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.
Coaster Critic 
50 responses to “Dark Knight Roller Coasters Invade Six Flags Parks”
Impatient to watch this movie !
It should be a real coaster…its gonna be horrible and put shame to the name of batman at six flags
At a max speed of 60 miles per hour in the dark and great theming in the queue and beyond. You won't be dissapointed. This is a unique "indoor Wild Mouse" and "Wild Mice" are usually not fast, usually 28 mph max. This one will 60 mph max and will be equiped with a unique breaking system as the joker torments the riders through a series of scary effects (sought of a stop and go fast). The Carowinds ride is not even close as an example of the "Dark Knight Coaster". Read below:Wikipedia Six Flags Great Adventure Park section Movietown Type Steel – Wild Mouse – Enclosed Status Under Construction Opened May 2008 Manufacturer MACK Rides Designer Werner Stengel, Six Flags Model Wild Mouse (2nd-gen compact mobile) Track layout Wild Mouse Height 155 feet (47.2 m) Length 1,213 feet (370 m) Max speed 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) Duration 2:00 Cost $7.5 million Height restriction 48 inches (122 cm)
Trav, chalk this one up to some misinformation from Wikipedia. Someone's playing a little loose with the facts over there. There's no source material to back up the stats in the Wiki posting. Like you said Trav, wild mice are usually about 28 mph, so a wild mouse at twice that hardly sounds possible or at least likely. That'd probably be too intense for those little cars. And the 155 foot height is outrageous for a wild mouse. I'm sticking with RCDB's updated listing that reports that it will be a Mack wild mouse similar to this one in France called Schlitt'Express at Nigloland.<a HEF="http://www.rcdb.com/">RCDB is the gospel in the theme park community. Thanks for stopping by.
Hello there, Coaster Critic. I'll have to agree that the numbers from Wikipedia are skewed. However, I'm still excited about some of the theming elements proposed for the ride. We won't know the true height and speed until more info is made available, so, it is safe to assume the ride will have similar specs to Schlitts's Express like you said. But, I think the extensive theming will out weight any specific speed and height spec. From what I'm reading, this ride may be getting a lift system similar to the Scooby Doo Spooky coaster. The city simulated building and subway system will also look authentic. Refer to link below:http://coaster-net.com/forums/index.php?s=9a421cc5ae7a50b5db0b704e036654c6&showtopic=7578&pid=175368&st=50&#entry175368
That was the weakest coaster I think i've seen. Thats what all the "Hype" is about? I hope its in the kiddie area.
It'll look a lot cooler in the dark, with walls next to the track, kind of like a faster version of a fun house. That being said, I don't think it's a true 'thrill' ride, but should appeal to a broader audience, which I'm sure is the point.
This was one of the worst rides I have ever rode in my life. Worse then Skull Mountain. I was EXTREMELY disappointed, it was a really really big let down. There was a small drop that i didnt expect that got me but that was it, no exaggeration. Just think of skull mountain but way worse.
Holy crap, I can NOT believe I waited 90 minutes for this crapfest. They tore down movietown water effect, batman & robin the chiller and freefall for this piece of dung? As usual, the themeing is quite good and we basically are led to believe that we're going to be in a subway car which the joker takes over. and then…we're stuck on a dark ride wild mouse that has lame "surprises" that aren't worthy of a old western wild mine ride from the 50's. there's maybe two or 3 drops. it's not fast, it's not scary, it…. I can't express how LAME this is. I still have high hopes for the movie, but whoever greenlit this ride and attatched the Batman name to it should be fired.This ride has no business in a major theme park. It barely qualifies for the NJ meadowlands fair IMHO.Have I mentioned how bad it is?Oh, and bonus! The guards at SFGA are absolute zealots this year. They threw one guy out of the park for smoking where he shouldn't, then the guard at this ride was screaming at guests for sitting on the railings and threatening them with getting tossed off line. I wish he had tossed me off, would've saved me 90 minutes of my life I can't get back.
