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)
@ 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 💚
We really got rid of Ka because of its maintenence cost and the justification was the future existence of a coaster that cost 10x's more to build and will cost 10x's more to maintain. All to draw basically nobody because nobody wants to travel to the middle east to ride a roller coaster. This is the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals. Id be shocked if Falcons Fury even hits a million cycles.
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
@@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
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!
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!
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
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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. ❤️
Removing six rides including two recording breaking attractions with no advance notice is wild. The new Six Flags has already lost the plot. I completely understand that Kingda Ka is a money pit and eventually it would be replaced or re-imagined, but not making an annoucement in advance for such a major change looks bad.
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.
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.
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
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?
Thank you, Ryan! For NOT being an apologist for the park/corporation! Some others have been walking a very fine line with their comments. They want to make sure they get that media day invite. I get it. Thanks for being real man!
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.
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 💔
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.
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.
They might not make it up to the park fans. KI still hasn't "made up" for Vortex's loss. I think they're just gonna do the same.. do what they think is best for the park moving forward, as if the removed ride never was there.
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.❤️🔥🤘
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 👑 💔
Literally booked a flight Saturday at 4pm for a 6pm flight on Saturday to go on Sunday, the rumors felt genuine. Glad I got to ride it for the first and last time this past weekend!
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.
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!
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.
I’m heartbroken, my wife and I rode KK when it first opened in 2005 and it took my breath away. Now we have rollercoaster enthusiast kids who wanted to ride this beast and never will because we couldn’t manage a trip up there during the school year with such short notice. We planned to come up to NJ in the summer but now we’re gonna make other plans. For now we’ll just keep enjoying our home parks, Hershey, Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg and we’ll plan some different trips for next year, maybe Dorney or Carowinds, and save Great Adventure for 2026 when all the new stuff is coming. Might even go down to Six Flags America since it’s the closest to us at less than 45 minutes away but we haven’t been fans of that park since before we even had kids. Long live Kingda Ka!
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!
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.
Kingda Ka was incredible! There will never be a launch like it ever again, yes they'll have magnetic launches that are great- but nothing will ever be like the experience of that hydraulic launch tossing you over a 450 ft hill, nothing short of breathtaking! 🤘 RIP Ka
Thats what makes me angry about this whole thing. Since the park kept it silent no one knew what was truly going on. As you said it took content creators to bring in the information. But even with all that information the time line to get the last ride was so small. For someone like me who lives on the west coast and didnt have the time or the money to fly out there to get the chance to ride it, i lost out. I do want to thank all the content creators such as yourself for bringing out this information even though you guys got major backlash over it. Cause without all you guys a lot of people would have never gotten their last rides in. Six flags really dropped the ball on this one. Now lets hope the replacement is something worthy and not some record breaking family launch coaster. Still a park removing six rides all at once just seems so insane to me.
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
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.
They're just bulldozing the whole park at this point... what reason even is left to go there anymore :/ I also really don't know what else they expected when they went with Zamperla of all people to "reimagine" Top Thrill Downtime.. like maybe go with someone that doesn't make shoddy flat rides and it will go better? 🤷🏿♀️
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 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).
RIP the king (and the lantern too, i actually liked that ride lol). Lets hope the new six flags company doesnt keep closing rides like this, because this was handled terribly
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!
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.
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.
Yeah, the silent closing is totally unacceptable. They should have announced that a year in advance. Many, like me, come from across the pond. And it's not possible to organize a last minute transatlantic hop based on rumors. Kudos Six Flags for also antagonizing your international customers... I really hope that Kingda Ka is not going to be "destroyed" but only dismantled and sold to another park, like Raptor's symmetric clone which was sold from an Asian park, if I recall correctly, to a French theme park and reassembled there. Such a gem as Kingda Ka can't be just scrapped, it must have a second life. I know this one's much less popular, but I really like Green Lantern too, and would like it to also have another life in another park.
