Giant Drop Retiring 6/02/21

[Caust1]

Hi Guys, 

Please understand that I'm new here and have 0 reputation as of yet, but my best mate works at Dreamworld and has been told that the Giant Drop will be retiring in February, Ardent/Dreamworld are apparently making an announcement in 1-2 weeks and will offer final rides similar to Buzz Saw, though I am pretty shocked as the tower is really iconic to the park and is definitely another nail in the current ride count especially in thrills that build your heart rate up. Yes the ride is getting on in years but a refurb similar to Falcons Fury would've been better in my opinion and also the proposed train track is now really close to that area so that could also explain it. I understand people will think this is my friend telling bullshit but he has always been honest/trustworthy to me in regards to what is happening in the park, I have only come across this forum recently so I thought I would give everyone the heads up. 

Cheers, 

Cameron

Edited January 1, 2022 by Slick

[Vidgamer]

Sorry mate, they just refurbished the second gondola and told the stock market there were no ride retirements coming. It isn’t happening. 

[Moderator]

All members are welcome to share rumours and gossip.

That said, this @Caust1 account was created by an individual who has a history of sharing misinformation dating back several years, so we've restricted this account's access.

Keep in mind that it is most likely bollocks but feel free to discuss this rumour...

 

 

[themagician]

I find it hard to believe since they’ve just done some refurbishment on the gondolas. It’s got to have another couple years left at a minimum 

[Im Hungry]

Greg would never have his staff refurbish a ride only to announce a retirement in the next two months.

[Rivals]

reached out to a staff member and can confirm this is false. 

Edited December 30, 2021 by Rivals

[veovis]

It will be a sad day when it eventually happens. Seeing the tower when heading towards dreamworld is iconic.

[Rivals]

33 minutes ago, veovis said:

It will be a sad day when it eventually happens. Seeing the tower when heading towards dreamworld is iconic.

the day it happens they will definitely replace or upgrade the tower to a falcon’s fury type of ride. The ride is too iconic for them to let it leave that easily

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, Rivals said:

the day it happens they will definitely replace or upgrade the tower to a falcon’s fury type of ride. The ride is too iconic for them to let it leave that easily

I’d argue TOT was far more iconic than GD and they were happy to let that go. 

Whilst I don’t think it’ll happen short term, the minute upkeep outweighs perceived or real benefit, GD will go. 

[Rivals]

yeah TOT was more iconic but, we all knew that was on the Chopping block once management said they were going to be removing older and unreliable attractions, but the tower itself is iconic. imo whatever attraction was the last one standing, will be around for a long time

[jhunt2]

I agree, the tower has arguably become more iconic than the rides themselves. You can see it for miles, and it has a huge presence in the park and the skyline. I think it's inevitable that the cost of upkeep for GD will eventually become too much to justify, but I'd hope Dreamworld would see the benefit in a new tower-based ride to take its place, even if it means a rebuild of the tower.

That being said, the recent gondola refurbishment suggests we're speculating on something that won't happen for at least a few years yet.

[Coasterjoe]

Nonsense 

[themagician]

When they do retire this Giant drop, because it’s such an icon for the park, I’d love them to construct a she new Giant drop. New and taller tower, with potentially Falcons fury technology. Maybe one side is normal, the other side is normal. Or it’s seats the entire way round. They could even try get the worlds tallest drop ride record again. The new tallest drop ride is about to open in Orlando and will be about 131 metres tall. The current Giant Drop only needs to be 20 metres taller to easily break the record. That can also allow for the removal of the mess that currently is around the GD. 

[Rivals]

i would love to see them redo that entire area, put in the new worlds tallest drop ride, as well as a new roller coaster (RMC single rail or mack power splash) in the old RHLR area and a pathway connecting Steel Taipan to this new area, then allow the theme / aesthetic from the steel taipan area to flow down into this two new attractions and created some sort of themed / styled area. imo that would be a really cool and welcomed addition to the park

[westical]

On 30/12/2021 at 7:35 PM, Caust1 said:

Yes the ride is getting on in years

I see what you did there. 

Dear Mods - please change the title so it’s clear it’s unconfirmed, k thx cya

[joz]

I mean the date in the title is 2021. Seems pretty unconfirmed to me.

 

You know it's bad when people don't even bother leaving a fountain.

