at Icon Park just off International Drive, this massive thrill ride stands 430 feet
or 131 meters tall. But is this drop tower worth a pit stop on an Orlando vacation?
Find out in this review! Icon Park is an entertainment complex adjacent
to I-Drive. This area gets a lot of foot traffic and it’s home to the tallest rides in Orlando.
You have four rides over 400 feet tall. You have the Ferris Wheel, the Orlando Star Flyer,
the Sling Shot, and most impressively the Orlando Free Fall. The latter was built by
Funtime and opened just a few months ago. Just to put this drop tower’s height in
perspective, it’s nearly 100 feet taller than Busch Gardens Tampa’s Falcon’s Fury.
And it’s just 10 feet shorter than the tallest building in Orlando.
The only drop tower taller is Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom at Six Flags Great Adventure,
which is fixed to the side of Kingda Ka. But the Orlando Free Fall does
get the record as the tallest free-standing drop tower and it has quite the presence.
Funtime hasn’t built too many drop towers in the United States.
The only other one in the United States is Drop Line at Dollywood, which is considerably shorter.
Most of Funtime’s drop towers are found overseas. This is a gyro drop tower, meaning it spins on the
way up. That allows everyone to get a full 360 degree view of their surroundings. And
since Florida is so flat, you can see for miles. The view alone is worth the cost of admission.
So what do you need to pay? As of this recording, each ride on the Orlando Free Fall costs $12.
There is no wristband, which is unfortunate because I’d love to
get more rerides on this thrill ride. On the bright side, this attraction
seems to always be a walk-on. The gondola seats up to 30 riders and if anything,
you may have to wait a few minutes on the drop tower for more riders to arrive.
Prior to boarding, you need to pass through a metal detector
to make sure you have no loose articles on you.
While you ride, you place all your belongings in a bin that’s placed by your feet.
Once seated, you pull down your over-the-shoulder restraint. The harness is fine. It reminds me of
the Gerstlauer over-the-shoulder restraints. The ride begins by slowly climbing the 43 story
tall tower. You spin both on the way up and at the top. And you feel every bit of that height
since you realize you’re level with the other towering attractions at Icon Park.
How long you stay at the top is at the operator’s discretion and it just adds to the suspense.
But before you drop, there’s one more trick. The seats tilt.
They may not go 90 degrees like Falcon’s Fury, but they tilt an appreciable 30 degrees,
so you’re staring right at the ground for that record-breaking descent.
The tilt is similar to the Intamin stand-up drop towers like Acrophobia at Six Flags Over Georgia.
Funtime had a tilt like this on Highlander at Hansa Park, but unfortunately the feature
wasn’t working the day I was there. On all my rides on the Orlando Free Fall,
the drop occurred almost immediately after the tilt, but it’s my understanding this is
also operator dependent. There is a little tell for the drop since the gondola starts raising
slightly before the release, but it’s tricky to feel it onride due to the riding position.
I got sustained floater airtime the whole way down, which is pretty freaky when you’re staring
at the asphalt beneath you. This one only offered a brief stomach drop at the start,
but that aforementioned airtime with that crazy speed more than compensated. In terms of power,
I think this has more oomph than the other Funtime towers I’ve experienced. This is closer in power
to the second generation Intamin drop towers with the height of a Lex Luthor or Zumanjaro.
Before giving my rating, I want to talk about the best time to ride.
This drop tower has super long hours. It runs from 10 am to 2 am most days.
No other park in Orlando is open that late, so this is the perfect way to end your night.
Especially since its eerily silent and extra chilling as it gets later into the night.
So what would I rate the Orlando Free Fall? I would give this drop tower a 9.5 out of 10.
This is one of the best drop towers in the world. Between the ride’s hulking heights,
thrilling tilt feature, and floaty drop, it checks most of the boxes for a drop tower.
While I still prefer Tower of Terror as the state’s best drop tower, I think the Orlando Free
Fall is the scariest drop tower. I prefer this ride to Falcon’s Fury since it has more power.
I do prefer the stand-up tilting drop towers from Intamin, but there aren’t many other drop
towers I prefer. I strongly recommend hitting this tower if you find yourself in Orlando.
So those are my thoughts on the Orlando Free Fall at Icon Park. What are your thoughts
on this gargantuan drop tower? How do you think it compares to the others out there?
Let me know your thoughts down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it
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coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!