News The King Is Dead: Kingda Ka (& Zumanjaro) Closure & Demolition Confirmed

[Danny2002]

His good friend invisible billy.

It was my wager... (Also, I'm a they.)

Anyway, I can't believe I never did it. I even did Storm Runner this year. The fact is, Kingda Ka's launch scared me. I didn't want the forces to make my face feel like a fish. Storm Runner wasn't that big or fast, and of course it has that voice. This is absolutely appalling for Six Flags to do, and I say we start a petition just like the Whizzer at SFGAm. (Next thing you know, they're gonna remove that ride finally.) Charlie Failure Face and SnoopingasusualIsee probably can't get over their hatred of stratas after the TTD incident.

 

[Logflume]

It was my wager...

No hard feelings, didn’t mean to specifically call you out. It was very hard to tell. Hell, I was hoping for the overhaul rumor to be true. What could’ve been, if they only went with intamin

 

[NKMM10893]

I even did Storm Runner this year.

Having ridden Storm Runner, Kingda Ka, and Top Thrill Dragster in its original form, I truly believe that Storm Runner is the better of the three roller coasters. I think its launch packs a bigger punch than TTD’s did, it delivers a smoother ride than KK, and it has a more complete layout than either Strata. It’s the only one of the three coasters that’s in my top 10 overall.

 

[the_pantsmith]

Can we at least admit here that this wasn't a spur of the moment decision made by careless higher ups? The execution was bad, but it's VERY clear SF has a concrete plan going forward. It really does remind me of mid-late 2010s KD. I could be wrong, but changes this drastic and decisions this tough have me more confident than ever that new management is gonna try their best to genuinely improve these parks.

The conversations on Reddit are infuriatingly short-sighted right now.

 

[Logflume]

This whole thing has me wondering: what’s gonna happen to the older steel top dogs at other parks in the chain when the service life time comes? Things like Millie and Magnum I would assume would get saved, but there are other coasters in the chain I wonder about. Things like the Supermen Intamin Mega Trios at the mid level/small legacy six flags, the Morgan Hypers at parks like worlds of fun, or mamba at valleyfair, or the Batman clones. Some of these parks ones that I imagine would not get top level investment to replace them if they did tear it down like they would’ve at the time when they were built, and with some (specifically Superman at six flags New England) spacing comes to mind. So I wonder if some get the nemesis treatment when their time eventually comes? Who knows. I just think alot of coasters are starting to “get there” in age.

 

[bill s]

This season Ithere were few improvements at GAdv and it seems CF is hellbent on adding to the list of the park's many issues. GAdv will now be down 6 rides. Flash whenever it finally opens will reduce that number to -5, assuming it doesn't run into complications. Even if the new coaster replacing KK is actually built and runs ok, the park is still down 4 rides. As I said they need to add much much more than two coasters no matter how super fancy they may be. This is not even counting the other non replaced ride removals from previous years such as the splash down and second flume removals.

If you thought GL was low capacity, just watch the Flash ask you to hold his beer. A shuttle coaster was a poor choice for a crowded park like GAdv.

The park's operations took a huge nosedive this season. For months most of the coasters only operated single trains causing long, slow moving lines. Half the park was closed until mid May. I certainly hope GAdv's operations were not the industry's best as that would be setting the bar really low.

As for HH, it has a really short season which makes it not very reliable to make GAdv a multi-day experience. HH is not even open every day until 2/3 of June is over, has short operating hours, and closes promptly on Labor day. Not to mention HH is quick to close for the day at the slightest possibility of a storm. The Waterpark also suffers staffing issues, slow dispatches, and tube and raft shortages.

I went to both Hershey and Dorney weekdays in May. Both had long lines due to school groups and the coasters at Hershey seemed to all be running one train or three (and stacking). Storm Runner with one train was 50 minutes from the merge point. Dorney also had some single train ops. Lots of parks are slow starting up the year.

GL is higher capacity than Ka, that's why someone was claiming it got more riders earlier in this thread. Flash is still better capacity than JD.

I still stand by that it was better for those who really cared about Ka that the closure was leaked but not not announced, presuming it couldn't have been done well in advance -- otherwise yeah shame on them. I don't think the ride had the capacity or reliability left for a proper public sendoff. I was unable to go this last weekend but am not too upset as I usually go then to have the run of the place and had a great ride (singular) on Ka 6 weeks ago. It does sound like I missed a real thoosie-fest though.

While jumping between 2 different simultaneous livestreams on the subject last night, it came up that this is the third Intamin launch coaster to go after only 19-20 years and many others are that age or older. While smaller hydraulic coasters should last a bit longer, it looks to me that the parks are facing a big reckoning as the products of the coaster wars start to age out, this is only the beginning. And while the park will be getting something to replace Kingda Ka, it may not be the true replacement.