[TaipanLover]

If there's anyone who still believes this, I don't think changing the title to "unconfirmed" is going to help them

[Guest 239]

Aren't drop towers one of the easiest rides to maintain because their core mechanics are fairly basic? From what I know the main problems usually involve the gondolas?

In saying that I'd be surprised if Dreamworld get rid of the Giant Drop any time in the next decade or two. 

[DarkSide]

the giant drop isn't going anywhere or anytime soon

[TaipanLover]

3 hours ago, Dom said:

Aren't drop towers one of the easiest rides to maintain because their core mechanics are fairly basic? From what I know the main problems usually involve the gondolas?

In saying that I'd be surprised if Dreamworld get rid of the Giant Drop any time in the next decade or two. 

Magnets are a pretty crazy at doing their job well for long periods of time

[bladex]

NOT GOWNA HAPPEN

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 02/01/2022 at 4:22 PM, Dom said:

Aren't drop towers one of the easiest rides to maintain because their core mechanics are fairly basic? From what I know the main problems usually involve the gondolas?

In saying that I'd be surprised if Dreamworld get rid of the Giant Drop any time in the next decade or two. 

Thread is BS - but just to answer this a little - the most problematic part of a drop ride is actually the safety systems. Cables can be inspected and replaced per manufacturer, and GD's gondolas have just had a refurb so by the sounds, pretty straightforward stuff, as long as the running gear, cable and magnets are all maintained well. All pretty basic stuff (then again most ride mechanisms are fairly simple in their operation, it's making them safe that gets complex)

As for the safety systems, the PLC systems on Space Probe were fickle - launching all enabled gondolas occurred simultaneously, and if all gondolas didn't arrive at the top within a space of each other, the ride would fault. One of the modules (I believe it was module 2) suffered a fault at some stage and was repaired (badly) by an in house electrician. It never worked the same again, and this is why one gondola would rise slower than the rest. 

But this would cause the ride to fault as the first gondola to arrive would start the timer in the PLC and the last one wouldn't arrive in time due to the slower running winch. The maintenance team fixed this issue by patching a couple one-shot timers into the two faster units to delay their 'arrival' signal to the PLC a few seconds to give the last gondola a chance to catch up. 

It still happened occasionally, especially with weight differences, but although they consulted Intamin, they couldn't undo the damage done without replacing the entire module - (something that would have shut the ride down and required the station buildings to be partially dismantled). So the ride continued to operate on life support, and module 2 was taken out of service whenever things acted up too badly. 

 

--- I've told this story many times over the years, but this is the first time i've told this with the hindsight of the Dreamworld Inquest - and for the first time i've found myself thinking - gee those maintenance guys were a bit blase about things, weren't they?

[TaipanLover]

And the snowy maintenance team would crawl all over the running ride. Times were different when we relied more on darwinism. Everything seems 'safe' until it's suddenly not anymore and the rules have to change. 

[Slick]

On 2/1/22 at 4:22 PM, Dom said:

Aren't drop towers one of the easiest rides to maintain because their core mechanics are fairly basic?

Simplicity of design also means a greater reliance for the fundamental parts to operate correctly 100% the time, and when they're not looked after, the opportunity for them to go really bad happens really quickly.

Dreamworld's Giant Drop has had its own issues, namely with the cable holders, which landed them in the news in the early 2000's when a cable holder was yanked, resulting in Dreamworld installing those steel meshes above the gondolas.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

2 hours ago, TaipanLover said:

And the snowy maintenance team would crawl all over the running ride. Times were different when we relied more on darwinism. Everything seems 'safe' until it's suddenly not anymore and the rules have to change. 

Bang on. Snowy Surfing wasn't the only cowboy activity either (although it was one of the few they were silly enough to capture on film). The one that interested me the most was someone riding a boomerang with the harness up.
Interestingly the harness is semi-redundant as its near impossible to get out of the train when it's moving. 

The safety system on the demon consisted of a reflector on the locking 'lever' that was scanned by a beam at the rear entrance to the station. The PLC would count the reflectors (and know the distances between them) so it could tell if all the locking levers were up or down, but not if each individual harness was (I believe this was standard on arrow\vekoma coasters of the 80's and I think Corkscrew had similar systems in place)

But yes - as the saying goes - its all fun and games until someone loses an eye.