I've seen that and I think many content creators are jumping the gun because you can't always take Cedar Fair/Six Flags at their word. They like to throw surprises at people, pleasant and unpleasant. That being said, I won't be surprised either way, but I'll believe the demolition if/when I see it.
That's what I thought as well, but apparently the park explicitly said they will replace the ride entirely (just what I've seen youtubers say, don't know for sure)
2:28 but there’s still this big gap in the exact wording. No one using the words “removed” or “demolished”. They should be aware of that but maybe not. Also, it would explain why they didn’t have a big goodbye. Having one and then saying “actually we’re keeping part of it” would seem like a bait and switch.
Someone else mentioned it but the park saying “we understand how hard it is to say goodbye” when they specifically opted to refuse to give anyone notice of its closure is pretty terrible.
@@jasonkloos6348 Not sure how good of a business model it is to say "well, our clientele is only a small percentage of the overall population, so customer service doesn't matter"
Well, the GP will definitely be disappointed when they come to visit and don't see a giant launch coaster in the front of the park anymore. It'll be complained about for years to come by both GP and thusies. The park is going to lose a lot of money from all of this.
@ bleh. I really don’t see how they can get anything close to kingda ka with whatever this replacement is. The new ride would somehow have to be just as impressing as kingda ka but how. Not utilizing that tower or support structure just makes that so much harder
@@RCmaniac1231 I don’t think what makes the Intamin launch coasters special is the height, it’s the acceleration. I really do think they could make a world class launched coaster in the hyper class. Just needs to accelerate about as fast as the hydraulic launch and have an extended layout with some wild elements.
You summed it up perfectly. Six Flags corporation really, really messed up with this one, and they are going to have to make up for it big time. I know it must have been really frustrating to deal with people accusing you of clickbait or perpetuating baseless rumors when all you were trying to do was help us out, but I, and i’m sure many others, want you to know your word DID reach people and you DID help. I already said this on your community post, but YOU were the reason I was able to ride Kingda Ka for the first (and last) time on closing night. You are a creator that makes extremely reliable, well researched, well thought out content. You never dig into the rumor mill or fish for views, so when I saw you uploaded a video about the whole Ka situation, THAT is when I knew it was serious. THAT is when I realized this was legit. I will always be so unbelievably thankful for you making that video, because if you didn’t, Ka would have just become another icon on my list of “didn’t get to ride” coasters. I cannot say it enough times, THANK YOU.
Never got to ride it. It was one of the first coasters that I discovered about on the Internet when I became an enthusiast. Also, I wish it was open for the 2025 season, since that would've been the 20th anniversary of Kingda Ka
Same, Kingda Ka was one of the first rides I learned about that absolutely terrified me in the best ways possible. Would I have ridden it? I’m not sure if I’m being honest, but it’s sad seeing such a record breaking coaster not hit the 20 year mark. Long live the King 💚
I still concretely remember the grainy early TH-cam video showing the train launch from the station, get tiny in the distance, and then suddenly carry itself up vertically, for what seemed like an absolutely impossible distance. Definitely gave me chills and formed a core memory lol
Thank you for helping the community to say goodbye to Ka. We knew this wasn't clickbait, your content is always very trustworthy. :). Long live the King!
Sorry for the loss! 😢 Everyone should have had their chance to ride these two giants, they were certainly insanely unique, intense ride experiences! I liked Kingda Ka slightly more, so this is a huge bummer! RIP Ka
In '05 got to ride KKa 23 times (6days) after ride 23 I left right away to get to CP and rode TTD around 17hours later!!! [only one ????to have done this????][ANYONE done this in shorter time??]. TTD/2 total is now 4695 times!! (46TT2-? another record?)
They were both extremely overrated one-trick pony coasters. Now, if they would have added a bunch of smaller hills after the first hill, that would have been great. Going up not that great, no or very little air time at the top, and the twist going down took away from the thrill of going straight down.
Most of us that struggled to believe the rumors, it wasnt because we don't trust you or other channels. It was because it was just SO HARD TO BELIEVE that six flags would kill Ka without an announcement!
Correct! It defied logic that GA would close their premiere ride without notification! It shows how merging with Cedar Fair has negative effects as well.
@@busfan9874 the thing is, everyone goes to six flags great adventure is because of Kingda Ka and that's their first ride to go on and myself included. And because of this closing without warning that's going to impact a lot of people to not come back specifically to the park
I'm gonna miss this ride. My first roller coaster... Got my last rides back in October. Thank You Ryan and everyone else that warned us ahead of time. Long Live The King
Notice how they specifically don't say that Kingda Ka will be removed or torn down. There could be a lot of misdirection here. It might even be that the final decision of what to do hasn't been made yet so they're leaving the door open for anything.
@@negan5986 the park just straight up lies sometimes though. I called them one time to ask if it was being shut down during the finale week of operation and they told me no, that it wasn't going anywhere and that they were just rumours. Can tell now that that was a lie
@@kaleldanner4091 this is why the park didn’t really care to tell us ahead of time because it is impossible to please you guys. I get it from their standpoint.
Thank you for your well-thought out coverage as always. You're the only coaster enthusiast youtuber I've seen thus far properly addressing the problem of quietly closing rides like this.
Thank you, Ryan. I never thought you were going after click bait. I believed you and as a result I went to SFGA and got my first and last rides on Kingda Ka. I'm so thankful I'm a follower of yours because I would have had a lifetime of regrets if I never got to ride this ride. Thank you for what you do.
Thank you for letting us know. I went on closing day and it was my first time ever riding. Super glad i went and had a great time talking with everyone in the queue
Ryan, I was really hoping that you were wrong about this! After 20 years, it was still a great record-holding ride that brought people to the park. Anyway, it was great riding Kingda Ka with you and meeting you a couple weeks ago!
dude as a wee CHILD I DREAMED to ride this coaster one day every since i could have memories the amount of COMMERCIALS they would play on my tv about Kingda Ka from 2007-2009 (probably around the time they introduced Zumanjaro) like all i could remember is that one narrator saying “COME RIDE KINGDA KA AT SIX FLAGS, EXPERIENCE ZUMANJARO TODAY” and ever since then I just wanted to experience and go so bad. never would’ve thought they would take it down before i even got the chance to get enough money to enjoy my own experience as an adult. it’s heart breaking honestly but long live the king 👑 💔
Hey Ryan , Kevin from Flash Pass here (Sup from 2017-2019), I can’t believe the way the park handled this it’s so disrespectful to Ka and Zum but mostly Ka. People from all over the world would come to visit SFGA to ride Kingda Ka! It’s so disappointing to see the park just close the ride with no official warning about getting your last rides in and because of them not saying anything, I did not think Ka was actually going to close and so I did not get to ride one last time. Hope all is well with you and I hope the new ride is even bigger and better than Ka even though we all know it won’t be.
