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quietgalcoasterss · 5 months

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A Particularly Funny Ride on Nitro

I've been on Nitro a grand total of two times thus far (and unfortunately what you see above is the only photo I have of it as of right now). But even amidst everything I've been on, from Pantheon to Twisted Timbers, this thing is still such a grand slam. It's something I always put my hands up on, from start to finish. But during my second ride on Nitro this past summer, in which I went by myself, I was sitting in the same row as these 2 guys. I sat in the center-left, while they occupied the center and far-right seats. Initially I didn't pay much attention to them, but as the ops prepared to send us out of the station, their convos caught my attention. One of them said to the other as the ops checked our restraints "Bro this does NOT feel safe." Now just to make it clear, rollercoasters, especially modern ones, are arguably safer than airplanes. And Nitro was manufactured by Bolliger and Mabillard (B&M) , who are known in the industry and public for their efficiency, safety and fail-safes. But hey, for 2 scared guys, a big coaster is a big coaster, and I can't change that.

Our train pulled out of the station and began to climb the chain lift. I was growing more and more excited as I do, but those 2 were not exactly having the best time. Both of them were going "ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit" throughout the climb, and although I was keeping my eyes on the road, I'm sure they were trying not to look down and only make their panic worse. I'll link a POV of Nitro below, so you can get an idea as to how big its lift hill is:

youtube

So yeah, pretty long climb. We finally crested the hill, I raised my arms, and they started screaming. They weren't high-pitched screams or anything, more so a constant "OHMYGODOHSHITOHFUCKOHSHITOHMYGODOHMYGODOHFUCK-". Plus, I'm fairly certain they were deciding what was better throughout the ride: holding onto the restraints for dear life, or flailing their arms in an attempt to fly away from the coaster. Now, I'm the kinda girl who laughs on a coaster, with the occasional woo! thrown in. And it's hard to say when the shift occured, perhaps on the hammerhead turn back to the park, but my laughter eventually turned from "oh my god this is so fun" to "oh my god these boys are going apeshit." I wasn't looking at them or anything, but every so often I would see a hand flailing around to my right. And it wasn't like their screams were being muffled by anything; eeeeeeeeveryone in the train could hear them.

Once we hit the final brake run, I was still laughing hysterically. I looked to my right, and they looked like they'd seen a ghost. They were limp in their seats and almost hyperventilating. I tried to calm down as much as I could, and asked them if they were okay. Their response?

"Blgrhub" I think they were okay.

They quickly vanished after I left the station, and I unsurprisingly never saw them again. But wherever those 2 are now, I hope they're still okay. Maybe they're back at Great Adventure right now for Holiday in the Park and are once again riding Nitro; it's one of the few coasters they still operate at this time of year \o/

#six flags #roller coaster #six flags great adventure #rollercoaster #roller coaster enthusiast #nitro #nitro great adventure #Youtube

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quietgalcoasterss · 5 months

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My Rides on Kingda Ka

As of right now, I've ridden Kingda Ka at Great Adventure 3 times. I love this thing to death, even if she breaks down a fair amount. But I like to think that she just gets nervous when big crowds come in and the ride ops have to give her a bit to calm down before working again. You go girl :p

Before I discuss my rides on Kingda, lemme tell you about the time I just missed it. It was the first trip I went on this past summer with my dad, in which I got over my coaster fear for good. I was intentionally saving Kingda Ka for last, as I saw her as the most thrilling ride in the park. I had just gotten off El Toro, and figured Kingda was next on the list. We walked over to the Golden Kingdom, and at the time we did not know about the pathway between the Golden Kingdom and Plaza del Carnival, making back-to-back rides on Toro and Kingda way easier. So we ended up walking all around the park, unsurprisingly exhausting us.

As we made the voyage over, seeing Kingda lurking in the distance unsurprisingly excited me and gave me butterflies in my stomach. She be a big coaster; Great Adventure locals will understand how it feels to not only see her rising far out of the tree line during the drive, but being able to get up close in the parking lot. And Kingda Ka is LOUD: you can't hear it throughout the park since there's a lotta coasters that make some noise (Nitro, Superman Ultimate Flight, Medusa, El Toro etc), but when you're up close to her she roars. Fortunately, I'd been seeing trains go over the top hat all day-especially in the loooong line of Superman-so I knew she wasn't closed for the day.

