Kingda Ka is not the only roller coaster that Six Flags has removed from or closed at its theme parks for the 2025 season.
Formerly the world's tallest roller coaster, Kingda Ka came down last week as demolition crews removed the Top Hat tower for the Intamin Accelerator coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. While the loss of the former record-holder gained widespread media attention, far beyond the coaster community, Six Flags has shut down or begun the process of removing at least half a dozen other coasters from its parks.
Also at Six Flags Great Adventure, the company has closed Green Lantern, a Bolliger & Mabillard Stand-Up Coaster that opened in 1997 as Chang at Kentucky Kingdom.
At Carowinds, Six Flags has closed Nighthawk, a Vekoma Flying Coaster that opened in 2000 at California's Great America as Stealth.
At Kings Dominion in Virginia, the company has closed Anaconda, an Arrow Dynamics Custom Looping Coaster that opened in 1991.
The oldest coaster that Six Flags has closed this year is La Vibora at Six Flags Over Texas, a Intamin Bobsled that opened back in 1884 at Six Flags Magic Mountain as Sarajevo Bobsleds before being moved to Arlington in 1986.
Six Flags also is closing some more recent models. The company has given up on both of its Kid Flash Cosmic Coaster installations, at Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Those Skyline Attractions P'Sghetti Bowl family coasters just opened in 2023.
At Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Six Flags has announced that Timber Wolf, a Dinn wooden coaster from 1989, will be closed for the 2025 season. So far, there's no word that this is a permanent closure for the ride.
Also worth noting, some Six Flags parks have coasters that are standing but not operating, with their futures not confirmed one way or the other. Those include Superman: Escape from Krypton at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Montezooma's Revenge at Knott's Berry Farm, which has fallen into reconstruction limbo.
The Cedar Fair merger seems to have brought new standards for judging cost effectiveness to the new Six Flags. Each of the closing coasters clearly fell on the wrong side of the equation when balancing maintenance costs versus a return on that investment. While most of these departing rides were aging coasters, it's notable that some coasters also fall on the near side of the life expectancy Bell curve. This time at Six Flags, it was two more coasters from Skyline Attractions, a company that's currently batting .000 on its coaster installations.
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Agreed that the way Six Flags handled this was extremely disrespectful to guests. And not only did they fail to show guests common courtesy; they missed an opportunity to sell parts of the removed rides at a premium. The last I heard, the imploded Kingda Ka was being sent to a scrapyard. In the case of La Vibora at SFOT, it simply disappeared without any warning. And let's not forget the flat rides. I will really miss Twister at Great Adventure. There are few Huss topspin rides still operating in the US and this is unfortunate. I suppose that it might be difficult to get parts for the older models but Huss is very much alive. In fact, Alton Towers is opening a Huss topspin ride this season. As for Time Warp, I doubt that anyone will miss that absolutely awful coaster but it would have been nice to let guests know that it was leaving.
Since CW still is listing Time Warp on its website and has not officially confirmed its closure, I did choose to leave it off this list. But, yeah, I'm also not confident that it will answer the bell for 2025.
I knew Sarajevo Bobsleds was old, but 1884? Wow! :P
I felt like I'd been in a fist fight after riding Anaconda.
While these closures may be sad for locals or fans it a decision made to ensure long term growth for the chain. They are closing their less popular attractions are costing high fees in operations and staffing while not contributing the parks ridership. However I hope that these closures will make way for future additions instead of just a cost-cutting method!
@dan - It's not that they're closing these attractions, and I think most fans realize that these removals likely signal exciting new additions to come. However, it's the way in which SF went about these closures without giving fans a heads up so they can get a final ride or buy up merchandise that will get pulled from shelves. By announcing closures after the season, SF was basically saying, "We don't care about our guests, and don't want the additional revenue that an in-season closure announcement would generate".
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First, can we all agree that Skyline Attractions is officially finished and any major theme park that purchases a ride from them right now should have their head examined.
I do see what Six Flags is doing here, because the attractions that are being removed have all either demonstrated to not be very popular or are becoming increasingly difficult and/or expensive to maintain. Ultimately, a business needs to look out for its bottom line, and rides like these are easy pickings as part of a consolidation effort that is going to go after low hanging fruit to save costs of the combined company.
However, the issue is that these decisions are being made at the executive level and without any sort of guest input or notification, and in many cases without input from the local park or staff who operate and maintain these rides. The coaster community is a fickle bunch, and there's no doubt that if a park announces a coaster closure, enthusiasts will flock to that park to experience it before the closure. So if Six Flags didn't want their assessment/decision questioned or challenged, announcing closures over the cover of darkness of the offseason prevents them from seeming hypocritical as previously unpopular attractions would have long lines and instant popularity the second fans found out of a coming closure (see Kinda Ka last fall when it was just a rumor that the coaster was closing). The last thing SF executives want is to be proven wrong and have a coaster slated for closure have hour-long lines and fans begging for the chain to keep it open. When you announce the closure during the offseason, it doesn't give anyone a chance to complain or provide data to undermine the decision.
In the end, it seems pretty clear that Six Flags doesn't care about their guests and doesn't give a lick about nostalgia, because if they did they would have at least provided a heads up to fans about these coming closures to not only give fans a chance for a last ride, but to reap the benefits (profit) from the nostalgia guests have for the departing attractions. Having been at SFGAdv for Kingda Ka's final day of operation, I can confirm that of the 1-2k enthusiasts that were there that day, many were scooping up any merch with the coaster's logo on it including keychains, pins, shirts, and many more to the point where the shop closest to the coaster was stripped clean of everything that featured the coaster's name aside from a handful of oversized neon tank tops.
Most of all, these closures and the way they're being handled is just plain disrespectful to guests, and begs the question why Six Flags feels the need to do things this way.
FWIW, Robert neglected to include Time Warp in the list of pending closures. While Canada's Wonderland hasn't officially announced that the Zamperla flying coaster will close, they have removed it from the map, and this uncomfortable, borderline painful ride has been on the chopping block for a number of years.