This is a good point. If they said “this is its 20th anniversary, and this is the last year” they would have been able to market that. I bet that would bring in more crowds than The Flash - certainly more than whatever incremental cost it would have been to run it for another year. If they’re not replacing the launch with LSMs, I think thats a pretty huge screw up on their part.
I got my last, and also very first ride on kingda ka on sunday. Insane experience, made the nearly 7 hour drive worth it. Also new jersey devil was better than expected.
I have never wanted to cry about losing a ride, but this one hits really hard. Kingda ka was one of, if not THE coaster that got me hooked. I used to sit at the computer constantly watching videos of kingda ka, reading all about it, and dreaming of riding it. Even though I have only been on it once, it has a lot of sentimental value to me, and I knew it wasn't going to last forever, but being a silent closer makes it so much worse. I really hope this new coaster is as amazing as they are trying to make it. It's got some big shoes to fill. Rest in peace Kingda ka, you will forever be missed
R.I.P Kingda ka I only ever got 16 rides and my friend 15. We got a perfect last ride during golden hour. Thank you for makeing these videos warning us and giving genuine and great reasons and evidence ❤
About Green Lantern, I really really hope it gets relocated. It's an older B&M abd they don't make standups or even floorless like that anymore but it actually has a really good layout, it would be terrible to loose it forever. It would be really good if they relocated it to Michigan's Adventure, Valleyfair, or World's of Fun as they all need a big sitdown looper, and possibly replace it with floorless trains.
@jeo33466 Oh yes that is very true, this ride replacing Ninja would be a great fit for Six Flags St. Louis, they Aldo need a more modern, or at least better sit-down looper.
If it was getting relocated, it probably would have been somewhere on the list of 2026 additions. The wording hints that not all 2026 have been made, but as it stands, it's not looking good for GL.
It's just crazy how we are losing 6 rides in the span of 2 YEARS. I just hope that this leads to huge investment into SFGA to bring back some of the parks glory with new rides being added for the coming years.
From a costumer and coaster enthusiast stand point, Six Flags corporation are definitely pissing a lot of people off with these sudden changes and closures…. Hope they do something to make up for it. (Not just the investments…) thanks for all your videos man!
Green lantern, Twister, and parachute I could understand being torn down, But Ka is THE headlining attraction for GA and what put it on the map. It’s a shimmering icon of a coaster and a representation of the absolutely nuts coaster wars from the 90’s into the early 2000s. What a horrible decision to close something like that down.
When it comes to the “completely new” thing I just want to point some things out - That could just be marketing speech, I’ve yet to see them say the tower would be removed - Zumanjaro pretty much hasn’t operated all year and is a ride Great Adventure has had problems with, if they should decide to replace track on the tower they could also remove Zumanjaro. - This new ride reportedly cost $50 million, I understand Mack is expensive but a shuttle even at such a scale shouldn’t be THAT expensive, however a ride that reuses the top hat, features a full layout and a giant spike I could see costing that much
Shout out to those amazing ride ops, King, Cody, and the other guy (not sure his name). That was by far the best operations team I've ever seen. Exactly one week ago today I flew all the way from Chicago visiting Great Adventure for the first time. I marathoned Kingda Ka until I had the worst splitting migrane of my life, still have a sore neck too a week later (totally worth it, I don't regret a single ride). Long Live the King!
It doesn't make sense to me why these parks haven't been able to give proper send offs to such iconic coasters. I understand not wanting to reveal the future plans ahead of time if it's not finalized but the very least they could do is let people know a huge coaster like Kingda Ka is closing. Even if it was a reimagining of Ka, letting people have a send of to the coaster as they know it would be a much better route to take instead of silently closing their biggest attraction ever. Thanks for your diligent reporting on this situation Ryan, you're always my number one trusted source for these kinds of things!
I'm afraid coaster nerds who are seriously burnt by this news are just a tiny percentage of the general parkgoing audience... A boycott would be a drop in a bucket.
The only thing I’m asking for out of both six flags and cedar fair is PLEASE add elements to the next launch coaster that pay homage to Kingda Ka, such as a top hat somewhere in the layout, or a twisted drop similar to Kingda ka’s drop, or even just an airtime hill similar to Kingda ka at the end of the ride.
I think it’s unfortunate that Six Flags essentially put you and Coaster Studios on the front line of their unpopular decision, which left you guys to take the flak for a closure you obviously had nothing to do with. That said, thanks for taking the flak so as many of us as would listen were able to make a trip to the park happen (myself and my son included - you are the one to thank for the lifelong memory he will have of hauling over to NJ to experience a massive hydraulic launch before it was too late).
It was such short notice. A trip up there isn't easy for me. Now I'll never get to know what it was like to experience a launch like that. Always feels like I was born about 5 years too late to be an enthusiast
Thank you for the heads up! I was one of those people who had their first and only ride on closing day. Never got on it before due to my anxiety over heights, but the knowledge that it might be its last day made the fear wash away
Can’t thank you enough Ryan, thanks so much for looking out for us. Got ten rides on Ka on Friday! Once you said it I knew it would be true. You’re the man, favorite channel by the way.❤️🔥🤘
So glad this was the summer I decided to make my first venture to SFGA and ride the King. Never would have guessed just 3 months later that it would be closing forever.
I will forever be grateful to you and everyone else who got the word out quickly that our time with Kingda Ka would be abruptly coming to an end. Our family, including my 9 year old, who had only ridden it once before, was able to get to the park to say goodbye and get our final rides thanks to you all. I'm so sorry that you had to deal with such negativity, but please know that for those of us who listened, we cannot thank you enough. ❤️
Your news of its closing was what made me take the rumors seriously! I'm so disappointed with how the park handled this, and this was the perfect topper of what was such a sorry, underwhelming 50th anniversary. It's going to be so sad driving by the park now when its gone.
These are rides that been there for DECADES ppl like me literally grew up on them. I still remember being 8 and finally being able to ride kingda ka😭 that memory will never leave me and to see it go w/o so much as a a proper farewell is devastating. I at least hope that whatever they plan on replacing it with can give those same types of memories to the nxt generation of coaster enthusiasts 💔
Agree IT'S slightly better than TTD [also having seat 2/car 1 almost as good as front seat- makes it better over TTD]. BUT DavidFox9947, best ever ELEMENT on ANY coaster is 2nd. drop on Phantoms Revenge -front left seat!!!! [combined w/ 1st drop, even more so!!!] TTD/2Ron@4695 (+23KdK (46 are on tt2)
I'm so upset by how the park handled this. I never got to ride the original TTD either, so I am absolutely devastated. If they had given just a couple months of warning I could've made arrangements to get a visit in. Insane
I’m not much of a coaster rider, steel coasters anyway, but even I know how popular Kingda Ka was when I was younger. They better have something epic up their sleeve, otherwise add bullet to foot by way of self affliction.
