The First Generation Intamin Freefall at Six Flags Over Georgia filmed here, on and off ride during the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain 1997 USA Tour.
I loved the Free Fall. Growing up in the south it was a right of passage. If you put a penny on your knee it would float right at your head since your falling at the same speed.
Thats so crazy. Before i even read the comments i was telling my husband about the freefall as a child and how my dad used to put a penny on his knee. Lmaooo small world
Was one of the most interesting rides at SFOG. It was an engineering marvel to me how it made the switch from upper to lower track. Rode it quite a few times back to back. Sad to see it gone
the dings and banging of that ride, the jerking.. oh man it gave me mini heart attacks every time. you never get used to it. I rode that thing for almost 15 years and it's almost as if they purposely kept it 'uncomfortable' for the shock value lol. the rickety-ness of it made you feel like it could fail you at any point. i will never understand how i can hate a ride so much, yet love it just as much. FreeFall was the only ride that made me feel that way.
***** Exactly! So many of the new rides are like riding on a cloud and there is no "danger" feel to them. The cyclone, the mind bender and of course the scream machine are the only rides left for the real terror junkies like us! But honestly, nothing compares to all that banking and clanging from the freefall! No wonder Six Flags has a hard time making money every year. Theres not that many "scary" rides anymore.
Thanks for posting this video. I rode this back in '92 and I'll never forget it. What the video doesn't capture is when the cab exits the elevator and is clunking its way over to the hole it drops you through. All you see is Atlanta in the distance, the tree tops below you and that gaping hole just bigger than the cab. Then the cab stops and for the first time since you got on this terrifying contraption, there is silence.. In the video the cab drops almost instantly, but when you are there it feels like a looong time.. you know what's going to happen and the part of you that insanely regrets having gotten on this ride is desperately hanging onto the hope that the release mechanism has jammed and it's not going to drop. The anticipation is intense until suddenly, with a clang, you're weightless. My relief, when I got out of the cab, quickly turned to horror when my GF at the time yelled "Again!" and we took the next cab up :) Like others have said, I hated it and loved it at the same time. I was sad to learn it was dismantled. I think this ride was scarier than the modern ones is partly because the cab was a container on a partly vertical conveyor. The realization that it wasn't mechanically fixed to a track made you feel more vulnerable and you knew you were totally falling.
I cried when I was 3 because I was the youngest child and not tall enough to ride it back in 1986. My dad took me to play with the remote control boats to make up for it. The next year I got to ride (I had to stand on my tip toes lol) and my sisters told me, once it gets to the top and scoots outside, you say 1-2-3-FALL! I did that for the rest of my life when I rode it. I wish it were still there.
I know they removed this in 2006, but I was able to ride it with my mom a few months before that and I remember her telling me about the first time she rode it. I got on this not expecting the drop and when I got off my knees were shakin so bad I could barely stand. I wish they would make more of these!
It probably lasted longer than the Edge at Great America did. It was within its first year that it had that accident, and they scrapped it two years later because nobody would ride it anymore.
I gazed at this thing in amazement as a child, and it was gone when I returned over 15 years later. I don't know if the return to station part stayed this smooth until it's closing, but this one looks delightful compared to some of the other ones on youtube.
I remember this. I went to SFOG in 1989 for a 8th grade school trip and I was too scared to ride it. But, when I went back in 1992 I was no longer a scaredy cat and I rode it and I was like oh that's not so bad. I rode it every time after when I went to the park over the late 90's and 2002 was the last year I went to the park and now Free fall is just a memory. Thanks for posting this tho brings back the memories of my youth.
I honestly LOVED this ride, it was so fun. I know they sold it for scrap, but I wish it was in my backyard along with the Scream Machine. Thank you for posting.
I remember when they first opened the “10 story free fall” back in the 80s . It was my favorite ride to ride. Every thing else was a bit of a “let down” compared to it. Every year we would go, I looked to ride it . I’d hate it if it wasn’t working. I knew that I had to wait another year. Riding down I-20 at night, I liked to look at the lights flashing on the top of it . A very fond nostalgic memory
Wow … totally forgot how we would see Free Fall & the Great Gasp from the highway!! We used to get so excited over that when we were kids-who saw it first on the way there lol. And some place called Baby Does, on the way if you came from North Atlanta.
