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Six Flags Great Adventure Retires Kingda Ka, Plans for New Record-Breaking Coaster

Media and Entertainment

Business Honor
15 November, 2024

The world's tallest coaster is retired to make room for a new multi-record-breaking ride in 2026.

Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey has officially retired its iconic Kingda Ka roller coaster, once the tallest and fastest in the world. The park also announced the removal of the Green Lantern roller coaster, The Twister, and Parachutes rides as part of a major revamp to make space for new attractions.

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation has confirmed Thursday what many of us have been talking about on social media earlier this week: the demise of two world record-holding rides at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. Kingda Ka, the fastest and tallest roller coaster in the world when it opened in 2005, now sits idle. The coaster was the first to top 456 feet and hit 128 mph. According to reports, Ferrari World's Formula Rossa has taken that title with a said 149 mph speed. It has not been beaten in height so far by anyone.

In the almost two decades that it operated, Kingda Ka had taken over 12 million riders. It was one ride that boasted a breathtaking 418-foot drop and 270-degree spiral for panoramic views of Philadelphia's as well as New York's skylines. For decades now, people, both fans and park visitors alike, have considered it one of the most thrilling rides across the world.

As per a press release, Brian Bacica, the park president commented that retiring the roller coaster Kingda Ka had long been part of the plan in making way for an exciting new coaster experience. Though the details of the new ride remain under wraps, Bacica teased the fact it's going to be a "multi-record-breaking launch coaster" that opens in 2026. Adding further, the park will also feature 'The Flash: Vertical Velocity, a world-first super boomerang coaster, arriving in 2025.

Six Flags is also removing the Sky Way, a cable car ride that has been part of the park since 1974. Bacica acknowledged the emotional attachment many visitors have to these classic rides but emphasized that these changes were necessary for the park's future growth and to provide guests with innovative, new experiences.