Batman roller coaster opens at Six Flags Fiesta Texas

My very first instinct with regard to such a new type of ride was that it needed a unique moniker, so....

Bat-A-Rang

Wouldn't the first free-rotating 4D coaster be the Zac Spins or Ball Coasters?

Batarang... Genius.

Wait... The facade entrance to Batman is a movie theater showing "Mark of Zorro"? I'm all so confused.

Rihard said:

Wait... The facade entrance to Batman is a movie theater showing "Mark of Zorro"? I'm all so confused.

That's the movie the Waynes went to see when they were murdered. That part of the upcoming Batman vs. Superman movie was filmed in my neighborhood!

rollergator said:

My very first instinct with regard to such a new type of ride was that it needed a unique moniker, so....

Bat-A-Rang

Doesn't "Batwing" make more sense? A wing coaster, themed to batman. And the batwing is already an established vehicle owned by Bruce Wayne....

Ok, sure. But it's not funny.

....and there's already a coaster named Batwing.

Because apparently, Six Flags needed a coaster named Batwing.

Batman was heavily inspired by Zorro, or so I have read. They both have very close similarities. Both Don Diego Vega and Bruce Wayne are very wealthy. They both hide their true identity with a character that the bad guys fear. They both have a cave as their headquarters. They both have a butler. They both have deceased parents, and that is why they fight crime.

There are some people who dispute that El Zorro Influenced the creation of batman. I find it very interesting.

As for this coaster, it's kind of like no big deal to me, because it's pretty much already been done. I'm sure what seems to me as a lack of excitement for this ride is felt be others as well, at least in the coaster enthusiast community.

I take it you haven't rode a 4D coaster? X2 and Green Lantern were both amazing and I can't wait to try these out. I really hope that SFoG gets one. This one looks amazing. More floppy than GL, and looks like more airtime.

LostKause said:

I'm sure what seems to me as a lack of excitement for this ride is felt be others as well, at least in the coaster enthusiast community.

Well, of course. That's a given when it comes to coaster snobs--er, enthusiasts.

Funny thing is how many times I've seen the animation of this ride posted to my Facebook wall from non-enthusiasts. The general reaction is how crazy and/or fun it looks. And I agree.

Vater said:

Funny thing is how many times I've seen the animation of this ride posted to my Facebook wall from non-enthusiasts.

After the 4-D from China and at least one other "viral" coaster video, I think we've identified some portion of the FB algorithm that feeds these as "share with your friends" material to our non-coaster friends who always seem to think they'll find something we haven't seen already....(almost certainly they won't succeed).

^Sakes alive, I totally understand. Someone shared the Fury animation on my wall a few days ago and asked if I knew about it. I'm like... oh you're so cute!

LostKause said:

I'm sure what seems to me as a lack of excitement for this ride is felt be others as well, at least in the coaster enthusiast community.

Yeah because it's a piece of crap. Serious question, what was the last good roller coaster built by Six Flags? I really can't think of anything within the past five years. Don't say Goliath at SFGAm because I feel like they cut corners with that thing too.

You're kidding right? SFM Medusa, New Texas Giant, Iron Rattler, Full Throttle, Goliath... yes I said Goliath, which is an awesome coaster, short or not

I am in no way endorsing what bjames posted, because I don't normally visit Six Flags parks, so I wouldn't know.

I haven't had the opportunity to travel far enough away to ride one of these kinds of rides yet, but they really look like they offer the same kind of experience as a zipper, only with a shorter ride cycle.

X2 looks like a blast, but a ride like this without turns doesn't really turn me on. "Batman" is larger than Green Lantern at Magic Mountain, so that's something, I guess.

I get what bjames is saying. I personally enjoyed Goliath, but I can see his point about them cutting corners, as it were. I know a ride should be judged more heavily on what it is than what it isn't, but it seriously feels like they're just adding rides to add rides. I would say that the RMC conversions are a bit of an exception, but even a number of them are drastically reducing the length of the rides in the process, and Goliath was a real short ride to begin with. Consider the fact that each of Lightning Racer's tracks are longer than Iron Rattler or Goliath despite being "smaller," if you will.

That being said, I think that the RMC rides are still very good rides, but to use non-RMC examples, rides like SFDK's Superman, SFMM's Full Throttle, Tatsu, and Green Lantern, SFOG's Dare Devil Dive, and now this one all seem like low-budget or incomplete versions of the rides they should have been, or outright out of place at the parks in which they reside.

I've gone on record plenty of times saying how much I've enjoyed experiences at Six Flags, but it seems to me like they're starting to lose their touch a bit. I just don't feel like my interest in visiting them renews itself much anymore. The ones I'm still eager to visit soon have earned that desire generally through great rides that they've had for ages that I want to ride again, not for any of these new rides. Wicked Cyclone is probably the only exception.

Two reasons..

1) The Coaster wars are long over.
2) Six Flags is still a few years out of bankruptcy.

These reasons should be obvious by now. You file for bankruptcy, you aren't going to be blowing out the credit cards like you use to either.

Still, Batman, Medusa, Wicked Cyclone, Iron Rattler. New Texas Giant, Twisted Colossus are all rides that will be pulling in the crowds this summer. Bottom line.

And also proves great rides come in all sorts of packages. Even Hershey Park is opening a mouse in a box that looks really fun. If its fun, then yes it IS a good ride. You guys do remember fun don't you?

Tatsu seems low budget and missplaced? In what world?

I felt like Tatsu should have started towards the bottom of the mountain. Get a little more ride length out of it.

Also, yes, Six Flags is coming out of bankruptcy and so they won't be spending money like they used to do. However, they continue to ensure each park gets a new attraction every year. Wouldn't the intelligent thing to do, then, be to only give each park a new ride every few years and make it count?

Batman will, I'm sure, draw people to SFFT. However, it strikes me as doing the bare minimum to achieve that goal. It works, but I agree with the assessment that it isn't overly exciting, which is a criticism I have of Six Flags these days. The parks that stand out to me are the ones like Holiday World, who took years to finally get what they wanted in Thunderbird, and Cedar Point, who took a coaster that was already managing to draw crowds and do a conversion to simply make it that much better. They could pull crowds without resorting to such things, but they did them anyway. THAT'S exciting to me.

Again, I've enjoyed my Six Flags trips, but what continues to draw me back to them are the memories of the rides I've loved for years. Other than Wicked Cyclone, there's nothing new this year at a SF park that calls to me.