This is major nostalgia for me. I had a season pass to SFOG in the late 90s as a teenager and went every Saturday with friends. Went on Free Fall hundreds of times probably. Thanks for uploading!
Was there in 85 and 86. This video makes it look tame and I regret never riding it. But I have a good fear of heights and when I saw this thing I said nope nope and went and rode The Mind Bender instead.
Watching from below, it seemed to stop at the top, pop you forward, then drop. In actuality, there was no hesitation. You got to the top and Bang, Boom, you were dropping before you could bat an eye! My boyfriend was so STARTLED all you could hear on the way down was, "Oh shiiiiiiiii*!!" With there being no line to speak of, I herded Mr. Fraidy Cat right back around to ride it again. I loved it lol!!
Intamin 1982 (83?) I remember sitting on a motel balcony above the park when it opened that year. Back when Gasp was still up also. At the time, these dominated the skyline.
Z-Force became Flashback at SFMM, which I never got to ride. Funnily enough, there was a Looping Starship called "Z-Force" at SFMM that got replaced with Batman: The Ride; you can see it in the video Kidsongs: Ride the Roller Coaster.
Lol, hell yeah, me too. Grew up going to SFOG. Z force was the only ride in the park I wouldn’t ride. Just didn’t trust it. Remember Freefall, Georgia cyclone, Ninja, all when they were the new rides. Great times!
He certainly achieved what he set out to, they were really exciting rides, but like everything, there's always something a bit bigger and better around the corner, well a bit bigger ! :)
@@sharkheadism there's one from the 80s at magic mountain. The video name is magic mountain in the 80s and u will see a black background with the old magic mountain logo.
no, it was old and they replaced it with drop zone. I met the guy who invented it. he said he came up with the idea after hearing people say it would be fun to jump from the I-85 truck stop sign if they wouldn't die/get hurt.
I rode it at 6 flags great adventure in New Jersey. Around 1995 I think. Very Kool because it seemed you were weightless for a few seconds. The batman roller coaster was there back then. A looping sit down style with your legs hanging. I think the free fall was Italian design ...? Gone but not forgotten 💕 it! But hated it 😜
Good memories, good times! The most fun thing to do on that ride was to wait till you got to the top, place a penny or whatever on your knee, and when it dropped you saw that coin hover in mid air before it vanished...Ahhhh good times, good times!
I'm late as hell but THANK YOU psyclonesteve. This and your video of the Viper brings back memories of great times when you could drop your 13 or 14 yr old off with their friends and let them enjoy a day without worrying if they might get jumped leaving the park. My best friend at the time used to park at Sam's up the road to save money on parking and we never got bothered, even leaving well after dark (they used to close at midnight sometimes back then) Its people like you that help me remember things by posting old videos of places from my youth. THANK YOU again sir.
Rode it several times! You never knew when you would drop & I was always worried it wouldn’t stop & would fly through the woods!🤣 We also did the penny trick when we rode it!
this is the first free falling coaster I'd ever been on... I think was 8? 9? ....always hated the feeling, wasn't my favorite ride in the park... but looking back on it... it was so tame compared to what you hace today.
I rode this once in the early 90’s on a trip to Six Flags with my sister before I moved out west. I truly don’t remember it because no this design. But it had to be, right?
Used to ride Freefall at Six Flags Magic Mountain same ride and I am not sure why but these 1st generation freefall rides are much more scary than the new ones. I have ridden Lex Luthor and Supreme Scream and they were 2 and three time higher but dont have that same dropping feeling why??
It seems like it's because the new ones are attached to some mechanism. With these it looks like the car is literally dropped in free fall down a track.
Best free fall ride ever! I Remember this growing up. I love how fast is goes up. Man you got some good footage. What kind of camera were you using? Im sure it was quiet bulky with these being from the 90's
Hi Matt, I was using a Panasonic SVHS camcorder at the time, and yes, you are right it was a bit of a hand full compared to today's camcorders but with my homemade improvised wide angle lense attached on the front meant for an SLR it steadied up the image up quite nicely.
