Kingda Ka down for awhile?

KK wasn't running when I went to SFGADV today. Was talking to a park employee when riding Nitro. He said they were having too many rollbacks because they were having problems with the hydraulics, and it'd be down for awhile.

Anyone else heard the same?

Sounds normal to me.

It is supposed to be open at the end of the week or early next week. It is closed for routine maintenance.

Thanks Yoshi.. I had a feeling this guy was trying to make a big deal out of it.

YoshiFan said:
It is supposed to be open at the end of the week or early next week. It is closed for routine maintenance.

I hope it's open Sunday and Wednesday. It isn't a MUST-RIDE for me, but Sunday I'm going with a woman who doesn't go too often, and Wednesday with someone who's NEVER been to the park. So I would like them to experience Ka.

That was the situation with me yesterday Mike. Friend of mine has riddent TTD but never been to SFGADV and wanted to see if KK was any better.

He definetely wasn't prepared for the first drop on El Toro!

67440Dodge said:
He definetely wasn't prepared for the first drop on El Toro!

Who is?

I have had the opportunity to ride both and personally I happen to like TTD more. Sure KK is bigger, faster, longer. I think it was the otsh that ruined it for me.

I thought KK was rougher than TTD, perhaps because of the extra oomph necessary to go 36 feet higher -- and once up there, I really couldn't tell the difference. And the hill at the end I believe has more to do with killing momentum than anything else; it actually made for a kind of awkward stop. The killer brake push at the end of TTD is (sort of) part of the fun.

I like TTD better, mainly for the theming and the look of the trains. The speed and height difference is negligible when you're talking 120 vs. 128 or 420 vs. 456. I've had some rough rides on KK, but I don't know if I'd say one is smoother than the other.

I also prefer TTD to KK. Though I haven't ridden KK since opening year (pre-disaster). So, my opinion is a bit dated. But, my main beef was with the otsr's. I also experienced jerky and rough launch. But, that may be different now. I also am of the opinion that the speed and height difference is negligible and difficult to even notice. I don't think most people could notice the difference unless the 2 rides were right next to each other.

Jason Hammond said:
I don't think most people could notice the difference unless the 2 rides were right next to each other.

And even then, probably not....

While I prefer TTD to KK as well, I have to give it to KK when we were there earlier this year. I had 2 friends that had never been to SFGAdv but had been to CP many times. Neither one of them can ride TTD but both easily fit on KK.

While the OTSR are not what an enthusiast wants on any ride (DDD further proves that you don't need them even on a coaster with inversions) this style of Intamin trains does allow for larger riders. I seriously doubt you will see a new Intamin coaster without this style of trains. Hopefully we might see this without the OTSR though.

I was really interested in having this guy ride KK. He's a 2X World Champ drag racer in IHRA and wanted to see if he noticed any speed difference.

For me, I felt TTD was a much smoother launch and felt more comfortable in the seat. KK seemed to pull a little harder at the launch I thought, but overall I liked TTD better. (Besides, I didn't have to listen to that damned disco music!)

Mike Gallagher said:
I've had some rough rides on KK, but I don't know if I'd say one is smoother than the other.

I definitely would....TTD runs like a Swiss watch, KK like a crappy knock-off...

rollergator said:

I definitely would....TTD runs like a Swiss watch, KK like a crappy knock-off...

My thing is, I've only been on TTD four or five times, so I don't have a really good window for comparison. For what it's worth, TTD would be about my 3rd or 4th favorite coaster at the park, while KK would be 5th or 6th at GAdv.

I find it funny that I worked at Cedar Point, right next to the darned TDD, and I only rode it that season about four or five times. In comparison, I may have rode Magnum and Millennium Force 40 or 50 times each that year. I just don't think that the 15 second ride is even worth walking up the entrance ramp for.

I went several years without riding it. Diana and I squeezed out a ride just before she became pregnant. The first ride ever was, "OMGWTFLOL!!!!11!!!" The second ride was sweet, but every one after that kind of lost the magic. I dunno, it makes headlines, but it's not something I go out of my way to ride. If I ever get back to SFGAdv, honestly, I see it as little more than a credit.

It was nice when they had the unofficial single riders able to go up the exit ramp. Of course, that got out of control and they had to stop it. It is a pretty long walk around. Though it's not anywhere near the worst.

Jeff said:
The first ride ever was, "OMGWTFLOL!!!!11!!!" The second ride was sweet, but every one after that kind of lost the magic.

Precisely how I feel about flyers. And pretty much how I expect to react to TTD or KK, but so far I've only clocked one lap on the latter. It was great fun, but nothing I felt the need to run back in line for.