Wasn't a possibility for me. Which is a shame since I never got to ride it. Great Adventure is just straight up a no go for me now as well, there's absolutely nothing there that I couldn't find somewhere closer and better
I did watch your video and rode kingda ka five times on its second to last weekend. My first reaction after I first rode it was "They can't remove this".
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 a bad feeling that the replacement is going to have those dumb gimmicky world “records” that contain a bunch of caveats instead of actual records. If this new ride doesn’t make it to the top of any of the categories on the rcdb record holders page it ain’t breaking shit
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.
So begins the downfall of six flags. This merger is going to gut them. How the hell could they not give an announcement? I’m not on fucking UA-cam every day I didn’t know it was closing until now….
I remember seeing the rumors a week ago and thinking there’s no way they’re just gonna surprise close it, little did I know they would. This is such a shame, King Da Ka is an icon of the east coast and a landmark in coasters overall, I hope whatever they decide to replace it with does break records but it’ll never replace it.
I grew up always wanting to ride Kingda Ka but now I'll never be able to. And what makes me the angriest is that they didn't give it a proper sendoff. If a ride like this is to be closed, it deserves the most dramatic sendoff ever. This is just sad and pathetic, and Six Flags is completely to blame.
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.
Yes, the coaster means so much to me. I did it 71 times in one day thank you for telling us. It means so much to me and disgraceful how they couldn’t tell us. I will always miss you king of coasters.
I never saw the warnings, nor would I have had the money to travel halfway across the country. But it is exceedingly disappointing that I'll never have the chance to ride the only bucket list coaster I've ever had.
They said it will be sure to capture guests imaginations, a statement like that makes me think it won't be some average layout, that's not something you say about a standard coaster. Especially since we know this coaster is so large it's taking up the plot of 5 rides.
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 wish Great Adventure would’ve made an announcement as well. With enough notice I might have been able to travel from Nashville to ride it as I have never been on it. The closest thing I’ve ridden is the original Top Thrill Dragster. Anyways, always enjoy your videos, Ryan and thank you for making them!!
the park 100% made you and other influencers break the news of it’s closure instead of the park saying it so you would take the hate and the fall instead of them. scummy move from six flags tbh
Only got to ride it once when I was in middle school. One of the best coasters EVER. im sad to see it go but also excited to see whats to come with great adventure :) Hopefully something that will make me actually wanna come back to the park again!
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 think if the Mack Tower coaster is replacing Ka, all of you all will be eating your words when you're 40 feet in the air spinning AND looking straight down because of the overbank turn at the top.
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
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!
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 💚
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?
LONG LIVE THE KING
LONG LIVE THE KING
LONG LIVE THE KING
RIP to the King 😭 The closing night of Ka will definitely go down as a special one in enthusiast history.
We really got rid of Ka because of its maintenence cost and the justification was the future existence of a coaster that cost 10x's more to build and will cost 10x's more to maintain. All to draw basically nobody because nobody wants to travel to the middle east to ride a roller coaster. This is the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals. Id be shocked if Falcons Fury even hits a million cycles.
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
RIP Kingda Ka.
Cause of death: had a Six Flags Day
lol
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
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!
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!
You gave the ride a better send off at the end of the video than the park did in real life!
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
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!
The launch on Kingda Ka was the best coaster element I ever experienced
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.
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.
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
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.
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. ❤️
So sad this is confirmed. Thanks for keeping us updated through this process, rip the king!
Removing six rides including two recording breaking attractions with no advance notice is wild. The new Six Flags has already lost the plot. I completely understand that Kingda Ka is a money pit and eventually it would be replaced or re-imagined, but not making an annoucement in advance for such a major change looks bad.
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.
That Mack tower coaster looks Hella lame. Great Adventure needs to outdo themselves after this fiasco. Great Channel dude!
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
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.
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
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?
Thank you, Ryan! For NOT being an apologist for the park/corporation! Some others have been walking a very fine line with their comments. They want to make sure they get that media day invite. I get it. Thanks for being real man!
