Charlesberg Posted November 17, 2024 Report Share Posted November 17, 2024 I’m honestly devastated that it’s closing. I’m so grateful that I got to experience it in 2016 and I controversially rank it as my number 1. Yes objectively other coaster are better more complete experiences, I also imagine the internet saying how bad Kingda Ka was lowered my expectations. But I’ve never come off a roller coaster so blown away like on Kingda Ka, even more so than El Toro back row. Such a huge loss, finding a worthy replacement that is marketable is gonna be a challenge (even if it is an objectively better coaster). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 18, 2024 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2024 I'm not that bothered weirdly. But my early enthusiast days were at the time of Top Thrill Dragster so that to me was the more iconic of the 2. The method of the closure is very disappointing though. Is Amanda Thompson involved? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted November 18, 2024 Report Share Posted November 18, 2024 9 hours ago, Benin said: I'm not that bothered weirdly. But my early enthusiast days were at the time of Top Thrill Dragster so that to me was the more iconic of the 2. The method of the closure is very disappointing though. Is Amanda Thompson involved? I'm probably more bothered on a personal level because it was closed the entire time I was there and opened like two days later. Yes that's selfish, but it's a spite that I can never get now and the park made sure of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted November 19, 2024 Report Share Posted November 19, 2024 I’m very glad to have got on it this year - even 19 years on the speed and height of this thing was still incredible and very grateful to have got on one of the 2 most iconic hydraulic launch coasters. I do think the way they’ve handled this is a complete joke, as mentioned already this is a iconic ride known all across the world, to just close with no warning is pretty shocking, had it been opening next year for a “final year send off” I’d have renewed my pass, made the trip over. In some ways I can almost understand the other rides closing which were less well known to close, but to close a ride of this stature with a little press release a few days after it closed just seems wrong to me. Glitch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted February 28 Author Report Share Posted February 28 Rest in Pieces. Matt 236 and Marc 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted March 2 Report Share Posted March 2 Cut it up into 10cm long sections, auction them off at $100 a pop along with a certificate of authenticity, and that'll fund whatever they're replacing it with and line the directors' pockets! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inferno Posted Friday at 07:23 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 07:23 PM Does anyone know if there’s been any mention of why Kingda Ka closed? It’s not like it was in need of repair, it was operating well on its last day. I assume just reliability and cost to run and maintain? 🤷♂️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted yesterday at 07:27 AM Report Share Posted yesterday at 07:27 AM 11 hours ago, Inferno said: Does anyone know if there’s been any mention of why Kingda Ka closed? It’s not like it was in need of repair, it was operating well on its last day. I assume just reliability and cost to run and maintain? 🤷♂️ Cost to run and maintain is the main culprit. It required a maintenance team 24/7 and for the level of riders it got compared to the other big hitters at Great Adventure, the cost wasn't deemed worthwhile. If TTD2 had been a success this may have had a different outcome and may have been saved in some form. But we'll never know now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted yesterday at 01:19 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 01:19 PM 5 hours ago, Mark9 said: It required a maintenance team 24/7 Do you know where the original source for this claim came from? I've heard it plenty of times, and whilst it wouldn't be outside the realm of believability, part of me wonders if it's just something made up to make things sound worse. I do struggle to understand why it would need engineers working on it literally round the clock. I've also heard its maintenance costs were around the £1m a year mark. Whilst that figure isn't useful by itself (How much do other rides at the park cost? What about other Intamin accelerators?), if that is true, it does indicate its expense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted 20 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 20 hours ago Just purely on the amount of energy/force required for the short period of acceleration time on Rita/Stealth I dread to think how that would correlate up to the bigger boys. Remember going into the Rita launch room and being surprised at how quick it was, but doing that constantly must wear it out considerably, especially factoring in Ka having more trains. Then again Xcelerator was a bit of a nightmare too. Maybe American engineers are just worse than elsewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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