While Elitch Gardens’ 220-foot Tower of Doom stands silent and closed, Lakeside Amusement Park plans to open a similar tower drop ride this weekend.
The new ride – Zoom – features a 140-foot drop, but its design is different from Elitch’s Tower of Doom and the Superman Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom where a 13-year-old girl’s feet were severed at the ankles Thursday, said Connie Moore, a spokeswoman for Lakeside.
“It’s brand new, and with all the inspections it’s a safe ride,” she said.
The precise opening time depended on how quickly some grout work dried, Moore said.
Zoom is made by the Texas-based company ARM/Larson. The other two rides are made by Intamin AG, a Swiss company. They have the same design, though the Kentucky ride drops passengers 177 feet and the Denver ride drops passengers about 220 feet, Brooke Gabbert, an Elitch Gardens spokeswoman, said.
“We have shut it down until we find out what happened in Kentucky,” Gabbert said. “We want to make sure it’s safe for our guests.”
The free-fall ride drops passengers 22 stories. It has been in operation at Elitch Gardens since 1997.
Visitors walking by the closed purple and orange structure at Elitch Gardens Friday had mixed reactions to Thursday’s accident.
Tamara Martinez, 34, of Aurora, said her three sons, ages 9, 11 and 15, rode the Tower of Doom last summer, all summer long. “Now I wouldn’t let them go on it,” she said.
For one visitor the added attention to the rides restored her confidence in them.
“They’ll check them so much more that I won’t be worried,” said Emily Guyom, 21, of Salt Lake City.
Some just wanted to get on.
“I was mad it wasn’t open right now,” said Kyle Schale, 16, of Westminster.
Staff writer Simona Gallegos can be reached at 303-954-1555 or sgallegos@denverpost.com.
