Batman Adventure – The Ride 2

Batman Adventure - The Ride 2
The library is the first pre-show room in the ride.
Location	Warner Bros. Movie World
Coordinates	27°54′28.17″S 153°18′46.8″E
Status	Closed
Opening date	1993 (1993)
Closing date	15 October 2011 (2011-10-15)
Attraction Type	Simulator
Manufacturer	McFadden Systems Inc.
Vehicles	6
Riders per vehicle	20
Height restriction	102 cm (3 ft 4 in)
Previously	Batman Adventure - The Ride
Amusement Parks Portal

Batman Adventure: The Ride 2 was a Batman-themed attraction at the Warner Bros. Movie World theme park on the Gold Coast, Australia. It also previously operated at Warner Bros. Movie World Germany (now Movie Park Germany). The ride opened first at the Australian park in 1993 followed it the opening in 1996 in Germany. It is a motion platform simulator-style ride, much in the vein of Disney Parks' Star Wars-themed attraction Star Tours. On 15 October 2011, the ride closed permanently.

History

Batman Adventure - The Ride (1993-2001)

Batman Adventure - The Ride contained screen images synchronised to movement of the simulator base, and was based upon Tim Burton's Batman films, the second of which was released in 1992. Each of the 4 vehicles seat 20 people and utilise military-style fight simulator motion bases, which allow six degrees of freedom.

The original storyline revolves around Batman's quest to save kidnapped children in Gotham City and is filmed in live action, with the riders experiencing the adventure from Batman's point of view (in the tracking module vehicle). The ride is strongly based on the Batman Returns movie, featuring appearances from The Penguin, Catwoman and the Red Triangle Circus gang. Movie Park Germany used this version until 2004, albeit dubbed into German. In the original Batman Adventure The Ride experience, riders would go through two separate preshow areas 1. Wayne Manor 2. The Batcomputer command center where riders would witness the main preshow while being guided by an animatronic Batman.

Batman Adventure - The Ride 2 (2001-2011)

The ride was revamped in 2001 and renamed Batman Adventure - The Ride 2. Despite the addition of the "2" in the ride title, this new ride is hardly a sequel to the 1993 original. It retains the main components of the original including the motion simulator bases (which remain themed as Tracking modules from the original ride) and the pre-show rooms. However, a new ride video made up of computer-generated imagery instead of live-action was added. This new ride has elements from four of the Batman films as well as the animated series franchise released before Batman Begins. Reprising their roles from Batman: The Animated Series, the 2001 revamp featured the voices of Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker, Adrienne Barbeau as Catwoman, and Tara Strong as Batgirl.^{[citation needed]} In September 2011, Warner Bros. Movie World announced that Batman Adventure – The Ride 2 would be closed on 15 October 2011 to make way for a new attraction. The replacement attraction is set to open in Spring 2012.

Summary

The exterior façade of Batman Adventure — The Ride.

Pre-shows

Guests were admitted into Wayne Manor as Gotham City Police Cadets on a tour of the library. Guests were shown a short video detailing WayneTech's latest developments such as the Gotham City Security Network and the new reconnaissance fleet of aircraft, similarly styled to the Batwing in the 1989 film. This clip was introduced by the chief of the Wayne Foundation, Lucius Fox. Just as Mr. Fox started explaining the new network, they were interrupted by an alert directly from Arkham Asylum, Gotham City's maximum security facility for the city's worst felons. He remarked that it's "probably a false alarm but it doesn't pay to take chances". Batgirl linked to the computer from the Batcave to find that all of Gotham's forces are converging on Arkham Asylum. The television screen would go blank. A guide would then open the secret bookcase revealing the Batcave entrance as you walk through the Batcave tunnel through to the grouping queues you may hear dripping water and murmurs of bats flying. As guests reach the end of the queue lines the guide announces "I now present to you the Gotham City security network". At this moment several doors would open to reveal the network. It included 14 minor video monitors and one huge projection screen in the middle as well as Batman's controls in front of the screen. There was an animatronic Batman who talks in the Batcave sitting at the desk with his back facing the audience (previous functionality that allowed Batman to turn around has since been removed).^{[citation needed]} Guests were seated in the audience and witness a second pre-show video introducing the mission to retrieve the Whitney diamond, stolen earlier from the Gotham Museum of Art. This was stolen earlier by Catwoman and is used to power a freeze cannon operated by Mr. Freeze. Guests were then split up into groups of 20 and admitted into separate simulators where the ride would take place.

Ride

Guests were taken on a chase through the streets of Gotham City in the pursuit of the Joker, Catwoman and Mr. Freeze. As the ride featured sudden movements, it was not suitable for those who suffer from motion sickness. For this reason, Movie World operated the ride without the motion at least once a day. The full ride film can be found on YouTube. When guests exited the ride they were greeted with the set of the Tracking module Crashing in to the Penguin's Arctic World Lair from the original ride.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• 2011 in amusement parks
• Media related to the design of Batman Adventure – The Ride 2 at Wikimedia Commons

External links

• Official Website
• Review at Theme Park Insider
• The full ride video on YouTube