The way they handled this is absolutely diabolical & has to go down in history as the worst closure of any coaster ever. To close the once TALLEST & FASTEST coaster in the world with not just no fanfare, but no notice whatsoever. Complete silence. Absolutely shocking. Parks need to end this approach of being mute about ride closures. It's not fair on the enthusiasts or general public who have formed memories & want to get their last rides in. At the very least there should be a years notice. Surely it's in their best interests profits wise as well as people will flock there. Madness.
Wow this is how it ends?? Can’t even have a great 50th anniversary for the park and they restore and repaint the ride before its 20th anniversary? They won’t pay the bills six flags did every year and keep the ride going, but they want to invest a billion into the chain this does not make much sense. They really need to get back with intamin, they’ve changed for the better! How bad will park attendance be next year?
So thankful for you and coaster studios, I was able to get my first and last 30 rides the final weekend and it was a special experience for me because I had been dreaming about riding Ka since I was 7, sad it took a closure for me to make the trip out there but glad I got to experience it
While Kingda Ka has made many people become coaster enthusiasts, I'm sad to say this but, Roller Coaster Tycoon Video Game series was the one that made me fall in love with roller coasters, which twelve years later in 2011 (after playing it for the first time in the year 2000) inspired me to make my own cartoon characters based off of theme park attractions. The name of my own characters I have yet to disclosed in the near future.
I've been to Cedar Point 5 times, and never got the chance to ride TTD. The most recent 2 trips were in May and August 2024: TT2 was closed. I recently had family move to New York, and looked forward to visiting them in the next couple of years, allowing me to visit Great Adventure for the first time as part of the trip. I found out Ka was closing and tried to book a trip to NJ, but was too late. These Strata coasters are making me really disappointed
Step 1 merge with your competitor. Step 2 Get rid of your competitor's most iconic and tallest ride in their legacy chain. Step 3 Now your flagship legacy park can now reclaim the tallest ride in the world again, or even just north America. It will be interesting to see if and how much cedar fair favors their legacy parks over six flags if the cedar fair side are the ones who have majority say over everything. I don't get the feeling great adventure had any intension of getting rid of ka this soon. Cedar fair was clearly willing to pour money into Dragster.
I've never been to SFGA and thus never got to ride this. Sadly even if I had believed your prior videos on this I didn't have the time (or money actually) to make the trip to New Jersey on such short notice. If they had announced next year would be the final operating season for the ride I'm sure I would have made an effort to visit the park and ride it. I don't call myself an enthusiast but always enjoyed your content Ryan. Glad you could get some people to go to get a first/final ride.
It was the consistent near frantic way you told us in every video it was going to happen. When Coaster Studios and Collinwood started hammering the message too, there was no question it was really going to happen. As far as the Kings replacement all I can tell is it will be massive that is a lot of land to clear for one coaster.
I am someone who very much believes in voting with my wallet, and have been boycotting the company since the merger was announced. I wanted to see how the new company would change hoping for the better but assuming for the worse, and my assumptions keep coming true. Once I saw that All Park Passes were the same cost if not cheaper than they were before despite being extremely buffed, I knew the money had to be coming from somewhere. It obviously wasn't going to be coming from labor as that is already trimmed back as far as it could be, so it had to come from operations, and this obviously proves. This is also such a cowardly move from the higher-ups choosing not to own up to their decisions, but to instead leave their biggest fans to take the brunt of the hate. The last time we saw something of this scale were the sudden closures of both Astroworld and Geauga Lake in the 2000's, but at that point influencers didn't exist to be used as scape goats.
So bummed I missed the last day of operation due to being sick! I remember riding this as a middle--school kid when it first opened. Maybe my 5th ever rollercoaster at the time. I'm glad I got to experience this beast of a ride a few times over the years... RIP Kingda Ka!
I wish I got to experience Six Flags Great Adventure like a decade ago, it felt like a shell of something once greater during my first ever visit this year. The safari tour was a quality experience, and I hope the rest of the park can be brought to a similar level.
This is very sad. I wish I would’ve been able to ride it. I did ride the OG Top Thrill Dragster so I have a general idea how the hydraulic launch felt. When I was getting into roller coasters, I remember seeing videos about Kingda Ka when I was younger. It was the tallest and fastest in the word and I always wanted to ride it. It’s one thing if it was closing but the fact that Six Flags didn’t do a proper send off or goodbye without giving people much time is very annoying. R.I.P. to the legend Kingda Ka.
I'm sad I missed it, but I'm glad I rode it the year it opened. The aura, the space, the scene was incredible. It was truly majestic at open, and the area fell into more and more disrepair over the years. It will be a beautiful memory for me for life. RIP Ka, thank you ❤
Get out there and protest for not only closing such an iconic ride but for not making any official announcement until after it closed! I bought at 2025 season pass and now I'm regretting it. If I could cancel I certainly would!
I wouldn’t mind seeing the Sky Way replaced by a monorail that services the far reaches of the park. But, that’s more of a Six Flags Over Shelbyville idea.
Really wish they would have announced this over summer. We would have made it out there to ride it. It was one of our bucket list coasters... unfortunate.
I'm glad that you and other influencers got the word out. I probably wouldn't have gone to get my last rides otherwise. I started to believe the rumors when I saw physical evidence in the park (markings). I think people were in denial that it would actually close without an announcement, and when reality hit, they shot the messenger. It sucks that it happened that way. The park should've made an official announcement weeks earlier. But I wouldn't take it personally.
I knew you weren't clickbaiting us. I have been a subscriber of yours for a long while. I know you are the real deal. I was sincerely hoping your sources were wrong or that six flags would give it one more season. King da ka is my favorite coaster and I have do many memories!!!! Sadly, the timing of this closure meant I couldn't get a last ride in. I am thankful that I did get to enjoy it as much as I did and feel sorry for those who couldn't ride it at all. Thank you so much for excellent content you bring us!!!! Looking forward to what's next.
I've commented it before and I'll do so again. If parks keep up this BS with remaining silent on major ride removals and not giving the public a longer notice period, I'm not giving my money to the amusment park industry anymore. I was lucky to have planned a BGT visit prior to them announcing Scorpion's closure for that exact weekend. I've always wanted to ride Kingda Ka, and now at 25yo I can finally afford more travels, and for them to SILENTLY close it as soon as I had plans to go next fricking year... 😤 the sting of a 20 year old desire to get snuffed by surprise right before one could get there is beyond infuriating. If they'd given us notice as soon as they finalized the decision, I woulda made an emergency weekend trip just for thar ride. They better get it together and quick, public communication is NOT hard to improve. Sorry rant done, I have to get it out, I'm so beyond shredded. 😭😭😭
I missed Dragster because my 2021 visit was postponed to 2022, so I only got to stare at it like an idiot. And now my 2024 planned trip to Great Adventure has been postponed to 2025
I’d almost wonder if great adventure was pushing for the closure of Kingda Ka to happen in 2025 so they could make an event out of it even if it was a summer closure, but that’s obviously not happening and it will be interesting to see how soon the removal takes place and when the construction of this new coaster begins
I have an inkling that this phrasing is VERY carefully chosen bc there are multiple options at play, including the possibility that SFEC has tucked its tail and decided to go back to Intamin to doctor up their pair of stratas. I imagine Intamin’s bid for Ka was similar to TT2, in requesting the removal of the coaster behind the station, and that there’s also a contingency plan based on whether TT2 opens successfully next year. Time will tell, but I surely hope this BILLION dollars of expenditure pays some dividends for thoosies.