Andrew Marshall I figured it was. Still looks good. I was hoping for a shot of the not so famous "wall of gum" that was in the line for this ride. Sad that I remember that. Lol
I used to love putting a penny on my knee and watching it float in front of your face when the drop happened. It was all in the timing or the ride would shake it off too early.
Theese were alot better than the 300 ft ones we got today..they are tall but they are to air compressed..This was a true free fall..And they were scary..today's suck..in exception..lex drop of doom,zumanjaro..those are good..the ones that stuck are like superman at sfot scream at sfft,those are no thrill at all..I miss theese
God, I hated that ride. I felt like I was being pushed off a cliff in a refrigerator. And the way the container slammed us around after the fall was just not at all fun!! A boy just fell at a free fall type ride in Orlando a couple of days ago. I wonder if the ride was made by the same company. It's so sad the real danger that we place ourselves in while making other people super wealthy.
@@luluzi1025 Demon Drop is the only ride of this type left. I would check it out, but silly me hates Cedar Fair parks because I practically grew up with Six Flags.
I loved the Free Fall. Growing up in the south it was a right of passage. If you put a penny on your knee it would float right at your head since your falling at the same speed.
Thats so crazy. Before i even read the comments i was telling my husband about the freefall as a child and how my dad used to put a penny on his knee. Lmaooo small world
Was one of the most interesting rides at SFOG. It was an engineering marvel to me how it made the switch from upper to lower track. Rode it quite a few times back to back. Sad to see it gone
It certainly was a great ride like many of the first generation Free Falls ! :-)
I no right
@@psyclonesteve I've been on this type of ride a LONG time ago. Do you know if they even exist any longer?
2:15 Let's go get the romed wow
2:27 I guess we're thru at these things
the dings and banging of that ride, the jerking.. oh man it gave me mini heart attacks every time. you never get used to it. I rode that thing for almost 15 years and it's almost as if they purposely kept it 'uncomfortable' for the shock value lol. the rickety-ness of it made you feel like it could fail you at any point. i will never understand how i can hate a ride so much, yet love it just as much. FreeFall was the only ride that made me feel that way.
It certainly was a great ride ! :)
*****
Exactly! So many of the new rides are like riding on a cloud and there is no "danger" feel to them. The cyclone, the mind bender and of course the scream machine are the only rides left for the real terror junkies like us!
But honestly, nothing compares to all that banking and clanging from the freefall! No wonder Six Flags has a hard time making money every year. Theres not that many "scary" rides anymore.
They are becoming a thing of the past but the older you get the more painful the old rides seem to be :-(
***** dont i know it... wooden rides? im only in my 20s and i dont think i can bare lol. my back is so messed up.
SupaDupa FlyGuy my back is messed up too and I went on like a flying carpet ride and it hurt my back lol
Thanks for posting this video. I rode this back in '92 and I'll never forget it. What the video doesn't capture is when the cab exits the elevator and is clunking its way over to the hole it drops you through. All you see is Atlanta in the distance, the tree tops below you and that gaping hole just bigger than the cab. Then the cab stops and for the first time since you got on this terrifying contraption, there is silence.. In the video the cab drops almost instantly, but when you are there it feels like a looong time.. you know what's going to happen and the part of you that insanely regrets having gotten on this ride is desperately hanging onto the hope that the release mechanism has jammed and it's not going to drop. The anticipation is intense until suddenly, with a clang, you're weightless. My relief, when I got out of the cab, quickly turned to horror when my GF at the time yelled "Again!" and we took the next cab up :)
Like others have said, I hated it and loved it at the same time. I was sad to learn it was dismantled.
I think this ride was scarier than the modern ones is partly because the cab was a container on a partly vertical conveyor. The realization that it wasn't mechanically fixed to a track made you feel more vulnerable and you knew you were totally falling.
Hákon Halldórsson Glad you enjoyed seeing the video, but like you say, nothing can capture the actual feeling of riding it ! :-)
+Hákon Halldórsson Those 2 or 3 seconds it holds you at the top felt like an eternity!
i really wish i was was tall enough for this ride back when it was still there
I cried when I was 3 because I was the youngest child and not tall enough to ride it back in 1986. My dad took me to play with the remote control boats to make up for it. The next year I got to ride (I had to stand on my tip toes lol) and my sisters told me, once it gets to the top and scoots outside, you say 1-2-3-FALL! I did that for the rest of my life when I rode it. I wish it were still there.