I just did this ride at Six Flags Great Adventure last night. It was to be our last in a long day of coastering, and we saved it until the end because we expected it to be the highlight of the day.We knew it wouldn't be as extreme as Kinda Ka, Medusa, Nitro or El Toro. Instead we were expecting a fun experience themed to match up with the upcoming movie.The theming was bizarre. In the last 1/3 of the line, which was in an indoor industrial-themed area, there was a video on a large screen of Harvey Dent making a speech about crime. Toward the end the video was "hijacked" and replaced with creepy-ish garbles. Then the lights flickered and went out and hidden projectors put multi-colored, scrawled words all over the walls and ceiling — Joker slogans like "Why so serious?"The next room was similarly themed, with some random tv screens and stuff. The cars are small 4-person affairs made to look like smashed-up subway cars.The ride itself was…awful. Sort of a cross between Skull Mountain and the Haunted Mansion. I didn't spot a single recognizable Batman-related element — neither Batman nor the Joker showed up throughout the entire ride. There were canned noises of evil laughter, scrawled weirdness, broken windows. The track twists and turns unexpectedly, and the darkness means you can't tell what it's going to do. As a result, I started to feel sick to my stomach and just wanted the stupid ride to end — something I have never before felt on a roller coaster. There are a couple of otherwise mild drops that are surprising only because of the darkness. All in all this might be worthwhile if you have children, since it's very tame — don't worry that Heath Ledger's terrifying-looking Joker will show his face, because he won't. Neither does Batman. At the end of this ride, hurt and angry, you ask yourself: is that really it?It was a terrible end to an otherwise fantastic day. Don't bother waiting in line. In fact, even if you have children, you would be better off avoiding the line and riding the teacups 5 or 10 times.
Thanks for the reviews guys. I really thought the concept of a dark, themed wild mouse sounded good, but apparently Six Flags didn't pull it off so well. Interesting to hear that Batman didn't show up during the ride.It sounds like you were all disappointed across the board. But what was the worst part of the ride? Was it the that the theming, the ride, or that it just didn't all fit together well?
Outside of the indoor building on the queue, there is no theming at all. The building is nothing more than an aluminum frame with some awful sky colored painting on it. Once in the building, it seemed hopeful. The video was pretty cool leading to the ride, but after the video you are led to another area that doesn't look finished. The theme inside doesn't match the video.As for the ride, it's terrible. I'm approaching 30 and have probably had season passes for 10 years, plus I worked at Great Adventure for a full summer. I've been on every ride the park has to offer over the last 20 years. This is the worst. There is no close second. The ride itself is boring. It's not really dark so you can see all the "surprise" elements; however, the tracks are so short you can't see any of the theming going on in the coaster. I get what the park was trying to do, but it was very poorly executed. A roller coaster/haunted mansion could have worked, but like I said the tracks are too short to take anything in. If El Toro is a 10/10 and Kingda-Kaa is a 9.5/10, I have no hesitation giving this 1/10 stars only appealing to those who frightening by the Runaway Train and first time coaster-goers.
i can not believe that i waited two and a half hours for this ride! this truely was a TERRIBLE DISASTER! how can you have a Batman ride without seeing Batman throughout the entire thing! sixflags has really messed up for spending 7.5 million dollars on it! the theming i thought was actually pretty good from the line to the preshow. but the ride experience was horrible. the only exciting thing was the first drop that you could not see because of the darkness. as soon as i got off the ride i was begging people not to go on because the ride was so horrible. but i can see that sixflags is trying to appeal to the families which is ok. but if you ae a ultimate thrill seeker i am begging you to NOT GO ON THIS RIDE!
Hello There All, I just got back from our Six Flags Physics Day In the IL park, and it went well, the only thing my group and I regret is ever going on this roller coaster. The person at the front of the line said no more than a 45 minute wait, which at peak hours seemed reasonable,but it turned into a 1hour 30 min wait. The thing they do not want you to know is … inside the building it looks like the line only goes on for a short while, once you enter there there is a line that is 3 times bigger, then a room where you watch a rather intense video, which i'd say was the best part of the ride. then you are disappointed and have to wait in another line that goes through pretty badly themed joker stuff. The actual ride is pretty horrific, It is almost the Exact same design that is shown in the video above, and batman, nor the joker show up during the ride, the ride is not fast, the drops are somewhat expected because it is not in complete darkness, and the cars are so small that during any given turn you can hit your elbow and bruise it pretty badly. Unless you have small children that are scared of larger coasters, I would not suggest this ride, most of the kiddie rides like orbiter, or revolution are better than this coaster. If I had known the design of this coaster before going on it I would have not gone unless the wait was less than 5 minutes.
What I really was really lame about this ride is that Six Flags in IL has the same ride 150 ft away called the Ragin Cajin. Didn't six Flags look at what the parks had before purchasing the same ride and putting it inside…Duh. The fact there is no Batman and Joker is the least of their worries, it's supposed to be a dark ride but is reasonaly lit so there is no suprises. What a dissappointment. I will never ride again. My 3 year son said this ride was weak, who are they kidding.
