Kigngda Ka Permanent Closure - 11/11/2024

[TV15]

Six Flags Great Adventure has officially retired Kingda Ka, 'The King of all Coasters'. After 19 years of operation, the ride, which opened on May 21, 2005, leaves behind a legacy. It was the coaster that ended the coaster wars. At its debut, it held the titles of the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster, and while it eventually lost the speed record, it remained the tallest coaster in the world throughout its lifespan.

A press release has been issued regarding the future of the attraction:

This makes me wonder about the future of Superman Escape? It’s 19 years old this year and will hit its 20th anniversary next year. Will next year be its last?

[Brad2912]

Plenty of rides survive beyond 20 years… they recent poured money into a station overhaul which wouldn’t have happened with planned retirement on the near horizon 

[downunder]

The 2026 line was intriguing : record breaking multi launch coaster. It would not surprise me if they used the existing structure. It would surprise me if they went after records Falcon's Flight will soon hold - but it would be awesome if they did. They might just stick to North American records.

There's been reports of S & S scoping out the site, but we'll see. I'd love to see a balls to the wall compressed air launch, but they're about as reliable as Axl Rose off his meds.

[franky]

Kinda bummed. Was over in the NYC in Sept/Oct but just couldn't fit in the day trip down to the park, considering there were days the ride didn't open. We got some rides in on Xcelerator though while at Knotts, so I'm gonna call that breaking even.

The park has confirmed that Zumanjaro is being removed as well, and whatever is coming is not going to be a reimagination, so everything you see is being removed apparently. This means DW's Giant Drop reclaims 2nd place for tallest operating drop tower!

 

 

[Tricoart]

1 hour ago, downunder said:

record breaking multi launch coaster.

Not to be a stickler, but it's "multi-record breaking launch coaster.". Very similar, different meanings. And yeah, as pointed out above, Zumanjaro's permanent closure alongside Kingda Ka & other surrounding attractions makes it seem much more like it's being knocked down and replaced with something "completely new" (words they've since used in clarifications after the main press release) moreso than being a TT2 situation. I just really hope that it doesn't end up being this: 

Edited Saturday at 02:00 AM by Tricoart

[downunder]

@franky it wouldn't surprise me if they look at chopping down Superman at SFMM too, can't be easy to maintain that. And then Giant Drop goes to #1, it's much better drop tower in any case imo.

I was at Knott's in Sept and I had to laugh about Xcelerator. Even though I'm at Knott's every year (except '20 & '21), riding it I realised it was my first time since 2016 because it's been down so much.

4 minutes ago, Tricoart said:

Not to be a stickler, but it's "multi-record breaking launch coaster.". Very similar, different meanings. And yeah, as pointed out above, Zumanjaro's permanent closure alongside Kingda Ka & other surrounding attractions makes it seem much more like it's being knocked down and replaced with something "completely new" (words they've since used in clarifications after the main press release) moreso than being a TT2 situation. I just really hope that it doesn't end up being this: 

Thank you for the correction, I got seriously dyslexic on that lol. I guess we'll have to wait and see. My partner wants to go back to NYC, I'll tell her 2026 would be a good year to go lol (she hates coasters).

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 16/11/2024 at 10:36 AM, Brad2912 said:

Plenty of rides survive beyond 20 years… they recent poured money into a station overhaul which wouldn’t have happened with planned retirement on the near horizon 

They overhauled Wipeout and shut it a year later. Corkscrew got Sea Vipered in 2010 and shut down in 2014. Of course, not planned retirement - but older rides can have more issues that are too costly to rectify.

On 16/11/2024 at 11:40 AM, franky said:

Kinda bummed.

Don't you mean Kingda bummed?

[Baconjack]

On 16/11/2024 at 10:38 AM, TV15 said:

This makes me wonder about the future of Superman Escape? It’s 19 years old this year and will hit its 20th anniversary next year. Will next year be its last?

Zero chance. Superman doesn't have the downtime the stratas experience and has generally been quite reliable because it is smaller.

When it comes time to replace it (10 years or so) it and Flash can be replaced at the same time. I wouldn't rule out Zamperla or Intamin doing a conversion along with renovating the dark ride section given the LSM conversion hasn't had many issues on smaller hydraulic coasters and the dark ride section needs a lot of work

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I think LSM\LIM needs to come a bit further - I'm not sure the hydraulic track is long enough to accommodate the conversion, and there's no way they can fit a swing launch spike in there...