MY favorite Six Flags ride. I miss it.
:-(
i remember the first time i rode this, waited almost 2 hours for a less than 10 second ride, but it was so worth it.
This was one of my all time favorite rides. I'm sad it's gone.
I know they removed this in 2006, but I was able to ride it with my mom a few months before that and I remember her telling me about the first time she rode it. I got on this not expecting the drop and when I got off my knees were shakin so bad I could barely stand. I wish they would make more of these!
It probably lasted longer than the Edge at Great America did. It was within its first year that it had that accident, and they scrapped it two years later because nobody would ride it anymore.
I remember riding this 7 times in a row on five hits of acid. There was nobody in line so we got to ride over and over til we had our fill. 😀
That's awesome :D
I gazed at this thing in amazement as a child, and it was gone when I returned over 15 years later. I don't know if the return to station part stayed this smooth until it's closing, but this one looks delightful compared to some of the other ones on youtube.
That was a really fun ride. It was quick but nothing like the feeling of dropping off a cliff.
I remember this. I went to SFOG in 1989 for a 8th grade school trip and I was too scared to ride it. But, when I went back in 1992 I was no longer a scaredy cat and I rode it and I was like oh that's not so bad. I rode it every time after when I went to the park over the late 90's and 2002 was the last year I went to the park and now Free fall is just a memory. Thanks for posting this tho brings back the memories of my youth.
I honestly LOVED this ride, it was so fun. I know they sold it for scrap, but I wish it was in my backyard along with the Scream Machine. Thank you for posting.
I remember almost flying out of the great America scream machine as a kid. The bars weren't very tight & no straps..weeeeeeee.
I lovedddd this ride!
i put a penny on my lap and watched it float when i rode this waaaay back in the day
That sounds amazing to see.
Lol i did too
This ride terrified me big time ! It took a long time to get over my fear of riding it
Same, but with the one at SFGAdv.
I remember when they first opened the “10 story free fall” back in the 80s . It was my favorite ride to ride. Every thing else was a bit of a “let down” compared to it. Every year we would go, I looked to ride it . I’d hate it if it wasn’t working. I knew that I had to wait another year. Riding down I-20 at night, I liked to look at the lights flashing on the top of it . A very fond nostalgic memory
Wow … totally forgot how we would see Free Fall & the Great Gasp from the highway!! We used to get so excited over that when we were kids-who saw it first on the way there lol. And some place called Baby Does, on the way if you came from North Atlanta.
God I miss this ride! Was always my favorite.
This is major nostalgia for me. I had a season pass to SFOG in the late 90s as a teenager and went every Saturday with friends. Went on Free Fall hundreds of times probably. Thanks for uploading!
My heart fell out my chest every time I went on this ride
Was there in 85 and 86. This video makes it look tame and I regret never riding it. But I have a good fear of heights and when I saw this thing I said nope nope and went and rode The Mind Bender instead.
I miss this ride, it was the bomb! So many have gone thru the lines with me, and chickened out! Ah those were the days!
i love these rides, somebody should do a remake of these types of rides
Watching from below, it seemed to stop at the top, pop you forward, then drop.
In actuality, there was no hesitation. You got to the top and Bang, Boom, you were dropping before you could bat an eye!
My boyfriend was so STARTLED all you could hear on the way down was, "Oh shiiiiiiiii*!!" With there being no line to speak of, I herded Mr. Fraidy Cat right back around to ride it again. I loved it lol!!
Greatest ride of all time
Intamin 1982 (83?) I remember sitting on a motel balcony above the park when it opened that year. Back when Gasp was still up also. At the time, these dominated the skyline.
Nice Bubbles icon! Buttercup was always my favorite.
Free fall was a magic mountain classic in the 80's
Rode this long before 97 lol... I was there in the 80s when Georgia had "Z-Force"... it was like 88 or 89
Z-Force became Flashback at SFMM, which I never got to ride. Funnily enough, there was a Looping Starship called "Z-Force" at SFMM that got replaced with Batman: The Ride; you can see it in the video Kidsongs: Ride the Roller Coaster.
