TR: Kingda Ka

[QuakerOaties]

So I decided to go to GADV today to finally ride this thing. I left the house at 8:20 and got to the park at 9:15 (thanks to a higher speed limit on the PA turnpike!). A LOT of people were there, waiting anxiously behind the ropes to ride a ride that had yet to begin testing... Once the rope dropped at 9:50, all hell broke loose.

 

Thank goodness I'm on the track team because otherwise I would have been DYING. It isn't exactly the easiest ride to run to.

 

Luckily due to my athletic prowess I was one of the first twenty people in line. This queue line is MASSIVE! Despite its size, I can still imagine people spilling out into the midway on a crowded summer day.

 

So I got up to the station and an hour and fifteen minutes later the ride opened... Since rain was imminent (it had started to very lightly drizzle) I ditched my plans to ride in the front seat and hopped in the first row of the second car.

 

You are rolled out onto the launch track, hook onto the sled, a loud horn blares (Yup, thats all there is. A horn. No cool saying, no lights... Just a loud air horn) and a few second later you are launching down the track.

 

So the ride was definitely fun. It was very fast and very tall and pretty exhilerating. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be many forces (airtime or positive G's) and the train shakes violently at the end of the launch track. Oh and the restraints were not a problem on the ride. My neck didn't hit the shoulder bars once.

 

So overall it's a good, fun, ride, but when our Intamin woody opens next year I'm pretty sure I'll be spending much more time riding that.

 

Mark "Couldn't get a second ride because the line was four hours..." Luskus

[PKDFreak]

I cant wait till July of this year!

[YoshiFan]

Sounds like the only way to have any chance of a less than 2 hour wait is having to run right when the rope drops. I hate to think how crowded it will be on a weekend over the summer. Sounds like the ride is a lot of fun.

 

The new higher speed limit on the turnpike is great. I hated how part of it was 55 while other parts were 65. Driving to King of Prussia last week, I was surprised to see the 65 mph signs as soon as I got on the turnpike.

[SharkTums]

I would love to see video of that "running of the bulls" to Kingda Ka...I'm guessing it could be even more amusing than the one to X!

 

Elissa "glad you got on!" Alvey

[Homer]

^Well, I am sure the funniest would have to go to the opening day for SheiKra yesterday. Barely any of the park workers could stop anybody from running. It seemed like a marathon!

[Hattuchili]

Hey Mark,

great TR. Today I saw the first Kingds Ka POV. It looks awesome. It is so high and so fast.

 

Here is the video:

http://coastershow.rctcompetition.com/POV-reverse%20POV%20of%20Kingda%20Ka!!!!!.wmv

 

--Soeren

[CoasterCrazy]

I'm looking forward to riding KK when I go to the park on June 2. I'm glad that the park has a Gold Q-bot since I don't want to be waiting inline all day.

[BarryH]

Cool! I think I will head up to NJ in July to make Kingda Ka my 300th coaster. I hope it runs fairly reliably over the next few months!

 

BTW, is the coaster going to have a short ERT for passholders each day? I thought I had heard something about that.

[Paul]

Now I'm just dying to get down there to ride that thing...but I have to wait until September. :\

 

How would you say it compares to TTD?

[robbalvey]

Was there any sign of Q-Bot being available for the ride?

 

--Robb

[QuakerOaties]

There will be one hour of Friday morning ERT for passholders, so definitely take advantage of that when you guys visit!

 

Qbot was set up, but I'm not sure if its online quite yet. When I walked past the qbot entrance there were employees talking to a crowd of people.

 

As far as how it compares to TTD, I really don't know. TTD was broken down the entire time I was last at Cedar Point.

 

Something I left out... The brakes at the top of the tophat weren't noticeable, although perhaps they are and I simply didn't feel them due to my shock of how high up I was!

 

When I got off Kingda Ka I decided to walk around the Golden Kingdom since I hadn't seen it yet. It's incredible. Great theming, beautiful plants and animals (Tortoises!!!), and the tiger viewing area was very cool. Apparently umbrellas scare the tigers so one of the white tigers was roaring and jumping at the plexiglass.

 

Mark "Likes the Golden Kingdom more than Kingda Ka!" Luskus

[Neogreeneyez]

I'm supposed to be going on tuesday but there is a 70 percent chance of rain is it worth it? Also on a weekday like tuesday, will I have to run like hell when the gate opens to aviod a 2 hour wait?

[stew560]

Qbot was in full effect on Saturday. The Qbot line merges inside the loading side of the station, so it will still be a wait. On Saturday, even the Qbot line was overflowing!

[CoasterFanatic]

The problem with Qbot is that until they get the ride running reliably, the ride will never be able to handle the amount of reservations.

 

// would hate to pay $30 for a qbot only to find myself still waiting 90 minutes for a ride

[Sue]

The running of the bulls is quite amusing. We were heading away from KK at opening on Saturday after the Coaster Celebration ERT ended. The wall of people coming at us was unreal. Thank goodness for the ERT--I wasn't about to wait in that line!

 

Sue, who likes the tortoises better than KK

[Rider117]

Also, Q-Bot users can only reserve Kingda Ka once throughout the whole day.

 

Luckily, I got plenty of rides in...

[Token Yankee Guy]

^ Why is that? When I went to SFGAdv when Superman opened, we were able to get two rides on with the Q-Bot Gold. One in the morning and one in the afternoon.

[Rider117]

Probaly because there were eight hour lines for it on last weekend...

[Token Yankee Guy]

^ well, maybe by June 13th the crowds will die down a bit since thats when I'm going to GAdv.

[shepp]

^ To be pessimistic...since more and more schools let out as June progresses, and families start taking summer vacations, the crowds will only get worse. In any case, reports I've read indicate that KK has been down a lot since opening, sometimes for full days (which I imagine at this point can justifiably be pinned on Intamin, not SF), so when we go, the whole question may turn out to be academic. Let's just hope that KK doesn't imitate TTD and take a month-long vacation....