The Mack tower coaster would be an atrocious replacement, I really hope that’s not what it is.
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.
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 💔
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.
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.
I’m glad you gave us a warning, you didn’t deserve any of the backlash at all
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.
They might not make it up to the park fans. KI still hasn't "made up" for Vortex's loss.
I think they're just gonna do the same.. do what they think is best for the park moving forward, as if the removed ride never was there.
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.❤️🔥🤘
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 👑 💔
If you own stocks of Six Flags sell them and inform the headquarters on what an awful decision they've made.
Literally booked a flight Saturday at 4pm for a 6pm flight on Saturday to go on Sunday, the rumors felt genuine. Glad I got to ride it for the first and last time this past weekend!
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.
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!
ga saying “completely new” doesn’t confirm it’s getting demolished
i think they’re keeping the top hat for the “completely new” coaster just my opinion
velocicoaster that goes 425 ft high.
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.
I’m heartbroken, my wife and I rode KK when it first opened in 2005 and it took my breath away. Now we have rollercoaster enthusiast kids who wanted to ride this beast and never will because we couldn’t manage a trip up there during the school year with such short notice. We planned to come up to NJ in the summer but now we’re gonna make other plans. For now we’ll just keep enjoying our home parks, Hershey, Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg and we’ll plan some different trips for next year, maybe Dorney or Carowinds, and save Great Adventure for 2026 when all the new stuff is coming. Might even go down to Six Flags America since it’s the closest to us at less than 45 minutes away but we haven’t been fans of that park since before we even had kids.
Long live Kingda Ka!
Nothing will be able to beat Kinda Ka in my opinion.
Well...there goes a bucket list ride for me.
Long live the king
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
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!
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.
Kingda Ka was incredible! There will never be a launch like it ever again, yes they'll have magnetic launches that are great- but nothing will ever be like the experience of that hydraulic launch tossing you over a 450 ft hill, nothing short of breathtaking! 🤘 RIP Ka
Xcelerator has a better launch
Thats what makes me angry about this whole thing. Since the park kept it silent no one knew what was truly going on. As you said it took content creators to bring in the information. But even with all that information the time line to get the last ride was so small. For someone like me who lives on the west coast and didnt have the time or the money to fly out there to get the chance to ride it, i lost out. I do want to thank all the content creators such as yourself for bringing out this information even though you guys got major backlash over it. Cause without all you guys a lot of people would have never gotten their last rides in. Six flags really dropped the ball on this one. Now lets hope the replacement is something worthy and not some record breaking family launch coaster. Still a park removing six rides all at once just seems so insane to me.
I knew it 😭 even now people keep denying it. But thanks for covering it for us 🙏🏽
That launch... That coaster... Its sounds like a jet passing by
If this new for 2026 ride doesn't deliver .... I could see Great Adventure nosedive in terms of attendance
I feel like they purposely didn't open Flash this year just so they could say they were opening a new coaser after dropping this bombshell.
the flash is such a mid coaster anyway. what a letdown from the always awful Cedar fairs. they already started screwing up.
@@AmazedBunion All cedar fair cares about is Cedar Point, noone else. Its so Ka cant overshadow TT2. Man FUCK Cedar Fair.
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
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.
They're just bulldozing the whole park at this point... what reason even is left to go there anymore :/
I also really don't know what else they expected when they went with Zamperla of all people to "reimagine" Top Thrill Downtime.. like maybe go with someone that doesn't make shoddy flat rides and it will go better? 🤷🏿♀️
I feel ill
Six Flags Great Adventure quickly turning into a local carnival.. 🤡🤡🤡🤡
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 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).
RIP the king (and the lantern too, i actually liked that ride lol). Lets hope the new six flags company doesnt keep closing rides like this, because this was handled terribly
Lantern was terrible lol
Lantern was so underrated. I hope it’s not completely scrapped.
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!
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.
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.
and there it is. it was an honor. long live the King. all hail the King.
Yeah, the silent closing is totally unacceptable.
They should have announced that a year in advance.
Many, like me, come from across the pond. And it's not possible to organize a last minute transatlantic hop based on rumors.
Kudos Six Flags for also antagonizing your international customers...
I really hope that Kingda Ka is not going to be "destroyed" but only dismantled and sold to another park, like Raptor's symmetric clone which was sold from an Asian park, if I recall correctly, to a French theme park and reassembled there.
Such a gem as Kingda Ka can't be just scrapped, it must have a second life.
I know this one's much less popular, but I really like Green Lantern too, and would like it to also have another life in another park.
Thank You Ryan for telling us as soon as possible , something the park should of done sooner.
Wasn't a possibility for me. Which is a shame since I never got to ride it. Great Adventure is just straight up a no go for me now as well, there's absolutely nothing there that I couldn't find somewhere closer and better
T-rex RMC coaster confirmed
I wish!
I did watch your video and rode kingda ka five times on its second to last weekend. My first reaction after I first rode it was "They can't remove this".
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 a bad feeling that the replacement is going to have those dumb gimmicky world “records” that contain a bunch of caveats instead of actual records. If this new ride doesn’t make it to the top of any of the categories on the rcdb record holders page it ain’t breaking shit
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.
The SFMM first of its kind would be amazing if it was an S&S Axis Coaster
So begins the downfall of six flags. This merger is going to gut them. How the hell could they not give an announcement? I’m not on fucking UA-cam every day I didn’t know it was closing until now….
GOAT 🎉 sometimes crying woof only hurts those that don’t believe, congrats on predicting it correctly
I remember seeing the rumors a week ago and thinking there’s no way they’re just gonna surprise close it, little did I know they would. This is such a shame, King Da Ka is an icon of the east coast and a landmark in coasters overall, I hope whatever they decide to replace it with does break records but it’ll never replace it.
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 grew up always wanting to ride Kingda Ka but now I'll never be able to. And what makes me the angriest is that they didn't give it a proper sendoff. If a ride like this is to be closed, it deserves the most dramatic sendoff ever. This is just sad and pathetic, and Six Flags is completely to blame.
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.
Yes, the coaster means so much to me. I did it 71 times in one day thank you for telling us. It means so much to me and disgraceful how they couldn’t tell us. I will always miss you king of coasters.
I'm grateful that I got to ride the King twice in 2021. As far as a spinning replacement...I absolutely hate those.
I never saw the warnings, nor would I have had the money to travel halfway across the country. But it is exceedingly disappointing that I'll never have the chance to ride the only bucket list coaster I've ever had.
They said it will be sure to capture guests imaginations, a statement like that makes me think it won't be some average layout, that's not something you say about a standard coaster. Especially since we know this coaster is so large it's taking up the plot of 5 rides.
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 wish Great Adventure would’ve made an announcement as well. With enough notice I might have been able to travel from Nashville to ride it as I have never been on it. The closest thing I’ve ridden is the original Top Thrill Dragster. Anyways, always enjoy your videos, Ryan and thank you for making them!!
They could've made an entire year celebrating it, selling merch, and giving it a proper closure. "kingda ka last hurrah"
It’s like leadership is on crack or something
the park 100% made you and other influencers break the news of it’s closure instead of the park saying it so you would take the hate and the fall instead of them. scummy move from six flags tbh
Wow six rides. It better be awesome. Feel for SFGA fans. It was on our bucket list parks, but now a wait and see.
Only got to ride it once when I was in middle school. One of the best coasters EVER. im sad to see it go but also excited to see whats to come with great adventure :) Hopefully something that will make me actually wanna come back to the park again!
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 think if the Mack Tower coaster is replacing Ka, all of you all will be eating your words when you're 40 feet in the air spinning AND looking straight down because of the overbank turn at the top.