It sounds like the park was proud of having the ride, especially after TTD closed. Such a shame that the ride's closure is essentially collateral damage from the merger. I still wonder why the park wasn't allowed to tell us ahead of time.
@lowkae3677 Most likely because Cedar Fair knew how upset people would be and they didn't want to deal with all that goes along with that. Yes, they could've capitalized on driving more people to the park and selling commemorative merchandise upon announcing that Ka would only run for one more year but whatever profits would result from that paled in comparison to the cost of maintaining the ride another year. Not worth it, financially, to Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair wanted Ka gone, like yesterday. Just my opinion, of course.
Standing in the original queue line, with a close up view of the launching trains while admiring the grandeur of four train operation was a fond memory I will never forget. Great video!
"Pissed and heartbroken". Yep, that sums it up for me, too. SFGA knew they had an iconic ride and treated Ka as such. They loved Kingsa Ka as we enthusiasts loved it. Cedar Fair just wanted to pacify shareholders. I'm having a really hard time financially supporting Cedar Fair these days.
Yep. Especially since they've now closed 3 coasters without notice. With the bobsled at over Texas. And the rumor of Carolina Cyclone removal is growing more and more and of course no announcement on that either. Weird that old cedar fair used to announce closures and cared about old rides. While new cedar fair just doesn't care at all and just says "f it, remove the ride"
My first trip to great adventure was in 2010. You are right the 4 train ops added to ka’s aura. Really made it feel like the biggest ride in the the world. Great adventure’s aura will be 100x worse without ka standing over the parking lot
Up in the op booth (at least this year), there was a little paper that said the throughout target number for however many trains were running. The only one I remember is the 972 with 3 trains. The crew during the final weekend was absolutely incredible, they got 978 people in an hour with only 2 trains!
I absolutely love these super nerdy videos with block breakdowns, capacity numbers, and clips of good operations! I never got to see 4-train ops Ka, but I’m happy I got to see the blazing flats ops of its final days in person!
To add to that last part, I was told by many crew members at Ka earlier in 2024 that the ride was going to get double sided lockers (like El Toro) next season. But later in the season when I asked the same question I got much more vague and unclear answers. I know that regular operators are not the best sources for everything but still. Now looking back, it all makes sense now, very sad.
Not one other UA-camr/any uploaded video of how shit works had never been. He is the first and really every other indepth video of describing shit has all came "el cum" from him.
I’m so freaking bummed man!! I’m so glad I got to take my oldest daughter on this ride and experience that with her. My younger 2 are pissed they didn’t get to experience it. RIP kingda ka!!
7:07 fun fact, this layout was directly related to the designated positions of the trains on the storage bays. Blue and orange left front and back respectively, and teal and green right front and back respectively. When you parked on the start block, you could actually see a maintenance guy’s notes that detailed which train went on which storage bay which I thought was pretty funny
I was lucky enough to ride this in year one with all four loading blocks and the long queue in the ride infield. It was such an event, lines were sometimes 3 hours with that early hype. I do miss the queue. But with 4 trains the line moved very quickly in the queue until you got into the station and it would crawl.. waiting for the front row in those days typically meant at least 45-60 minutes more as each party in front of you only loaded once every 4 trains…. But it was worth it.
I remember being a kid back in 2005 and 2006 and witnessing the golden kingdom when it was new. Seeing Ka launch a crazy amount of trains while waiting for family get off was intriguing to me even as a 5/6 year old non coaster enthusiast. It truly is a shame 4 train ops were never restored especially with the brake block existing.
I visited Great Adventure in 2010 for the first time twice and those visits and some others in the early 2010s were the best. I miss the the four station operation and being able to go over to the far side station. I will say that out of all the hydraullic launched coasters it honestly feels like Storm Runner is the most reliable out of all of them as it was kind of rare to ever see it have downtime.
I remember how grande of a coaster and park Kingda Ka and SFGAdv felt when I first rode Ka in 2005 after the line was re routed. I was pretty amazed and outside the station even the with the a busy queue it felt to always be moving quickly. I remember the DJ playing music in the queue and commentating, and it was all such an exciting experience. Ofcourse the force of the launch back then was top notch, and that wasn't achievable in later years, and it was getting very ruff, and I got my last rides on the last weekend of operation this year, so I am okay with laying Ka to rest now, knowing something big is coming for 2026.
I miss when capacity was a major aspect of any coaster design. Now it's an afterthought. Look at Alpen Fury, Siren's Curse, and Great Adventure's very own Flash. All will be lucky to get even half the capacity that Kingda Ka could with 4 trains. In a way, designing a big flagship coaster with a super high capacity sent a message. It showed that the park knew their big new coaster would be so popular that massive crowds would come through the gates to ride it. Innovative solutions, like 4 train ops on Kingda Ka, ensured that as many people as possible had a chance to ride the new attraction.
