Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!
A 400 foot spinning coaster will absolutely make locals travel there. Not to mention Ka rarely had a line and hasn't been on top of ridership for some time. You may get a lot fewer thoosies making out of state trips with Ka gone, but I guarantee the change in local business will be minimal.

Also I think it's really funny that everyone is calling the 400 foot shuttle gimmicky as if that isn't exactly what Ka was. Gimmicky isn't always an insult. Griffon is gimmicky and it's my favorite coaster ever.
 
But the 400 foot spinner is more of a gimmick, the track plan is pretty boring, only the first car reaches the top, and the shuttle setup hurts capacity. Ka, since it was a full circuit design not only had more capacity, but also more equitable as all the cars pass over the peak.

Again, this isn't just the loss of one ride, but six. With 3 of them being unique. The other parks around GAdv don't just have a nice rounded collection of coasters, but also a nice assortment of various different types of rides and experiences which GAdv is increasingly lacking.
 
But the 400 foot spinner is more of a gimmick, the track plan is pretty boring, only the first car reaches the top, and the shuttle setup hurts capacity. Ka, since it was a full circuit design not only had more capacity, but also more equitable as all the cars pass over the peak.

Reasonable minds can of course disagree on this, but for me personally, I find the spinning shuttle strata concept far more compelling than a standard top hat strata—and less "gimmicky" too.

Again, this isn't just the loss of one ride, but six. With 3 of them being unique. The other parks around GAdv don't just have a nice rounded collection of coasters, but also a nice assortment of various different types of rides and experiences which GAdv is increasingly lacking.

Yep, and I will be pushing Six Flags to make SFGAdv whole for all of these losses over the next decade. This isn't the thread for it, but I am passionately in favor of the installation of a new sky ride and I honestly don't think people aggressively pushing the park to do exactly that would be asking for something unreasonable or unrealistic. Similarly SFGAdv probably deserves an intense, novel, inverting flat ride to replace Twister. I'd like to see that in the next handful of years too.

Replacing Ka is already an impossible task from a PR standpoint. You really can't expect Ka's replacement to also make up for all of these other losses—and I severely doubt that Six Flags leadership would claim anything different.

If we get to 2030 and Six Flags is neglecting Great Adventure and we haven't seen investments commensurate with what Great Adventure has lost, I'll be the first to bash 'em for it. It will have almost certainly been a horrible business decision honestly—seems easy to rip to shreds from multiple standpoints.

That said, for now, all I think people are saying (and all I'm saying) is that we need to let them cook a little. Amusement parks are giant lumbering beasts. Turning one around is a hard, painful, decade-long project. We have to give them at least a little time to show us some indicators of their future intent before we declare it all a lost cause.
 
Last edited:
Well, on that last point, it depends. If you're fine with GAdv being the Discovery Kingdom of the east coast, then sure, I suppose the park doesn't really need to do anything outside of general improvements going forward.

Not catering to enthusiasts is to be expected and is completely reasonable, but most of the coasters that have been added since 2006 have been poorly recieved by the general public. I agree, GAdv was a huge draw back in the day because there was so much to do. Now though, with the surrounding parks only getting better, along with the removal of six rides at once, that isn't exactly the case anymore, and attendance numbers show that.

Take a look at GAm. They've added four original coasters, none of which were clones or relocations, to the park since the bankruptcy. All of them have been very well received by their visitors. We're talking about the old company here, the same one responsible for GAdv being as far gone as it currently is. What exactly has stopped GAdv from making similar additions? Is it that hard to build a unique coaster to replace Ka instead of something that will likely get cloned at other parks? (The survey for Kings Island had them adding a 200ft version of that same shuttle tower)

