Dark Knight Roller Coasters Swoop into Six Flags in 2008
Six Flags looks to mass produce (well mass produce in coaster terms) a new indoor roller coaster for three of its parks. In 2008, Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, NJ), Six Flags New England (Springfield, MA), and Six Flags Great America (Chicago, IL) will get Mack Wild Mouse coasters enclosed in a Batman themed building.
The Name Game
Normally I can’t stand Six Flags excessive recycling of names, (see my rant here) but at least these Dark Knight coasters will coincide with the Batman Begins sequel. Christian Bale will reprise his role as Batman as he battles the Joker played by Heath Ledger in the “Dark Knight”. It’s set to open July 2008. Six Flags had to rename the B&M Floorless Coaster also called Dark Knight at Six Flags New England to avoid confusion. So there’s more strategy behind the naming of these new coasters than usual.
To get an idea of what Dark Knight will be like, check out this onride video of the Ricochet at Carowinds . It’s the exact same Mack Wild Mouse model that will be used in the new ride. Just imagine it in the dark with lots of Gotham City-esque theming.
**UPDATE – 04/30** – Six Flags New England’s Dark Knight will not open this year. More..
**UPDATE – 05/22** – Check out this new Dark Knight video that Six Flags just released.
What do you think of the new Dark Knight coasters? Leave a comment below.
May 19, 2009 at 12:07
I knew from the get go that Six Flags made a bad ride (once again, this is definitely not the first time NOR the last) and SF always seems to treat everyone like crap [in reference to a few posts above about treatment at the parks]
Oh well, I will never give any more money to SF after my two trips to different parks they have, what bad experiences I have had. now, I cannot compare this to SFMM because I have never been to the Cali SF but I hear magic mountain might be worth it.
I'm really sad to see such an awesome movie get ruined by such a crappy ride.
February 7, 2010 at 15:10
I wouldn`t skip Great adventure or new england either, they have some of the world`s best coasters.
February 6, 2010 at 13:25
I think the ride is fun. Not Six Flag's best, but fun. I like the themeing and the pre-show the best. This ride has a Disney style pre-show. The ride however, is not scary at all. Kids will love it. Speaking of indoor rides, Six Flags and I are working to re-theme "Skull Mountain", the other indoor coaster at Six Flags. The new theme is "The Lady In The Lake", which is my animated musical movie. The villain "Dr.Claws" will take riders through pitch darkness and past scary images. However, still a family ride.
February 7, 2010 at 15:12
errr… "Lady in the Lake"?
February 19, 2010 at 18:34
Please just stop. You've been spamming all the Great Adventure websites – Six Flags is NEVER going to retheme Skull Mountain to an animated movie whose title was completely stolen from an EXSISTING musical…. it wouldn't fit into the area at all. And Dr. Claws? Come on. No one wants to hear this. No one believes that Six Flags is working with you, and besides – what you're trying to do is pointless. Why would you retheme a 2-year-old coaster? Skull Mountain is fine and everyone loves it. Work on re-opening Houdini "with Six Flags", since you guys already have an agreement.
February 21, 2010 at 04:28
errr… i suppose coaster desingers also enjoy blogging, and they had to start somewhere.
March 28, 2010 at 08:28
Ok first let me tell you guys I'm a big fan of thrilling rides. I am well aware that it was not meant to be a major thrilling ride like el toro or nitro. That being said, I was just awfully dissapointed about yet ANOTHER indoor mouse coaster in six flags great adventure. I am not a fan of mouse coasters but being that it was batman related I figured theming would make up for it. When I went I was smart about it, and went early with almost no wait time. I expected to be dissappionted, but this coaster struck lower than dissapointment. I felt like I should've been paid for sitting through such torture. Like many ppl on this site I realised there's no joker and batman. The first room you enter seems to be some press conference with harvery dent, and almost immediatelyy when the joker is mention the video gets hacked into and shows odd clips. The room suddenly shows words that would look sprayed on that say "hahaha" and "why so serious"
And then the door opens to reveal more poorly themed visuals and a coaster unlike any other. Small. And cramped. It looks like its made only for children. The coaster doesn't even stop for loading and un loading, so you just gotta rush to get in the seat and get restrained before it takes off into the next room (I'm sure there's saftey methods to stop it from going with someone being restrained properly but either way its inconvenient)
As you are riding, its not a great experience since nothing is surprising, the ride is short and uncomfortable . Its not even in the dark. You see everything. I couldn't even comprehend what was going on because everytime I got to looking at something the coaster would turn a diffferent direction. You never get a chance to really see what's going on. All you hear is the train and laughter. I honestly had more fun waiting on line than actually ridingit. if you want to have more fun go ride an mta public transportation train. At least you don't have to wait on line for that.