I ask other ryan about this, and specifically why most park nowadays refuse to implement the double brake run (or B&M giga/magnum/velocycoaster brake run) albeit clearly some coaster having waaaaay too long single brake run in the first place The answer is..... Because sometimes it's just too overkill. Or in short, cost reduction as long as the capacity not drop significantly. I guess the decision involved how much attendance on slow vs busy day/hour
If anything that's all they care about. And that's why coasters are getting more bland and so short. Just pump thru people and not care if they are left dissatisfied
@@malachimarko7963It used to be common for new coasters to have 2-3 trains, with 32-36 passengers each. For launch coasters that had to use shorter trains, solutions like dual stations, or loading and dispatching 2 trains at a time were used to bring the capacity up to that of a regular coaster. Now, you almost never see new high capacity coasters being built anymore. Most coasters built now have much smaller trains, and no solution to make up for it with faster dispatches. I guess one difference is that parks have more coasters now than they used to. So each individual coaster doesn't need to have as high of a capacity.
You still have Disney and Universal constantly finding new ways of pumping as many riders as possible in other ways outside of coasters. Those mega parks really need capacity monsters that exceed 1500 rph, and sometimes even 2000+ rph.
My son and I were fortunate enough to ride Ka when it was running four trains in 2008. It was quite a sight with all the moving trains. Although as Ryan stated, once you loaded you often had to sit and wait. I specifically remember sitting in the front seat of the first train of the day in the left station, waiting and watching the two trains from the right launch before us. Storm Runner on steroids.
I rode this many times and from the beginning of operation, it started out with 4 trains and by the time I got through the line, it always was running less than 4. Ultimately it ran 2 trains, then 1 or it was down. I ended up with a pile of free return tickets if I bothered to complain. Don't get me wrong, it was worth the ride until the final few years when a gray out was guaranteed at the end of the launch from the vibration ... tough coaster on your body! Technically I never rode during 4 train operation but still got a few dozen rides on the beast!
I wish there was a yellow train like in the trailer! I’m devastated about all of this… what could be a worthy replacement? I just can’t imagine anything else… I hope they end up retro-fitting it in the end. 2026 was the major rehab year and we were almost there. I’m gutted. ☹️
@@Danrarbc I think orange was the better option that they thought may fit in better. If you notice, the original Golden Kingdom concept art had a lot of yellow accents that never saw the light of day. Either way, if the train was yellow, Zumi would also be yellow which I’m not sure would look to good so that’s another plus
I’m still reeling in the loss of Kingda Ka :’) I’ve only been able to visit a small handful of amusement parks but Ka was very much high on my bucket list of coasters. I love these videos even if you consider them “nerdy” lol
My wife and I rode Ka 29 times, including on its last day. The ride ops people Cody and Oneko et al ran that ride like clockwork and it was very apparent they loved that ride like we enthusiasts loved it. It just makes me want to withdraw any financial support for Cedar Fair. Yes, Cedar Fair. The ones calling the shots. I wholeheartedly share the sentiment uttered by 2 riders on one of our trains who repeatedly shouted out some well deserved choice words for CEO Richard Zimmerman.
My first ride on it opening year was in the front row, and I can confirm that line moved at a snails pace. I think when I got in line, it was only a station wait, but that front row line took almost 2 hours
I have never ridden it with 4 train operation but I cant imagine launching trains much faster than they did this summer. The 2 days I was there this summer both days were only two train ops and dispatches were almost every minute (no more than 90 seconds), the crew was killing it. Line stayed short all day, and any line that formed was very quick moving. Even waiting for front seat was incredibly fast. Also the maintenance team was quick to get it back up the couple of times it went down. El Toro and Nitro teams were killing it those days as well, but not at the same hussle as Kingda Ka which I rarely see anywhere outside of events or first year of operations. While dual loading stations are great, I think 4 load bays were overkill and me being a front seat rider would have hated that.
Storm Runner definitely has the worst iteration of the double load station. That line is unbelievably slow. It's basically one train ops with 2 stations.
My first ride on Kingda Ka was close to its opening day, with 4 train operations, a DJ, and line vendors selling drinks and fans. I wish my last ride had been on a day we knew it was closing.
Stealth at Thorpe Park Chertsey UK is the same concept, except 205ft high. It is also made by internin. It does 0-80 mph in 1.8 Seconds. There are actually 3 trains, with 20 seats per train although normally only 2 are used. There is a brake block just after the corner from the airtime hill. There is only 1 route through the station but there is Station 1 & 2 like Kingda Ka. The difference is that station 2 is an unload only platform, the train then moves forward into station 1 for loading then gets launched out of station 1. Unlike Kingda Ka, when the train leaves Station 1, the next train is immediately pulled from station 2 into station 1 before the train has cleared the launch block. If a rollback happens, the train rolls back to just before station 1 and stops. Then they reverse the train in station 1 back to station 2, and put the roll back train back into station 1 for a test relaunch. They still manage 1050 riders per hour, with the train pulling 4.5G. I believe stealth is now the fastest accelerating roller coaster in the world, after a closure of a rollercoaster in China if I remember correctly.
Best part of four train operations was being able to play hypothetical Ping-Pong between the right and left station over the microphones while waiting for maintenance to fix the catch car brakes.
Been waiting for this type of kingda ka video! The golden area of the ride! Wish I could’ve of seen it in person. Is there a lot of videos on it? Was the one side station with two trains used often? One of the only six flags rides with a dueling station.
So in the planned 2026 refurbishment of Ka did they plan to bring back the original queue, or still use the current queue? Also did that ramp leading into right station 1 only used to be for ADA people since the original queue approached the station on the left side?
The original queue was going to be abandoned regardless of the June 8th 2005 incident. After the first few years, they rarely filled the shortened queue anymore. After the 2021 incident on Dragster, I can't imagine that reopening the original queue was even considered.
I doubt the original queue could have ever come back due to the accident, regardless of the ride’s popularity. If the accident never happened, the original queue would have probably always been used but most of it would always be empty since it was built to handle a 3+ hour wait. The ramp leading to the right station was meant for flashpass and ADA guests in the original configuration
@@ElToroRyan I thought the original flash pass queue was the stairs at the back of the central exit area? Also there are photos of the original queue from GAH where it goes under the launch, and that queue line is split into 2, with I’m guessing one side to be the main queue. What was the other side for?
@@coasterjim The stairs at the back of the central exit area has always been for employee access to the ride. Once the original queue was dropped, it was altered to have flashpass use a tiny set of stairs that led straight to Right Station 2 but that was abandoned before I worked the ride and we had flashpass use the ramp. They merged at "Entrance 2" which is the second greeter position by the lockers before heading to the station
@@ElToroRyan so looking at photos of the original queue before the switchbacks, what was each side for, as the path was split into two? This is where the photos I meant opened are: greatadventurehistory.com/KingdaKaOrigQueue.htm
some great insight into when this ride was firing with all cylinders! though i wouldn't jump to the idea of a complete replacement just yet. for as much as it sucks we missed out on an as-is ka refurbishment in 2026, i have a feeling it'll be getting a TTD kind of refurbishment soon enough. (source: none, this is just speculation)
Six Flags Great Adventure said that the 2026 addition is an all new coaster, and not a reimagined Kingda Ka (and they said Zumanjaro is closing too in a later statement, so it looks like the tower isn't staying at all). Obviously they could be lying but I personally wouldn't get my hopes up
I wonder if it's possible to configure stormrunner to run two trains on one side of the station. It only ever runs one train if only one side is open so I don't think they ever run it that way, but it does have a brake right before the switch track so maybe it's possible?
If Kinda-Green-Ka-Lantern gets replaced with a Mack XSC, which seems a lot likelier than an Intamin LSM, it better be a quasi-Mobius racing layout. That way it can break Cosmic Rewind's record as the longest spinning coaster, if not Incredicoaster's record for the longest coaster with an inversion. Would also be amazing if it has a double top hat element including the world's tallest double inversion. (I believe that's technically held by Maxx Force's dog tongue)
It's genuinely insane how little investment Great Adventure received in new coasters after 2006, given its market. If you compare coaster track installed over two 15-season periods, here's what that looks like: Great Adventure: 1993-2007: 29,205.6 feet (incl. Kingda Ka) 2008-2022: 9,387 feet (incl. Green Lantern) SF Great America: 1993-2007: 15,204.1 feet 2008-2022: 10,832 feet Magic Mountain: 1993-2007: 26,857.1 feet 2008-2022: 18,308.6 feet Haven't run the stats for Fiesta Texas yet, but I'm sure they tell the same story. Ka was an awesome money pit, but still a money pit nonetheless. Whatever replaces it will need to be way more reliable.