Yes, I'm being pessimistic. But alot of my anger comes from years of watching other parks add unique attractions and seeing this one routinely do the bare minimum. No, I don't think the park will ever die, but I have a feeling that it isn't going to be as high on the food chain in the eyes of CF as most people wish. I'd love to be proven wrong though.
While it's true that the company has routinely given Great Adventure the short end of the stick over the last few years, it's also clear that Selim and the most recent management team saw a lot of potential in Great Adventure, I don't see that changing now that Cedar Fair has basically taken over. That being said, they definitely need to invest a lot in the park if they want to compete in this market. It's no secret that Hersheypark has grown a lot since Great Adventure was last the most popular park in the region, it's become its own regional destination now. If Six Flags wants to take back control in the region they need to invest heavily in Great Adventure and find a way to repair the brand as Six Flags has definitely stained their name in the area and Hershey is obviously a very well-known and incredibly popular brand.
 
Do we know the end-to-end length of that “Spinda Ka” concept by ML Designs? I’m just curious how that layout fits in the spot of Kingda Ka/Green Lantern. It still seems a little off that they would take down 2 coasters only to fill one of those coaster’s plots.

Thoughts (built on from my initial thoughts a couple of weeks ago):
- The concept has a length that is much longer than Kingda Ka since it uses LSMs and therefore needs more of a launch runway
- They are completely reconfiguring the area and the attraction will sit in a mix of both plots
-This is just part 1 of a new “Golden Kingdom” (or whatever the new area is called)
-This concept will get an extension/a different type of coaster will be used
 
@mattkopp23 I can edit this later after I check the file- but I believe it's around 1,400ft end-to-end, with the tower placed in the same spot.

Like you mentioned, these specific Mack LSMs need much more 'runway' than, for example, Intamin LSMs would, so I assume it would need more space. With those required speeds, I'm really not sure if that layout could be configured in a way to exactly fit in Kingda Ka's spot. But I also didn't really try to contain it in Ka's immediate area, I just shaped the layout fairly quickly and that was basically the 'first draft' scale. Definitely could have refined it more, but I wanted to get the vid out😄
 
@CoasterMac Thanks for the info, makes a lot of sense. You did great work in such a short amount of time.

Looking at some rough measurements in Google Maps, the straight length from the Ka tower to:

A) The current opposite end of the ride is ~1230 ft

B) The end of the former Green Lantern plot is ~1400 ft

C) The end of the former Parachutes plot is ~1760 ft

D) The end of the go kart plot/ start of the entrance is ~2260 ft

IMG_2026.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zachary
That said, for now, all I think people are saying (and all I'm saying) is that we need to let them cook a little. Amusement parks are giant lumbering beasts. Turning one around is a hard, painful, decade-long project. We have to give them at least a little time to show us some indicators of their future intent before we declare it all a lost cause.

The problem is this is already history repeating itself. I seen this same pattern repeat and repeat since the Shapiro era. New owners or management steps in promising to turn things around. Next they gut several rides out of the park. Install one or two new rides well below the replacement rate. Make a big deal out of making a couple of token repairs. Sometimes engage in weird side projects. After a couple of years they split for greener pastures and then the next set of new owners or management steps in to exactly repeat their predecessors through they promise they won't but still do anyway. By 10 years the current management may have turned over at least once, maybe twice.

Another reason why myself and others are upset is because we see the cycle is well under way repeating itself already with the new CF management. Frankly I am not surprised its repeating.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: RDL
The problem is this is already history repeating itself. I seen this same pattern repeat and repeat since the Shapiro era. New owners or management steps in promising to turn things around. Next they gut several rides out of the park. Install one or two new rides well belowt he replacement rate. Make a big deal out of making a couple of token repairs. Sometimes engage in weird side projects. After a couple of years they split for greener pastures and then the next set of new owners or management steps in to exactly repeat their predecessors through they promise they won't but still do anyway. By 10 years the current management may have turned over at least once, maybe twice.

Another reason why myself and others are upset is because we see the cycle is well under way repeating itself already with the new CF management. Frankly I am not surprised its repeating.
You bring up a good point with the token repairs thing. I remember when they supposedly retracked Toro a couple years ago only for it to still be rough.

