The folks at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey plan to have their newest ride open just in time for Memorial Day weekend, which is good news for theme park ride enthusiasts with both stomachs and balls made of steel. Known as “Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom,” construction on the world’s tallest drop ride was completed last week, and with the additions of the gondolas and other necessities, it will be ready to raise people 41 stories high and drop them at speeds as high as 90 mph. And if that isn’t enough, they built Zumanjaro on the face of Kingda Ka, which is world’s tallest and second-fastest rollercoaster as well, so while you’re being thrown to the ground at an absurd speed, you’ll get to watch the other terrified people through your tears.
But leave it to the theme park people to make the whole thing sound like so much fun.
“First, your eight-person gondola will blast to the top of the 415-foot structure in approximately 30 seconds. You’ll pause for a moment to check out the aerial view of the park and anticipate the rapid heart-racing plummet coming up next. Everything soon becomes a blur as gravity pulls your gondola downwards at 90 miles per hour, reaching ground level again in less than 10 seconds — before you even have time to scream.” (Via My Fox 8)
Here’s the teaser video to give you a better idea of how terrified computer-generated people might look while plummeting to the ground.
Obviously, the leadership at Six Flags is very proud of this world record construction effort, especially since the Drop of Doom was built through some equally scary winter weather.
“Today is special because we not only broke the world record by topping off the world’s tallest drop ride, but also because we battled through some incredibly adverse weather conditions. We had the coldest and snowiest winter that any of us can remember,” said John Fitzgerald, park president at Six Flags Great Adventure. “We appreciate the hard work by Shamrock Construction and the rest of the construction team in overcoming those conditions and getting the job done,” he added. “You would not believe how windy it can get up there in a snow storm.” (Via News Plus Notes)
To give you an idea of how proud Fitzgerald and Co. are of this ride, watch this video of the final track being added to the face of Kingda Ka, and enjoy the truly intense soundtrack that they used for a seemingly boring clip of construction footage.