Artist drawings of Dark Knight coaster.

It's too bad they didn't do a Maurer Söhne spinning coaster like Crush's Coaster at Disney Studios in Paris. The ride experience of that feels less like a wild mouse than this will, and would be a lot different than Ragin Cajun. Just seemed like more of an experience than I imagine this will be.

Of course I could be completely wrong, but I'm not sure how amazing this standard Mack layout could be.

I'm sure Great Adventure will be at ACE's Eastcoaster on Feb 2nd. I should have a trip report on the 3rd or 4th.

Heath Ledger is dead.

Which is sad, but it makes me wonder what the impact could be, considering these coasters were closely tied with the new Batman film and Ledger as the Joker was going to be a huge part of why the film is so buzzed about.

I too was curious if Heath Ledger's likeness or voice would be used as part of these attractions. He was very talented and his death came as quite a shock. While it might be interesting to speculate about what marketing difficulties this might pose for Warner Bros. or Six Flags, my thoughts are with his family and friends who no doubt are devastated by this tragedy. That's more important, in my opinion.

That said, I'm more excited about the film than the ride at this stage, but I imagine the family crowd that Six Flags is going for will love it. The images from no coaster con were intersting however, and I appreciate Chitown posting them.

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manofthechurch said:
I heard SIerra Sidewinder was the best wild mouse from several people. Anyone else agree?

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Sierra Sidewinder is not a Wild Mouse coaster.

Wild Mouse coasters have stacked designs featuring hairpin turns that area all non-banked and most usually follow a "zig-zag" route. They can either have fixed or spinning vehicles.

This is a mouse coaster. This is not.

^ What kind of coaster is sidewinder?

I had been thinking that it was a risk to theme a ride after a movie that could potentionally flop. I mean the Batman movies after Tim Burton were not nearly as successful but, with Ledger's death, the movie is sure to be a success now. Six Flags might luck out.

There was never a point where TDK was potentially a flop. If there was ever a sure thing in the movie industry, this film was it. Even still if this particular one flopped (and never in a million years would it have) Batman has been a hugely popular franchise and brand in the past, this one film wouldn't have broken the marketing opportunities.

Any film has the potential to flop. Especially the latest installment in a series of films where each new one has made less money than the last. I just think it's a bad idea to market a ride after a film that hasn't been released and you have no way of knowing how well it will do. I heard a reporter say this morning that people had already been buzzing about Ledger's performance in the movie. I find that odd since I didn't even know he was in it until the announcement of his death. And, it was filmed right here in Chicago. So they should never take any press, or success for granted.

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RollerCoastin!!!! said:
Any film has the potential to flop. Especially the latest installment in a series of films where each new one has made less money than the last.

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The 'bad' one grossed $107 million domestic and another $130 million overseas. It was a 'flop' compared to its own track record and that's about it. I'm not saying it wasn't horrid. It was a flat-out atrocity.

And if I was really a coaster tool about it? I'd show you that not only did the third installment gross $20 million more domestically than the second, it made an additional $50 million more overseas. So that's about $70 million worth of slightly incorrect factoid. And the last one was good for a healthy $205 million and the highest overseas box office of any of the 'Batman' movies...even without a marquee villian like the Joker.

So now that I've saved the site a page and a half of pointless debate about movie grosses, let's move on. Shall we?

-CO

Gross does not equal profit. And money made does not equal popularity. Plenty of films make a ton of money opening weekend and fall flat right after. Not the kind of thing that will draw people to a ride themed after it. Now, if that film suddenly becomes an actor's last work, it's definately more of a sure thing. *** Edited 1/23/2008 2:35:36 PM UTC by RollerCoastin!!!!***

Uhhhhh.....maybe you wanna read the page to the bad one again. Really. $125 million budget, $238 million worldwide gross.

And that's BEFORE you realize that generally half the money the studio makes is on the video release.

Sorry, you didn't have a point then. Don't have one now. Buuuuut if you'd prefer to read yourself on screen instead, hey--knock yourself out.

-CO

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RollerCoastin!!!! said:

I heard a reporter say this morning that people had already been buzzing about Ledger's performance in the movie. I find that odd since I didn't even know he was in it until the announcement of his death.

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Where have you been? Time to crawl out from under that rock. It's been a well known fact at least since late last summer that Ledger was cast as the Joker. Sad to see him go.

^ whoa! Play nice! Some people are just not as good with actors.

When I was at Disney's California Adventure, Mullholland Madness experienced delays. It's not my homepark so I hardly ever go there, but does that ride experience a lot of delays? Why is the mouse any different than let's say Busch Gardens Africa? Maybe, it's because they run tons of cars. Six Flags is going to be the same way. The more cars you have, the harder it usually is to run a ride like that.

Space Mountain at Disney World has trouble also. That's part of the reason they are supposedly going to redo that ride this year. The other reason is just the fact that it's old. The more cars or trains you have, the more problems that can occur it seems.

The construction is moving fast at Gradv and the Cars for the ride have been delivered.

http://www.sixflags.com/greatAdventure/rides/constructionphotos.aspx

In other news SFNE finally gets all their approvals and the construction is underway there as well. You can see all the site plans for the ride placement in DC area.

http://sfneonline.com/features/darkknight.html

Should be a great ride for the family. I wonder if there will be any height restrictions on it? I am guessing not but who knows.

Per About.com it looks like these are the Height Restrictions:

"Height Restriction: Minimum 48 inches to ride alone, 42 inches to ride with an adult."

^^ You're guessing "no height restrictions" on a ride with heavy laterals, quick transitions, abrupt drops...taken in semi-lit or dark situations? Not to mention every other mouse has ride restrictions. Dude, I don't know what you're smoking but pass it over here, lol!

He's a coaster expert by nature...don't ask questions, you'll only get more confused.