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Have you seen the Gyro Drop on social media? It's fake.

Posted at 11:42 AM, Jun 15, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-15 14:46:10-04

If you were planning a trip to Seoul, South Korea to ride the intense Gyro Drop free-fall amusement park ride after seeing the video currently circulating on social media, you will be disappointed.

The video shows a drop tower that essentially triples in size as the riders are taken to the top via a rotating gondola. As the gondola approaches the top, the riders drop from the gondola as it turns into a swing. The riders are then swung around the tower a few times before being pulled back into the gondola. If that wasn't enough, the tower then drops the riders like a typical free-fall attraction.

Seems like a lot? Well, it is.

The ride does exist and is called the Gyro Drop. It's a popular ride in South Korea's Lotte World theme park located in Seoul. But the video has greatly embellished the capabilities of the ride.

In reality, the tower takes riders to the top of the 230-foot (70-meter) tower aboard a gondola that rotates. Once at the top, the gondola drops down at a speed of 62 mph (100 kph). The most intense part of the ride is probably the VR goggles that may give the rider an illusion of dropping somewhere else, but no one is swinging around the tower, and it never changes in size.

It's a normal freefall attraction, and this is what it looks like:

While taking a trip to Seoul may still be a good idea, visiting a fake ride should not be on your list of things to do.