Luna 0 #1 September 16, 2002 Has anyone seen this? New ride for next year at King's Dominion amusement park in Virginia. Ride is called Drop Zone, and the marketing blurb on this page says that it "simulates the sensation of skydiving." Yeah, right! I guess what makes me mad is thinking about all the whuffos who will ride it and then say that they have experienced the "sensation of skydiving" so they know what it's like. Can you imagine talking to one of these guys and trying to explain that it really isn't at all like skydiving? And of course they will believe that they don't need to really ever skydive now that they have had the sensation. Think this ride will cost DZ's tandem money? Maybe not, but it's possible. Obviously whuffos came up with the idea to market it that way. Might still be a fun ride, just don't market it like that! http://www.kingsdominion.com/attractions_rides_featured.jsp Luna I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stacy 0 #2 September 16, 2002 do the people who ride it have to buy beer when they exit the ride? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carbon 0 #3 September 16, 2002 No...then it's nothing like skydiving!-Carbon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
narcimund 0 #4 September 16, 2002 What are you angry about? First Class Citizen Twice Over Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybytch 259 #5 September 16, 2002 QuoteAnd of course they will believe that they don't need to really ever skydive now that they have had the sensation. Good. imho the sport doesn't need the kind of person who would think that an amusement park ride comes close to jumping out of airplanes... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luna 0 #6 September 16, 2002 I'm not angry really, I just think it's stupid to market a ride like that as anything to do with skydiving. Every time I talk to a whuffo about what skydiving feels like, they don't want to believe that you don't get the stomach-in-the-throat sensation of falling. I tell them, but they say they just don't believe that you don't. Marketing a ride like this, which will give you that sensation in a big way, as feeling like skydiving will just make it impossible to get across what it really feels like. Already they don't want to believe me, even though I've done it. Now some marketing hacks tell them that this ride will give you the feeling of skydiving, they will never believe that you don't feel like you are falling. I guess it doesn't really matter what whuffos think it feels like, but then there are the fence-sitters who might like to try it, but not if it's going to feel like that. Maybe I'm wrong to care, but I don't much like the idea of the blatant mis-representation of what the sport is like to the general public. JMHO. Luna I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,426 #7 September 16, 2002 >I just think it's stupid to market a ride like that as anything to >do with skydiving. Well, it's done a lot. Count how many extreme skiing, driving, flying etc games there are in arcades. >they don't want to believe that you don't get the stomach-in-the- >throat sensation of falling. I did, at least for my first 5 jumps or so. So for me, that feeling would be accurate. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheBile 0 #8 September 16, 2002 Just tell the Whuffos that they are more likely to die on that thing than if they did the real deal. Tell them if there's a malfunction on that piece of shit they don't get a second chance. Skydivers do. It's called a reserve. Some of that may not be strictly true, but tell 'em anyway. Gerb I stir feelings in others they themselves don't understand. KA'CHOW ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pop 0 #9 September 16, 2002 I think this would be a pretty cool ride to try. It said it last for 1 minute and 33 seconds. That's a bonus. I love amusement park rides!7 ounce wonders, music and dogs that are not into beer Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jraf 0 #10 September 16, 2002 Selling this ride as "giving a sensation of skydiving" is an obvious misrepresentation. I have been on these rides at Kennywood in Pittsburgh, PA and at Universal Studion, Orlando, FL. It's a great ride. Real fun. Nothing to do with skydiving. It might be compared to bungee jumping, but that too is a far shot. POP hate to disappoint you but the 1 min 33 sec is with getting into your seets, buckling up ascent to the top and a drop of 2 secs. It bounces off, goes up a bit and finaly comes down. Yet as I said, a cool ride.jraf Me Jungleman! Me have large Babalui. Muff #3275 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #11 September 16, 2002 The latest extreme sport. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sassy 0 #13 September 16, 2002 Oh, that was just too cute. Made me laugh this morning, not an easy thing. Thanks Sassy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wlie 0 #14 September 16, 2002 I took a ride in a similar contraption back in 1997. It was at their Great America park in San Jose, CA. Scary enough for me to do it just once. Kind of like getting dropped in an elevator. But definitely nothing close to exiting a plane. A hot air balloon on the other hand, I can somewhat see the correlation.My other ride is the relative wind. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drmisha9000 0 #15 September 16, 2002 QuotePOP hate to disappoint you but the 1 min 33 sec is with getting into your seets, buckling up ascent to the top and a drop of 2 secs. It bounces off, goes up a bit and finaly comes down. That sucks. They made it sound like the ride will last longer than i guess it really will Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
