London Trocadero, Sega World, and the Pepsi Max Drop

Hi guys,

New to these forums, and not sure this is the right place to put this, but I made something a while back that I think some of you might like. I'm sure you're aware of the London Trocadero entertainment centre that was open from 1984-2014, which housed numerous rides and VR simulators at its peak in the mid 90's to early 2000's, the most infamous of which being Intamin's Pepsi Max Drop which was there from 1998-2002 before it was moved to Funland on Hayling Island where I believe it still resides.

Well, I made a article documenting the entire history of it a while back- it's arcades, it's rides, and it's other attractions. It is mainly focused on the arcades it had there (Funland, Sega World) but I hope you enjoy it. I spent months sourcing photos + videos, and I'm really proud of how it's turned out.

http://tedsegablog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/the-rise-and-fall-of-london-trocadero.html

To give you a taste, here's some pictures of the Pepsi Max Drop that were sent to me by the firm that installed the ride, Proun, after I contacted them on their work knowing they'd designed one of the arcades, Funland- but I didn't know they did this too.

First off: This was the best drop tower of all time. Seriously.

Secondly: OMFG I got so excited it might still be open somewhere, but it looks like it's closed forever after 2014.

Anyways, thanks for the memories of one of the great weird rides I'm proud to have experienced.

Loved this ride sooooo much!

Here's a screen grab from what it looked like to ride it. Terrifying!

Did it lift / drop twice? I was watching a video and the catch car came down really fast and scooped the carriage up almost immediately afterward.

Now I kind of want to see more indoor drop towers in tight spaces like that. Imagine what an Intamin Sky Jump would be like!

(Side note: very good first post, by the way)

I've always been fascinated by this drop tower. At an amusement park, 20-30 feet doesn't feel like much, but going from one story to two stories at a mall feels far higher.

I always thought one of those mini Moser towers would be thrilling enough going from one floor to another, so having a full size Intamin one looked awesome.

Beyond just an Intamin sky jump, we also have those Soarin' Eagle towers popping up now.

I went here for a look around probably around 2013 it was pretty lifeless like 2 stores open really weird, complete ghost of what i suppose it was like. I've always been intrigued so thanks for posting this!

First off: This was the best drop tower of all time. Seriously.

Agreed!

I rode this quite a few times and I am pretty sure even now this would be my favourite drop tower. It was super intense and the location was really amazing. I loved going past all the neon escalators into the very upper echelons of the building before what was a very fast drop back into the bowels of the Trocadero.

The Trocadero's fall from grace was almost as spectacular in that it went from this electric, vibrant place to be, to one of the most depressing. It was a long and painful death and it is nice to see so many great quality pictures of the ride, so thanks for a great first post.

At an amusement park, 20-30 feet doesn't feel like much, but going from one story to two stories at a mall feels far higher.

Not sure if I misread this, but just to clear this was a lot taller than 20-30 feet. If my memory serves me correctly it was 120ft, but like you say, being inside made it feel much taller and because you were so close to the escalators, much faster too.

 

At an amusement park, 20-30 feet doesn't feel like much, but going from one story to two stories at a mall feels far higher.

Not sure if I misread this, but just to clear this was a lot taller than 20-30 feet. If my memory serves me correctly it was 120ft, but like you say, being inside made it feel much taller and because you were so close to the escalators, much faster too.

Indeed. I included this in the blog post and I'm sure a lot of you have seen it (as it stands its the only video of Troc Drop on YouTube) but this video is great at demonstrating how big it really was. You can see it flying by Sega World's escalators and the rest of the Trocadero pretty well.

Also something I find very interesting is the fact that it was being constructed during the time the Trocadero was actually open. Trocadero reopened in 1996 with Sega World, after being completely refurbished to look futuristic, and construction started on Pepsi Max Drop a year later for it to open in early '98. You can see the base concealed by a large white structure in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqgz7hDxR-s

I popped in what was left 3 years ago and there was pretty much nothing there that could be accessed. It was just souvenir shops that looked like all the others. I wouldn't have even gone in but an anime store that was there caught my eye.

I remember riding this (or something very similiar) as a kid somewhere... In an arcade like that, I remember it going up the four floors of the arcade or something.

Wonder if it is the same thing... Where these ever in the US? If I had to guess, it was somewhere in Ohio (Columbus, perhaps?). Or just a spinoff of some sort. I have to ask my parents about it and see what the place was. Looked just like those photos, though.