I rode it once in 2010 for my first ride but I don’t remember any other stations being used that day than front right. I definitely got on and off in that one but I don’t remember the station being full of people at the others
I hope the smaller hydraulic launch coasters can be preserved like Zamperla - do you think you could do a technical video on how ThunderVolt was relocated and rebuilt? (A humble request from a proud Canadian)
eltororyan, what do you think could be the concept behind the “multi-record breaking replacement” for kingda ka? ive seen rumors of a spinning coaster, but i wanted to see what you might think
I rode Xcelerator this summer, and its operations really are ghastly at this point. Knotts' wait times are terrible in general, a combination of understaffing and poor station management (which, I guess, is also partially a function of understaffing), and Xcelerator's sub-optimal layout means it takes even longer. The ride itself is only like 35 seconds long, but on the day I was there, it was running at around 150 seconds between dispatches.
Its been over a decade since I have seen a dual loading platform in operation thats not at a disney/universal park. It always annoys me because I know these rides could have much higher capacity. Especially on the B&M flyers with how long it takes to load and dispatch. Edit: not including dueling coasters.
Im still so mad at Richard Zimmerman, for closing Ka before I got to Great Adventure. Seriously almost considering holding off on our trip there next year, until that "record breaking" coaster gets built.
What I wish could have happened after they abandoned the other station and switched the maximum trains to 3 was make the right back station an unload platform. Oh, what could have been 😢
I never understood why when they switched to three train operations after 2010 why they didn’t switch the right station 2 as an unload station which would’ve let trains be filled much faster in right station 1.
There’s one more launched intamin with the dual station setup, and it CRANKS through probably the highest capacity of any intamin launched coaster. Can you name it?
Ngl, at this point I'm waiting for Cedar Point to (UA-cam) some of the Six Flags parks biggest attractions, then pull out like they did with other parks in the past.. people were complaining about a monopoly or that Cedar Fair parks would for some reason see issues from the merger, but these days I'm more concerned for the Six Flags parks as a whole..
Kingda Ka deserved a final celebration at the very least. Closing it the way they did is incredibly disrespectful and sad for such an important coaster.
Sure, going from 4 to 3 train operation was a good decision....but removing the horn that would go off before each launch.... that was horrible. LOL..I only say the because it added such an awesome dynamic to anticipating the launch. I assume there were some sort of noise complaints
Well whatever cedar fair uhh… six flags corporate idea for great adventure development the kingda ka replacement better be a 10/10 launch coaster or eltorokaren will be all over hating the weak replacement if that happens
the kingdaryan saga continues
Real
Real
Real
Real
Real
I love the trees in the animation at 2:10 wildly swaying as a train passes by
This coaster really was a work of art.
Having worked on Kingda Ka the year it opened, this bought back some good memories. Thank you!
Could there had been shitty emo alt music with every clip featured without any copyright?
It sounds like the park was proud of having the ride, especially after TTD closed. Such a shame that the ride's closure is essentially collateral damage from the merger. I still wonder why the park wasn't allowed to tell us ahead of time.
@lowkae3677 Most likely because Cedar Fair knew how upset people would be and they didn't want to deal with all that goes along with that. Yes, they could've capitalized on driving more people to the park and selling commemorative merchandise upon announcing that Ka would only run for one more year but whatever profits would result from that paled in comparison to the cost of maintaining the ride another year. Not worth it, financially, to Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair wanted Ka gone, like yesterday. Just my opinion, of course.
Standing in the original queue line, with a close up view of the launching trains while admiring the grandeur of four train operation was a fond memory I will never forget. Great video!
"Pissed and heartbroken". Yep, that sums it up for me, too. SFGA knew they had an iconic ride and treated Ka as such. They loved Kingsa Ka as we enthusiasts loved it. Cedar Fair just wanted to pacify shareholders. I'm having a really hard time financially supporting Cedar Fair these days.
Yep. Especially since they've now closed 3 coasters without notice. With the bobsled at over Texas. And the rumor of Carolina Cyclone removal is growing more and more and of course no announcement on that either. Weird that old cedar fair used to announce closures and cared about old rides. While new cedar fair just doesn't care at all and just says "f it, remove the ride"
My first trip to great adventure was in 2010. You are right the 4 train ops added to ka’s aura. Really made it feel like the biggest ride in the the world. Great adventure’s aura will be 100x worse without ka standing over the parking lot
Up in the op booth (at least this year), there was a little paper that said the throughout target number for however many trains were running. The only one I remember is the 972 with 3 trains. The crew during the final weekend was absolutely incredible, they got 978 people in an hour with only 2 trains!
I absolutely love these super nerdy videos with block breakdowns, capacity numbers, and clips of good operations! I never got to see 4-train ops Ka, but I’m happy I got to see the blazing flats ops of its final days in person!
To add to that last part, I was told by many crew members at Ka earlier in 2024 that the ride was going to get double sided lockers (like El Toro) next season. But later in the season when I asked the same question I got much more vague and unclear answers. I know that regular operators are not the best sources for everything but still. Now looking back, it all makes sense now, very sad.
