Considering how many enthusiasts make a pilgrimage just to ride Ka removing it without giving plenty of notice and chances for lasts rides would be sacrilegious. This is probably one of the few cases that I could see a year notice being reasonable.
News The King Is Dead: Kingda Ka (& Zumanjaro) Closure & Demolition Confirmed
- Thread starter Python_Survivor
- Start date
If it can just be cut down and imploded safely, it shouldn't be nearly this much. If cranes have to be brought in and take it apart piece by piece, then the price will go up a lot.
Irregardless, I’m definitely debating about quitting the excuses and going to GAdv next year
All I'm seeing or hearing is the usual crappy coaster community rumor mill working in overdrive, all started by thoosie vloggers speculating in very vague terms about ride closure while saying nothing definitive to preserve deniability. Then came the game of telephone presenting vague speculation as legitimate news.
I agree with you that Intamin should've been the folks involved from the get go (though to be fair, the odds that the exact people who worked on either Ka or TTD are still at Intamin are slim, and I can promise you that time is not spent diligently documenting every little quirk and factoid that would maintain the tribal knowledge about a specific engineering project in the entertainment industry), but I disagree with you that Intamin is the right call for Ka if this all goes down. Assuming Zamperla gets their act together and fixes the TT2 mistake, SF/CF/whatever they are now would presumably be in line for a tasty discount on similar work for Ka, due to the huge losses incurred. And Zamperla would have very recently just learned a lot of lessons on how to do this exact job. Hell if anything, that makes Zamperla a bit more qualified to do this work than Intamin, because like I said earlier, just being the same company does not mean the knowledge and the capabilities are still there. I have gotten burned a ton recently at work with this exact fallacy, albeit on a smaller scale than a multi million dollar hunk of steel. A company who messed up and has a reputation to redeem, something to prove, and already cleaned up their mess, is a safer bet than getting another company involved who may not have the knowledge you expect them to.
Of course this all goes out the window if Zamperla can't fix their math mistake with the trains. Then you probably bring Intamin in to review the info, clean up the mess, and move on to a full project for Ka. Assuming SF/CF didn't let Zamperla hold all the designs hostage.
I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned in this thread, I haven't been keeping up with it much, but I did see someone the other day mention that they weren't sure if Intamin could or would do a KK refurb. In the Coastermania Q&A at CP this year, CF confirmed that they had contacted Intamin for a TT2 refurb similar to what Zamperla did prior to the original accident even occuring, but that the 2 could never work out a deal. I'm sure Intamin has some sort of design they prepared for TTD that could be easily moved over to Ka if Six Flags is willing to pay. Hopefully they are.
They still never even tore down the Parachute Tower. Do you expect me to believe they'll tear down an even bigger ride?
In all seriousness, I'm reserving judgement about this rumor. Ka has had plenty of major problems in the past, but it's too iconic to simply get rid of it. For most people driving to Great Adventure, it's literally the first thing they see, even before the road sign. It makes a big impression for everyone who visits the park, even the ones who are too young or too scared to ride it.
In all seriousness, I'm reserving judgement about this rumor. Ka has had plenty of major problems in the past, but it's too iconic to simply get rid of it. For most people driving to Great Adventure, it's literally the first thing they see, even before the road sign. It makes a big impression for everyone who visits the park, even the ones who are too young or too scared to ride it.
Parachutes Tower houses a bunch of communications equipment for the park and for the wider area at large which is why it's still standing despite being retired. If you have a capable radio that can decode the signal channel 3 of park ops can be picked up as far away as Levittown, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles away as the bird flies. One of the previous operations managers would sit and listen to the channel on their days off in case anything happened like an emergency evac of the Sky Ride.
well, if they removed kingda ka, the park will get outrage and its all thanks to the six flags cedar fair merger, this is why village roadshow would have taken over six flags instead
So these last couple days have only intensified these rumors and ElToroRyan has even spoken on this matter.
Im straight up not enjoying this right now
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Im straight up not enjoying this right now
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
Yeah I’m not liking the sudden urgency to say the least. They would be insane to not give a full season’s notice. I’m still planning to get up there next year to ride it for the first time.
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Especially since I can’t go to GAdv until at least next year. So if they pull the rug out from underneath me during the offseason im gonna be pissed
I swear six flags is trying to world of adventure/geauga lake on propose 
I swear six flags is trying to world of adventure/geauga lake on propose
As sad as I would be if Ka is being removed, it is likely highly defensible as a heartless business decision. Assuming any malice here doesn't make sense.
I'm of the opinion that if Kingda Ka has to go they'll definitely replace it with something good, I can't see them making this decision lightly.
This park makes money, and lots of it. There is no way they are winding down operations out of spite or malice. They are fixing what can be fixed and removing what makes sense due to age and cost. Honestly IMO if it came down to a choice between keeping Kingda Ka or the Skyride, I know my choice. And for what they have to spend on maintenance for KK, they could buy a bunch of flat rides and fix what they've got already.I swear six flags is trying to world of adventure/geauga lake on propose
If KK is going, it may be their insurance company is to blame after having to pay out on the TTD accident.
My thought is KK stays one more season, then is removed or somehow reworked to reduce maintenance costs, just like TTD.