Roller coaster enthusiasts are panicking about the potential closure of the world's largest coaster

For many years, Kingda Ka has maintained the record for the tallest roller coaster in the world. It lost the speed record against Formula Rossa in Abu Dhabi, but with a height of 456 ft (139 m), it has, since 2005, been the tallest in the world.

However, many roller coaster enthusiasts believe that its days are numbered. The rumour is that Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, will close the ride in the coming weeks or even days.

The rumour has been circulating for the past days. Taylor Bybee from the YouTube channel Coaster Studios, with over 200,000 subscribers, says its closure is "more than likely" and comes from trusted sources.

There is nothing official yet, however, and the park has declined to confirm (nor deny) the rumours, even when asked directly.

The ride, designed by Swiss company Intamin, is extremely expensive to operated and prone to technical issues. Its launch technology, a hydraulic launch that propels the trains to 128 miles per hour (206 km/h) in 3.5 seconds, is outdated in comparison to most launch coasters today, using linear motors or LSM.

Last year, the second tallest roller coaster in the world, Top Thrill Dragster, which opened in 2003 and is very similar to Kingda Ka, closed for a big refurbishment. In 2024 it reopened as Top Thrill 2, but closed after just a week due to technical issues and will remain closed until 2025.

If Kingda Ka closes for good and Top Thrill 2 remains closed until 2025, the tallest roller coaster in the world will be Red Force in Ferrari Land, PortAventura (Spain), also built by Intamin in 2017 as a smaller but more modern version of the same layout.