That rant at the end healed my soul a little bit. My exact thoughts
Ryan...you are a TOTAL rollercoaster GEEK! you are a TOTAL rollercoaster NERD!! you are a TOTAL rollercoaster BRAINAC!!! and I TOTALLY love it!!!!
Not one other UA-camr/any uploaded video of how shit works had never been. He is the first and really every other indepth video of describing shit has all came "el cum" from him.
4:57 is where block zone quote is.
Only good thing about Ka closing is getting all these fresh videos from you!
Ayyy I see you play Street Fighter 6, that game is goat
I love these super nerdy videos, I’d love to see similar videos to this in the future. So well made, incredible work mang 👍💯
I’m so freaking bummed man!! I’m so glad I got to take my oldest daughter on this ride and experience that with her. My younger 2 are pissed they didn’t get to experience it. RIP kingda ka!!
7:07 fun fact, this layout was directly related to the designated positions of the trains on the storage bays. Blue and orange left front and back respectively, and teal and green right front and back respectively. When you parked on the start block, you could actually see a maintenance guy’s notes that detailed which train went on which storage bay which I thought was pretty funny
I really wanted them to go back to using all 4 trains at the same time.
kingdaka was used in physics question in my class today and all i can think about is RIP king
LONG LIVE THE KING
PLEASE change your youtube name for this incredible new saga, KingdaKaRyan is KING
I was lucky enough to ride this in year one with all four loading blocks and the long queue in the ride infield. It was such an event, lines were sometimes 3 hours with that early hype. I do miss the queue. But with 4 trains the line moved very quickly in the queue until you got into the station and it would crawl.. waiting for the front row in those days typically meant at least 45-60 minutes more as each party in front of you only loaded once every 4 trains…. But it was worth it.
I worked at SFGA in 07-08, and 4 train operation was something to witness. Our crew was so dedicated. Was my best job EVER! sad...
I remember being a kid back in 2005 and 2006 and witnessing the golden kingdom when it was new. Seeing Ka launch a crazy amount of trains while waiting for family get off was intriguing to me even as a 5/6 year old non coaster enthusiast. It truly is a shame 4 train ops were never restored especially with the brake block existing.
He said the thing!
I visited Great Adventure in 2010 for the first time twice and those visits and some others in the early 2010s were the best. I miss the the four station operation and being able to go over to the far side station. I will say that out of all the hydraullic launched coasters it honestly feels like Storm Runner is the most reliable out of all of them as it was kind of rare to ever see it have downtime.
I remember how grande of a coaster and park Kingda Ka and SFGAdv felt when I first rode Ka in 2005 after the line was re routed. I was pretty amazed and outside the station even the with the a busy queue it felt to always be moving quickly. I remember the DJ playing music in the queue and commentating, and it was all such an exciting experience. Ofcourse the force of the launch back then was top notch, and that wasn't achievable in later years, and it was getting very ruff, and I got my last rides on the last weekend of operation this year, so I am okay with laying Ka to rest now, knowing something big is coming for 2026.
I miss when capacity was a major aspect of any coaster design. Now it's an afterthought. Look at Alpen Fury, Siren's Curse, and Great Adventure's very own Flash. All will be lucky to get even half the capacity that Kingda Ka could with 4 trains. In a way, designing a big flagship coaster with a super high capacity sent a message. It showed that the park knew their big new coaster would be so popular that massive crowds would come through the gates to ride it. Innovative solutions, like 4 train ops on Kingda Ka, ensured that as many people as possible had a chance to ride the new attraction.
I ask other ryan about this, and specifically why most park nowadays refuse to implement the double brake run (or B&M giga/magnum/velocycoaster brake run) albeit clearly some coaster having waaaaay too long single brake run in the first place
The answer is..... Because sometimes it's just too overkill. Or in short, cost reduction as long as the capacity not drop significantly. I guess the decision involved how much attendance on slow vs busy day/hour
Yes 100%, Phoenix Rising too
If anything that's all they care about. And that's why coasters are getting more bland and so short. Just pump thru people and not care if they are left dissatisfied
@@malachimarko7963It used to be common for new coasters to have 2-3 trains, with 32-36 passengers each. For launch coasters that had to use shorter trains, solutions like dual stations, or loading and dispatching 2 trains at a time were used to bring the capacity up to that of a regular coaster. Now, you almost never see new high capacity coasters being built anymore. Most coasters built now have much smaller trains, and no solution to make up for it with faster dispatches. I guess one difference is that parks have more coasters now than they used to. So each individual coaster doesn't need to have as high of a capacity.