[Gazza]

You could even continue the LSMs vertically like Storm at Dubai Hills Mall

 

 

[Tricoart]

1 hour ago, Gazza said:

You could even continue the LSMs vertically like Storm at Dubai Hills Mall

 

True, but I feel the implementation would be similar to what people were hoping of TT2, aka the one they've used on Red Force, where the LSMs extend just as much as needed to reach a desired speed & provide the roll back, rather than keeping a consistent speed through fully vertical LSMS.

The issue with doing either would be that it would at least necessitate a train redesign on a model that Intamin no longer wishes to sell or update, as well as possibly significant changes to the track itself so it can orient LSMs correctly. There's also the possible roadblock of, whenever the time comes that a change is forced or decided upon, it could be the case that the structure itself has weakened enough (as recently seen in a positive light with Nemesis at Alton, or a negative light w/ SW's Monorail) for an update to not be viable without first demolishing a large part of what stood, & at that point it feels like Six Flags'd rather market something new.

Edited Monday at 08:12 AM by Tricoart

[CR4ZE]

This is what Six Flags looks like "under new management". As @Brad2912 mentioned, there was money being poured into revitalising Ka, with more planned for the future. It wasn't just the station; I believe there were new trains coming, so Intamin will probably be looking to send those parts elsewhere. Anyway, I guess this is what happens when you've got new shareholders who want to see the line on the graph moving north. Still, quite disrespectful to the legacy of the ride to just shut it down so unceremoniously with no prior announcement and thus no opportunity for the GP to get a "final rides weekend".  But I guess we Aussies wouldn't know anything about that, would we? 🙄 At least DW appear to have learnt some lessons.

[themagician]

On 16/11/2024 at 1:03 PM, downunder said:

 it wouldn't surprise me if they look at chopping down Superman at SFMM too, can't be easy to maintain that. And then Giant Drop goes to #1

I heard/read that Six Flags is probably looking at closing Superman in the near future because of its cost and reliability issues. I’d love to see Giant Drop reclaim the world record, especially over 13 years later.

Edited Tuesday at 09:23 AM by themagician

[Tricoart]

23 minutes ago, themagician said:

If heard/read that Six Flags is probably looking at closing SFMM in the near future

I know it's a typo, but the thought makes me laugh.

[downunder]

The thing is that Giant Drop is a far better ride experience than Zumanjo or Lex Luthor in my opinion anyway.

I got three sensational front row rides on Kingda Ka (and 41 on El Toro lol) last time I visited - two of those rides courtesy of the exit passes we got for a lift hill breakdown on El Toro (hitting that anti-rollback was spine snapping, I thought the lift hill cable broke).

[STRAWS]

21 minutes ago, downunder said:

The thing is that Giant Drop is a far better ride experience than Zumanjo or Lex Luthor in my opinion anyway.

I got three sensational front row rides on Kingda Ka (and 41 on El Toro lol) last time I visited - two of those rides courtesy of the exit passes we got for a lift hill breakdown on El Toro (hitting that anti-rollback was spine snapping, I thought the lift hill cable broke).

Out of curiosity as Giant Drop is one of my favorite rides what made it better than Zumanjaro or Lex Luthor?

[downunder]

@STRAWS the drop on Giant Drop feels a lot faster than either of the 2 big boys. To me, Giant Drop is a world class ride. Love it.

[Levi]

6 hours ago, themagician said:

I heard/read that Six Flags is probably looking at closing Superman in the near future because of its cost and reliability issues. I’d love to see Giant Drop reclaim the world record, especially over 13 years later.

i mean if they can remove ToT but keep GD, i’m sure six flags could do the same with Superman and Lex Luther.

[themagician]

3 hours ago, Levi said:

i mean if they can remove ToT but keep GD, i’m sure six flags could do the same with Superman and Lex Luther.

Not necessarily. I don’t know the answer, but GD was built a year after TOT and the tower was originally designed to have a drop tower attached to it because they had planned for it.

Lex Luthor opened 15 years after Superman opened, My point being, the structure might not have been engineered to stand with the additional lower structure of Superman to support it (the curved structure at the base is what I’m referring to)