Overall, I completely agree. Everyone has been trying to preach that CF will fix things, but it's not like the old SF already tried doing alot for the park for its 50th. Thing is, the 50th was a disaster. They could really try and turn things around these next few years, and it could still end up being a complete mess.

Who knows what the park will look like in five or ten years. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being optimistic. It's just that @The Master myself and others are rightfully skeptical due to having sat through this same song and dance a couple of times already.

This whole mess reminds me of sports teams but not in the way most people would think. It reminds me of specific teams that will hire new management, promise a better future, fire that same management a couple years later due to not meeting expectations, and then repeating.
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Master
And I get that pessimism completely, but things are different this time around. Cedar Fair, objectively, has a history of successfully turning parks in much worse states than Great Adventure around and restoring not only the guest experience, but the attraction lineup too. I've seen the transformation at Carowinds and Kings Dominion first-hand.

I'm not saying they will pull it off again, but, unlike previous instances of new folks coming in, screwing around, and ultimately leaving the park in an worse place, there are people inside Cedar Fair who have successfully pulled off similar transformations elsewhere. We have documented proof that the capability existed pre-merger. Hopefully they can still manage similar feats post-merger too and hopefully one of those will be Great Adventure—the park sure deserves it.
 
my gut is telling me its very likely that whole section of the park is getting majorly redone, like on the scale of what the original golden kingdom was back in 2005. knocking out twister/GL/Parachutes opens up that part of the park in a massive way so that the entrance to GK isn't a horrible narrow overgrown pathway. i can see all the animal stuff being relocated to the safari, the old tiger theater getting taken out, and finally reconfiguring that whole area to be filled with more flat rides while still making space for KK replacement.
 
There’s now a post (from someone with the demolition team I believe) implying that Kingda Ka is not coming down, so maybe the tower will be repurposed as part of the new coaster?

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Direct Link to Embedded Media Source

I’ve been saying for a while that their wording was weird when they made the announcement. I really think they will replace the track on the top hat and reuse it for the new ride. The fact that no demo permits have been filed backs this up too.
 
If we see no demo permits by the end of the new year I’d really start believing that the tower is staying. If the tower is coming down it will be down before the start of the 2025 season.
 
If we see no demo permits by the end of the new year I’d really start believing that the tower is staying. If the tower is coming down it will be down before the start of the 2025 season.

Current attention for removal is on Lantern, Parachutes, and Twister. Ka will be standing into next year but the tower is not going to be saved.
 
If we see no demo permits by the end of the new year I’d really start believing that the tower is staying. If the tower is coming down it will be down before the start of the 2025 season.
If the original intention was to run it part of next year as a send off and then close it for removal as has been reported several places then it seems pretty safe to assume that the demo can either occur during a closed part of 2025 or after the end of the 2025 season with there still being time left for what ever the new project is.
 
if the kingda ka tower does not get remove in 2025, maybe they planning to do a send off on the coaster and then start construction on the 2026 afterwards (maybe between July to September 2025 would make sense since great american scream machine & rolling thunder closed on those months)
 
if the kingda ka tower does not get remove in 2025, maybe they planning to do a send off on the coaster and then start construction on the 2026 afterwards (maybe between July to September 2025 would make sense since great american scream machine & rolling thunder closed on those months)
Based on multiple reports the original plan was to run through memorial day as a final goodbye but the legacy CF corporate appears to have killed that idea. The king has already given it's last ride and their are several reports out there that say the launch system and other features have already been cannibalized for parts for other parks.
 
So basically Xcelerator now has enough parts from TTD and KK to last forever? Lol
El Toro Ryan had reported that Intamin had people at Great Adventure shortly after the close It wouldn't see impossible that they were surveying and possibly purchasing back parts that are rear to refurbish and hold for sale to none SF parks but that is just a theory on my part.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JohnKell
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad