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Batman: The Ride

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Not to be confused with Batman Adventure – The Ride.
Batman: The Ride
Entrance to Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Six Flags Great America
Park sectionYankee Harbor
Coordinates42°22′07″N 87°56′01″W / 42.368560°N 87.933642°W / 42.368560; -87.933642
StatusOperating
Opening dateMay 9, 1992
Six Flags Great Adventure
Park sectionMovie Town
Coordinates40°08′10″N 74°26′38″W / 40.135988°N 74.443951°W / 40.135988; -74.443951
StatusOperating
Opening dateMay 1, 1993
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Park sectionDC Universe
Coordinates34°25′33″N 118°36′03″W / 34.425854°N 118.600778°W / 34.425854; -118.600778
StatusOperating
Opening dateMarch 26, 1994
ReplacedZ Force
Six Flags St. Louis
Park sectionStudio Backlot
Coordinates38°30′49″N 90°40′24″W / 38.513535°N 90.673207°W / 38.513535; -90.673207
StatusOperating
Opening dateApril 22, 1995
Six Flags Over Georgia
Park sectionGotham City
Coordinates33°46′10″N 84°32′47″W / 33.769495°N 84.546366°W / 33.769495; -84.546366
StatusOperating
Opening dateMay 3, 1997
Six Flags Over Texas
Park sectionGotham City
Coordinates32°45′29″N 97°03′59″W / 32.758093°N 97.066392°W / 32.758093; -97.066392
StatusOperating
Opening dateMay 26, 1999
General statistics
TypeSteel – Inverted
ManufacturerBolliger & Mabillard
DesignerWerner Stengel
ModelInverted Coaster
Height32 m (105 ft)
Length821 m (2,694 ft)
Speed80 km/h (50 mph)
Inversions5
Duration2:00
Trains2 trains with 8 cars. Riders are arranged 4 across in a single row for a total of 32 riders per train.
Flash Pass Available
Must transfer from wheelchair
Batman: The Ride at RCDB

Batman: The Ride is a steel inverted roller coaster found in many Six Flags theme parks, as well as other parks around the world, including Six Flags Great America, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags St. Louis, and Six Flags Over Texas. Built by Bolliger & Mabillard, it features a height of roughly 109 feet (33 m) and reaches speeds of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). The original coaster in Six Flags Great America was the first inverted roller coaster in the world when it opened in 1992 and has since been awarded Coaster Landmark status by the American Coaster Enthusiasts.[1]

Goliath at Six Flags Fiesta Texas is the former Batman: The Ride from Six Flags New Orleans, which closed when Hurricane Katrina devastated the park in 2005. Prior to operating in New Orleans, it was Gambit at Thrill Valley in Japan.

Theme

Six Flags designers attempted to capture the essence of Batman and his world while waiting in line for the ride. The beginning of the wait brings you into Gotham City Park, with a plaque that reads, "Dedicated to the citizens of Gotham City through the generosity of Bruce Wayne." Walking through the well-kept environment can convince you that Gotham is a nice place. When you turn a corner, a well-kept advertising wall has graffiti and criminal tags on the other side. Park guests continue to enter an ominous environment as they get closer to the ride itself. Modeled after Anton Furst's award-winning set design for the original Batman film, guests find a crime-ridden and dirty environment, with wrecked cars, discarded pieces of equipment, crumbling concrete, and even a Gotham City Police car with bullet holes riddled on one side. Guests then enter the structure, with a large fan waiting on the other end. You then climb stairs into an environment resembling Axis Chemicals from the first film. The loading area is modeled after Batman's Batcave, complete with a Batsuit vault on the other side of the track. Throughout this wait, Batman film music plays from Danny Elfman, U2, Prince, Seal and for unknown reasons at the Great America ride, a Gabriel & Dresden remix of DJ Tiesto's In My Memory, as well as The Golden Girls theme song "Thank You For Being A Friend".

While many of the Batman: The Ride clones opened with dark blue track and supports, some featured gray and yellow as well. Over the years, several have modified their color schemes, with more seeming to incorporate yellows, blues, and purples. The original Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee remained with its original dark blue color scheme until 2004, when it was repainted with yellow track and dark purple supports. Most recently, the clones at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Over Georgia have been repainted medium blue with black supports and medium blue with dark blue supports, respectively, for the 2010 season.

