The concept of an inverted roller coaster with inversions was developed by Jim Wintrode, the general manager of Six Flags Great America, in the early 1990s. To develop the idea for the park, Wintrode worked with Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard – from Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard – and engineer Robert Mampe. The ride soft opened to the public on May 2, 1992, with an official opening one week later. Although the full cost of the ride was never disclosed, it was the single biggest investment made by Six Flags Great America on one attraction. After the ride's huge success, then-parent company Time Warner devised an expansion plan to install clones of the original at the rest of the US parks throughout the rest of the 1990s. Batman: The Ride opened at Six Flags Great Adventure in 1993, Six Flags Magic Mountain in 1994, Six Flags St. Louis in 1995, Six Flags Over Georgia in 1997 and Six Flags Over Texas in 1999. Since the original Batman film series was ongoing, the Six Flags St. Louis installation opened to coincide with 1995's Batman Forever and the Six Flags Over Georgia version opened to coincide with 1997's Batman & Robin. In 2002, La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada opened a mirror clone of the ride under the name Le Vampire. As La Ronde is not a branded Six Flags park, the licensing agreement with Warner Bros. and DC Comics for the name Batman: The Ride is not valid. The La Ronde ride was expected to become Batman: The Ride when the park was scheduled to be converted to a Six Flags-branded park in the mid-2000s, however, these changes were never initiated. That same year, Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid also opened a clone under the name . The final installation of Batman: The Ride was at Six Flags New Orleans in 2003, having been relocated from the Japanese amusement park Thrill Valley, where it operated as Gambit from 1995 to 2002. In 2005 the effects ofHurricane Katrina caused Six Flags to abandon its New Orleans park, and after standing unused for two years, the ride there was relocated to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, where it was refurbished and repainted. The ride reopened as Goliath on April 18, 2008.
Characteristics
Structure
The original installation of the ride at Six Flags Great America features a maximum height of, while the installations to follow reached. Each installation of Batman: The Ride has a track length of approximately. The rides reach a top speed of and exert up to four times the force of gravity. Batman: The Ride clones operate with two steel and fiberglass trains, each containing eight cars. Each car seats four riders in a single row for a total of 32 riders per train.
Ride layout
The ride's original layout was specifically designed to fit in the Yankee Harbor themed area at Six Flags Great America, on the space previously occupied by Tidal Wave. The layout for each successive attraction is either identical or a mirror image of the original. Batman: The Ride begins with the track floor in the station descending. The train moves out of the station and up a chain lift hill. At the top of the hill, the train dips down through a Bolliger & Mabillard pre-drop, coasts down a 190-degree swoop to the left and drops into the first vertical loop. It then flips through a Heartline Spin , followed by another vertical loop. The train then travels upward around a tight spiral to the left, then through a wider turn to the right, drops slightly and quickly turns through the first corkscrew. Following this is a tight right turn and another flatspin, then a tight left turnaround before the train enters the final brake run.
Color scheme
While some later Batman: The Ride clones opened with dark blue track and supports, the originals were all black. Over the years there have been modifications in Batman: The Ride color schemes, with more incorporating yellows, blues and purples. The original ride at Six Flags Great America retained the original black color scheme until 2004, when the track was painted yellow and supports dark purple. Six Flags Great Adventure's originally featured a black color scheme with yellow rails until 2004, when the track was repainted yellow. For the 2010 season, the clone at Six Flags Magic Mountain was repainted medium blue with black supports. As of 2019, the only installation of Batman: The Ride to retain its all-black color scheme is Six Flags St. Louis.
Experience
The decorative theme of Batman: The Ride attempts to capture the spirit of the fictional Gotham City for those queuing to board the ride. As the queue moves through Gotham City Park, the theme transitions from bright and peaceful, to dark and ominous. Modeled after Nigel Phelps' award-winning art direction on the 1989 film Batman, the atmosphere indicates a crime-ridden and dirty environment, with discarded pieces of equipment, crumbling concrete, and in some versions, a Gotham City Police Department car riddled with bullet holes. After the outside queue, guests enter the ride structure through an entrance themed after an access to a storm drain. The ride passenger loading area is modeled after Batman's Batcave and features a replica of the Batsuit from the 1989 film.
Backwards operations
On February 21, 2013, Six Flags Great America announced that Batman: The Ride would run backwards for a limited time during the 2013 season. Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Over Texas did the same during the 2014 season. Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Great Adventure also ran their version backwards for a limited time in 2015.
Incidents
On May 26, 2002, a 58-year-old park employee working in the roller coaster's restricted area at Six Flags Over Georgia was killed after being struck in the head by the dangling leg of a 14-year-old girl riding in the front. The girl was hospitalized with a leg injury. On June 28, 2008, a 17-year-old South Carolina teenager was decapitated after being struck by the Batman roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia. The teen, who was on a trip to the park with his church's youth group, scaled two fences with a friend into a restricted area and walked into the ride's path. 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.
Reception
Batman: The Ride has generally received positive reviews. The Dallas Morning News stated the ride "is proof that new thrills on the cutting edge of technology generate excitement". They also praise the theme of the "smooth-riding coaster" stating "the mysterious crime-fighter is a proven crowd-pleaser". American Coaster Enthusiasts have also praised the ride, awarding it Coaster Landmark status in 2005. They describe the ride as a "revolutionary design" which offers "unprecedented intensity, while maintaining remarkable smoothness, comfort, and pacing". Ultimate Rollercoaster describes Batman: The Ride as "the ride of your life". They state "the sensation created by an inverted coaster is very different from that of traditional roller coasters. It is a sensation that every coaster fan must experience".
Awards
In Amusement Todays Golden Ticket Awards for Best Steel Roller Coasters, Batman: The Ride ranked in the late 1990s before dropping off the poll and returning once in 2005. The original installation at Six Flags Great America was ranked 23 and 25 in 1998 and 1999, before returning in 2005 at position 45. In 1998, the Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags St. Louis installations ranked 19 and 21, respectively.