I was really excited to have one pass that got me into both Dorney and Great Adventure, but if this is how corporate treats the parks then I think I'll be much better off just getting a Hersheypark pass and driving the extra distance
I got to visit SFGAdv once many years ago, and I did get at least ride it once (though having ridden TTD the previous year overshadowed it). El Toro had recently opened, so that got more attention, and we spent a good amount of time riding Nitro over and over because it had such a short line compared to everything else. Hopefully it will be replaced by something with lots of block zones.
So I have it on very authority to say another reason several of these rides are being removed is availability or replacement parts. The sky train is unfortunately an antiquated relic making it almost impossible to continue to maintain. In that same vein I asked my source about the runaway train. And as of now the train is safe due to the fact there able to update those parts with more modern due to its construction style.
For those wondering why there are still people who think the ride could be re imagined it’s because even in their clarification they left just enough room for speculation to continue. They didn’t explicitly say “ the ride will not be reimagined” and they didn’t explicitly say “ the entire structure of the ride is being removed” either. This allows enough room for people to have different interpretations of what their clarification message could mean. Things like “what do they define as a brand new ride” or “what is their definition of re imagining” etc. I personally think the entire ride is coming down but until demo permits, or demolition actually begins on the ride or until Six Flags unambiguously says the entire ride is being removed people will continue to speculate
I have to be honest Ryan I was one of those that were skeptical. I missed out on the lifetime chance, unfortunately. But I don't think you ever should have gotten flack for something that shouldn't have even been on you in the first place. Parks should always be transparent on their rides especially high profile ones. Closing day matters just as much as an opening day. They for a fact should have let people know officially. Even if it was last minute notice (they were moving up the closing date multiple times) it still should have been done in good faith to longtime patrons both enthusiast and GP of the chain. Going forward I will trust any and all pressing information you will provide to us. Thank you.
I was at great adventure the weekend before Halloween and was chatting with a ride operator while a coaster was down. We started chatting about speed dragster and how often it was down, how the park is probably gonna scrap it all together because how could they not, and he said “speaking of….. make sure you ride kingda ka today……” lmao.
It’s so odd how the park gave so little clarification initially and people had to dig for it. Let alone the unceremonious closure of one of the most legendary coasters ever.
A sky ride is a classic for most parks and a necessity for large ones. The usual replacement is a train or monorail. A monorail is really just a train in the air. As far as I know, no park has ever put in a subway style transport. Couldn't do that at GA anyway. It's built on a swamp.
I am really upset about this. Almost feel like I lost a friend. I went on kingda ka many times over the past 20 years. Life has gotten in the way of making trips out to six flags as much as I used to (as well as motions sickness, getting old sucks). But i ABSOLUTELY would have made the trip out to six flags with all of my buddies to ride the king one more time! Six flags truly missed the mark here. I get it was expensive and troublesome to operate, it was closed often during my trips there. But six flags should have announced this was closing. They would have had a nice influx of guests to the park. They should have given their fans a last chance to ride. Shame on them for not telling the public. LOVE LIVE THE KING!
I worry about the rollercoaster industry. It feels like large park corporations are trying to cut costs, having a detrimental impact on ride experience and resulting in the closure of historic rides. The UK, where I'm from, is also in a sorry state (especially Merlin parks), Alton Towers has been absolutely neglected recently and there is a concerning amount of down time. Feels like parks are so focused on cheap profits, that they forget to invest in what actually makes the parks attractive in the first place.
I swear if they don't replace it with a 300 mph, 900 ft, 16,698 length, Intamin launch coaster, Im gonna snap.
on diddy
Fr tbh
😂😂😂 me too!!!
tyler get off of youtube
Don’t forget It needs a 2 back to back heartline roll, g stall and inverted top hat
- They marketed TT2 as completely new
- They refuse to say Kingda Ka is being removed (only retired)
I've seen that and I think many content creators are jumping the gun because you can't always take Cedar Fair/Six Flags at their word. They like to throw surprises at people, pleasant and unpleasant. That being said, I won't be surprised either way, but I'll believe the demolition if/when I see it.
That's what I thought as well, but apparently the park explicitly said they will replace the ride entirely (just what I've seen youtubers say, don't know for sure)
@@anobject9622yes the park confirmed the ride is being scrapped
This is my stance exactly@@wawawis
2:28 but there’s still this big gap in the exact wording. No one using the words “removed” or “demolished”. They should be aware of that but maybe not.
Also, it would explain why they didn’t have a big goodbye. Having one and then saying “actually we’re keeping part of it” would seem like a bait and switch.
Someone else mentioned it but the park saying “we understand how hard it is to say goodbye” when they specifically opted to refuse to give anyone notice of its closure is pretty terrible.
Yes. If you are amongst the 0.0001% of the population that cares.
@@jasonkloos6348 Not sure how good of a business model it is to say "well, our clientele is only a small percentage of the overall population, so customer service doesn't matter"
Well, the GP will definitely be disappointed when they come to visit and don't see a giant launch coaster in the front of the park anymore. It'll be complained about for years to come by both GP and thusies. The park is going to lose a lot of money from all of this.
@@jasonkloos6348why would you give the size percentage of your brain to normal people??
Maybe they didn't want to deal with extremely long lines on KA following such an announcement lol
Ryan 100% agree with you, I have no idea how they’re gonna make up for kingda ka’s loss, other than make another world-class roller coaster.
Honestly removing kingda ka entirely is a big risk itself because the replacement count be underwhelming and totally flop
Well it's the new 6 flags so drum roll, it'll be another dive coaster but launched this time ;)
@ bleh. I really don’t see how they can get anything close to kingda ka with whatever this replacement is. The new ride would somehow have to be just as impressing as kingda ka but how. Not utilizing that tower or support structure just makes that so much harder
@@iluvhousemuzicrapterra but bigger
@@RCmaniac1231 I don’t think what makes the Intamin launch coasters special is the height, it’s the acceleration. I really do think they could make a world class launched coaster in the hyper class. Just needs to accelerate about as fast as the hydraulic launch and have an extended layout with some wild elements.