I arrived at Six Flags Great America today very excited for my day of roller coasters, and after a quick run on the Whizzer (as a walk on) and the Raging Bull. Two great rides and we though, before the lines got too long, we would take a run over to the Dark Knight. We thought the line would move fast, we thought the line would be pretty short, and we were dead wrong.We arrived in front of the queue and I was immediately disappointed. I took the building housing the queue as a store front, NOT as a themed ride. But that was it–that was the theming, and I decided it would be better inside. I ignored the oversized aluminum shed housing the coaster and the disappointingly chincy queue front and proceeded into the line. At the beginning of the queue my friend was handed a yellow ticket and was asked to give it to an employee on the platform so they could get a better idea of how long the line was taking. Worried, my party stepped into the line which appeared surprisingly short. We went through a few bends, mazing our way to the door, walked through, and after 20 minutes of a line we saw another hour (at least) ahead of us. At least they had some of the new LCD tvs the entire park was sporting with suprisingly entertaining shorts. We wined through the queue for another hour or so, and after an hour and 10 minutes we arrived at a door. The man directing the line here was very nice and told us that we had a short preshow and then we'd pretty much be on the loading platform. Well, we got in to the preshow, which I was actually rather impressed by (it left a good impression), and then went through a door to a short hallway. That short hallway turned into a longer hallway–and after ANOTHER 15 minutes we were FINALLY at the loading platform. This was one other place I was kind of impressed–we were actually instructed to board the car while it was still moving (which I thought gave it a special kind of touch)–but the novelty of boarding a moving coaster car quickly wore off as I realized these cars were NOT made for 6 foot tall guys, actually, they weren't made for guys at all. I shoved down the bar, more cramped than I've been on a theme park ride before, and got shoved into the dark abyss–except it wasn't very dark. I ignored that for a minute as we rose up the lift hill surprisingly quick. We got to the top and–"ow"–wait, was that supposed to hurt, all we did was reach the top of the lift hill, and it hurt–it hurt bad. We took a 90 degree turn and headed straight–there were lights flashing in different corners of the room, along walls, and then all of the sudden we turned 180 degrees–"Ow!"–ok, maybe I just had to reposition myself, except wait, I couldn't, I was crammed into that seat in the only way I'd fit. Another 180 degree turn… and a straight away… and a turn… and a straight away. That continued across the entire top tier of the coaster–then we dipped down, and had some turns–and there were some flashing lights–and some painful bunny hills–and some more turns–and it was over. Wait, I didn't see Batman, I didn't see Joker, I didn't see ANYTHING–except for lights, and the track (which I wasn't supposed to see), and the backs of the head of my friends in front of me. I didn't feel a rush, I didn't feel excited, but I DID feel pain. Actually, it just subsided about 2 hours ago, probably 8-10 hours after getting off the right. Actually, the catch phrase of today was "Ow, my left nut." This ride made riding a number of other things difficult–slamming against the harness in V2, fitting into the tight cars on Viper. Actually, I appreciated Iron Wolf today and the ability to position my crotch seat as low as necessary. But one thing is for sure, I will NEVER ride Batman: The Dark Knight again. I will NEVER forgive them for spending $7.5 million on that piece of garbage instead of rehabbing Dejavu–a ride with problems, but actually worth riding (when it was open). But instead they demolished a great ride to erect an eyesore that provides no enjoyment… although, I guess if you sit just right, it is cheaper than a vasectomy.
If anyone is interested, I've posted my footage of Baghdad Roller Coaster and amusement park–circa 1992 — at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohyGpYc_mao
Thanks for all the reviews! Maybe you'll save others from the disappointment and punishment.
I was looking forward to the new Dark Knight Ride. This would have been the newest inside roller coaster I have been on. I was thinking that with the technology today for building coasters this would be an awesome ride especially with all the movie related effects that were promised. I went on the one at Six Flags Great adventure. I always get the Flash Pass so I didn't have to wait in the long line waiting to go on the ride. The first thing you see is a short film done up in CNN news style that gets interrupted by the joker and they have some cool light that put writing by the joker on the walls. This is cool but after you see it once it’s enough. You then are released into the ride and they have a TV monitor that puts a joker face on yours while you wait in line, which moves pretty quickly once you’re inside. once on the ride you enter and start going up a hill in the dark then at the top the ride starts it not very dark and you can see what’s going to happen which isn't much a bunch of sharp turns to the right and left and a couple of little hills much like speed bumps. There are movie themed stations through out the ride that have special effect going on in them but you cant really catch everything. The special effects on the stations is probably the best part of the ride and you have to ride the coaster more then once to really see what is going on at them. As far as the ride goes it was very disappointing and it is not worth the wait in line. I would rather ride Skull Mountain, for an indoor coaster Skull Mountain is a better ride. I can't believe they spent $7.5 million on this ride even with the special effects, for that much money the special effect could have been a lot better as well as the coaster. Not to mention they took down the Batman Chiller ride for this lame ride, BatmanChiller wasn't a great ride either but it was way better then this one. I think they should ask for there money back.