As to "resort" or "destination park" even CP is mostly a partial week park. The parks are more like driving destinations, some fly to them but most drive and go on to other locations for a full week trip. Only in Orlando can you fly in and take shuttle buses to multiple parks.

 

[the_pantsmith]

This whole thing has me wondering: what’s gonna happen to the older steel top dogs at other parks in the chain when the service life time comes? Things like Millie and Magnum I would assume would get saved, but there are other coasters in the chain I wonder about. Things like the Supermen Intamin Mega Trios at the mid level/small legacy six flags, the Morgan Hypers at parks like worlds of fun, or mamba at valleyfair, or the Batman clones. Some of these parks ones that I imagine would not get top level investment to replace them if they did tear it down like they would’ve at the time when they were built, and with some (specifically Superman at six flags New England) spacing comes to mind. So I wonder if some get the nemesis treatment when their time eventually comes? Who knows. I just think alot of coasters are starting to “get there” in age.

Hydraulic launch coasters, much less 400 foot tall ones, are especially high maintenance. MF, the intamin hypers, and the Morgan hypers aren't nearly the albatross Ka was.

That being said, SF better make like CF and remove the height limit on Superman at SFNE if they're gonna remove it soon so I can actually get that credit.

 

[Great Adventurer]

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[Coasternerd]

That moment when the ride’s manufacturer gives a better send off than the park ever will

 

[GoHokies87]

At the time, it was a big but careful step forward, taking risks we were confident we could handle with the experience we had gained on hydraulic launch systems.​

Shade

 

[rgrwilco]

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"Are you ready for the next adventure?"

Sounds like Intamin is involved.

 

[Zachary]

"Are you ready for the next adventure?"

Sounds like Intamin is involved.

Nah, with the emoji it's a reference to Falcon's Flight I imagine.

 

[Dupa Jas]

The Ka retrofit launch system is a team of eagles pulling the train like reindeer a sleigh.

 

[Zachary]

Crazy thought I just had...

There was that rumor floating around that Intamin folks were flying out to Great Adventure, right? What if they're heading out there to decide whether or not to buy Ka back from Great Adventure...?

Given that Zamperla was able to buy, dismantle, ship, renovate, and resell Senzafiato as ThunderVolt, it's not impossible that the same could be done with Ka, no? Steel isn't cheap and Ka is made out of an absolute metric shit ton of steel. Track and support fabrication isn't cheap and there's nothing wrong with Ka's.

If Intamin could get a good deal on Ka (say, scrap cost and paying to dismantle it or similar), it seems like it would be a no-brainer for them to buy Ka back (assuming they believed they could find a home for it sometime in the years ahead). Something tells me there are a lot of random parks out there that would suddenly be interested in an Intamin-sold-and-backed, LSM-converted, refurbished strata if the price was right...

Do I think this is likely? No. Do I think it's possible—particularly if Intamin is actually sending people out to SFGAdv? Maybe...?

 

[GoHokies87]

That doesn't sound very Sandor, but who knows.

 

[plighting_engineerd]

That would be crazy. They could likely extend the launch track to accommodate a straight stretch of launch (like Red Force) if they were to do so. I just wonder about the logistics of actually getting the ride down in a form that would be able to be reused - it wouldn't be easy. I agree that this is a highly unlikely option, but probably not entirely impossible.

 

[The Master]

I found a screenshot of the 400ft Mack Spinner concept that they sent out in surveys a couple of months ago.
View attachment 35134
I know this isn't entirely related to the topic of the thread, but do they really think this is a good replacement for Ka? That's actually embarrassing if so, that or they just don't care.

1/10, would not ride.

 

[GAcoaster]

I know Six Flags had tried to sell it off to one of their foreign parks in the past, so anything is possible.

 

[b.mac]

I know Six Flags had tried to sell it off to one of their foreign parks in the past, so anything is possible.

The rumor around the time was that Kingda Ka was only going to operate temporarily at GAdv and then get shipped over to the Middle East for that giant super island theme park complex that was supposed to open in 2008.

Whether there was any truth to that idk, I wasn't really in the scene at the time and I've only heard it through old heads.

 

[GAcoaster]

The rumor around the time was that Kingda Ka was only going to operate temporarily at GAdv and then get shipped over to the Middle East for that giant super island theme park complex that was supposed to open in 2008.

Whether there was any truth to that idk, I wasn't really in the scene at the time and I've only heard it through old heads.

It’s true— I’ve seen the details of costs for removal and shipping and the proposal to replace it with a 500’ drop tower (all under Red Zone ownership)