You summed it up perfectly. Six Flags corporation really, really messed up with this one, and they are going to have to make up for it big time. I know it must have been really frustrating to deal with people accusing you of clickbait or perpetuating baseless rumors when all you were trying to do was help us out, but I, and i’m sure many others, want you to know your word DID reach people and you DID help. I already said this on your community post, but YOU were the reason I was able to ride Kingda Ka for the first (and last) time on closing night. You are a creator that makes extremely reliable, well researched, well thought out content. You never dig into the rumor mill or fish for views, so when I saw you uploaded a video about the whole Ka situation, THAT is when I knew it was serious. THAT is when I realized this was legit. I will always be so unbelievably thankful for you making that video, because if you didn’t, Ka would have just become another icon on my list of “didn’t get to ride” coasters. I cannot say it enough times, THANK YOU.
This!
Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate that! I’m so glad I could help push you to get out and ride Ka for your first and last time!
RIP Kingda Ka.
Cause of death: Had a Six Flags Day
lol
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The Vengaboys We Like To Party plays in sad minor key....
Never got to ride it. It was one of the first coasters that I discovered about on the Internet when I became an enthusiast. Also, I wish it was open for the 2025 season, since that would've been the 20th anniversary of Kingda Ka
Same, Kingda Ka was one of the first rides I learned about that absolutely terrified me in the best ways possible. Would I have ridden it? I’m not sure if I’m being honest, but it’s sad seeing such a record breaking coaster not hit the 20 year mark.
Long live the King 💚
I still concretely remember the grainy early TH-cam video showing the train launch from the station, get tiny in the distance, and then suddenly carry itself up vertically, for what seemed like an absolutely impossible distance. Definitely gave me chills and formed a core memory lol
Yuuuuuup for real
You gave the ride a better send off at the end of the video than the park did in real life!
Thank you for helping the community to say goodbye to Ka. We knew this wasn't clickbait, your content is always very trustworthy. :). Long live the King!
never got to ride Top Thrill nor Kingda Ka. to say I'm devastated is a massive understatement 😭
I’m glad I got to ride original dragster at least
Sorry for the loss! 😢 Everyone should have had their chance to ride these two giants, they were certainly insanely unique, intense ride experiences! I liked Kingda Ka slightly more, so this is a huge bummer! RIP Ka
Yep. Never been on either. The only intamin hydraulic launch coaster I've done is storm runner
In '05 got to ride KKa 23 times (6days) after ride 23 I left right away to get to CP and rode TTD around 17hours later!!! [only one ????to have done this????][ANYONE done this in shorter time??]. TTD/2 total is now 4695 times!! (46TT2-? another record?)
They were both extremely overrated one-trick pony coasters. Now, if they would have added a bunch of smaller hills after the first hill, that would have been great. Going up not that great, no or very little air time at the top, and the twist going down took away from the thrill of going straight down.
Most of us that struggled to believe the rumors, it wasnt because we don't trust you or other channels. It was because it was just SO HARD TO BELIEVE that six flags would kill Ka without an announcement!
@@sarah.weaver After KD closed Volcano with 0 announcement in 2018 or whenever that was, nothing surprises me.
@@bugsburrow wrong KD annouced it in july of 2018 it was closing
Correct! It defied logic that GA would close their premiere ride without notification! It shows how merging with Cedar Fair has negative effects as well.
@@NickyD I worded this wrong. I meant they closed it with 0 announcement as in no last chance to ride, it was just “hey this is closed now”
Aren't mergers just swell?
RIP to the king
If they replace Ka with a shuttle, I will never go to that park again
lol
Uhh there's still El Toro
@@busfan9874Until next year. We all know El toro is next.
@@ninjagirl226 uhh I think El toro is staying since they fixed it after the 2021 and 2022 accidents
@@busfan9874 the thing is, everyone goes to six flags great adventure is because of Kingda Ka and that's their first ride to go on and myself included. And because of this closing without warning that's going to impact a lot of people to not come back specifically to the park
I'm gonna miss this ride. My first roller coaster... Got my last rides back in October. Thank You Ryan and everyone else that warned us ahead of time.
Long Live The King
LONG LIVE THE KING
your FIRST ROLLER COASTER???
RIP to the King 😭 The closing night of Ka will definitely go down as a special one in enthusiast history.
Notice how they specifically don't say that Kingda Ka will be removed or torn down. There could be a lot of misdirection here. It might even be that the final decision of what to do hasn't been made yet so they're leaving the door open for anything.
thats a good point
Multiple responses from the park have confirmed that the ride is completely going away.
@@negan5986 the park just straight up lies sometimes though. I called them one time to ask if it was being shut down during the finale week of operation and they told me no, that it wasn't going anywhere and that they were just rumours. Can tell now that that was a lie
@@kaleldanner4091 this is why the park didn’t really care to tell us ahead of time because it is impossible to please you guys. I get it from their standpoint.
So sad this is confirmed. Thanks for keeping us updated through this process, rip the king!
LONG LIVE THE KING
LONG LIVE THE KING
LONG LIVE THE KING
LONG LIVE THE KING
LONG LIVE THE KING
Thank you for your well-thought out coverage as always. You're the only coaster enthusiast youtuber I've seen thus far properly addressing the problem of quietly closing rides like this.
The flash will never "capture fans' imaginations," like Kingda Ka did
Which is why another launch coaster is being built
@@Themeparkanxietyit’s prob gonna be some crappy family coaster that launches 35mph.
@@zz6-z what makes you think that?
Nothing will tbf
@@Themeparkanxiety they just make rides like Ka, TTD, DoDodompa anymore
Thank you, Ryan. I never thought you were going after click bait. I believed you and as a result I went to SFGA and got my first and last rides on Kingda Ka. I'm so thankful I'm a follower of yours because I would have had a lifetime of regrets if I never got to ride this ride. Thank you for what you do.
Thank you for letting us know. I went on closing day and it was my first time ever riding. Super glad i went and had a great time talking with everyone in the queue
Ryan, I was really hoping that you were wrong about this! After 20 years, it was still a great record-holding ride that brought people to the park.
Anyway, it was great riding Kingda Ka with you and meeting you a couple weeks ago!
Well...there goes a bucket list ride for me.
Long live the king
Right I wanted to travel over to NJ to ride it but sadly that’s not the case no more
dude as a wee CHILD I DREAMED to ride this coaster one day every since i could have memories the amount of COMMERCIALS they would play on my tv about Kingda Ka from 2007-2009 (probably around the time they introduced Zumanjaro) like all i could remember is that one narrator saying “COME RIDE KINGDA KA AT SIX FLAGS, EXPERIENCE ZUMANJARO TODAY” and ever since then I just wanted to experience and go so bad. never would’ve thought they would take it down before i even got the chance to get enough money to enjoy my own experience as an adult. it’s heart breaking honestly but long live the king 👑 💔
I’m glad you gave us a warning, you didn’t deserve any of the backlash at all
Hey Ryan , Kevin from Flash Pass here (Sup from 2017-2019), I can’t believe the way the park handled this it’s so disrespectful to Ka and Zum but mostly Ka. People from all over the world would come to visit SFGA to ride Kingda Ka! It’s so disappointing to see the park just close the ride with no official warning about getting your last rides in and because of them not saying anything, I did not think Ka was actually going to close and so I did not get to ride one last time. Hope all is well with you and I hope the new ride is even bigger and better than Ka even though we all know it won’t be.
