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

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plighting_engineerd said:
I completely agree. I think CF will build up these parks to be truly sustainable parks with good customer experiences and big rides. With Ka gone, hopefully that means the park can get multiple new big coasters. Honestly, I don't think that Mack shuttle would be that bad.
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Yeah. In the moment it sucks. Just to be clear, I have never been to GADV, but I wanna see it thrive, bc it has potential. I like the Mack tower coaster. Ngl it makes me happy 400 footers won’t go extinct, bc it’s not lookin good for Superman and Dragster
plighting_engineerd said:
If what was said about Ka v Toro is true, I'm surprised they chose to save Toro. It's much less of an icon and much less of a draw for those who aren't enthusiasts. Apparently it also has a rough reputation in the GP. Obviously I'm very glad Toro is still here, but the decision surprises me slightly.
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can someone who knows more about maitinance can be, I imagine it’s because cedar fair was against an lsm conversion bc tt2, and that parts are getting more scarce. I also imagine it’s because maybe Toto is cheaper to fix potentially? Can I get a check in that?
Edit: Also bc of the accidents make me ESPECIALLY surprised. I thought they’d decide to replace the woodie with the less good reputation with the gp and the accidents recently, and would’ve kept the guest adored, global icon in kingda ka. Honestly, plop some kinda Giant rmc in toro’s place and some thoosies would go “EL WHO-O?”
plighting_engineerd said:
i love six flags bread adventure
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El tor-dough
 
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Logflume said:
Edit: Also bc of the accidents make me ESPECIALLY surprised. I thought they’d decide to replace the woodie with the less good reputation with the gp and the accidents recently, and would’ve kept the guest adored, global icon in kingda ka. Honestly, plop some kinda Giant rmc in toro’s place and some thoosies would go “EL WHO-O?”
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part of my thinks maye this is the reason they kept toro around, because when they don't feel like getting the fixes from intamin anymore and keeping up w the maintenance, they can slap an RMC conversion on it.
 
twoyutes92 said:
part of my thinks maye this is the reason they kept toro around, because when they don't feel like getting the fixes from intamin anymore and keeping up w the maintenance, they can slap an RMC conversion on it.
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GG also does precut track these days, I'm sure they'd be willing to do it.

Don't want it to be wood anymore? I'm sure GCI would also be willing to titan track it, too.
 
Could also be that management figured El Toro still has a bit more life left in it as is, whereas some sort of action would have had to be taken on Ka sooner than later. With TT2's status up in the air, there's currently no blueprint for success, and any potential reimagining would be a shot in the dark.

It makes the handling of this by corporate that much worse. Rather than getting to see how things play out and having an opportunity to consider options, the park was faced with a snap decision.

As an admittedly biased observer with a horse in the race, I think it's pretty unfair that Ka seemingly had to pay the price for two Top Thrill failures, while the latter still at least has a chance for continued existence. It begs the question: in an alternate reality where TT has a successful 2024 operating season (either as Dragster or 2), is it business as usual for Kingda Ka for the time being? I'd argue that it would be.
 
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If it’s true they had to pick then GAdv made the right call. Even if you kept KK going it was only going to last so long.

But El Toro offers a lot of possibilities. First off there’s the retrack, Titan track, or I-Box possibilities. There’s always El Toro RMC ability.

If there’s other issues you can always replace the high stressed structural areas with steel over wood. You could expand the width of the base and add footers for supports. If the cable lift is problematic it can always be replaced by a high speed chain system.

Basically I think the options for long term feasibility of El Toro far out number the possibilities of Kingda Ka.
 
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warfelg said:
Basically I think the options for long term feasibility of El Toro far out number the possibilities of Kingda Ka.
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Just to add on to this, El Toro's also firmly inside the park while Ka was at the border - that may provide more room for expansion rather than working around Ka (and we all know NJ's issues with going under the ride's tracks or infield). That lets them renew the entire Golden Kingdom area and maybe reshape portions of the parking lot. Taking out Green Lantern also supports this, as the dead-end of The Boardwalk could be opened up to connect with new pathways for future rides.

A good comparison to that would be Carowinds removing their log flume - opened up more space for Intimidator and Harmony Hall, plus more space for Camp Snoopy. Kind-of the same thing here, IMO.
 
