JACKSON – Six Flags Great Adventure will launch the tallest and fastest roller coaster on Earth, the keystone of a new mythical jungle kingdom which will also feature an elaborate children’s area and massive tiger exhibit for the 2005 season.
“This announcement represents the largest expansion in the 30-year history of Six Flags Great Adventure,” said Kieran Burke, the CEO of Six Flags Inc. “Six Flags Great Adventure is already the world’s largest regional theme park and this record-breaking new capital [improvement] marks the first step in transforming this park into a true family destination.”
According to a press release from Six Flags, the new roller coaster will shatter all existing world records for speed and height. The roller coaster, Kingda Ka, will rocket riders horizontally from 0 to 128 mph in 3.5 seconds before vertically catapulting them 456 feet (45 stories) into the sky at a 90-degree angle. After a brief moment in the clouds, riders descend 418 feet (41 stories) back down to earth in a 270-degree spiral, only to experience another breathtaking moment of weightlessness as they soar over a 129-foot-tall hill (nearly 13 stories) and then glide back into the station.
Kingda Ka will be the cornerstone of a new 11-acre mythical jungle domain called the Golden Kingdom. The Golden Kingdom will also feature Balin’s Jungle Land, an elaborate, new children’s area; and Temple of the Tiger, a new educational tiger exhibit.
Balin’s Jungle Land will include one of the largest play structures of its kind in the world. The new section will feature five themed rides that enable children to soar, twist, swing and cruise. The giant new play structure will include five interactive, multileveled structures towering nearly three stories. The three dry structures and two wet structures will offer 30 different platform levels with cargo nets, bridges and slides, spray guns, tipping buckets and a “jumping” fountain where children can splash and play.
In the Golden Kingdom, park guests can enjoy an encounter with Bengal tigers. The more than 33,000-square-foot Temple of the Tiger exhibit, one of only three exhibits of its kind worldwide, will feature massive Bengal tigers, Balin, Faruk, Hara and Chandi, displaying natural animal behaviors – jumping, wrestling, pouncing and playing. Highly skilled, hands-on trainers will interact with the audience and the young adult tigers, sharing interesting facts and even swimming with the cats.
Temple of the Tiger will also feature extremely rare “golden” tiger cubs, named for their white coat and gold stripes.
Throughout the Golden Kingdom, guests can also encounter a variety of exotic animals and their handlers. Visitors will find cockatoos and macaws, coati mundi, porcupine, a rainbow boa constrictor, albino python, kinkajou and capuchin monkey.
Kingda Ka and the entire Golden Kingdom are slated for a spring 2005 opening. Guests can receive up-to-the-minute news throughout the construction process on www.sixflags.com.