You still have Disney and Universal constantly finding new ways of pumping as many riders as possible in other ways outside of coasters. Those mega parks really need capacity monsters that exceed 1500 rph, and sometimes even 2000+ rph.
23:48 Thank you for finally saying what we're all thinking!
My son and I were fortunate enough to ride Ka when it was running four trains in 2008. It was quite a sight with all the moving trains. Although as Ryan stated, once you loaded you often had to sit and wait. I specifically remember sitting in the front seat of the first train of the day in the left station, waiting and watching the two trains from the right launch before us. Storm Runner on steroids.
OMG, a new one, i'm gonna get the expensive gelato for this! 😍
The voice over for the last minute of this video is actual perfection 👌 😂
Yes, I witnessed four train operations. It was the best you’re right I agree great video.
Man I wish 4 train operations returned when Kingda Ka was still open. That station looked alive and bustling!!
I rode this many times and from the beginning of operation, it started out with 4 trains and by the time I got through the line, it always was running less than 4. Ultimately it ran 2 trains, then 1 or it was down. I ended up with a pile of free return tickets if I bothered to complain. Don't get me wrong, it was worth the ride until the final few years when a gray out was guaranteed at the end of the launch from the vibration ... tough coaster on your body! Technically I never rode during 4 train operation but still got a few dozen rides on the beast!
I wish there was a yellow train like in the trailer! I’m devastated about all of this… what could be a worthy replacement? I just can’t imagine anything else… I hope they end up retro-fitting it in the end. 2026 was the major rehab year and we were almost there. I’m gutted. ☹️
My recreation of Ka in NoLimits 2 runs 5 trains, the fifth is the yellow train from the trailer.
The orange train was originally supposed to be the yellow train, but at the very last second it’s color was switch for whatever reason.
@@ZMSaypol Maybe they figured the color would last longer before needing a repaint? As it faded it might start looking yellow?
@@Danrarbc I think orange was the better option that they thought may fit in better. If you notice, the original Golden Kingdom concept art had a lot of yellow accents that never saw the light of day. Either way, if the train was yellow, Zumi would also be yellow which I’m not sure would look to good so that’s another plus
5:06 oh yeaaaaahhhhhh lettsss gooooo it’s Block Zone time!!!! 💚🤙
I’m still reeling in the loss of Kingda Ka :’) I’ve only been able to visit a small handful of amusement parks but Ka was very much high on my bucket list of coasters. I love these videos even if you consider them “nerdy” lol
My wife and I rode Ka 29 times, including on its last day. The ride ops people Cody and Oneko et al ran that ride like clockwork and it was very apparent they loved that ride like we enthusiasts loved it. It just makes me want to withdraw any financial support for Cedar Fair. Yes, Cedar Fair. The ones calling the shots. I wholeheartedly share the sentiment uttered by 2 riders on one of our trains who repeatedly shouted out some well deserved choice words for CEO Richard Zimmerman.
First-for the first time! mega kudos from one thoosie to another for capturing a huge topic so quickly. We work for our passions!!
Ok seriously, ryan is the morepegasus of the King Da Ka closure. He is milking every single last drop out of it.
Such an in depth video! Well done!
4 train ops were so epic.
Wakeup BABE Eltororyan UPLOADED! whoooooo
My first ride on it opening year was in the front row, and I can confirm that line moved at a snails pace. I think when I got in line, it was only a station wait, but that front row line took almost 2 hours
I have never ridden it with 4 train operation but I cant imagine launching trains much faster than they did this summer. The 2 days I was there this summer both days were only two train ops and dispatches were almost every minute (no more than 90 seconds), the crew was killing it. Line stayed short all day, and any line that formed was very quick moving. Even waiting for front seat was incredibly fast. Also the maintenance team was quick to get it back up the couple of times it went down. El Toro and Nitro teams were killing it those days as well, but not at the same hussle as Kingda Ka which I rarely see anywhere outside of events or first year of operations. While dual loading stations are great, I think 4 load bays were overkill and me being a front seat rider would have hated that.
He brought back the block zone definition :3
I think if Ryan heard one peep about toro closing he would designate a boycott on the park 😂
Storm Runner definitely has the worst iteration of the double load station. That line is unbelievably slow. It's basically one train ops with 2 stations.
My first ride on Kingda Ka was close to its opening day, with 4 train operations, a DJ, and line vendors selling drinks and fans. I wish my last ride had been on a day we knew it was closing.
All I want for Christmas is a time machine so I can go back and experience this monumental coaster.
Baby wake up kind da Ryan posted another video
Stealth at Thorpe Park Chertsey UK is the same concept, except 205ft high. It is also made by internin.
