Batman: The Ride
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| Batman: The Ride | |
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| Location | 1. Six Flags Great America 2. Six Flags Great Adventure 3. Six Flags Magic Mountain 4. Six Flags Fiesta Texas (mirror image of original, known as Goliath at this location) 5. Six Flags St. Louis (mirror image of original) 6. Six Flags Over Georgia 7. Six Flags Over Texas 8. Six Flags Mexico 9. La Ronde (mirror image of original, called "Le Vampire" at this location) |
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| Type | Steel - Inverted |
| Status | Open |
| Opened | 1. May 9, 1992 2. May 1, 1993 3. March 26, 1994 4. April 4, 2002 5. April 22, 1995 6. May 3, 1997 7. May 26, 1999 8. May 18, 2002 |
| Manufacturer | Bolliger & Mabillard |
| Designer | Werner Stengel |
| Model | Inverted Coaster (Batman) |
| Lift/launch system | Chain lift hill |
| Height | 109 ft 6 in (1)
105 ft (2, 4, 7) |
| Drop | 80 ft |
| Length | 2693 ft (2, 4) 2700 ft (1, 3, 5, 6, 7) |
| Max speed | 50 mph |
| Inversions | 5 |
| Duration | 2:00 |
| Capacity | 1280 (2, 4) 1400 (1, 3, 5, 6, 7) riders per hour |
| Max G force | 4 |
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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 Fiesta Texas (as Goliath), Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags St. Louis, Six Flags Over Texas and La Ronde. Built by Bolliger & Mabillard, it features a first drop of 109 feet, 6 inches (33 meters) and reaches speeds of 50m/h (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 has been closed since Hurricane Katrina devastated the park in 2005.
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[edit] 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 rise 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 and Prince.
[edit] More Info
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 Six Flags Great America. Jim Wintrode is often given credit for presenting the idea of an Inverted Looping Coaster to B&M.
[edit] Ride Elements
- Two loops
- Two corkscrews
- zero-g roll
 Batman's first drop and first loop. |
.JPG) Batman's first loop. |
.JPG) Batman's zero-g roll |
.JPG) Batman's first corkscrew |
[edit] Fatal Accidents
On May 26, 2002, 58-year-old park employee Samuel Milton Guyton of Atlanta was killed after he wandered into a restricted area under the Georgia Batman roller coaster's path and was 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 restricted area. 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]
[edit] Other rides
Batman: The Ride is also located at Six Flags Mexico, but this particular ride is actually an SLC built by Vekoma.
Batman: The Ride also appears at Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid in the B&M design, but goes under the Spanish title Batman La Fuga (Batman The Escape).[4]
Batman: The Ride is also the name of a Batman themed virtual reality ride at the Warner Brothers Movie World, and in like the Batman: The Ride roller coasters, has a Bat-Vehicle outside the entrace to the ride, though in this case, instead of a replica of one of the Batmobiles it is one of the working Bat-Boats from the movie Batman Forever.
[edit] References
- ^ ACE Coaster Landmark Awards
- ^ Teen Decapitated in Six Flags Accident
- ^ Boy Decapitated by Roller Coaster at Six Flags over Georgia is ID'd
- ^ Batman la Fuga (Parque Warner Madrid)
[edit] External links
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