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| Park: |
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Six Flags St. Louis (travel info) |
| Ride Type: |
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Fixed Ride |
| Status: |
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Operating since 5/19/2006 |
| Production: |
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Intamin Giant Drop |
| Category: |
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Tower Ride |
| Builder: |
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Intamin AG |
| Height: |
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230' |
| Drop Height: |
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217' |
| Max Speed: |
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62 mph |
| Restraints: |
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Horse-collar |
| Visits: |
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20 |
| Rating: |
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| Share this ride: |
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| More About This Ride |
Ride Restrictions:
| Minimum height restriction: |
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48 in. |
History:
Was originally intended to be named Acrophobia. The tower pieces were painted in an alternating color scheme of orange, green, and teal with white accent rings -- prior to being erected at the park during the off-season. When CEO Mark Shapiro made his stop at the park on his national tour of the Six Flags parks in 2006, he ordered the name change to Superman Tower of Power and the tower was repainted again, but in an alternating color scheme of yellow, blue and red with yellow and blue accent rings.
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Ad Info
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| Reviews |
I love DW
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2064
View Park/Ride Count
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This was my first large drop tower and it was great. And the view being on top of the hill in the back of the park is spectacular.
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| 5-6-07 1:18:44 |
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Mamba205
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 42
View Park/Ride Count
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Here is a full Superman Tower of Power, Six Flags St. Louis ride review.
The worst part is waiting an hour stuck between hundreds of people in the que building, and listening to the super loud and annoying TV playing those credit card commercials.
After waiting for an hour in the que line, you finally exit the que building and turn left, where a ride attendant asks how many people are in your group. Based on how many people are in your group, you will be assigned a car. Note: Car 5 gives the best view of the park.
You sit down in one of the 4 comfy seats, pull down your shoulder harness, and then latch the safety belt to the shoulder harness.
As you are waiting there, you hear a "clunk" and feel a slight bump. That is the catch car coming down and attaching to your car, which will take you 20 stories above the ground.
A few seconds later, an attendant comes by and checks your car's restraints.
After everybody is checked, the attendants give the "thumbs up". Now the ride begins.
The catch car slowly lifts up, and then your car begins to slowly ascend at just a few inches per second.
About 10 feet off the ground, the car starts moving a little faster. Then a little faster again at about 25 feet.
What's cool is that the base of Superman sits 54 feet above the base of the Collossus ferris wheel, which is 180 feet tall. If Six Flags St. Louis was flat, you would be 37 feet above the top of Collossus on Superman. But, add that extra 54 feet, and that puts you 91 feet above Collossus at the top of Superman. That means that you are 1.5 as high as Collossus! Also, right when you lift out of the station, you are already nearly halfway to the top of Collossus!
The car remains traveling at a few mph until about 75 feet off the ground, where the magnetic brakes end. At about 75 feet, the brakes are no longer slowing the car down, and it begins to quickly speed up to 12 mph-or 16 feet per second. This surge in acceleration is very noticeable, and it is very unsettling to me. You can hear and feel the car rattling as it rushes upwards. It feels as if you are going to fly off the top of the tower, and keep going into outer space!
Again, since Superman sits 54 feet above the base of Collossus, you are almost to the top of Collossus before the car starts picking up speed. So, just when you think you are about to slow down because you are level with the top of Collossus, you start going faster and faster! Scary!
At about 25 feet from the top, the car slows down suddenly, giving a nice pop of airtime. It feels as if the car has completely stopped, but it is just traveling upwards really slowly. A few seconds later, the cables stop winding and the car stops at the very top-217 feet in the air. You feel a slight bit of airtime as it stops.
And there you are, sitting 217 feet in the air, well above anything else in the park. If you are in Car 5, you get a breathtaking bird's-eye view of the park, and if you are in Car 3, you get an amazing and relaxing view of the peaceful tree-filled hills (and part of Screamin' Eagle way down below).
The cars drop at different times, based on the number of the car. E.g., Car 1 drops first and Car 6 drops last. There is a several second delay between each drop.
If you are in any other car than Car 1, you get to listen to the loud "clunk" of the catch cars letting go of the cars, and then hearing the sound of the cars "wshhhhing" down the tower-and then hearing the sound of the "hmmmm" of the magnetic brakes.
You then wonder when you will drop. It will only be in a few seconds.
Then, it's your turn to drop. "Clunk", the catch car releases. You seem to feel the drop before you hear the catch car releasing. If you are scared of not knowing when the drop is coming, you can actually feel the drop before you actually "feel it" (as in butterflies in your stomach). By that, I mean you don't feel the first 10 feet of the fall-but you know you are falling-and then you begin to feel the butterflies of the fall the rest of the way down. So, it's not like the drop is all of a sudden.
The drop is very intense. Petite people, like me, will get some serious air between our butts and the seat. The feeling of the fall is pure bliss. My stomach hurts a little during the drop, because I cannot tollerate that much airtime or "butterflies"-but it's still fun. You lose sense of which way is up or down, because you are experiencing weightlessness-accelerating towards Earth at 9.86 meters per second/second. You hear the sound of the air rushing around you. It's really quiet.
Less than 3 seconds later, you hit the magnetic brakes-after falling for about 140 feet. You can hear the sound of the magnetic brakes really well, "hmmmmm". You feel the g's pull on you for just about 2 seconds. The worst is over.
Your car is gently lowered to the ground and then stopped. I always am laughing really hard at this point, because my body is full of adrenaline.
You unbuckle the safety belt and pull up on your harness.
You get up amazed, and exit through the other Superman building.
All in all, Superman Tower of Power was a great addition to Six Flags St. Louis. In a way, I'm glad that Six Flags Astroworld closed, because if they didn't, we wouldn't have this ride!
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| 7-16-08 14:36:03 |
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steel
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2391
View Park/Ride Count
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Freefall... pure and simple.
We need more rides like this in the world.
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| 9-1-08 19:16:47 |
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