It does 0-80 mph in 1.8 Seconds. There are actually 3 trains, with 20 seats per train although normally only 2 are used.
There is a brake block just after the corner from the airtime hill. There is only 1 route through the station but there is Station 1 & 2 like Kingda Ka. The difference is that station 2 is an unload only platform, the train then moves forward into station 1 for loading then gets launched out of station 1. Unlike Kingda Ka, when the train leaves Station 1, the next train is immediately pulled from station 2 into station 1 before the train has cleared the launch block.
If a rollback happens, the train rolls back to just before station 1 and stops. Then they reverse the train in station 1 back to station 2, and put the roll back train back into station 1 for a test relaunch.
They still manage 1050 riders per hour, with the train pulling 4.5G. I believe stealth is now the fastest accelerating roller coaster in the world, after a closure of a rollercoaster in China if I remember correctly.
I was hoping to learn about the block zone and I wasn't disappointed
We should start a go fund me to move Ka to Indiana Beach lmao.
Best part of four train operations was being able to play hypothetical Ping-Pong between the right and left station over the microphones while waiting for maintenance to fix the catch car brakes.
I’d love to see you discuss the operations of the incredicoaster, which operated with 6 trains for the first few years of its existence.
12:55 my jaws drapped when I saw that. Shame that I never witnessed that happening myself...
Been waiting for this type of kingda ka video! The golden area of the ride! Wish I could’ve of seen it in person. Is there a lot of videos on it? Was the one side station with two trains used often? One of the only six flags rides with a dueling station.
What was the staircase for at the back of the central exit area? Wasn’t it the original flash pass queue?
Yes
In the ride’s later years, it acted as a nice shortcut for employees to quickly get up to the station
So in the planned 2026 refurbishment of Ka did they plan to bring back the original queue, or still use the current queue? Also did that ramp leading into right station 1 only used to be for ADA people since the original queue approached the station on the left side?
The original queue was going to be abandoned regardless of the June 8th 2005 incident. After the first few years, they rarely filled the shortened queue anymore. After the 2021 incident on Dragster, I can't imagine that reopening the original queue was even considered.
I doubt the original queue could have ever come back due to the accident, regardless of the ride’s popularity. If the accident never happened, the original queue would have probably always been used but most of it would always be empty since it was built to handle a 3+ hour wait.
The ramp leading to the right station was meant for flashpass and ADA guests in the original configuration
@@ElToroRyan I thought the original flash pass queue was the stairs at the back of the central exit area? Also there are photos of the original queue from GAH where it goes under the launch, and that queue line is split into 2, with I’m guessing one side to be the main queue. What was the other side for?
@@coasterjim The stairs at the back of the central exit area has always been for employee access to the ride. Once the original queue was dropped, it was altered to have flashpass use a tiny set of stairs that led straight to Right Station 2 but that was abandoned before I worked the ride and we had flashpass use the ramp. They merged at "Entrance 2" which is the second greeter position by the lockers before heading to the station
@@ElToroRyan so looking at photos of the original queue before the switchbacks, what was each side for, as the path was split into two? This is where the photos I meant opened are: greatadventurehistory.com/KingdaKaOrigQueue.htm
some great insight into when this ride was firing with all cylinders! though i wouldn't jump to the idea of a complete replacement just yet. for as much as it sucks we missed out on an as-is ka refurbishment in 2026, i have a feeling it'll be getting a TTD kind of refurbishment soon enough. (source: none, this is just speculation)
Six Flags Great Adventure said that the 2026 addition is an all new coaster, and not a reimagined Kingda Ka (and they said Zumanjaro is closing too in a later statement, so it looks like the tower isn't staying at all). Obviously they could be lying but I personally wouldn't get my hopes up
For those of you who may not know, a blockhead zone is the area between the cedar Fair I mean six flags board members ears
I wonder if it's possible to configure stormrunner to run two trains on one side of the station. It only ever runs one train if only one side is open so I don't think they ever run it that way, but it does have a brake right before the switch track so maybe it's possible?
If Kinda-Green-Ka-Lantern gets replaced with a Mack XSC, which seems a lot likelier than an Intamin LSM, it better be a quasi-Mobius racing layout. That way it can break Cosmic Rewind's record as the longest spinning coaster, if not Incredicoaster's record for the longest coaster with an inversion.
Would also be amazing if it has a double top hat element including the world's tallest double inversion. (I believe that's technically held by Maxx Force's dog tongue)
Sorry, what’s a block zone? Don’t remember if you said that.
Haha!! Great video!