This is a good point. If they said “this is its 20th anniversary, and this is the last year” they would have been able to market that. I bet that would bring in more crowds than The Flash - certainly more than whatever incremental cost it would have been to run it for another year. If they’re not replacing the launch with LSMs, I think thats a pretty huge screw up on their part.
The high-pitched squeal of Ka’s launch never gets old. Best ride ever.
I got my last, and also very first ride on kingda ka on sunday. Insane experience, made the nearly 7 hour drive worth it. Also new jersey devil was better than expected.
That Mack tower coaster looks Hella lame. Great Adventure needs to outdo themselves after this fiasco. Great Channel dude!
I have never wanted to cry about losing a ride, but this one hits really hard. Kingda ka was one of, if not THE coaster that got me hooked. I used to sit at the computer constantly watching videos of kingda ka, reading all about it, and dreaming of riding it. Even though I have only been on it once, it has a lot of sentimental value to me, and I knew it wasn't going to last forever, but being a silent closer makes it so much worse. I really hope this new coaster is as amazing as they are trying to make it. It's got some big shoes to fill. Rest in peace Kingda ka, you will forever be missed
R.I.P Kingda ka I only ever got 16 rides and my friend 15. We got a perfect last ride during golden hour. Thank you for makeing these videos warning us and giving genuine and great reasons and evidence ❤
Thanks so much!! I’m glad I could help you out in anyway
About Green Lantern, I really really hope it gets relocated. It's an older B&M abd they don't make standups or even floorless like that anymore but it actually has a really good layout, it would be terrible to loose it forever. It would be really good if they relocated it to Michigan's Adventure, Valleyfair, or World's of Fun as they all need a big sitdown looper, and possibly replace it with floorless trains.
Six Flags St. Louis could use it
@jeo33466 Oh yes that is very true, this ride replacing Ninja would be a great fit for Six Flags St. Louis, they Aldo need a more modern, or at least better sit-down looper.
Kentucky Kingdom has the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever.
@ThemePark_Nerdo I guess they could buy it back but I think there are other parks that need it more.
If it was getting relocated, it probably would have been somewhere on the list of 2026 additions. The wording hints that not all 2026 have been made, but as it stands, it's not looking good for GL.
It's just crazy how we are losing 6 rides in the span of 2 YEARS. I just hope that this leads to huge investment into SFGA to bring back some of the parks glory with new rides being added for the coming years.
From a costumer and coaster enthusiast stand point, Six Flags corporation are definitely pissing a lot of people off with these sudden changes and closures…. Hope they do something to make up for it. (Not just the investments…) thanks for all your videos man!
Have a strong feeling it’s gonna be VelociCoaster/Pantheon, but on a bigger scale. The world’s first extreme LSM launch model by Intamin.
Thank you Ryan for being a true voice for and asset to this community. Wouldn’t have gotten my last rides without you! You rule man.
Green lantern, Twister, and parachute I could understand being torn down, But Ka is THE headlining attraction for GA and what put it on the map. It’s a shimmering icon of a coaster and a representation of the absolutely nuts coaster wars from the 90’s into the early 2000s. What a horrible decision to close something like that down.
When it comes to the “completely new” thing I just want to point some things out
- That could just be marketing speech, I’ve yet to see them say the tower would be removed
- Zumanjaro pretty much hasn’t operated all year and is a ride Great Adventure has had problems with, if they should decide to replace track on the tower they could also remove Zumanjaro.
- This new ride reportedly cost $50 million, I understand Mack is expensive but a shuttle even at such a scale shouldn’t be THAT expensive, however a ride that reuses the top hat, features a full layout and a giant spike I could see costing that much
$50 million sets the bar pretty high. Is that a definite figure or rumored?
Shout out to those amazing ride ops, King, Cody, and the other guy (not sure his name). That was by far the best operations team I've ever seen. Exactly one week ago today I flew all the way from Chicago visiting Great Adventure for the first time. I marathoned Kingda Ka until I had the worst splitting migrane of my life, still have a sore neck too a week later (totally worth it, I don't regret a single ride). Long Live the King!
RIP Kingda Ka, my hometown park growing up. I’ll miss seeing you in the skyline miles area when I’m back in the area!
It doesn't make sense to me why these parks haven't been able to give proper send offs to such iconic coasters. I understand not wanting to reveal the future plans ahead of time if it's not finalized but the very least they could do is let people know a huge coaster like Kingda Ka is closing. Even if it was a reimagining of Ka, letting people have a send of to the coaster as they know it would be a much better route to take instead of silently closing their biggest attraction ever. Thanks for your diligent reporting on this situation Ryan, you're always my number one trusted source for these kinds of things!
Vote with your dollar if you are annoyed by the new six flags company. Its the only way to actually change anything
I'm afraid coaster nerds who are seriously burnt by this news are just a tiny percentage of the general parkgoing audience... A boycott would be a drop in a bucket.
I voted with my dollar last week!
MAGA and Make Great Adventure Great Again!!!!!
I will sell all my stock in six flags and won't put another penny in the company. Cedar Point owns it now so its on them.
The only thing I’m asking for out of both six flags and cedar fair is PLEASE add elements to the next launch coaster that pay homage to Kingda Ka, such as a top hat somewhere in the layout, or a twisted drop similar to Kingda ka’s drop, or even just an airtime hill similar to Kingda ka at the end of the ride.
I think it’s unfortunate that Six Flags essentially put you and Coaster Studios on the front line of their unpopular decision, which left you guys to take the flak for a closure you obviously had nothing to do with.
That said, thanks for taking the flak so as many of us as would listen were able to make a trip to the park happen (myself and my son included - you are the one to thank for the lifelong memory he will have of hauling over to NJ to experience a massive hydraulic launch before it was too late).
It was such short notice. A trip up there isn't easy for me. Now I'll never get to know what it was like to experience a launch like that. Always feels like I was born about 5 years too late to be an enthusiast
Thank you for the heads up! I was one of those people who had their first and only ride on closing day. Never got on it before due to my anxiety over heights, but the knowledge that it might be its last day made the fear wash away
Can’t thank you enough Ryan, thanks so much for looking out for us. Got ten rides on Ka on Friday! Once you said it I knew it would be true. You’re the man, favorite channel by the way.❤️🔥🤘
So glad this was the summer I decided to make my first venture to SFGA and ride the King. Never would have guessed just 3 months later that it would be closing forever.
I will forever be grateful to you and everyone else who got the word out quickly that our time with Kingda Ka would be abruptly coming to an end. Our family, including my 9 year old, who had only ridden it once before, was able to get to the park to say goodbye and get our final rides thanks to you all.
