

And, for the record, here's the official warning: It's incredibly powerful."Īdmission to Great Adventure covers the cost of riding Kingda Ka, the main attraction in the park's new Golden Kingdom section. John Cline, a lawyer from West Virginia who claims to have tested every wooden roller coaster in the U.S., called it "the most amazing thrill ride.

"It's a lot better and faster than anything I've ever been on," he shouted over the sound of the screams of the next set of riders. That's $20.30 per second for the experience. The first person to ride Kingda Ka, 14-year-old Max Blum, of Westfield, N.J., paid $1,025 in an e-Bay auction for his spot. Looking back from the parking lot, I can't believe my face is still attached to my, er, face. In fact, there's a great sense of relief. It's over in less than a minute, and no one feels cheated. Suddenly, the cars corkscrew down in a 270-degree, 418-foot drop, pull out for another moment of weightlessness in a 129-foot climb, and then we're back to the station. We have a split second to make sure all of our body parts survived the launch. That's a 45-story building and then some, and it's 36 feet higher than the next highest coaster, Top Thrill Dragster in Cedar Point, Ohio. The deceleration as we near the first drop gives everyone a feeling of weightlessness.Īfter a corkscrew ride straight up, we reach the "top hat," or the highest point of the ride, 456 feet above the ground. You feel your cheeks pressing against your skull and your eyelids flutter. The ride begins with a horizontal thrust that drives us from zero to 128 mph in 3 1/2 seconds. I strapped myself into my car along with 17 other riders. If I've avoided describing the ride until now, it's only to separate the casual newspaper scanner with a weak heart from the roller-coaster curious.

(I'm still panting like a puppy, trying to reposition my lungs.) The adrenalin rush - at least I hope it was adrenalin - is breath-taking. I've even performed aerial combat maneuvers in a World War II-era combat trainer.īut nothing - not even the rush of a freefall from 10,000 feet - compares to the first frenzied 30 seconds of Kingda Ka. In the name of journalism, I have jumped out of an airplane at 10,000 feet I have raced souped-up cars at Paul Newman's home track in Connecticut and I've parasailed over the Hudson River - in winter.
#Kingda ka g force professional#
You see, I'm not a professional daredevil, but I'm no weenie, either.
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Knowing exactly what's coming around every knuckle-whitening bend makes it significantly worse. The first time you ride it, you don't even have time to be scared witless.īut the second trip is a much different story. They don’t just push the button and start this ride - they launch it.Īnd here's the secret to riding Kingda Ka, which opened yesterday at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J.: Kingda Ka, the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster, slapped it into me in the most terrifying 50-and-a-half seconds of my life.