Lol, hell yeah, me too. Grew up going to SFOG. Z force was the only ride in the park I wouldn’t ride. Just didn’t trust it. Remember Freefall, Georgia cyclone, Ninja, all when they were the new rides. Great times!
This ride always amazed me how quick the turnaround time was. In, up, down and out. Repeat.
This was a favorite of mine!
He certainly achieved what he set out to, they were really exciting rides, but like everything, there's always something a bit bigger and better around the corner, well a bit bigger ! :)
I miss working at this ride. Sure had some funny crews ;-(
It was great to ride ! :-)
***** Also, this is probably one of the only (maybe the only) on-ride video of the Free Fall.
@@sharkheadism there's one from the 80s at magic mountain. The video name is magic mountain in the 80s and u will see a black background with the old magic mountain logo.
no, it was old and they replaced it with drop zone. I met the guy who invented it. he said he came up with the idea after hearing people say it would be fun to jump from the I-85 truck stop sign if they wouldn't die/get hurt.
I would NEVER do that!!
This was my favorite ride growing up. Was really sad it left.
I rode it at 6 flags great adventure in New Jersey.
Around 1995 I think.
Very Kool because it seemed you were weightless for a few seconds.
The batman roller coaster was there back then.
A looping sit down style with your legs hanging.
I think the free fall was Italian design ...?
Gone but not forgotten 💕 it! But hated it 😜
I miss this so much
that's the only freefall ride I would ever go on. and to this day is the only one I've ever been on.
Good memories, good times! The most fun thing to do on that ride was to wait till you got to the top, place a penny or whatever on your knee, and when it dropped you saw that coin hover in mid air before it vanished...Ahhhh good times, good times!
Haha doing the coin trick was the best. My dad taught it to me.
You can also do that on the Tower of Terror at DHS.
I'm late as hell but THANK YOU psyclonesteve. This and your video of the Viper brings back memories of great times when you could drop your 13 or 14 yr old off with their friends and let them enjoy a day without worrying if they might get jumped leaving the park.
My best friend at the time used to park at Sam's up the road to save money on parking and we never got bothered, even leaving well after dark (they used to close at midnight sometimes back then)
Its people like you that help me remember things by posting old videos of places from my youth. THANK YOU again sir.
Rode it several times! You never knew when you would drop & I was always worried it wouldn’t stop & would fly through the woods!🤣 We also did the penny trick when we rode it!
I rode this when it was only out a year or two and it scared me worse than any other ride that I have ridden (even to this day).
Loved this ride! Rode it 5 times in a row. Is it still operating?
Speaking of rides, in the near future, I need to get all the credits for this park.
this is the first free falling coaster I'd ever been on... I think was 8? 9? ....always hated the feeling, wasn't my favorite ride in the park... but looking back on it... it was so tame compared to what you hace today.
this was a super cool ride. just seemed so industrial.
I went here in early 2000s and looked for this ride all day but never figured out how to get to it. The next time I went it was gone.
It was probably gone by then because it was very close to the front of the park. You would have seen it getting off the expressway.
Went on this ride at Magic Mountain mumble-mumble years ago :)
I worked at this ride in 1995.
I rode this once in the early 90’s on a trip to Six Flags with my sister before I moved out west. I truly don’t remember it because no this design. But it had to be, right?
I went yesterday and was told to ride it by the people that sent me there but it don't exist anymore!
Acrophobia!!!
Yessssss ty i could not remember what ride use to be here
I miss this ride. It was so cool. At the drop I would open my mouth to scream but nothing would come out!
Dare Devil Dive operates there, am I right?
Used to ride Freefall at Six Flags Magic Mountain same ride and I am not sure why but these 1st generation freefall rides are much more scary than the new ones. I have ridden Lex Luthor and Supreme Scream and they were 2 and three time higher but dont have that same dropping feeling why??
This one was so cool but I have only rode this one, did not know they were different,
It seems like it's because the new ones are attached to some mechanism. With these it looks like the car is literally dropped in free fall down a track.
Daredevil looks very good, you have a nice channel, lots of good stuff ! :)
I LOVED this ride! I rode it from the summer it open in 1983, till summer 2003.🥰
Sad that it is gone,😢 but hey, we have Acrophobia now! 🥰😱😂
The one at Six Flags Magic Mountain was intense. At least for myself.