It's genuinely insane how little investment Great Adventure received in new coasters after 2006, given its market. If you compare coaster track installed over two 15-season periods, here's what that looks like:
Great Adventure:
1993-2007: 29,205.6 feet (incl. Kingda Ka)
2008-2022: 9,387 feet (incl. Green Lantern)
SF Great America:
1993-2007: 15,204.1 feet
2008-2022: 10,832 feet
Magic Mountain:
1993-2007: 26,857.1 feet
2008-2022: 18,308.6 feet
Haven't run the stats for Fiesta Texas yet, but I'm sure they tell the same story. Ka was an awesome money pit, but still a money pit nonetheless. Whatever replaces it will need to be way more reliable.
great video, for some reason hearing "was" and everything in past tense got me sad, long live the king.
Why is the last car of each train so big at the back? Is there a reason there isn't an extra row of seats?
Yeah I’m shocked he never mention that. Pretty sure the 10th row was installed in each station but was never used.
I rode it once in 2010 for my first ride but I don’t remember any other stations being used that day than front right. I definitely got on and off in that one but I don’t remember the station being full of people at the others
21:24 what years couldn’t they run together?
until like 2021 they couldn't run together
2014-2020
Twisted Colossus would greatly benefit from Ka's 4 train station, since dispatching 2 trains at a time would always guarantee a dual.
Out of curiosity are you going to do a video about what happened on Joker recently? Really curious what could've happened there if you might know.
ryan, remember when I asked you this stuff before it closed? lol
I hope the smaller hydraulic launch coasters can be preserved like Zamperla - do you think you could do a technical video on how ThunderVolt was relocated and rebuilt? (A humble request from a proud Canadian)
eltororyan, what do you think could be the concept behind the “multi-record breaking replacement” for kingda ka? ive seen rumors of a spinning coaster, but i wanted to see what you might think
I rode Xcelerator this summer, and its operations really are ghastly at this point. Knotts' wait times are terrible in general, a combination of understaffing and poor station management (which, I guess, is also partially a function of understaffing), and Xcelerator's sub-optimal layout means it takes even longer. The ride itself is only like 35 seconds long, but on the day I was there, it was running at around 150 seconds between dispatches.
Its been over a decade since I have seen a dual loading platform in operation thats not at a disney/universal park. It always annoys me because I know these rides could have much higher capacity. Especially on the B&M flyers with how long it takes to load and dispatch.
Edit: not including dueling coasters.
0:4:53 here is what we all came for
I only visited SFGA in 2011, so I only got to experience three train operations. Seeing that big station mostly go unused didn't feel right.
Im still so mad at Richard Zimmerman, for closing Ka before I got to Great Adventure. Seriously almost considering holding off on our trip there next year, until that "record breaking" coaster gets built.
What I wish could have happened after they abandoned the other station and switched the maximum trains to 3 was make the right back station an unload platform. Oh, what could have been 😢
How many more of these Kingda Ka episodes? I want some problematic coaster not just about Kingda Ka 😭
When I work there 08-09 it was on 4 trains
I never understood why when they switched to three train operations after 2010 why they didn’t switch the right station 2 as an unload station which would’ve let trains be filled much faster in right station 1.
There’s one more launched intamin with the dual station setup, and it CRANKS through probably the highest capacity of any intamin launched coaster. Can you name it?
when’s the top coasters in 2024 coming out
Ngl, at this point I'm waiting for Cedar Point to (UA-cam) some of the Six Flags parks biggest attractions, then pull out like they did with other parks in the past.. people were complaining about a monopoly or that Cedar Fair parks would for some reason see issues from the merger, but these days I'm more concerned for the Six Flags parks as a whole..
Kingda Ka deserved a final celebration at the very least. Closing it the way they did is incredibly disrespectful and sad for such an important coaster.
If only we could see the fully restored Ka in 2026 if it wasn’t for this damned merger.23:30
I think I'd honestly rather not have heard the sad part. If that's true, that is absolutely heartbreaking
Also it’s absolutely insane that they could do 54 trains an hour with just 2 attendants. Must have been staffed by Thor and Superman or something
👑 DaKa RIP…….
Can you imagine if Six Flags let Great Adventure refurbish Kingda Ka?
my ride, I think it was 06. was only 2 trains.
Sure, going from 4 to 3 train operation was a good decision....but removing the horn that would go off before each launch.... that was horrible. LOL..I only say the because it added such an awesome dynamic to anticipating the launch. I assume there were some sort of noise complaints
so sad ill never get to ride it
Remember seeing that on national geographic
Well whatever cedar fair uhh… six flags corporate idea for great adventure development the kingda ka replacement better be a 10/10 launch coaster or eltorokaren will be all over hating the weak replacement if that happens