The "Zero" part of this ad hits different now.
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Long Live The King.
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Long Live The King.
News The King Is Dead: Kingda Ka (& Zumanjaro) Closure & Demolition Confirmed
- Thread starter Python_Survivor
- Start date
not sure if this is the best place to post this, but here's a flickr album with the pics i got at the park on its final day (most of them being around boardwalk/golden kingdom). so sad seeing it go, esp like this. may kingda ka scare the shit out of everyone in heaven.
Damn it's actually gonna be removed. Glad I was right that they have a plan that (kind of) warrants doing this so suddenly, but I'm glad the info got leaked so it could have a proper send off
I didn't say anything at all about investing in SFA over GAdv or making it the new hub over GAdv. Not sure where that odd tangent came from?
Perhaps I wasn't clear enough but I was merely pointing out that SFA and GAdv have more overlap than SFNE and GAdv. For one thing, both GAdv and SFA are in and serve the Mid Atlantic region of the US. SFNE is not in the Mid Atlantic region, its in the New England region, hence that park's name. Not sure how that equates to diverting funds from GAdv to SFA?
Getting back on track a bit, Philly people are more likely to visit SFA than SFNE as Philly is not that far from the MD border, but pretty far from MA. I live in the Philly area and I have been to SFA a couple of times, never been to SFNE. Furthermore, Baltimore often runs vacation ads in the Philly area, I rarely see ads for Boston or even NYC here. Delaware is in the overlap between GAdv and SFA, and this state is part of the Philly metro sphere as our local news covers this state. GAdv is in the overlap of two competing tri state spheres, the southern NJ, eastern PA, and northern DE tri-state area, and the northern NJ, NYC area, and CT tri-state area. Both these spheres dislike each other which makes marketing a challenge.
GAdv becoming a major resort like CP is going to be a huge and likely unachievable undertaking. The park will need to become much more than a eastern SFMM to become a resort. The park desperately needs more flats and non coaster attractions over another super mega coaster that mainly attracts yahoo type clientele that hurts the park's reputation. To become a big fancy resort, the park must completely change its target market to no longer attract scuzzes who go there to hangout and smoke pot in the middle of midways and ride queues or a dumping ground for unsupervised kids running amok and cut lines. They are unlikely to successfully change their ways of adding big fancy coasters while letting the rest of the park rot. Hell, they already created a clusterfuck regarding the closure of KK and its bluesky replacement. At this point the new golden age for GAdv is just blueskying.
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Man that hydraulic launch is still cutting-edge technology to me, LSMs will never reach that raw power and acceleration
This one hurts. Rolling Thunder was my first “big kid” coaster, but Kingda Ka was my first “grown ass man” coaster. Knew it would happen relatively soon, but hoped I’d have a chance to ride it one last time (spent the past weekend moving from IN to SC so a trip to Great Adventure was out of the question).
Long live the king. Always wanted Green Lantern gone, but not at this cost lol.
Long live the king. Always wanted Green Lantern gone, but not at this cost lol.
Yeah this is painful. When Kingda Ka was being built, I was a young child and my parents were going through a divorce. When I finally got to ride it in August of 2005, it was the first time I legitimately smiled since my parents’ separation. It has a lot of personal meaning to me as a roller coaster that helped me get through what was the toughest period in my life up to that point.
I don’t understand how Six Flags is that fucking stupid that they couldn’t have made this exact same announcement even like 2 weeks ago????
While KA was still fucking open? What’s so jaw dropping in the media releases that they had to wait till the ride was closed then.
While KA was still fucking open? What’s so jaw dropping in the media releases that they had to wait till the ride was closed then.
Always felt like once I went on kingda ka I would never have to be afraid of anything again. Gonna miss it.
SFA pretty much just pulls people from the DC metro area. Most people living near Philly aren't going to SFA. They're going to GAdv, HP, Knoebels, or Dorney instead. Why go to the park with the worse reputation when they have far better options to choose from that won't involve them dealing with DC traffic? SFNE is more of a locals park too. People from NYC are gonna go to GAdv to get their coaster fix, not SFNE. There's a lot less overlap than you think. The casino is pretty much the only real draw for New Yorkers in Springfield, not the amusement park.
GAdv IS becoming a major resort. That's why the chain is investing this much into expanding the park, getting rid of the dead ends and getting rid of problem child rides. They have to do that to accommodate the heavy crowds these next few seasons will bring. They just did a major refurb on the flume and the Ferris wheel and they said they were gonna continue the 50th stuff in 25 so I'd expect to see a lot more refurbishments and upgrades throughout the year as well. Then they've got a new record breaking coaster on the horizon to draw people to stay multiple days. Maybe it works out for the park in the long run? Maybe not! While the park has had a rough reputation in the past, its pretty clear corporate sees a lot of missed potential in this park, Its located smack dab between the largest city in the country and another massive city. Its not far from beaches so people could stop by the park on the way to-from the beach. The township is expanding over in that direction too with new restaurants, a hotel and more. All to capitalize on the expectation that GAdv will grow and bring tons of tourist dollars to the area.
Its pretty clear corporate has big plans for the park right now. Whether or not it works out, its way too early to tell. People are coming back to the park for sure though. My visit on Columbus Day weekend pretty much proved that.
I seen this same song and dance several times over the years. New owners take over the Six Flags chain promising the moon and stars to fix up the parks but they always fail back into the exact same trappings as their predecessors. New owners always further gut the parks in order to more quickly payoff their acquisition costs while gaslighting fans with that less is more BS. Its all so tiresome.