howardwhite 5 #16 September 16, 2002 Sounds like the ride on top of the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas. At least that one starts at about 1,500 AGL with a spectacular view. Whuffos I was with were terrified, and wondered how I could do "this." HW Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tombuch 0 #17 September 16, 2002 QuoteJust tell the Whuffos that they are more likely to die on that thing than if they did the real deal. Tell them if there's a malfunction on that piece of shit they don't get a second chance. Some of that may not be strictly true, but tell 'em anyway. None of that is true. The death rate of participants in skydiving is something like 1:1,000. Perhaps the best numbers we can generate are for the tandem program at something like 1 fatality per 450,000 jumps. Of course those accident numbers don't even touch nonfatal injury-only accidents. I'm actually on the road for a few weeks and don't have my notes handy with the actual numbers, but the above are pretty close...e-mail me in a few weeks and I'll send along the real numbers, or check the S&TA area of www.ranchskydive.com. I should have an article uploaded in a few days that addresses this issue. Look, it is fine to believe that skydiving is not dangerous, but it is, and we should all understand that, and we should be quick to share that basic understanding with the wuffo's. -tom buchananTom Buchanan Instructor Emeritus Comm Pilot MSEL,G Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smcc13 0 #18 September 16, 2002 Kings Island in Ohio has the same ride there with the same name. It's nothing special & nothing compared to skydiving. if you have to wait more than 15 minutes to ride it don't waste your time. just my little opinion Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,426 #19 September 16, 2002 There is a ride at Magic Mountain in LA called the riddler or something where you stand in the ride, and it whips you through a rollercoaster course. At one point you drop 50 feet or so and level out a few feet above the ground - the sensation is eerily like a toggle hook turn. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cornholio 0 #20 September 16, 2002 QuoteI took a ride in a similar contraption back in 1997. It was at their Great America park in San Jose, CA. Yup, that ride is called the "Drop Zone" and the drop is about 200 feet. I have been on it several times and I think it's a blast. It is NOT like skydiving, but the sensations are quite thrilling. I freak out my whuffo friends by not holding on, lifiting my legs, and looking straight down while it's dropping yelling (WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!) They are so terrified....LOL The one at Kings Dominion, I imagine by looking at it, is the same thing at Great America, just holds more people and about 70 feet more freefall. The rides and skydiving are two different things and if you look at them that way and enjoy them for those two different reasons, then there is no problem, and it is quite pleasureable [sp?]. Similar to how people compare bungee jumping to skydiving. They are quite different with different sensations and dangers. The same goes for this ride. To a whuffo, the "skydiving ride" is a great sales and marketing ploy. If anything, I think this would help the skydivng business because people will have enjoyed this ride and think that skydiving is similar. It isn't, but it might get them to come out to the dz or talk to their skydiving friends about jumping. Butthead: Whoa! Burritos for breakfast! Beavis: Yeah! Yeah! Cool! bellyflier on the dz.com hybrid record jump Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lummy 4 #21 September 16, 2002 Along those lines, has anyone tried the newest ones where they put you in a harness that is conencted to wires (sorta like a giant swing), winch you up and let you swing? They advertise it as "the sensation of skydiving and hang gliding combined"I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. eat sushi, get smoochieTTK#1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #22 September 16, 2002 I've done that a couple times, did one back in 1996 and another in 1997 or so. Fun, not anything like skydiving, but fun none the less. Just too damn expensive, I'm going to stick to jump'n.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slowfaller 0 #23 September 16, 2002 QuoteJust too damn expensive, I'm going to stick to jump'n. ROFLMAO!!!! Geez Dave, your killin me. To expensive You could probably build on of those towers in your backyard with all the money that's been spent on jumpn' --"Someday you will die and somehow somethings going to steal your carbon" -MM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #24 September 16, 2002 That's a good point, but I could tie a rope to a tire and tie that to the tree back there, accomplishing the same thing...--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zenister 0 #25 September 16, 2002 yeah theres one in Reno i tried a while back.. nothing like skydiving..more like near ground hang gliding..but a great ride...____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
