News: Kingda Ka

Well hey less people on line and in my face while walking around that park. Im going to Gadv's as well as Dorney next year. Hershey park is for another year, as that is farther away from me.

For the record, I'm the head mechanic for a 200 ft hypercoaster and I feel sorry as hell for for the poor suckers who have to inspect Kingda Ka everyday. That climb has gotta suck, does anybody know if there is a lift type mechanism for inspection/evac purposes?

Dragster has a small elevator running up the middle of the inboard side of the tower, with stops at each of the catwalks, so fixing the countdown lights should be dead easy. There should never be a need for an evac from the top of the tower, but Intamin had the foresight to include a catwalk across the top, so when a train did the impossible and stalled on top, it was possible to go up and give it a shove.

I presume Kingda Ka will have similar features.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

So is there a unload platform as well and the double loaded station or is there just the double loaded station?

Anyone know how much Kingda Ka and/or the entire Great Adventure expansion costs?

+Danny

It looks like each station is going to have an unload platform and a load platform.

Which means they eliminated one of the (seemingly) most problematic parts of Dragster - the seven thousand blocks behind the station that seemed to always shut the ride down.

Now, I know nothing of how the ride actually operates, but every time a train gets "stuck" beyond the unload platform, it almost always results in the picking up of the red telephone and an annoucement of a lengthy delay. Seems to me that the biggest computer glitches with TTD are those blocks between the end of the brake run and the unload platform. But then again, Six Flags eliminated this "weak link" with their design and then plopped in duel-stations to create another "weak link". Oh well :)

Sorry, but I just can't get excited over this ride. It's just TTD a little taller, a little faster with a bunny hill. I didn't find TTD all that great, so this won't be anything new to write home about. It was a thrill being up so high when I rode TTD, but that's only for a few seconds at best.

They should change the name of this coaster to Kinda Ka-rap. ;) Just kidding of course... better watch out for the flames now.

Justin

I know I'll be heading to New Jersey next summer!

I wanted to add, since I don't think it's been mentioned yet, that looking *down* at the clouds from the top of the coaster was a nice touch, Keith :)

Jeff your "King Ka Ka" comment concerning downtime popped into my head about five minutes after hearing the news earlier this afternoon. Kingda Ka is an odd name but much better than Superman, Batman or Mothman.
That bunny hill(damn what a big ass bunny) is what I always said Dragster was missing. It does seem weird looking at the rendering of KK and seeing Dragster in a different color scheme. Does anyone else think its odd that they didn't go for it and make it an even 500'? With the OTSR just imagine how big a loop that sucker could have had instead of the bunny hill.
I already wanted to take a first time trip to SFGAd next season(Nitro looks amazing)and a friend called me up today and asked if we were making plans. I can already feel the anxiety setting in regarding reliability, like our CA trip, and X. ;) *** Edited 9/30/2004 1:25:03 AM UTC by macho nachos***

Ok, well, Im a big guy, Im 6'0, 300lbs. How do you think I would fit into the restraints?

I'm dieting and working out now, and hope to drop some pounds before next season.. How big can you be? have you ever seen any large people get turned back?

Wow. I will making my 3rd trip to SFGadv next summer. I'm really excited about this coaster!

~Corey

Danny: it'll probably use up a good chunk of the cap ex budget for sure & this is what I'm upset about the most.

It's not so much as the coaster itself.....I mean hey I've known about it since june/july just like the rest of us have but it's the insane amount of money being spent on it that's got me mad.

That's money which could've been used to purchase rides for a handful of parks that could benefit the chain as a whole & I'm not just talking about SFA here as they may still get something as well but it's alot of the others parks as well that are being cheated out of new rides all for the sake of a stupid record.

Now I take it SFMM was a likely candidate for this ride at first,as we all know they like to have their records & what not but my guess is due to terrible attendance & other problems the ride was given to SFGRADV instead but that's just my own theory & .02 cents on it.

RCDB says, "The last car seats only two riders so the number of riders per train is actually 18, not 20." Any idea why the last car is only a 2 seater?

Those kiddie rides aren't cheap either. At first I wasn't that excited when I saw the track pieces, but when I read the stats and saw the pictures this morning, I just can't believe it's coming within three hours of home. I'm a little bit worried about the placement of this ride, as it's right on the way to the parking booths. Hopefully, no one has an accident:)

I understand BFSFA's frustation to an extent, but I think he needs to start saving his money, so he can go to other places besides PKD and SFA. I think he'd be happier if he could travel to SFGAdv. etc.

I would think that terrible attendance is the reason you would build something like this, it brings people back.

I dont get how a single bunny hill makes the ride complete. The overbanked turns on xcellerator didnt do anything for anyone, why will this single hill?

If I am in the area on a week or rainy day maybe we will stop, but I have no interested in waiting three hours for this ride.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I would much rather have this at my home park than storm runner. Granted, I havent' had a chance to ride TTD, but I have been on Storm Runner. To me, Storm runner was good, with some interesting elements. Definitely different, but IMO, not a great ride at all. If its gonna be a short ride, might as well make it as big as possible. I mean I liked Storm Runner, but when I got off, I wasnt blown away at all, more like "OK that was a nice ride, now lets go ride Lightning racer 10 more times". Of course everyone will probably jump all over me for this post, but oh well.

I am very excited for next year, especially if the new area looks like it is supposed to. Looks like there are quite a few must-rides for next year!!

Its not for a stupid record if it was for a stupid record they would have went to 500'and done away with the bunny hill. They also have a new themed area, this is to help six flags. Adding a coaster to any park besides Sfgam, sfmm, and sfgadv can't help bring in money to the company at the moment. Im sure next year would be the year for the smaller parks to start building now that this ride have some exposure to help attendance.

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thrillerman1 said:
Any idea why the last car is only a 2 seater?

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So that they can include mock engines, a spoiler, and real racing slicks that spin freely and sheer off, hurtling through the air with the greatest of ease.