Drop towers or shot towers?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Currently, most thrilling tower rides in theme parks come in two varieties; the drop tower and the shot tower (or shot’n’drop tower, in some cases). The drop tower, which has been attempted by quite a few manufacturers but perhaps most famously by Intamin, is the simpler of the two, where riders are pulled to the top of the tower and then dropped straight back down under gravity (or by a downwards launch, in some cases such as the Fabbri towers). Shot towers, which have been most famously attempted by S&S, shoot the riders from the bottom of the tower to the top and then bounce around for a bit before coming back to the bottom. These two types of towers provide very different experiences, so I’d be keen to know; do you prefer drop towers or shot towers?

Personally, I’m more of a drop tower fan myself. I’ve done numerous drop towers from various manufacturers and two shot towers from S&S, and based on those experiences, I definitely tend more towards drop towers. Don’t get me wrong, the S&S shot towers I’ve done were good fun, but I feel like they definitely lacked a certain punch compared to the average drop tower; Ice Blast in particular was rather tame for a tower of that size, from memory. Drop towers, on the other hand, tend to pack an excellent punch; I do love a good drop tower!

But which type of tower ride do you prefer? Are you more of a fan of drop towers or shot towers?

 

[CanobieFan]

I mean, when it comes to S&S rides, I'll go with the Combo tower program but if not, definitely drop towers. I like just hanging out at the top, being able to enjoy the view and look around and appreciate the height

 

[Rob Coasters]

Drop tower pros
-powerful drop
-suspenseful rise

Drop tower cons
-they often wait around a little too long at the top to the point where I catch myself thinking "just get on with it", especially on something like Hangover. this isn't a fear of heights thing, I just want to drop

Shot tower pros
-powerful launch
-suspense as the ride prepares to launch
-generally good drop too

Shot tower cons
-haven't done enough to pick out the weaker ones, but it sounds like from others that bad shot towers are far more common than bad drop towers

So undecided. Like with CanobieFan at the end of the day a combo tower program is superior to either, but a good version of both can be equally good as each other.

 

[Sandman]

Shot or drop?
Mystery Castle: Yes

 

[Hutch]

Do any other manufactures other than S&S make shot towers? Even then, there's plenty of drop tower variety to make them more interesting.

 

[Matt N]

Do any other manufactures other than S&S make shot towers? Even then, there's plenty of drop tower variety to make them more interesting.

Huss have made the odd shot tower here and there, and if I'm remembering correctly, Zamperla and Maurer also briefly dabbled in shot towers of some description, but S&S are certainly the most prolific manufacturer of shot towers by some distance.

 

[Inverting_Thrills]

I do love the airtime that some shot towers give. In particular Dr. Doom at IOA gave me the strongest airtime in the park. However I think I do prefer drop towers overall as the shot tower at Cedar Point was pretty underwhelming.