Six Flags Great Adventure announces Zumanjaro, a 415-foot drop tower

Personally, I think a drop ride that forces me to stare as a train comes screaming up at over a hundred miles per hour toward me is far more horrifying than any stand-alone drop ride would ever be.

I always thought it was pronounced "orphaned."

I have to imagine the cost savings is substantial. You don't have to do any new surveying, excavating, or pouring.

Yeah, I would think so too. And the buzz has to be better. Rather than hearing people say "hey, Six Flags is putting in a really tall drop tower" instead they say "hey, did you hear Six Flags is putting in the worlds tallest drop ride attached to Kingda Ka?" The reference is perfect, people already know the coaster as the tallest, scariest thing around.

With the African name, it sounds like the ride will be incorporated into the Golden Kingdom area. Since Rolling Thunder stands to be removed, it opens up that area for, hopefully, a path that also connects up to another area of the park. (I thought SFGrAdv was the land of many dead ends, and this might improve traffic flow.)

Is the back end of KK near the new entrance of the African Safari? There might be another tie in there.

There didnt seem to be any problems distinguishing between Lex and Supes at MM. The ride entrances are way away from each other.

First post here but been lurking off and on for a while! Great Adventure was my home park away from home if that makes since when I stationed in Delaware. Looks like I have another reason to go back!

Oddly enough I went with a group on coworkers a few years back and one of them mentioned how fun it would be to dropped from the top. We all laughed it off but guess he was right.

As far as Rolling Thunder goes I'll miss it. When I went to GA for the first time back in 2007 my girlfriend at the time told me I had to ride it first. We walked right on and rode of the right side second row front car. It was a little rough but not SoB rough. The last time I went in 2011 both sides felt almost unbearable. Only time in my life a ride was so bad I had to stop riding for the rest of the day. Hopefully they will put the space to good use and put a few flats on the area for the family but I trust the management to do what's best.

I love the concept of using existing ride structures to make new rides (RMC, Steel Phantom, Lex Luthor, etc.). Not only does Zumanjaro's design look cleverly efficient, but I imagine it'll invigorate Kingda Ka.

I wonder about all the engineering that goes into these types of projects though. I'm sure (should I be?) Intamin built Ka's tower with a high factor of safety, but it'd seem like there'd be so many new forces acting on the tower that weren't originally considered in its design.

Especially with people complaining of Ka's roughness, could Zumanjaro add some swaying or vibration that creates additional issues? This is yet another unique project that Intamin is taking on, and it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

Kilopapa87 said:

I trust the management to do what's best.

Heh.