I'm so sorry that you had to deal with such negativity, but please know that for those of us who listened, we cannot thank you enough. ❤️
At least TTD had an EXCUSE to shut down abruptly!!!!
Your news of its closing was what made me take the rumors seriously! I'm so disappointed with how the park handled this, and this was the perfect topper of what was such a sorry, underwhelming 50th anniversary. It's going to be so sad driving by the park now when its gone.
These are rides that been there for DECADES ppl like me literally grew up on them. I still remember being 8 and finally being able to ride kingda ka😭 that memory will never leave me and to see it go w/o so much as a a proper farewell is devastating. I at least hope that whatever they plan on replacing it with can give those same types of memories to the nxt generation of coaster enthusiasts 💔
The launch on Kingda Ka was the best coaster element I ever experienced
Agree IT'S slightly better than TTD [also having seat 2/car 1 almost as good as front seat- makes it better over TTD]. BUT DavidFox9947, best ever ELEMENT on ANY coaster is 2nd. drop on Phantoms Revenge -front left seat!!!! [combined w/ 1st drop, even more so!!!] TTD/2Ron@4695 (+23KdK (46 are on tt2)
I'm so upset by how the park handled this. I never got to ride the original TTD either, so I am absolutely devastated. If they had given just a couple months of warning I could've made arrangements to get a visit in. Insane
if they don’t replace ka with another intamin launch coaster i’m actually gonna crash out 😭
Attendance is probably going to be pretty low next sumnmer with one new ride coming in but several leaving, including their most famous one.
I’m not much of a coaster rider, steel coasters anyway, but even I know how popular Kingda Ka was when I was younger. They better have something epic up their sleeve, otherwise add bullet to foot by way of self affliction.
The way they handled this is absolutely diabolical & has to go down in history as the worst closure of any coaster ever. To close the once TALLEST & FASTEST coaster in the world with not just no fanfare, but no notice whatsoever. Complete silence. Absolutely shocking.
Parks need to end this approach of being mute about ride closures. It's not fair on the enthusiasts or general public who have formed memories & want to get their last rides in. At the very least there should be a years notice. Surely it's in their best interests profits wise as well as people will flock there. Madness.
Thank You Ryan for telling us as soon as possible , something the park should of done sooner.
Wow this is how it ends?? Can’t even have a great 50th anniversary for the park and they restore and repaint the ride before its 20th anniversary? They won’t pay the bills six flags did every year and keep the ride going, but they want to invest a billion into the chain this does not make much sense. They really need to get back with intamin, they’ve changed for the better! How bad will park attendance be next year?
So thankful for you and coaster studios, I was able to get my first and last 30 rides the final weekend and it was a special experience for me because I had been dreaming about riding Ka since I was 7, sad it took a closure for me to make the trip out there but glad I got to experience it
While Kingda Ka has made many people become coaster enthusiasts, I'm sad to say this but, Roller Coaster Tycoon Video Game series was the one that made me fall in love with roller coasters, which twelve years later in 2011 (after playing it for the first time in the year 2000) inspired me to make my own cartoon characters based off of theme park attractions. The name of my own characters I have yet to disclosed in the near future.
Hey Ryan thank you for letting us know about this you forsure helped that ride atleast get its fans to it for one final time thank you for everything!
I've been to Cedar Point 5 times, and never got the chance to ride TTD. The most recent 2 trips were in May and August 2024: TT2 was closed.
I recently had family move to New York, and looked forward to visiting them in the next couple of years, allowing me to visit Great Adventure for the first time as part of the trip.
I found out Ka was closing and tried to book a trip to NJ, but was too late.
These Strata coasters are making me really disappointed
Step 1 merge with your competitor. Step 2 Get rid of your competitor's most iconic and tallest ride in their legacy chain. Step 3 Now your flagship legacy park can now reclaim the tallest ride in the world again, or even just north America. It will be interesting to see if and how much cedar fair favors their legacy parks over six flags if the cedar fair side are the ones who have majority say over everything. I don't get the feeling great adventure had any intension of getting rid of ka this soon. Cedar fair was clearly willing to pour money into Dragster.
Top thrill dragster is going away, too.
I've never been to SFGA and thus never got to ride this. Sadly even if I had believed your prior videos on this I didn't have the time (or money actually) to make the trip to New Jersey on such short notice. If they had announced next year would be the final operating season for the ride I'm sure I would have made an effort to visit the park and ride it. I don't call myself an enthusiast but always enjoyed your content Ryan. Glad you could get some people to go to get a first/final ride.
I will be forever grateful that I got to ride this in the summer of 2024 for the first time, and didnt hold back on it
It was the consistent near frantic way you told us in every video it was going to happen. When Coaster Studios and Collinwood started hammering the message too, there was no question it was really going to happen. As far as the Kings replacement all I can tell is it will be massive that is a lot of land to clear for one coaster.
I am someone who very much believes in voting with my wallet, and have been boycotting the company since the merger was announced. I wanted to see how the new company would change hoping for the better but assuming for the worse, and my assumptions keep coming true.
Once I saw that All Park Passes were the same cost if not cheaper than they were before despite being extremely buffed, I knew the money had to be coming from somewhere. It obviously wasn't going to be coming from labor as that is already trimmed back as far as it could be, so it had to come from operations, and this obviously proves.
This is also such a cowardly move from the higher-ups choosing not to own up to their decisions, but to instead leave their biggest fans to take the brunt of the hate. The last time we saw something of this scale were the sudden closures of both Astroworld and Geauga Lake in the 2000's, but at that point influencers didn't exist to be used as scape goats.
So bummed I missed the last day of operation due to being sick! I remember riding this as a middle--school kid when it first opened. Maybe my 5th ever rollercoaster at the time. I'm glad I got to experience this beast of a ride a few times over the years... RIP Kingda Ka!
I wish I got to experience Six Flags Great Adventure like a decade ago, it felt like a shell of something once greater during my first ever visit this year. The safari tour was a quality experience, and I hope the rest of the park can be brought to a similar level.
This is very sad. I wish I would’ve been able to ride it. I did ride the OG Top Thrill Dragster so I have a general idea how the hydraulic launch felt. When I was getting into roller coasters, I remember seeing videos about Kingda Ka when I was younger. It was the tallest and fastest in the word and I always wanted to ride it. It’s one thing if it was closing but the fact that Six Flags didn’t do a proper send off or goodbye without giving people much time is very annoying. R.I.P. to the legend Kingda Ka.
I'm sad I missed it, but I'm glad I rode it the year it opened. The aura, the space, the scene was incredible. It was truly majestic at open, and the area fell into more and more disrepair over the years. It will be a beautiful memory for me for life. RIP Ka, thank you ❤
Get out there and protest for not only closing such an iconic ride but for not making any official announcement until after it closed! I bought at 2025 season pass and now I'm regretting it. If I could cancel I certainly would!
The Dick Kinzel appreciation line forms here.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the Sky Way replaced by a monorail that services the far reaches of the park. But, that’s more of a Six Flags Over Shelbyville idea.