We finally arrived at the entrance. Kingda Ka stood reaching into the sky. It was a particularly cloudy day. I handed my stuff over to my dad, raced for the gate, and...

she was closed for maintenance.

At this point, my dad and I were both too exhausted to wait around for her to come back online, so we decided to just head back over to Medusa so I could get one last ride on her. And hey, Medusa's a solid floorless coaster: smooth as glass and really nice colors for brownie points. But lemme tell you how I felt as we got back into the car, and sure enough a train was going over Kingda Ka's top hat. I guess I would have been bitter, but I was tired, thirsty and I still had an awesome day in the end, even if I missed out on the tallest coaster in the world. But I would be back soon. Very soon.

Few weeks later, I was back in Great Adventure, just a few days before I would leave for college. But I wasn't just here to have a fun day. I was here to conquer Kingda Ka for good. But first I warmed up with a ride on Medusa. Weeeeeeeee :3 \o/

Once I got off, I immediately gunned for Kingda Ka. Sure enough, she was closed yet again for maintenance. But I wasn't leaving: I put my stuff in a locker and I got comfy outside the gated-off entrance. I don't know how long I waited, maybe around 15 minutes, but I kept myself busy by listening to the staff tell people coming by that she's not sure when the ride will reopen. I do wish there were at least some benches nearby the entrance; Kingda goes down a lot, so it'd be neat to have to seat on the ground or lean against the fence. Not an earth-shattering issue though, just something you notice while you're waiting for a roller coaster to reopen in 85 F and 80% humidity with no idea of how long you've been waiting. You think some crazy stuff man.

Finally, the staff member got the all-clear from the station, and the chain was lifted. I zoomed into the queue, and fortunately there was almost no line. As far as I'm aware, Kingda Ka's queue seems to work in two parts. The first spans from the entrance and throughout much of the zig-zaggy barriers, while the second goes from the end of the last zig-zags to the station. I'm guessing that ride ops only want a certain amount of people in the station at a time, just in case Kingda goes down and they don't want crowds of people waiting around. So once the station starts to empty, they tell the ops dividing the queue to let more folks in. The first half was pretty much completely empty, and I ran all the way to the station. And lemme tell you, the ride ops operating Kingda Ka that day were stellar. I know Six Flags ops have a reputation for being pretty lazy, but that is not the case for Great Adventure. So far through my two recent visits, I don't think I've ever seen an objectively bad or even lazy crew operating a ride. I guess if I had to pick one that was bad, I guess it would be Green Lantern, since they seemed a little more bored than usual. But even then, they weren't half-assing or anything, they were still very much on top of things. And Kingda Ka's crew on that day was perhaps the best example of all. Whenever a train pulled back into the station, they began encouraging people to quickly unbuckle and prepare to get out and going to not stall the line. But they weren't forceful or rude: they had this perfect blend of strong encouragement and energy that got the next batch of riders hyped. It was awesome. I really hope that Great Adventure keeps up what they're doing with their ops, it makes me so happy seeing my home park doing so well in regards that their company is known to lack in.

Finally, I got into my seat and lowered my restraints: row 3, left seat. And lemme tell you, I was getting nervous. My coaster fear might have been slain, but that did not stop the anxiety over riding a hydraulic launch coaster. The train left the station, and stopped over the catch car. Staring at Kingda Ka's top hat from the parking lot is one thing. Staring down the top hat while in a train is a whoooooole other thing. Even now, having gone over it 3 times, I still get antsy over just the anticipation. A number like 456 feet (139 meters) can feel not as large when comparing tall coasters. And I know, Kingda's currently the tallest in the world. But in a world full of Top Thrill 2's, Intimidator 305's, Red Force's and Fury 325's, that number can still become numb, even if it's still the tallest. But when you're actually facing it down? It aaaaaaall comes back as to just how big a strata coaster really is. And it is scary. Fun, but scary.

