Kingda Ka to reopen TODAY

Yes that's right, Kingda Ka is scheduled to reopen today with the park. The temporarily closed notice has been taken off of the website as well! I guess this time we will not know the cause of this breakdown like lsat year's, but good job Six Flags for getting the ride reopened before the busy Memorial Day Weekend!

On a side note, Fox 8 News in cleveland reported that Millennium Force has been down since Saturday and they are waiting for a part. Does anyone know what happened?

I think it needs a bunch of new parts...seatbelts and um, lapbars...sarcasm intended.

This will probably be followed tomorrow of the coaster being closed again...

^You decided to give them the benefit of the doubt I see. I'm not so sure though, I think it will break down "again" today.

You're probably right. I give it a couple of hours before it breaks down, either temporarily or not-so-temporarily. Such is the nature of the beast, I s'pose.

Well people who watched it the last couple of days said that it was running consistently for up to an hour. I always have wondered why the thing does magic when no one is in line...

For up to an hour? WOW!

I know...the reliability of most coasters should be weeks, months between shut-downs. But this is KK we're talking about...an hour without shutting down is pretty damn good considering it's prior track record ;)

*thinks....yup, pun intended*

Hours.....HA! That's how sad the state of high-tech coasters can be.

I remember for 15 or 20 years NEVER seing a major coaster close for more than an hour or so, and then it was usually for puke or weather.

*** Edited 5/25/2006 4:50:00 PM UTC by Peabody***

Wow, an hour. I guess even little steps are now referred to as progress? ;)

If I worked like Kingda Ka, I wouldn't have a job.

IMO SF should file a law suit against Intamin. I know in CT we have the lemon law and they should sue intamin for the 25mill they were robbed of when intamin clearly knew that the ride would not work after TTD. I have always said if B&M built it it would run right. I can't understand why CP would keep buying intamins when they already have 3 that are crap and never run consistant and #4 is being bulit for next season maybe it is time for Mr.K to step down and hopefully the next CEO will start buying the best (B&M) coasters.

These are for you:

......,,,,,,.......,,,,...

Feel free to use them occasionally.

Six Flags should sue themselves because they purchased a larger model of a ride that was known to have problems since Day One. Or the new management should sue the old management...

I've been going to KW for years and the only time I can remember a coaster being down for an extended period was when the Steel Phantom was being reconstructed into Phantom's Revenge. They also had to close Thunderbolt for a couple of months because of this. Those going to school picnics during this period got a free general admission (this was before the changeover to all one price operation) and two complimentary tickets for the coasters. This allowed them to return later in the season to ride the coasters that had been closed.

Has it closed yet? :-)

Someone on PointBuzz said they thought
MF's malfunction had to do with a gearbox. Apparently they had a crane on site the same day. Possibly removing the bad part.

Apparently Kingda Ka ran flawlessly all day long with only a couple short break downs. Well, third time's the charm! And it also looks as though El Toro may not be ready for a couple more weeks as the trains are reportedly still in the plastic wrap however rumor has it they are shooting for next weekend as the opening.

If it had several short breakdowns that's not "flawlessly" :)

*** Edited 5/26/2006 12:30:54 AM UTC by Peabody***

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Rob Ascough said:
Six Flags should sue themselves because they purchased a larger model of a ride that was known to have problems since Day One.

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Before you get paranoid, know that I'm not just saying this to you, because lord knows others have said similar things. I think it's worth pointing out, though, that Kingda Ka was probably purchased well before the problems with TTD became apparent. Whether or not Six Flags would have (or even could have) gone back on the deal is impossible to say, but I doubt this was a situation where Six Flags knew the crap they were getting into when the contract was signed.

You take risks with any unproven type of ride. Certainly other Intamin rides have had problems, but I don't think any of them have had *this* many problems that this could have been expected.

-Nate

I'll buy that. Since 1999, Six Flags seemed to have a good relationship with Intamin, especially because of the Superman: Ride of Steel coasters that opened at SFDL, SFA and SFNE and met with critical acclaim. I'm sure there was a certain level of trust there and they had every reason to believe that Intamin's new concept would work out well. I'm willing to believe that they might not have had any reason to expect what was to come. And that leaves me to wonder if Intamin is a company that would compensate their customers for what happened, basically saying, "we messed up, here's something back"... whether that something be money or some kind of discount on a future ride.