The company which owns Kings Island Amusement Park in Mason is closing down the Drop Zone Ride, after a gruesome accident on a similar ride at Kentucky Six Flags.

A 13-year-old girl was rushed to the hospital after her feet were cut off.

According to witnesses, a cable broke loose on the Superman Tower of Power at Six Flags Kingdom in Louisville.

The ride takes passengers straight up 177 feet... then free fall for about 154 feet -- reaching up to 54 miles per hour.

The ride is shut down at Six Flags is shut down indefinitely.

Kraig Ross, a spokesperson for Cedar Fair, which owns Kings Island, says they received notification of the accident from the ride's manufacturer last night. Cedar Fair has 5 rides made by this same manufacturer... Intamin AG. All will be closed until they can be inspected thoroughly.

Drop Zone is similar to the Superman Tower of Power, in that rides are taken up 264 feet and dropped at a speed of 67 miles an hour. The ride opened in 1999.

Ross says Cedar Fair has a "strong commitment to safety" and inspects each ride at all of it's parks daily. There is no word on when Drop Zone may reopen.

Well it's completely understandable especially considering the severity of the accident at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom! My heart goes out to the girl. I can't imagine something like this happening to me.

I was planning on going to KI sometime today and I would've been very surprised if Drop Zone was open even thought it doesn't necessarily operate the same way the tower at SFKK does. I am glad to see CF taking these steps but it is horrible that something like this has happened to a young girl.

It seems that the launch side of Power Tower at CP is operating, but the drop side is not.

http://www.cleveland.com/cedarpointcam/

I am rather confused with that.

I just saw one go on the drop side.

I don't blame KI or Cedar Fair at all to want to inspect there INTAMIN Drop Rides. After I saw the news story last night after coming home from the park, I figured that's why it was closed.

Wow, i just passed by SFKK about a week ago and i saw Superman working, it's weird seeing it work then all the suden they're was in accident.

I wish Drop Zone didn't have to close...

=[

Trust me it's in the best interest of the park. I'd bet it will only be closed to do an inspection. I'm sure it closed on a recommendation from the manufacture. They will open it when they get the all clear to do so, either by Cedar Fair or the manufacturer.

Wouldn't it be weired if SOB and DZST opened on the same day???

Well DZST will probably open sooner than SOB.

=]

Cincinnati Enquirer Article

Here is the latest article talking about the closure of Drop Zone at Kings Island. The 'enhanced restraints' that are mentioned in the article, refers to the addition of the seat belts that were added for the 2000 season.

Sad story indeed. I hate when that happens to people. You go to an amusement park to have loads of fun and forget your troubles, then this kind of thing happens. I applaud CF for closing all of their Intamin drop rides.

^^^^ Don't be surprised that DZ closed.

When the same type of rides, especially from the same manufacturer, the common practice in the past was to shut all those rides down for a thourough inspection. As well they should. Some of the rides that were not involved in the accident were only down for a short period of time, while others were down for an extended amount of time.

Accident on DZ at PGA shut down both PKI's & (I believe) PKD's. Restraints.

Accident on S:RoS at SFNE shut down MF. Restraints. This has resulted in the shortening of the seatbelts.

Accident on KK at SFGA shut down TTD. Catch car crashed.

Chaos frame broke at MA which shut down all of those rides across the country.

Now the ironic thing here is, except for the Chaos rides by Chance, all of these rides are by Intamin.

I'm sure there are more examples.

Browntgrr, Paramount did not shut down KD`s Drop Zone after the incident at PGA because Kings Dominion did not install their Drop Zone until the 2001 season, two years after the incident took place at PGA.

Well that would explain why I was unsure if PKD's was closed.

This also happened to FoF.. and all other LIM rides last season, remember?

Don't worry, the fine crew at KI is on top of this and it'll be open as soon as possible. Barring finding anything wrong, I wouldn't expect it to be closed long.

Browntgrr, Paramount did not shut down KD`s Drop Zone after the incident at PGA because Kings Dominion did not install their Drop Zone until the 2001 season, two years after the incident took place at PGA.

They did not build Drop Zone at KD in 2001, they built it in 2003.