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Crunchewy said:
RMC El Toro makes me feel sick.
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I think there are many more options for toro other than an rmc, so we’ll be fine for a while. Worst comes to worst, it’ll be a world class ride im sure. Plus, after ka 2.0, I am pretty sure GADV is probably gonna get like a family coaster or something. Just guessing based on trends.
 
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Removing Toro and Lantern wouldn't be near as flexible for the future.
I think they're tired of the problems, dangers and limitations of giant coasters going over 100 MPH so don't see one as a replacement.

Toro uses rubber wheels, so unlike a steel to rubber conversion, would not require layout changes to be RMC'd. Unlike the 208 partial retracked wood coasters, it would get even faster. It wouldn't have the smooth wood feel of the original but that's long gone. It would probably not be quite as oddly quiet, sounds so smooth as it slams your spine.
 
bill s said:
Removing Toro and Lantern wouldn't be near as flexible for the future.
I think they're tired of the problems, dangers and limitations of giant coasters going over 100 MPH so don't see one as a replacement.

Toro uses rubber wheels, so unlike a steel to rubber conversion, would not require layout changes to be RMC'd. Unlike the 208 partial retracked wood coasters, it would get even faster. It wouldn't have the smooth wood feel of the original but that's long gone. It would probably not be quite as oddly quiet, sounds so smooth as it slams your spine.
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As painful as it is, its probably true. I will be forever sad that i have probably missed the days of super fast and crazy launches, and that six flags has lost one of their icon coasters. I am wondering though, other than X2, what other coaster in the legacy flags chain at risk for removal would make us all freak out? Honestly, what are the icon coasters (The beast, fury 325, intimidator, the entire back half of cedar point) for the old six flags chain?
 
Logflume said:
Idk maybe I’m more open to this because as someone who is also a big Disney parks/universal fan, I am MUCH more used to closures of favorite attractions/the general feeling of “nothing is safe”, so it’s been kinda strange to see the thoosie community have its first real modern “cannon event” on that level.
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Big Bad Wolf says hello. Or rather, goodbye.

Ka is the tallest and fastest "canon event" removal, but not the first.
 
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halfabee said:
Big Bad Wolf says hello. Or rather, goodbye.

Ka is the tallest and fastest "canon event" removal, but not the first.
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Yeah but I mean modern In the sense of the way the community works today. Even in 2007, the internet, and coaster community was not where it is today. I’m sure big bad wolf would have something similar today. It just hasn’t happened in awhile. It should’ve been wolf preserved as the last suspended coaster, like Loch Ness Monster….
 
halfabee said:
Big Bad Wolf says hello. Or rather, goodbye.

Ka is the tallest and fastest "canon event" removal, but not the first.
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Logflume said:
Yeah but I mean modern In the sense of the way the community works today. Even in 2007, the internet, and coaster community was not where it is today. I’m sure big bad wolf would have something similar today. It just hasn’t happened in awhile. It should’ve been wolf preserved as the last suspended coaster, like Loch Ness Monster….
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I think what people are missing is that for many it's not that it's being removed that is the issue but how it was being handled.

Example as late as the being of September their were adds sent out sayride "Kingda Ka for the rest of this season and all of next season."

As late as the last day of operation guests services were still saying it was simply closing for the season and would return next year.

Yes loosing Ka would be hard in any world but it's completely unacceptable to do it the way it was done. Yes it's happened before with the likes of Volcano and others but I can't think of another iconic example that was done with put a graceful goodbye that didn't have extenuating circumstances attached to it. Personally in light of the fact that it ran without major issues through it's last operating day and that the park had announcement ready to go less then a week after closing it I am out of excuses for how they handled it.
 
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horsesboy said:
I think what people are missing is that for many it's not that it's being removed that is the issue but how it was being handled.
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Yeah, no disagreement on how poorly it was handled. But the discussion you quoted was about Ka being/not being the first modern non-Disney/Universal ride removal "canon event." @Logflume subsequently clarified and all is well on that front.

There has been so much coverage in this forum of how poorly Ka's removal was handled that I sincerely doubt anybody at all is missing that aspect. 😆
 
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Looking through both the park and SF corporate Social media it appears any post made since November has been instantly assaulted by angry Ka fans. Many posting that they are more upset by HOW the closer was handled then just that they closed it. It's not going away if anything the backlash seems to only be increasing. I can't believe someone hasn't looked at this and decided that maybe it's time to say that they are sorry and made a mistake in how they handled it. Then again there is no such thing as bad press right?
 
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