(WXYZ) — Six Flags, the parent company of Cedar Point, confirmed online speculation and surprised roller coaster fans by announcing they were set to remove Kingda Ka from New Jersey's Six Flags Great Adventure.
The Asbury Park Press reports the theme park operator will be removing the ride, which currently holds the record for the World's Tallest Roller Coaster at 456 feet. The news site quotes a press release from the company:
In 2026, we’ll unveil an all-new, multi-record-breaking launch coaster, a must-ride attraction sure to capture fans' imaginations," read a portion of Six Flags Great Adventure's press release. "To make way for this landmark addition, the park has retired the Kingda Ka and Green Lantern coasters, with construction beginning soon.
Six Flags is currently in the process of building Six Flags Qiddiya in Saudi Arabia, a park which will include Falcon's Flight, a roller coaster that is set to be the world's tallest which is said to top out at 640 feet tall.
However, it has not yet been announced when either Six Flags Qiddiya or Falcon's Flight would open. The proposed opening is sometime in 2025, but there has been no firm confirmation on that from the company.
This means, with the closure of Kingda Ka which gave its last rides last week, Cedar Point will once again hold the record for Tallest Roller Coaster when it opens for the season in 2025 - so long as Falcon's Flight has not opened first - should Top Thrill 2 be back in operation.
However, that is an open question, as that roller coaster spent much of last year being worked on following an extensive renovation that removed the hydraulic launch system in favor of an LSM system. That renovation included the installation of a 420-foot tall spike. The park has not yet commented on when Top Thrill 2 will reopen, with the last update coming several months ago.