The joy of this ride
Best free fall ride ever! I Remember this growing up. I love how fast is goes up. Man you got some good footage. What kind of camera were you using? Im sure it was quiet bulky with these being from the 90's
Hi Matt, I was using a Panasonic SVHS camcorder at the time, and yes, you are right it was a bit of a hand full compared to today's camcorders but with my homemade improvised wide angle lense attached on the front meant for an SLR it steadied up the image up quite nicely.
Andrew Marshall I figured it was. Still looks good. I was hoping for a shot of the not so famous "wall of gum" that was in the line for this ride. Sad that I remember that. Lol
10MinuteMatt Ha Ha, not sure whether I can remember the wall of gum or not.
@@andrewmarshall9309 My parents had the same camcorder! There were a lot of "baby Yuuki" videos recorded using it... haha
I used to love putting a penny on my knee and watching it float in front of your face when the drop happened. It was all in the timing or the ride would shake it off too early.
clever ! :-)
Always heard that. Had people tell me to try that. So i did once. It shook off. Lol.
I used to wonder where the cars went when they reached the bottom of the tower
I was just talking about that ride today one of the best rides they used to have
I remember when i rode it we set there longer then that wondering when it was going to fall..that was in 95
RIP to my very first free fall ride..
We did this in six flags in NJ it closed down the next year disappeared.
God I miss this ride! 😥
take me back! please!
My two brothers and dad rode this ride back in the 90's, I was too afraid to get on.
It certainly was, along with Viper ! ;)
If I ever get back to Georgia I will ! :)
glad you like it :-)
Use to love putting a coin on my knee and watching gravity do magic when riding this!
I really miss this ride. Anyone know what happened to it? Was it sold or destroyed?
Bring it back
They should have a siren or sound going off b4 you drop like Great Adventure's did
I remember that!
@@YuukiTakemoto1996 heck yeah. I miss all the old rides of the 90s that Great Adventure had
The free fall I remember this lol
is that even still there?????
Theese were alot better than the 300 ft ones we got today..they are tall but they are to air compressed..This was a true free fall..And they were scary..today's suck..in exception..lex drop of doom,zumanjaro..those are good..the ones that stuck are like superman at sfot scream at sfft,those are no thrill at all..I miss theese
I remember this
God, I hated that ride. I felt like I was being pushed off a cliff in a refrigerator. And the way the container slammed us around after the fall was just not at all fun!! A boy just fell at a free fall type ride in Orlando a couple of days ago. I wonder if the ride was made by the same company. It's so sad the real danger that we place ourselves in while making other people super wealthy.
I went to goliath it was fun and scream and viper x2
I never rode this I was too chicken cuz it sounded so loud like it would break or something lol
You should ride it !!
My ass was put on this at five and I never like drop rides since! >:(
I will next time I go ! :-)
they. took out this ride I donde no why
I no right
I remember this ride would get stuck
Aka the back breaker 9000!!!!!
I didn't know this roller coaster was gone is been 2 years
:-(
The dare devil replaced that one, I never rode that one .
was this more like Acrophobia or DareDevil Dive?
I haven't ridden either of those ? :-(
More like the Acrophobia because of the freefall effect. The Daredevil dive is more like a mini coaster in my opinion..
I actually love Acrophobia (:
What replaced this ride
Dare Devil Dive
#Some Money Need to Fall like that into my hand !
Nevermind, I'm sure the dare devil is very good but unfortunately I have never ridden it !
It's AWESOME. It's a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter.
Is this ride at six flags anymore?
It's gone but there's a similar one in Dorney Park called "Demon Drop"
+Awkward Harley is it the same one ?
***** yes its the same,just different colors and different name
Oh right, glad it's still operating ! :-)
@@luluzi1025 Demon Drop is the only ride of this type left. I would check it out, but silly me hates Cedar Fair parks because I practically grew up with Six Flags.
try the sky screamer
Gerard way is scared of this ride and I don't blame him
really ? :-(
Never road this, but I'm sure it is good.
Yeah, it was a great ride !
arm rides inc, their towers are the better than these because you drop faster and farther.