Demon Drop is the last remaining first generation Intamin freefall in North America.
Located at Dorney Park, there are bigger and more technologically advanced drop towers out there.
Heck, even Dorney Park has a larger drop tower just down the midway.
But few are as intimidating or intense as these original freefalls.
Find out why you shouldn’t miss this drop tower in this review.
In 1982, Intamin debuted the world’s first drop tower at two Six Flags parks
with the freefall model, which would later be known as the first generation drop tower.
This attraction found its way to multiple Six Flags parks across the country.
And in 1983, Cedar Point added one named Demon Drop.
While I never experienced the attraction while it was at Cedar Point, I loved Demon Drop’s placement
on the front midway. The ride looked mighty imposing with its tall teal scaffolding structure.
In 2009, Cedar Point announced Demon Drop would be leaving the park. This wasn’t much
of a surprise considering it was the last 1st generation freefall still operating in the US.
What was shocking was that Demon Drop would be relocated to another Cedar Fair park.
The ride was originally announced as a new ride for Knott’s Berry Farm for the 2010 season.
But just one month after this announcement, pieces of Demon Drop were spotted at Dorney Park.
In a surprise move, Cedar Fair announced Demon Drop would now
become a new-for-2010 ride at Dorney Park. Like Cedar Point, both Knott’s Berry Farm
and Dorney Park had giant S&S drop towers. So Demon Drop wasn’t an ideal fit at either park.
However, Cedar Fair determined the ride would work better at Dorney for two reasons. One, they
decided the ride may not work well in the Ghost Town section of Knott’s where it would be placed.
Two, they decided the lower capacity would work better at a less busy park like Dorney.
One of the biggest downsides with this model is the capacity. The ride operates with 4 person
vehicles and takes nearly 2 minutes to cycle. Demon Drop operates with 3 vehicles on the course,
so it can handle up to 12 riders maximum at a time. Compare that to newer drop towers that
can both cycle faster and/or handle more riders. This capacity combined with the ride’s age is one
of the biggest reasons they were removed from most parks across the globe, primarily in the
2000s. Six Flags removed 4 alone this decade. You only have 4 other freefalls still remaining.
You have Hollywood Action Tower at Movieland Park in Italy and three others in Japan. Those would
be Freefall at Rusutsu Resort, Free Fall at Himeji Central Park, and Free Fall at Nagashima Spa Land.
I have ridden the latter, but none of the others besides this one and Demon Drop, past or present.
But because of Dorney’s crowd levels, Demon Drop is almost always a walk-on.
It also helps this ride is tucked in the back corner of the park in a dead end.
The ride definitely doesn’t have as strong of a presence as it did at Cedar Point. It’s one of
the shorter drop towers out there at 13 stories tall, but it doesn’t help that it was place at
the bottom of a hill. And you can’t really see the attraction until you’re right on top of it.
Compare that to it’s former home where Demon Drop dwarfed everything on that front midway.
When you board the vehicles, you’ll notice they aren’t the most comfortable.
The seats are hard and sort of angled forwards. I think the latter makes the drop more thrilling
since it subtly angles you towards the ground. Then you have these thin over-the-shoulder
restraints, but they have some weight to them and want to keep lowering further on your chest.
I recommend holding onto them once they’re checked to prevent them from ratcheting down more.
The vehicles in general don’t look the best as they resemble metal cages.
And you can see those scorching hot metal brake fins fully exposed on the back of each car.
The vehicles are loaded in trios and dispatched together. One at a time,
you roll backwards into the lift shaft. You then briskly rattle atop the 131 foot or 40 meter tall
tower. I know there are far taller drop towers out there, but the crudeness of this one really gets
my palms sweating. It looks more like scaffolding on a construction site than an amusement ride.
And it only gets scarier. At the top, you slowly roll forwards out of the lift shaft and into the
drop shaft. It’s a far jankier version of Tower of Terror’s 5th dimension scene. Here, you get a
sweet view overlooking Dorney Park, but it’s hard to think about anything but the imminent drop.
And you plunge with no warning. Unlike other drop towers that have a tell, there isn’t one on
Demon Drop. The vehicle is suddenly released and you plummet vertically for 6 stories.
This drop delivers a pure freefall sensation. It’s more gut-wrenching than modern drop towers,
including the one just across the park. I love the power of this drop. I always lose my stomach.
The rest of Demon Drop is where the experience goes south.
Unlike most drop towers that are a single tower, this one has a pullout into a straight section
of track with a series of brakes. So your body transitions from being in the seated position
to lying on your back. It’s a rapid and disorienting shift.
However, this section is a little bumpy so you may want to lift you head off the headrest.
Once stopped, you then are pushed backwards. You’re still on your back at this point.
The vehicle then lowers down to the station level, abruptly snapping back upright.
This is a really jerky maneuver so I strongly advise leaning forwards or else your head can
get whacked. You don’t need to worry about your head moving side-to-side and hitting the harness.
That hard seatback is your concern. I dread this part every time I ride Demon Drop.
You then slowly roll backwards into the station ending the experience.
If the experience I described sounds like a roller coaster, you can make a compelling case.
Demon Drop, like all the first generational freefalls, navigates a complete circuit of track.
Honestly, the course is more reminiscent of a roller coaster than a drop tower.
While I certainly see the argument, I consider Demon Drop a drop tower
based off the smell test. The experience is more comparable to a drop tower than a coaster.
So what would I rate Demon Drop? I would give this attraction an 8 out of 10.
This ride is one of a few that still genuinely scare me. There’s something about the way
this ride looks and the way the vehicle transitions between a lift and drop shaft.
Then that drop is breathtaking. It has way more power than you’d expect for a tower of this scale.
I think the drop has more of a punch than newer Intamin drop towers for comparison.
However, the sequence after the drop is a negative. I’m glad the modern
drop towers found a way to brake riders more comfortably and return them to the station,
because the stop on your back and jerk upright are pretty unpleasant.
That being said I ultimately give this the edge over a lot of newer towers,
including Dominator in the same park, because of the uniqueness and thrill factor.
So those are my thoughts on Demon Drop at Dorney Park.
What are your thoughts on America’s last remaining 1st generation freefall?
Do you like this attraction or have you ridden one of the others out there- past or present.
While this review focused mostly on Demon Drop, I have also ridden Freefall at Nagashima Spa Land
and the experience was nearly identical. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it if you
gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a lot
more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!