The Dark Knight Coaster Opening At Two Six Flags Parks

[worrell4077]

Posted: 5/4/08 at 2:45pm

I couldn't find the post that I think I made about this when the news first broke out, but there are some updates about it. For starters, the ride is no longer coming to Six Flags New England. They started building it without the building permits and it's been torn down.

The ride opens at Six Flags Great Adventure on May 15th and they have a special event called Camp Out Under The Dark Knight where for I think it's 125 dollars, you spend the night at Great Adventure participating in a scavenger hunt and the prize at the end is to be one of the first 8 passengers on the ride.

The ride opens at Six Flags Great America on May 21st. There are photos of artwork available online and at Six Flags Great Adventure's website, they have a construction diary.

The preshow for the ride is set in Gotham City Rail where you are attending a press conference for Harvey Dent(he's just been elected DA) he's answering questions and have way through the feed, the signal is hijacked by Joker who splices Dent's dialogue and makes him say things like "I'm...going...to...kill...you". From there your journey leads to a distressed, vandalized train station where you get into the ride vehicle.

During the ride or the wait to get on the ride, there will be video monitors that will superimpose the Joker's smile onto the faces of anyone looking into them and there are also going to be effects to make you fell like Joker is about to jump out at you.

Six Flags is pulling out all the stops to make this ride almost like a Disney ride. Chris Nolan held with the creation of the coaster. I'm going to Great Adventure in June just to ride this, I'm so excited.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/4/08 at 9:34pm

Incidentally, I'll be taking a group of my students to Great Adventure on May 16 for Math, Science, and Physics Day. Kind of cool that we'll get to ride this ride on its second day of operation.

[mauriposa]

Posted: 5/4/08 at 10:11pm

Does this mean they're shutting down the current Batman Ride at Great America? Because I could really get behind that decision.

[lakezurich]

Posted: 5/4/08 at 11:31pm

No, I am about 90% sure that the old Batman ride is still up at Great America.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 12:20pm

Batman the Ride is still there, however, Batman and Robin: the Chiller has been removed, along with The Water Effect to make room for this new ride.

[worrell4077]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 2:57pm

adamgreer, that's what they did at Great Adventure. Mauriposa and lakezurich were talking about Great America in Chicago.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 9:39pm

Ooops, didn't read that carefully.

[worrell4077]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:15pm

So adamgreer, how many times are you going to ride TDK?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:39pm

It looks cute. Basically, it appears to be a single-car indoor mine train with some audio/visual effects.

[Luscious]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:53pm

You can watch the video to get an idea of what the ride will be like.
Dark Knight Coaster

[worrell4077]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 2:16pm

"It looks cute. Basically, it appears to be a single-car indoor mine train with some audio/visual effects."

Basically, but it's not a mine car, it's a subway car and the ride is basically a frantic subway escape from Gotham City with different scenary from the movie like the Joker's truck is in the ride somewhere, and you pass by GCPD headquarters that apparently is on fire. There's a whole lot of artwork for it that you can find at different theme park sites like Screamscape.com or at different Great Adventure or Great America fan sites.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/9/08 at 9:32am

By "mine train", I meant the type of coaster, not its theme. Mine trains are the old-fashioned steel coasters with no inversions. At the height of their popularity, they almost always had an old west mining-themed atmosphere and could be found in every major theme park. Since this is a single-car coaster, it is something of a mine train/wild mouse hybrid incorporating the Dark Knight theme.

[worrell4077]

Posted: 5/9/08 at 2:28pm

"By "mine train", I meant the type of coaster, not its theme. Mine trains are the old-fashioned steel coasters with no inversions. At the height of their popularity, they almost always had an old west mining-themed atmosphere and could be found in every major theme park. Since this is a single-car coaster, it is something of a mine train/wild mouse hybrid incorporating the Dark Knight theme."

Oh, I thought you meant the ride was like a mine car ride kinda like Runaway Train or the mine car chase in Temple of Doom.

Six Flags has pulled out all the stops for it be almost like a Disney attraction especially with the indoor theming with the different set pieces set up during the ride and the fact that the ride car doesn't stop at the station, it moves slowly kinda like the doom buggies at The Haunted Mansion or alot of the other Disney attractions.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 3:38pm

I forgot about this thread, but...

I got to ride The Dark Knight, after waiting over an hour in line for it. In short, it's a HUGE, HUGE disappointment, and a colossal failure at whatever it was they were trying to accomplish. Think Skull Mountain, here people.

They have a rather elaborately themed pre-show, with a press conference and everything. However, the staff was actually hustling people through the pre-show, encouraging everyone NOT to watch it and keep moving. The pre-show itself involves a press conference in Gotham City (featuring Harvey Dent and Gordon) that is interrupted by the Joker, who you never actually see. You only hear him laugh.

As for the ride itself...to call it a dark ride is insulting, because it's not very dark at all. You can very clearly see the track around you and make out everything in there. The ride itself is a standard "wild mouse" ride, meaning it doesn't do very much beyond swerve from side to side. The thematic elements are two dimensional and laughable. I think they're cardboard.