Really wish they would have announced this over summer. We would have made it out there to ride it. It was one of our bucket list coasters... unfortunate.
I'm glad that you and other influencers got the word out. I probably wouldn't have gone to get my last rides otherwise. I started to believe the rumors when I saw physical evidence in the park (markings). I think people were in denial that it would actually close without an announcement, and when reality hit, they shot the messenger. It sucks that it happened that way. The park should've made an official announcement weeks earlier. But I wouldn't take it personally.
Unfortunately, the best days of great adventure are behind us 😢
I knew you weren't clickbaiting us. I have been a subscriber of yours for a long while. I know you are the real deal. I was sincerely hoping your sources were wrong or that six flags would give it one more season. King da ka is my favorite coaster and I have do many memories!!!! Sadly, the timing of this closure meant I couldn't get a last ride in. I am thankful that I did get to enjoy it as much as I did and feel sorry for those who couldn't ride it at all. Thank you so much for excellent content you bring us!!!! Looking forward to what's next.
I've commented it before and I'll do so again. If parks keep up this BS with remaining silent on major ride removals and not giving the public a longer notice period, I'm not giving my money to the amusment park industry anymore. I was lucky to have planned a BGT visit prior to them announcing Scorpion's closure for that exact weekend. I've always wanted to ride Kingda Ka, and now at 25yo I can finally afford more travels, and for them to SILENTLY close it as soon as I had plans to go next fricking year... 😤 the sting of a 20 year old desire to get snuffed by surprise right before one could get there is beyond infuriating. If they'd given us notice as soon as they finalized the decision, I woulda made an emergency weekend trip just for thar ride. They better get it together and quick, public communication is NOT hard to improve.
Sorry rant done, I have to get it out, I'm so beyond shredded. 😭😭😭
I missed Dragster because my 2021 visit was postponed to 2022, so I only got to stare at it like an idiot.
And now my 2024 planned trip to Great Adventure has been postponed to 2025
I’d almost wonder if great adventure was pushing for the closure of Kingda Ka to happen in 2025 so they could make an event out of it even if it was a summer closure, but that’s obviously not happening and it will be interesting to see how soon the removal takes place and when the construction of this new coaster begins
I have an inkling that this phrasing is VERY carefully chosen bc there are multiple options at play, including the possibility that SFEC has tucked its tail and decided to go back to Intamin to doctor up their pair of stratas. I imagine Intamin’s bid for Ka was similar to TT2, in requesting the removal of the coaster behind the station, and that there’s also a contingency plan based on whether TT2 opens successfully next year.
Time will tell, but I surely hope this BILLION dollars of expenditure pays some dividends for thoosies.
I was really excited to have one pass that got me into both Dorney and Great Adventure, but if this is how corporate treats the parks then I think I'll be much better off just getting a Hersheypark pass and driving the extra distance
I got to visit SFGAdv once many years ago, and I did get at least ride it once (though having ridden TTD the previous year overshadowed it). El Toro had recently opened, so that got more attention, and we spent a good amount of time riding Nitro over and over because it had such a short line compared to everything else. Hopefully it will be replaced by something with lots of block zones.
Thank you for warning us all about this mess when those who should have had other priorities.
So I have it on very authority to say another reason several of these rides are being removed is availability or replacement parts. The sky train is unfortunately an antiquated relic making it almost impossible to continue to maintain. In that same vein I asked my source about the runaway train. And as of now the train is safe due to the fact there able to update those parts with more modern due to its construction style.
For those wondering why there are still people who think the ride could be re imagined it’s because even in their clarification they left just enough room for speculation to continue. They didn’t explicitly say “ the ride will not be reimagined” and they didn’t explicitly say “ the entire structure of the ride is being removed” either. This allows enough room for people to have different interpretations of what their clarification message could mean. Things like “what do they define as a brand new ride” or “what is their definition of re imagining” etc. I personally think the entire ride is coming down but until demo permits, or demolition actually begins on the ride or until Six Flags unambiguously says the entire ride is being removed people will continue to speculate
If this new for 2026 ride doesn't deliver .... I could see Great Adventure nosedive in terms of attendance
I have to be honest Ryan I was one of those that were skeptical. I missed out on the lifetime chance, unfortunately. But I don't think you ever should have gotten flack for something that shouldn't have even been on you in the first place. Parks should always be transparent on their rides especially high profile ones. Closing day matters just as much as an opening day. They for a fact should have let people know officially. Even if it was last minute notice (they were moving up the closing date multiple times) it still should have been done in good faith to longtime patrons both enthusiast and GP of the chain. Going forward I will trust any and all pressing information you will provide to us. Thank you.
If you own stocks of Six Flags sell them and inform the headquarters on what an awful decision they've made.
I was at great adventure the weekend before Halloween and was chatting with a ride operator while a coaster was down. We started chatting about speed dragster and how often it was down, how the park is probably gonna scrap it all together because how could they not, and he said “speaking of….. make sure you ride kingda ka today……” lmao.
That launch... That coaster... Its sounds like a jet passing by
Once again. Awesome video and a great send off to Kingda Ka! Long Live Eltoro Ryan! 🙌🏾
It’s so odd how the park gave so little clarification initially and people had to dig for it. Let alone the unceremonious closure of one of the most legendary coasters ever.
A sky ride is a classic for most parks and a necessity for large ones. The usual replacement is a train or monorail. A monorail is really just a train in the air. As far as I know, no park has ever put in a subway style transport. Couldn't do that at GA anyway. It's built on a swamp.
I dont care what records its replacement breaks, removing something as iconic as Kingda Fucking Ka is insanely frustrating.
Let’s be the honest the “records” the replacement breaks will be very specific with tons of stupid caveats… in other words not actual records
It’s great to see between your comments and my comments all the people who believed us and went to get their final rides!
The Mack tower coaster would be an atrocious replacement, I really hope that’s not what it is.
I am really upset about this. Almost feel like I lost a friend. I went on kingda ka many times over the past 20 years. Life has gotten in the way of making trips out to six flags as much as I used to (as well as motions sickness, getting old sucks). But i ABSOLUTELY would have made the trip out to six flags with all of my buddies to ride the king one more time! Six flags truly missed the mark here. I get it was expensive and troublesome to operate, it was closed often during my trips there. But six flags should have announced this was closing. They would have had a nice influx of guests to the park. They should have given their fans a last chance to ride. Shame on them for not telling the public. LOVE LIVE THE KING!
I worry about the rollercoaster industry. It feels like large park corporations are trying to cut costs, having a detrimental impact on ride experience and resulting in the closure of historic rides. The UK, where I'm from, is also in a sorry state (especially Merlin parks), Alton Towers has been absolutely neglected recently and there is a concerning amount of down time. Feels like parks are so focused on cheap profits, that they forget to invest in what actually makes the parks attractive in the first place.
THIS