It's me—I'm complaining about this.
This IS a prestige coaster—just like Ka—I don't think anyone debates that. SFGAdv was one of only two parks in the country that could claim a coaster of 400+ feet. Though us thoosies can reasonably understand that height ≠ quality, no one can pretend that the prestige provided by the existence of a strata at SFGAdv—placing the park's skyline firmly in league with Cedar Point's—didn't matter. Six Flags demoed SFGAdv's status coaster and is not replacing it with a status symbol of its same caliber. SFGAdv now gets to be in league with Kings Dominion and Carowinds—not Cedar Point.
If they couldn't get this thing to 400ft, there are almost certainly better gigas they could have built—certainly better gigas for the park long-term, in my opinion. If they couldn't get a not-even-full-circuit replacement for Ka to 400ft, it's yet another crystal clear reason why Ka should have never been demolished—that doing so was, in fact, almost unconscionable because, evidently, its structure WAS irreplaceable. Post-merger Six Flags management unquestionably fucked Great Adventure over here in my opinion and I think people are right to be really pissed about it.
I have and still believe that this coaster will be amazing, but I can simultaneously believe that and believe that the Six Flags management team who made this call (thankfully many of whom are now gone) made an enormous mistake—that this is not a worthy successor to Ka—that Great Adventure had their crown jewel unjustly stolen and, despite that grave wrong, they have not been provided a coaster of equal or greater prestige value as compensation.
Lastly, you cannot convince me for one single second that 25 feet of additional height was unachievable—whether it be another 25 feet on the tower or an added 25 feet for the drop into a trench/tunnel. Six Flags and Mack could have delivered the shuttle strata spinner that was surveyed—and they certainly should have in my opinion. Yes, it would have been a more expensive, yes it would have been harder—but it was almost certainly worth that investment and effort in my assessment. Unfortunately, I suspect that it's no mistake that there is now only a single strata left in the US though...
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