Speaking of darkness, when you exit the ride, you exit THROUGH the ride area. The track is all around you. You open a big set of double doors to get back outside. This means every time someone exits the ride, huge beams of light shoot into the ride area. No, I'm not kidding.

All in all, it's another lame attempt at theming (and mimicking Disney) by the Six Flags people. Disney has nothing to be worried about. Also, in regards to Six Flags mimicking Disney, you need look no further than this season's new nighttime parade ("Glow in the Park") which is such a blatant rip-off of Spectromagic it's not even funny. Seriously, read the promotional material for it and you'll see.

I also have to comment on a new money-making policy Great Adventure has adopted this year. You're no longer allowed to leave a backpack or anything on the boarding platform of any of their rides, which makes sense. You have to put them in lockers, which cost $1.00 EVERY TIME YOU OPEN THEM. I would have no problem paying $1.00 for the day, but each time you open it?
Updated On: 6/10/08 at 03:38 PM

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 4:18pm

Horrible, horrible, hateful, useless ride.

Truly...the absolute worst.

[george95]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 5:27pm

Yeah it was a really awful ride. The thematic elements in the queue really make the ride seem like its going to be incredible, but wow was it a letdown. It's a run-of-the-mill "mouse" coaster (not a mine ride as a previous poster said). But its not even a good mouse coaster--the one at Great America in Gurnee, IL, (I think its called Calypso or something) is better, as is the one on the pier at Seaside Heights, NJ. And no, it is not dark--it seemed like the tried to make it dark but needed too many safey lights or whatever, so its pretty much just going around in circles on a flat track in a big warehouse.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 5:54pm

Wow, that sucks. Not surprising, considering it's Six Flags, but it sucks, nonetheless. Why can't Warner Bros. sell the chain to someone who cares? Every Six Flags park I've visited has spiraled downhill faster than any of their coasters since Warner Bros. bought the chain. It's embarrassing.

Remember when the rides had something to do with the themed areas? I mean, why would you have something called "Serial Thriller" in Nottingham Village? Or "Vertical Velocity" in Yankee Harbor? And now there is an "X²" in the Baja Ridge.

Now, I get the Warner Bros. character-themed rides if only they would work to develop a themed area around the rides that made sense. For example, in Great America, you have "Batman: The Ride" in Yankee Harbor and "The Dark Knight Coaster" in Orleans Place. Incidentally, "Superman: Ultimate Flight" is also in Orleans Place, so apparently Superman and the new Batman are neighbors living in Louisiana, though the previous Batman actually lives somewhere along the new England shoreline.

[worrell4077]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 8:47pm

The main problem with this ride is that Mark Kane the president of Six Flags Great Adventure says that it's not only a family attraction, but it's a thrill ride and that if you like El Toro and Kingda Ka, then you'll like this. In all honesty, I haven't ridden it yet, but I'm going in a couple weeks to get an idea of the ride, but the footage that I've seen so far, says that they really should've thought about this more and put more effort than they did on the ride. I actually was hoping for it to be darker and not to be a family friendly ride because in all honesty, Batman and family friendly do not go together. Batman is one of the darkest characters in the DC Universe and the only time the character should be associated with the words family friendy is when talking about the Adam West TV show or the Joel Schumacher movies or the cartoon The Batman. Everything else Batman related is not family friendly. Hell, TDK is going to be darker than the ride. I mean, Joker has a cut smile on his face and the action figures and some of the other kiddie products had to clean it up for the kiddies.

Universal when it was in the process of creating Islands of Adventure actually were going to do a Batman themed island instead of Marvel Superhero Island. Now Universal or Disney would have done wonders with TDK, Hell Universal would have made a TDK ride very similar to Revenge of The Mummy.

It's amazing to me that the ride attendants are encouraging guests to skip the preshow when it's the best part of the ride. There's video of it on You Tube and I'm watching it and I was like WOW. It just sucks that Heath passed because if he was still alive, the preshow probably would have had The Joker showing himself on the video. I actually thought that it was going to be something like in TDK where he interupts TV shows with his threats to the city.

[dcl7777]

Posted: 6/30/08 at 4:07pm

OMG,I don't know what i ate before,but i read adamgreer's post as a film review first,and thought: What a brilliant way to pan a film!Then i read other posts and really really disappointed, even i want the Dark Knight film to be good.

[worrell4077]

Posted: 6/30/08 at 4:46pm

This isn't about The Dark Knight movie, it's about The Dark Knight COASTER at Six Flags Great Adventure and Great America. The movie's getting great reviews as is Heath(everyone really seems to be pushing for him to get a posthumus Oscar nomination). I didn't read this, but some people said that in some reviews some critics say that the rating is a stretched PG-13 and they were surprised it wasn't an R, so you should be a bit on the leery side about taking young children to see TDK.

