Volume 1, No. 9. June 1, 2001
It's a tower drop!
Funtown Splashtown USA in Saco, Maine, announces
the arrival of Dragon's Descent, May 18, 2001. Measurements: 198 feet
high (60 meters), 12 seats. Delivered by S&S Power.
Heavy snowfall during the winter
forced Funtown Splashtown to delay its season opener by one week. Never one
to buck tradition without a good cause, the park therefore moved Mother's Day
back a week, too. The delay did have an upside. The Friday before the adjusted
opening day was also traditionally Physics Day at the park for state high school
students, which provide the new Turbo Drop the perfect audience for its debut.
"That was a great ride for students, I tell you," said CEO and President Kenneth
Cormier. Students studied the ride's centrifugal forces and negative g's, taking
glasses of water to the top and watching the still-formed water suspended in
air for a split second as the glass-holding students dropped faster than gravity.
Cormier decided not to schedule a big opening ceremony for his new ride because
of the time constraints. "I just felt, 'Let's get opened and see what happens,'"
he said. What happened was instant popularity for Dragon's Descent, where
queues reached a park record 45-minute length the following Memorial Day weekend
Saturday. Cormier himself has yet to try out his newest attraction. "I'm trying
to build up courage," he said. "If I see someone older than me go on it, that
will be my key to go on it."
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