The park was already in a bad state before this even further downsizing took place and these new promises are nothing more than vague bluesky proposals, the same thing their predecessors did. Huge swaths of the park are empty and portions are even barrian of basic landscaping. Now GAdv won't even have any transport rides. Yet they waste resources on a stupid overpriced Starcruiser knockoff in the safari.
Ripping out rides to better handle increasing crowds makes no logical sense. That just sets up a vicious cycle to make the remaining rides even more crowded as the crowds are less dispersed among fewer rides. That is besides the downsizing coaster operations to single train for much of this season. Even before the current ride removals there are not enough attractions in the park to fill a day and it will be worse next season. To become a resort it needs a more rounded collection of attractions like Hershey. Not just a bunch of coasters with little to nothing else like Magic Mountain. It's just disappointing how terrible GAdv's 50th has been and when you think it can't get worse, it somehow does.
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You know, KD was dealing with the same issues GAdv has in the past. Coming out of the Paramount acquisition they were still getting regular additions, but then the park started removing rides without much fanfare or replacement after seeing 305 not get the returns on investment they were hoping. They still don't have a proper replacement for Shockwave or Hypersonic.
And look at where the park is now! The park is absolutely better than ever, CF really turned the park around in the food and atmosphere department. Jungle X is amazing. Remember when Grove looked half abandoned? They upgraded that area and it looks great now! In the past, KD was known as the ghetto park with the rough reputation. Now people prefer going to KD over BGW.
SF isn't gonna fix all of GAdv's issues in a day. Stuff like this takes time. And its all about small improvements over big ones.
Green Lantern is a low capacity attraction that the public finds rough. Twister is a maintenance heavy ride that most parks are slowly removing anyway. The parachutes literally sat abandoned for years. Zumanjaro was in a terrible location well away from the park so it wasn't receiving any foot traffic. The only "big draw" they're removing is KK and unlike Volcano before it, they have a proper replacement for it and its opening within 2 years of the old ride being removed. They aren't really doing much to reduce capacity as much as they're just removing rides that aren't popular and are costing the park tons of money in maintenance and staffing.
Since COVID, the park has made a number of positive changes. The operations are some of the best in the industry, they're working to refurbish some of their legacy attractions, they're getting rid of the dead ends around the park, they're opening up the park entrance to make entering a lot easier, they're removing old maintenance heavy rides. I prefer going to GAdv over Hershey because the park isn't crowded and the operations are great.
So before spouting all this doom & gloom, give them some time. I could definitely see GAdv pulling a KD in a couple years.
And look at where the park is now! The park is absolutely better than ever, CF really turned the park around in the food and atmosphere department. Jungle X is amazing. Remember when Grove looked half abandoned? They upgraded that area and it looks great now! In the past, KD was known as the ghetto park with the rough reputation. Now people prefer going to KD over BGW.
SF isn't gonna fix all of GAdv's issues in a day. Stuff like this takes time. And its all about small improvements over big ones.
Green Lantern is a low capacity attraction that the public finds rough. Twister is a maintenance heavy ride that most parks are slowly removing anyway. The parachutes literally sat abandoned for years. Zumanjaro was in a terrible location well away from the park so it wasn't receiving any foot traffic. The only "big draw" they're removing is KK and unlike Volcano before it, they have a proper replacement for it and its opening within 2 years of the old ride being removed. They aren't really doing much to reduce capacity as much as they're just removing rides that aren't popular and are costing the park tons of money in maintenance and staffing.
Since COVID, the park has made a number of positive changes. The operations are some of the best in the industry, they're working to refurbish some of their legacy attractions, they're getting rid of the dead ends around the park, they're opening up the park entrance to make entering a lot easier, they're removing old maintenance heavy rides. I prefer going to GAdv over Hershey because the park isn't crowded and the operations are great.
So before spouting all this doom & gloom, give them some time. I could definitely see GAdv pulling a KD in a couple years.
the single car operations were absolute BRUTAL this summer. i remember waiting on superman thinking it was gonna be quick bc there was barely a line, and I think we ended up waiting for a half hour just because of how long it takes for them to cycle that ride. 100% agree with this sentiment though, there is not enough to fill up a day at this park, let alone to dedicate an entire resort-experience visit to. MAYBE if you did HH one day and the park/safari day 2, but besides that its weak.
this is what I have been saying about the location as well. yes it is accessible, but there is NOTHING surrounding the park to make it any kind of a destination resort area. Hersey has been built up enough to justify a whole trip, but do you really expect someone to fly into Philly/Newark, make the hour drive, and then stay in Jackson for more than a night? What are they gonna do, go to the outlets on day 3?
I think that's what the park is pushing for. Spend a full day at the park and then spend your second day at HH/do the safari.
If you haven't really noticed yet, Jackson is growing a lot in the area surrounding the park. It used to be just trees but they've added a few fast food places and a 7-Eleven. Yeah there isn't much to do in town but 2 days at the park and a day at the outlets seems very plausible. Most people won't fly into Philly/Newark to do a few days at GAdv. I think they're gonna focus more on locals looking to do a staycation vs people traveling to NYC/Philly at this point in time. The area really just needs a proper hotel. I know they were planning to build a Hilton onsite but IDK if that's fallen through or not.
Hershey is kinda the same way. Most people going to Hershey are gonna go to Hersheypark. Maybe spend 2 days there and a day visiting the stuff in town, doing the gardens, Choc World, and visiting the museum. Most people visiting HP are locals doing a staycation vs someone spending a full week there.