I went on the ride last Tuesday and I enjoy myself on it. I thought it was a very good attempt by Six Flags for theming on a ride. There could have been some more effort done and it could've been darker in there. They had two Batman figures, yet no Joker. I would have thought he would be in there somewhere, but he's not. You just hear him laugh and say Why So Serious?. The lift tunnel should have been more a tunnel and you shouldn't be able to see the entire ride when you're on that hill. Also, there should be a roof or something over the exit. I mean yes, it's a bit of a neat thing to do to see the ride, but it ruins the dark ride aspect of it when you open the exit doors and you let the light in.

I will say that I rode this and I rode Skull Mountain, and while Skull Mountain had more thrills to it, I liked TDK more basically because it was alot darker in TDK than it was in Skull Mountain. People complain that you see the track in TDK, but yet you can really see it in Skull Mountain. At least Dark Knight's track is black. There are some moments where it is dark, but of course it gets ruined by the effects and anyone exiting the building. They should seriously during the off season put a roof over the exit and maybe fix the tunnel.

The preshow was the best part of the ride especially when Joker takes over, but it would have been even better if the people in the preshow room would STOP TALKING! Jeez, me and my sister are trying to listen to the video and it was just people talking so loud over it and we're just like Shut Up, but no one did, not even when Joker takes over. The second time we went on it, we could hear it better but there were still people talking(namely teenie booper girls who probably don't care for Batman and were just riding it for the hell of it, that or because they have crushes on Heath) and when Joker took over, it got quite but then alot of them just started screaming(they screamed also in line when they got to the face reconition thing that puts the clown mask on you). It was just so annoying. There was also this little girl who after the preshow just started crying, and I don't know why she was either she was afraid to ride the ride, was scared by the preshow, or was separated from her family.

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 6/30/08 at 5:01pm

Yeah...I went back in May shortly after opening and my friend and I waited well over an hour for it. It was a waste of time. We thought Skull Mountain was better. So upsetting. They need not market it as a thrill ride.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/30/08 at 5:07pm

"I thought it was a very good attempt by Six Flags for theming on a ride."

It was a horrible attempt. The pre-show was well done, but the ride area itself was a disaster. Yet another example of corner-cutting by the Six Flags people. Not even in the same universe as you know who...

"I will say that I rode this and I rode Skull Mountain, and while Skull Mountain had more thrills to it, I liked TDK more basically because it was alot darker in TDK than it was in Skull Mountain. People complain that you see the track in TDK, but yet you can really see it in Skull Mountain."

Skull Mountain was another horrendous disaster on their part, I've never denied that. Like TDK, Skull Mountain is an example of a good concept that was haphazardly executed in a half-*ssed manner.

You'd think they'd learn from the people they're trying to emulate.

[worrell4077]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 4:48pm

Skull Mountain is more about thrills than theming. I mean, you pass a static pumpkin, a static skeleton, ohh scary. I mean, sure in TDK they have static Batmans and static clowns, but there at least some effects in it like the billboards, the burning GPD, and the truck.

My major complaint about the ride is that it wasn't scary at all. It should have reflected the movie more seeing that it's based off of The Dark Knight, but no Six Flags decided to make this ride more family friendly and decided to throw in that it would be good for thrill seekers as well, even though it's basically a kiddie ride themed to a character that is not kid friendly. The description they first released about the ride made it sounded scarier than it turned out to be. I was hoping that right after the preshow that when waiting in line for the ride, the rest of the station would be vandalized with HAHA, Why So Serious, Let's Put A SMILE on That Face, and other Joker sayings on it and actually written on the wall, not put there with lights. I was also hoping that they would have at least put a Joker figure in the ride somewhere, but no.

I remember reading somewhere that Christopher Nolan had given input for the ride or something like that and after riding it, I have to say that if he had any input on this ride, it doesn't show. If he was consulted about the ride, the ride would have been scarier and darker, not the tame family attraction that is at Six Flags now. They released a PR video of the ride with footage and sound bites from Mark Kane and riders and I just got annoyed everytime someone said that it wasn't scary and that is gentle enough to bring all the kids and that I would take my whole family on it and the worst was the little kid who was and it's Batman. Batman is not a character these kids should be watching and Dark Knight is going to be a darker movie than Begins, I mean Joker does a magic trick making a pencil disappear and then it reappears...in someone's head. It's just that the ride should have been alot darker.

The first time I was line, there was this family ahead of us in matching shirts and in crocs. There was also this one woman that I overheard say, "This better be worth it." I turned to my sister and said that she's going to be disappointed.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 5:04pm

What is Skull Mountain? I'm not familiar with that ride.

[trinaaron]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 9:48pm

"I will say that I rode this and I rode Skull Mountain, and while Skull Mountain had more thrills to it, I liked TDK more basically because it was alot darker in TDK than it was in Skull Mountain. People complain that you see the track in TDK, but yet you can really see it in Skull Mountain."

Thrills and Skull Mountain are two words (well, three) that do not go together. I can remember when it first opened and the ride operators were telling everyone that if they wanted to have any fun at all they should ride in the back.