I wasn't staring Kingda down for long, as my train ended up quickly hooking onto the catch car, followed by the brakes lowering. I wanna say that it's about 3 seconds from the loud click of the catch car to the launch slingshotting you off. But it somehow feels like a thousand years and an instant at the same time. My point is: Kingda Ka is fast. And it feels fucking amazing. It feels AMAZING!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!!! I MUST'VE BEEN GIGGLING FOR LIKE 2 MINUTES STRAIGHT AFTER GETTING OFF AND I TOLD MY FRIENDS OVER DISCORD JUST HOW AWESOME IT WAS AND IT SURPASSED MY EXPECTATIONS SO MUCH!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA I LOVE KINGDA KA SO MUCH!!!! AND IT'S SMOOTH!!!! IT ISN'T GLASS SMOOTH BUT IT IS SURE AS HELL NOT CLOSE TO BUMPY OR RATTLEY OR ANYTHING OF THE SORT!!! WHY DO THOOSIES SAY KINGDA KA IS ROUGH???? I DON'T GET IT!!!! DO THEY HATE FUN???

So yea Kingda Ka is awesome :3 But I wasn't done with her just yet for that day. After hopping off I got some rides on Superman, Nitro, Jersey Devil and of course several on El Toro. The bull demands my soul and I shall answer. I am the bull's servant. But then I was feeling some more Kingda Ka. And sure enough, I now knew about the pathway between Golden Kingdom and Plaza del Carnival, so it was a way shorter walk. And hey, turns out Great Adventure has a few animal exhibits along the path. That was neat seeing some turtles :>

Fortunately, Kingda had been operating pretty smoothly all day. Unfortunately, that meant a line had formed. I think while waiting in line she also briefly went down as well, but you can't win all of em lol. So I ended up sitting in queue for a while. But we all knew that she was awake yet again once we heard trains firing off through the bamboo, and sure enough the line started moving again. It was while I was approaching the station that after hearing another train firing off, and I saw this girl look at her friend next to her with an expression of "how did you convince me to get in this line what is wrong with you".

Also can I just say that I love how you can hear Kingda Ka's launches through the bamboo, but you can't see it all too well? It's so cooooooooool. I know it's not the same as what OG Top Thrill Dragster did with the bleachers, lights and audio, but it's still so neat. I love little details like that: it makes Kingda feel like she's part of the bamboo forest. Even if you can see it all from the parking lot but it is what it is lol.

I sat in the same seat and row as before; it's just a nice seat. Not front row but still up close to the front. Ride was just as amazing as before, but after I got off something timely happened. As I was exiting the station and returning to the entrance, it started to rain. When it rains, the ride ops close Kingda Ka until the storm passes, since it's apparently pretty painful going that high up in the rain. So imagine my face when only a minute or so after I went over the top hat, they had to close Kingda lmfao.

I waited out the rain by grabbing some fries, albeit I still got a little wet and I forgot my rain jacket. Once the storm passed, Nitro and Medusa both unfortunately closed for maintenance: Nitro for presumably something caused by the rain, and Medusa for issues with one of the trains. But hey it wasn't a big loss: I got another ride on El Toro :3

But I figured to end the day with one last ride on Kingda Ka. The line was a little better from last time, and I sat in the same row. But another single rider asked if he could have the left seat, which I was fine with. And y'know what this man did? He put his hands up on the launch. I'm more than fine with putting my arms up on most coasters. I'm looking at you Nitro :>. But Kingda Ka's launch? Hell nah. After going over the top hat then sure hell yea. But even the ride itself tells you "Arms down. Head back. Hold on!" right before the launch. Apparently the wind hurts with your arms up at a speed like that! So yea, god bless that man's soul, hope his arm's are ok too.

So as of right now, those are my 3 rides on Kingda Ka. I love this beast to death, and I hope Great Adventure keeps her hydraulic launch for as long as possible. What happened to that guest with Top Thrill Dragster was tragic, and hopefully something like that never happens again. And hell, I'm pumped af for Top Thrill 2, it looks amazing. But what Kingda Ka does is special. It might not be the only hydraulic launch coaster in the world, but it is now the only remaining hydraulic launch strata coaster. And Intamin doesn't manufacture the hydraulic launch anymore on account of its inefficiency and cost. So for now, stay strong Kingda, you deserve just as much love as OG TTD did in its heyday. And next time, I'll go front row :>

#six flags #six flags great adventure #kingda ka #roller coaster #roller coaster enthusiast #thoosie

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