Detonator at Thorpe Park

A 100ft drop tower - you're lifted to the top, held briefly, then released without warning.

Is Detonator open today?

Detonator is currently closed as of 03:02 UK time. This is normal outside opening hours, and also happens for weather or short technical stops during the day. Check the live status above through the day — it updates every couple of minutes.

See live waits for every ride →

How tall is Detonator at Thorpe Park?

Detonator is 100ft (30 metres) tall. It is Thorpe Park's only drop tower, and riders are lifted the full height of the tower before being released into freefall. The minimum height to ride is 1.3m, the same as Hyperia and higher than most of the park's flat rides – see the full height restrictions for every ride.

At 30m, Detonator is well short of the park's tallest structures – Hyperia reaches 72m and Stealth 62.5m – but drop towers deliver their sensation through freefall rather than height, and Detonator accelerates riders downward faster than gravity alone.

About Detonator

Detonator is Thorpe Park's drop tower, standing 100ft (30m) tall at the edge of the park's lake. Riders sit in a ring of outward-facing seats and are lifted slowly to the top of the tower. At the summit there's a brief, deliberate pause - then the brakes release and the carriage drops in freefall, decelerating sharply before reaching the ground.

The entire drop lasts only a couple of seconds, but the combination of height, anticipation, and sudden release makes Detonator one of the most genuinely surprising rides in the park. Unlike roller coasters where the fear builds through movement, a drop tower operates entirely on waiting - which many riders find more unsettling than the drop itself.

What to Expect

The ride cycle is slow - you spend most of the time either queuing, being loaded, or ascending. The experience itself is brief: a few seconds of ascent, a pause, then two seconds of freefall and a hard brake stop. Riders seated facing the lake get the most dramatic view during ascent.

The physical sensation is a short burst of weightlessness followed by strong deceleration - comparable to the drop on a roller coaster but isolated and amplified by the pause before release. It is not a sustained thrill but an acute one. Most riders are done before their body has time to process what happened.

Tips for Riding Detonator

• Queues build in the afternoon. Detonator has a low hourly capacity compared to the coasters. Ride it first thing or check the live queue page before walking over.
• Face the lake. Seats facing the water give the best view of the park and lake on the way up. Worth waiting for if the queue is split by row.
• The pause is the point. The deliberate hold at the top is designed to maximise anticipation. Don't look down during it.
• Short but intense. If you are nervous about coasters but want a thrill, Detonator is a good starting point - there are no inversions, no speed, just height and a single drop.

When to Ride Detonator

Detonator's queue is short and honest: one tower, twelve seats, quick cycles. For most of the year it hovers between walk-on and 10 minutes, though the small seat count means peak-season afternoons can push it to 25–30. That makes it perfect filler - it sits on the main route through Amity, so fold it in whenever you are passing rather than planning around it. The one exception is early evening on busy days, when groups doing "one more lap" of the park bunch it up briefly.

There is no bad time of day, but there is a best one: ride it once in daylight for the view and again at dusk if the park is open late - the drop into a darkening park is a different experience. Its live wait barely moves on the queue page, which is exactly why it is such reliable value.

Good to Know Before You Queue

Do not let the modest 100ft height fool you. Detonator does not simply release you - it fires you downward faster than freefall, and that half-second of violence is, pound for pound, one of the most intense sensations in the park. Many visitors who shrug off Stealth admit Detonator's drop gets them every time, because there is no track to read and no way to anticipate the moment.

The anticipation is the ride: you sit at the top for an unpredictable pause, feet dangling, park spread out below. Riders with a fear of heights specifically (rather than speed) should consider that pause carefully. Minimum height is 1.3m, secure glasses and hats, and if drop towers are your thing, pair it with Rush across the park for the two best pure-sensation flat rides on site.

← All Rides  |  Visitor Guide