And I would like to ppoint out something. I'm all for family coasters. Kids deserve to get some thrills too. How ever. The movie this coaster was based on was NOT a childrens movie nor a family type of movie. It dealt with death crime and psychotic masterminds. Why would you make a coaster for families from a movie that was intended for adults?! I understand that batman in general kids love em but this wasn't a cartoon. This was the biggest mistake sixsflags ever made. I beg for a decent coaster in the future. Who ever approved of this coaster should seriously be fired and be forced to become a janitor to that park.
May 19, 2010 at 20:12
My friends back in 2008 went on a road trip to Six Flags to go on this ride. After watching the movie (which is amazing!). They searched up more on The Dark Knight and came across a page saying there is a ride tied to the movie!! They were many pages saying that this is a awesome themed thrill ride. So much hype!! My friends were so pumped up for it. They went on a trip to ride it and other rides. They said they waited over 2 and a half hours to go on. They watched a preview of the Harvey Dent talking about crime. They said the preview was too long and got boring. Too much talking they said, blah blah blah i am harvey dent and i am here too talk for a long time to bore you out. Then they said the Joker messes up the video and you hear laughs from the movie. Then after it was over they waited another 20 minutes. They said it felt like forever to get on. Finally they went on. laugh laugh sounds and suddenly a small drop and a sharp turn. the sharp turn made hurt so bad they said. All they saw was manikins dressed up like joker's henchmen and didn't see batman or the joker. just 3 guys dressed up henchmen and sounds from the movie, flashing lights with fog effects. OVER 2 HOURS WAITING FOR A 2 MINUTE RIDE WITH NO BATMAN OR JOKER!! they called it a disgrace to the movie.
June 9, 2010 at 14:34
Since this ride is so BAD. I did not have a Flash Pass and I only had to wait 10 minutes. I had low expectations but I didn't expect that CRAP. This is a discrace. It should be torn down.
September 1, 2010 at 16:51
I went on this thing all the way back in 2008 with my best friend. I was equally saddened that I was never able to go on The Chiller that accupied the spot before, but I was equally excited about the new ride, though the fact it was an INDOOR WILD MOUSE dropped my expectations a bit, but I still had high hopes.
Me and my friend waited on line for…a good half hour (Keep in mind, by this point, it was BRAND NEW) to get inside.
The pre-show was fun. The theming was entertaining and spooky enough to expect a nice ride. After going through the pre-show TWICE (This was because the line was moving too damn slow to get the whole room's-worth of people into the short hallway following the pre-show room), we finally eeked our way into the hallway que.
The hallway, however, completely paralleled the pre-show room. Barely ANYTHING was themed. The television screen that changed your face to a Joker mask, however, entertained me and my friend for a bit while we waited.
After BARELY making it into the car (This kid's belt was stuck, and the attendees were actually YELLING AT THE 5-YEAR OLD KID TO GET OFF), we made our way up the hill, dropped, and basically, nothing else incredible happened besides a few bad theming effects and a incredibly well-timed drop and a few tight turns. (As well a train effect after the brake run that COMPLETELY caught me and my friend off guard.)
In the end, we both agreed that the ride was…Entertaining. The theming was fun to look at BEFORE the ride, and the ride had a few surprises packed into it. Surprisingly, at this point, the lighting was fairly dark.
I also just recently went on it last week with my cousin, two years after riding it for the first time. My cousin enjoyed it, and I just stuck along for it just to entertain him. He only enjoyed the surprise dive near the end of the ride, which, admittingly, I enjoyed as well. Still, my cousin stated that, besides the surprise dive, he didn't enjoy much else of it.
Overall, I don't HATE the ride, but I'll only ride it if it has a 10-20 minute wait, because that's all it's worth for to go on.