Was there a lot of hype for Batman at SFGam?

At SFGAdv, the Batman line has always been 45 minutes to 1 hour, at least that is what I remember. Here in NJ, there were TV advertisements for the ride all summer long.

astrosgp said:
"Hype" meant something a lot different 10 years ago, w/o the internet

The internet, and usenet did very much exist 10 years ago .. Check the google archives if you want to read actual rec.roller-coaster reports from that era.

Cam.

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Cameron Silver

I remember reading about the Batman in Popular Mechanics the same year. It pretty much blew me away, seeing how it worked.

I agree that it is the most sucessful coaster design..ever.

I still have footage of Batman from media day that I taped off the ABC affiliate in Chicago. I just could not believe how twisted and tangled that track looked, and I had a hard time figuring out how many inversions there were from the footage.

10 years later, it's hard to remember the amount of hype surrounding the opening. I do remember the Great America brochures, though, which had a rather unrealistic artistic rendition of what Batman would look like. I also remember waiting in line for Batman for about two hours on more than one occasion. It was just the standard wait. But when the line wrapped behind Cajun Cliffhanger, you had some amazing views of the end of the ride.

But, man, that Batman music got old really fast when you had to wait in line for two hours for each ride.

Yeah, actually, there was an insane amount of publicity for the thing. I'm not sure what the advertising campaign was like, but there were tons of magazine articles about it in many types of different magazines. Actually, i remember my mom seeing something abotu it on the news, and telling me about it. Pretty impressive seeing as i was just a wee little enthusiast then and the internet was just starting to bloom. Yeah, it was a very big deal.

I actually heard the waits at some points got up to 4 hours. Any truth in that?

I don't remember too much of the hype surrounding it because I wasn't into coasters back then, but I vividly remember it being called "the four hour wait for the two minute ride." absolutly insane. although I'm sure that, at the time, this type of coaster was also considered absolutly insane.
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Knott's Berry Farm Cuba ~South Park

It really was unlike anything else out there. I mean, going through a loop while hanging beneath the track... it was a wild concept that a lot of people had a hard time getting over. Kinda like when the Paramount parks constructed Flight Of Fear... you mean you don't need a lift hill and drop to get the train moving?

I'm sure there must have been hype. When Great Adventure came out with it the next year they made it seem like they were the only ones with an inverted coaster. Same thing with Scream Machine.

I don't remember any hype prior to opening (the post about the lack of the internet was astute) but I remember the buzz following it. I worked at Geauga (SFWoA) Lake at the time and I vividly remember people coming to the park and telling us about the ride.

I was so eager to ride it but had to wait two years for Raptor. That was worth the wait.

I remember the opening year and only waiting an hour and a half on a weekday. I remember the most watching the zero-g roll right after the first loop and thinking to myself how scary that was going to be. I almost psyched myself out so much that I almost went right through the ride and to the exit. I rode it though and was glad I did. It is still one of the best rides in the park to this day. I too remember the original que going behind the East River Crawler and into Orleans and the fact that you had to get a line ticket(first time seeing that). I also still have my batman drink cup that I got that first season. It is a prized piece of my coaster memorabilia collection. One last thing, I remember being absolutely blown away by the theming in the que. I had never been to the Florida parks or any Disney parks before then and it was like nothing I had ever seen. I still get goosebumps when I hear the batman music in the queue there.

Cheers,

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Bob Hansen

"Excuse me while I kick the sky!"
kickthesky@hotmail.com