More information

From Six Flags Great America

On the walls of the Gotham City Park, the last names Bolliger and Mabillard both appear; a clear reference to Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, the founders of Bolliger & Mabillard, the company that constructed the ride. The last name Wintrode (reference to Jim Wintrode, G.M. of Six Flags Great America at the time) also appears on this wall at the Six Flags Great America version of the ride. Jim Wintrode is often given credit for presenting the idea of an Inverted Looping Coaster to Bolliger & Mabillard.

Ride Layout

The ride's layout was specifically designed to fit in the Yankee Harbor themed area at Six Flags Great America, though the layouts of each successive Batman attraction are identical, with the exception of the rides as Six Flags St Louis, Six Flags Fiesta Texas (operating under the name Goliath), and La Vampire at La Ronde, which are all mirror images of the original.

Batman: The Ride starts off with the floor descending and the train moving out of the station and up the lift hill. Once at the top, riders dip down through B&M's signature "pre-drop" and coast down a 180-degree swoop to the left, dropping riders into the first 360-degree loop. Riders then quickly flip through a zero-g roll to the right, followed by another vertical loop. Next, riders fly upward around a tight helix to the left, soar through a wider turn to the right, and then drop a bit and quickly turn through the first wingover element, also known as a flat spin or corkscrew. Following this is a tight right turn and another wingover. The ride then features a tight left turnaround before the riders enter the final brake run.

Batman: The Ride's layout is often called "small and intense" or a "punch-packer". Numerous guests often complain about headaches, dizziness, and nausea after riding Batman due to intense G-forces on the ride, especially in the portion of track including the wingovers, after the second loop. The ride is also one of B&M's rougher rides, most noticeably in the Zero-G Roll and the wingovers. Some guests complain about the warmth, darkness of the queue line and at times, the loudness of the ride. In fact, Six Flags Over Georgia made modifications to the ride in 2011 to reduce the loudness.

Ride Elements

  • Batman's first drop and first loop (Six Flags Great Adventure).
    Batman's first drop and first loop (Six Flags Great Adventure).
  • Batman's first loop (Six Flags Over Georgia).
    Batman's first loop (Six Flags Over Georgia).
  • Batman's zero-g roll (Six Flags Over Georgia).
    Batman's zero-g roll (Six Flags Over Georgia).
  • Batman's first wingover (also called a flat spin or corkscrew)(Six Flags Great Adventure).
    Batman's first wingover (also called a flat spin or corkscrew)(Six Flags Great Adventure).

Fatal Accidents

On May 26, 2002, 58-year-old park employee Samuel Milton Guyton of Atlanta was killed in a danger zone under the Georgia Batman roller coaster's path by being struck in the head by the dangling leg of a 14-year-old girl on the front car of the ride. The girl was hospitalized with a leg injury.

On June 28, 2008, a 17-year-old South Carolina teenager was decapitated at Six Flags Over Georgia by the Batman roller coaster ride. He was on a trip with his church's youth group. The teen scaled two fences with a friend into a danger zone. He was decapitated when the ride struck him. Although witnesses stated he was trying to retrieve his hat, a Cobb County police spokesman reported the teens were attempting to take a shortcut into the park after having finished lunch.[2][3]

Clones

Batman: The Ride appears at Parque Warner Madrid in the B&M design, but goes under the Spanish title Batman: La Fuga (Batman: The Escape).[4]

Le Vampire (English: The Vampire) at Six Flags-owned La Ronde in Montreal, Canada, is a mirror image of Batman: The Ride. However, since La Ronde is not a branded Six Flags park, the licensing agreement with Warner Bros. and DC Comics is not valid.[5] As a result, the roller coaster was given an unrelated name and a slightly different cosmetic appearance. In 2009, La Ronde announced its intentions to become a branded park; however the likelihood of re-branding Le Vampire to Batman is not known yet.

Other clones of this roller coaster design that are not named Batman include Diavlo at Himeji Central Park in Japan, The Great White at SeaWorld in San Antonio, Texas and Lightning at Entertainment City in Kuwait.

References

  1. ^ "ACE Coaster Landmark Awards". Aceonline.org. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-01. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "Teen Decapitated in Six Flags Accident". Cbsnews.com. 2008-06-28. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  3. ^ Cook, Rhonda. "Boy Decapitated by Roller Coaster at Six Flags over Georgia is ID'd". Ajc.com. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  4. ^ "Batman la Fuga (Parque Warner Madrid)". Rcdb.com. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  5. ^ "Montreal-based theme park". Amusement Business. 115 (9). BPI Communications, Inc.: 6 March 3, 2003. ISSN 0003-2344.
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