The Bat (Kings Island; opened 1981)
| The Bat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Kings Island | |
| Location | Kings Island |
| Park section | Coney Mall |
| Coordinates | 39°20′27″N 84°15′53″W / 39.340757°N 84.26459°W |
| Status | Closed |
| Opening date | April 21, 1981 |
| Closing date | 1983 |
| Cost | US$3,800,000 |
| General statistics | |
| Type | Steel – Suspended |
| Manufacturer | Arrow Dynamics |
| Model | Suspended Coaster |
| Lift/launch system | 2 |
| Height | 102 ft (31 m) |
| Drop | 73 ft (22 m) |
| Length | 2,456 ft (749 m) |
| Speed | 35 mph (56 km/h) |
| Inversions | 0 |
| Duration | 2:30 |
| Max vertical angle | 42° |
| G-force | 3.1 |
| Height restriction | 48 in (122 cm) |
| The Bat at RCDB | |
The Bat was a steel suspended roller coaster that operated from April 1981 to 1983 at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. It was a prototype ride manufactured by Arrow Dynamics of Utah.
Timeline
Construction of The Bat began in early 1980. By October of that year, the station and lift hill had been completed. That same month, the park placed a train on the completed station track and announced the ride at a large press event. Although billed by the park as "the first suspended coaster," other suspended coasters dating back to the turn of the century had existed.
The Bat was a state-of-the-art coaster that was only open sporadically. After SBNO (Standing But Not Operating) for an extensive period of time, park officials announced on November 9, 1984 that the ride would be dismantled. Over the next two years the ride was removed.
Problems
Early on in its life the Bat began to have multiple problems. The shock absorbers located on the train's connecting struts began to wear out and break well before their expiration.[1] Soon enough, maintenance crews had to replace many of the shocks on a daily basis. Another problem the Bat ran into was the discovery by track inspectors of an alignment problem in the coaster's structure at a steel joint. Steel stress tests were performed and the inspectors found cracks.[1] The inspectors also found steel stress on the track and on the train struts. Arrow engineers started making repairs to the ride, but suspected the track's design as a possible cause of the structural problems. After further inspection, the Arrow Engineers determined that the design flaw was giving the entire responsibility of the damping the lateral forces of the turns to the swinging cars. These excess forces on the struts were the reason the shock absorbers wore out so quickly. Additional stress to the struts also occurred due to the ride's brakes which were located on the bottom of the cars. Kings Island and Arrow engineers worked constantly trying to fix it, but after four seasons of being mostly closed the Bat was dismantled after the 1984 season.[1] This brought rise to a new roller coaster designed by Arrow Dynamics called Vortex, which was a record breaking roller coaster for its time.[1]
Later suspended roller coasters
Arrow Dynamics went on to perfect the suspended coaster, starting with AstroWorld's XLR-8 in 1984. XLR-8 operated successfully for 2 decades; however, it was demolished after the closure of AstroWorld. XLR-8 was quickly followed by Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Big Bad Wolf. The Big Bad Wolf was a success, due in large part to lessons learned from The Bat. However, it was also plagued with excessive downtime and an embarrassing grand opening delay in its first season. The Big Bad Wolf closed September 7, 2009 with park officials stating that the ride had reached the manufacturer's recommended life span.
Several others were built over the years. The suspended coaster even returned to Kings Island in 1993 with Flight Deck (then called Top Gun) another Arrow Dynamics suspended roller coaster. Flight Deck is a near-exact replication of the suspended coaster Vortex at Canada's Wonderland built the year prior, except for the noticeable speed and height reductions.
Future site
Vortex, an Arrow Dynamics looping coaster (first one in the world with six inversions), now occupies The Bat's former location and uses the same station building. Several trace remnants of The Bat are still visible, such as:
- Concrete footings
- Access stairs
- The station and queue line
- Clearance holes in Vortex's storage shed doors, originally cut for The Bat's track.
For several years, remaining train parts from The Bat were left hidden in storage crates underneath the (now) Vortex station. Keen eyes and knowledgeable coaster buffs often recognized the items. The parts have since been scrapped.
Legacy
 | This section possibly contains original research. (January 2013) |
It is important to note that much of the curiosity and interest in The Bat is because so few people were able to ride it. More often than not, excited guests were greeted at the gates of the park with signs exclaiming that "The Bat will NOT be operating today." This created a furor among those enticed to the park by the ambitious marketing campaign surrounding the attraction. As a result, the park was constantly utilizing the local Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper to update the public of The Bat's extensive downtime and closures.
To help compensate for the excessive closures of The Bat, the park decided to turn one train of the nearby Racer backwards for the 1982 season only. This was such a hit, that the park kept running a "backwards" side of the coaster. It continued to operate backwards until 2008, when all of the former Paramount Parks' wooden roller coasters were turned forward.
The Bat topped out at 35 mph (56 km/h). By comparison some of today's mega coasters can reach speeds in excess of 100 mph (160 km/h).
Because of their rarity, souvenirs, press and collectible items of the Bat are highly sought after by coaster-memorabilia collectors. Among the most unusual and hard to find are "I survived The Bat" buttons and the legendary Bat "Heads" that adorned the fronts of the cars.
References
- ^ a b c d "KIExtreme". @2003-2012 KIExtreme. Retrieved 13 April 2012.