Tower of Terror

Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa

Insanity. That's it in a nutshell.

Whatever else you might call this ride, "insanity" covers all the bases. I thought I'd have an easy go at this one, since I had already been on a similar-looking ride called "Oblivion" at Alton Towers in England. It LOOKED similar... climb the lift, go straight down into a hole, run back to the station. No biggie.

It is VERY different than Oblivion, regardless of how similar it may appear.

The first thing you notice is the mine cart that you'll be riding in. Unlike Oblivion's open-front cars, where you can look between your feet, these are closed and have a large "nose" on the front. This means that you can NOT see the track in front of you. More on that later. You begin the long, slow climb up the lift.

Once at the top, you have a lovely view of the Gold Reef City Casino and Hotel. A full turn faces you back where you came from, affording a view of downtown Johannesburg. You'll have a long time to admire the view. You're going to be up here for awhile.

This is the point where Tower of Terror earns its name. Unlike Oblivion, where the car teeters and stops for a couple of seconds, where you can look between your feet and see where you're about to go, this Tower lets you have none of that security. The front of the car blocks ANY view of the track. You just look out into space... and it's a LONG way down! Secondly, this is no stopping point. The car just CREEPS forward, agonizingly slowly, little by little. The front of the car begins to tip. Then tip some more. Soon, you are nearly vertical, pointing at the ground, and still you just inch forward. You begin to plead with the ride to just DO IT, drop the car, get it over with.... but no. Even after the car reaches the fully vertical angle, you aren't off the creeper. It takes almost a FULL MINUTE to go over the edge. The anticipation is unreal. Then it happens.

With no 'click', 'thunk', or ANY other such warning, the creeper finally lets go of the car, and in a split second, you go from a near standstill to 60mph, STRAIGHT DOWN. There is a mining shack in the way, but no matter. You "crash" right through the roof of it.

Notice that NOBODY has their hands in the air? This is as good an indication as any of the intensity of this ride. Once you go through the roof of the shack, you enter total darkness. Still, you fall. Eventually (a split second, actually, but it FEELS longer), you level out below ground, then rise up and back into the daylight. A speedy turn takes you back to the station, but that's just a means of getting from point A to point B. The terror in this tower is the superb use of anticipation at the top, and the insanity of the actual drop. It's probably the most intensity per foot of track of any coaster in the world.