originally posted on 11/18/2024
Photo: Courtesy Intamin. View full-sized image.
Photo: Matthew Kaiser. View full-sized image.
Two Coasters, Two Classics and Two More Will Make Way for What’s Next
As part of the two-year $1 billion capital improvement program across the Six Flags chain of parks, Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, New Jersey) will introduce a new launched roller coaster for 2026 that will break several world records. There’s no word yet on the type of ride or launch system, manufacturer, stats, elements or location of this monumental project. Obviously details will be released at a later date. Other upgrades and additions to the park are planned in the next two years, notably the new-for-2025 Vekoma launched boomerang coaster, The Flash: Vertical Velocity. The new coaster is complete and has been testing since late October. A springtime opening is easily expected.
Zumanjaro, Parachute Tower and Twister are among the rides also leaving the park following the 2024 season.
Photo: Intamin. View full-sized image.
Photos: Mark Davidson. View full-sized image.
View full-sized image.
On the other side of this news comes word that six attractions are to be retired and removed from the park: Kingda Ka, Zumanjaro — Drop of Doom, Green Lantern, Twister, Parachute Tower and Skyway.
Kingda Ka opened in 2005 as the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster and held those records for most of its run. A hydraulic-launch accelerator coaster from Intamin, Kingda Ka claimed a height of 456 feet, which was never topped in its operating lifespan. Its record speed of 128 mph was eclipsed in 2010 by the 149-mph Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi; however, that ride ceased operation in early 2024. Intamin no longer manufactures rides with this type of launch system. While the park graciously acknowledged the iconic standing of Kingda Ka for nearly two decades, it’s been noted that technology has passed the cable-and-catchcar hydraulic launch system that was state of the art at that time.
A record breaker since it opened, Kingda Ka has dominated the Six Flags Great Adventure skyline for nearly two decades.
Photo: Richard Koppelman. View full-sized image.
Zumanjaro — Drop of Doom, also from Intamin, was installed upon the structural tower of Kingda Ka and premiered in 2014 with world records for drop speed and height (90 mph from 415 feet).
Green Lantern was relocated to the park for the 2011 season.
Photo: S. Madonna Horcher. View full-sized image.
Green Lantern is a five-inversion standup roller coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard that broke records on its initial installation. The coaster made its Great Adventure debut in 2011, after a relocation from Kentucky Kingdom, where it had operated since 1997.
Twister, a Topspin ride from Huss, arrived at Great Adventure in 1999 and has been a favorite on the Boardwalk midway ever since.
The Intamin Parachute Tower, which has lived through several renames and rethemes in its 40-plus years, last operated in 2022 and will finally be taken down as part of this project. It was originally constructed in 1978 as the Sky Chuter, the world's tallest thrill ride, at Six Flags Over Mid-America (Eureka, Missouri) and was moved to Great Adventure in 1983. With this removal, and the recent closure of Sky Flower at Tokyo Dome City, there are no remaining Intamin Parachute rides left in the world.
The park’s Von Roll Skyway dates back to the park’s inaugural season.
Photo: Alex Verheijen-Dickey. View full-sized image.
It has also been announced that Great Adventure's Skyway has been retired and will be dismantled. An original attraction at the park on its opening in 1974, the Skyway was the world's only remaining double-cable Von Roll Ropeway system and was a hybrid of two former double Von Rolls. The ride adapted mechanics and an original fleet of cabins from the Swiss Sky Ride at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair; the towers originated from the twin-cable sky ride at Freedomland U.S.A. theme park in the Bronx, New York (1960-1964). Since 1980 and during various periods since, cabins from Marriott's Great America (now Six Flags) in Illinois, Six Flags Over Mid-America and Six Flags Over Georgia have run on Great Adventure's Skyway. Having run its last in 2023, the Skyway at Great Adventure will take a piece of the park’s soul with it as a longtime sentimental favorite. It will be fondly remembered and sadly missed.
— Mark Davidson, ACE New Jersey Assistant Regional Representative
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