by far the worst ride i have ever riddensix flags has screwed up before like removing shockwave and putting superman inbut dang, this is their worst screw up yeti mean the 6 flags in IL needs a new cool real hyper coaster like raging bullevery other park gets new ones every 5 years, where is our new one?and they just tore deja vu down so next year im looking for something to WOW me
Unlike all (or almost all) of the other comments, I happened to like the Dark Knight coaster.Is it on the same level as El Toro, Nitro, etc. Of course not, but it wasn't intended to be. It was geared towards being family coaster that everyone could enjoy.We waited 75 minutes this past Saturday (6/24) getting on the line about 6:30pm, and off the ride by 7:45pm. At the time, the line was out to the front of the queue. Was it worth 75 minutes, no – but then again, I don't think any ride is worth more than a 15 minute wait.To me, it is a better ride that Skull Mountain (which also had a 60+ minute wait as late as 6:00pm – but had no wait by 8:00pm). Skull Mountain, btw, received some new themeing (a skull, some pumpkins, and some stobe lights) and seemed a bit faster than years past (even faster than when we were on it late last month).I look forward to when the lines subside, and I will be able to ride the Dark Night multiple times without gettting off (ala Skull Mountain later in the day).Last side note – while every coaster, including Rolling Thunder, had 60+ minute waits Saturday around 6pm – Great American Scream Machine was a walk on – made me happy as I still like that coaster (other than sitting in the back which is a bit rough).Ed
I just rode this "coaster" at Six Flags Great America last night. What a waste of almost 2 hours of my time! I first attempted to ride it shortly before noon. The start of the queue is outside of the old auditorium that was in that corner. The staff member manning the entrance told us 45-60 minutes. We were on a somewhat tight schedule since my daughter was dancing at the dancefest, but we thought we could fit it in.After spending 20 minutes in the outdoor queue we finally entered the old auditorium building to find at least another hours worth of queue. Disappointed we left the queue and tried to find another ride before her dance.We came back at 7:00PM and were told the same 45 minutes. This time we walked right into the old auditorium building, but that was still filled. After an hour of waiting in that room we finally entered the pre-show. I was impressed with the pre-show. It was on the caliber of a Disney pre-show, so I really thought I was in for a good ride.After the pre-show you enter a long hallway for another 15 minutes of waiting. The theming here was laughable. They tried to "age" the gray steel beams by spraying rust colored paint here or there. You spend the entire 15 minutes hearing the same loading spiel over and over.Finally the ride. As others mentioned it was bad. The lit special effects only serve to light the track so you can see the "surprise" bumps in the track. I was mildly startled by one effect, but not by much. It was physically painful to ride because you are thrown side to side during the ride. No sharp drops, just some quick bumps and lots of 180 degree turns. Lame.The entire family thought it was horrible including my 6-year-old son and my 9-year-old daughter.Wait till next year to ride it when the line is only 10 minutes long, because that is all this ride is worth waiting for.What annoyed us the most is how clueless the staff was when it came to predicting the line wait. They should know by now that it would take almost 2 hours if the entire queue is full (and with the Flash Passers jumping in).Ride Ragin' Bull 3 times instead. You will be much happier.
worst ride in the park no lie… it makes skull mountain and the runaway train seem thrilling. I want my hour in lin e back. it wasnt that dark, very little theming once in the seat and no drops… yuck.
Honestly, I didn't expect to much from the Dark Knight Coaster. I knew it was going to be a wild mouse style coaster (which was dissapointing) i also had discovered before riding that the ride put a lot of emphasis on special effects. However, even with my low expectations, i was SEVERELY dissapointed. I really expected 6 flags to wow me with this ride, but as the others have said, it was simply lame, no other word to describe it. Problems with this ride:1- Because its not dark, there are no real surprises.2- No real drops.3- No batman. No joker. Its hard to see most of the theming since the tracks are short and your moving quickly. 4- IT WAS BORING. And thats that.Honestly, its not like a highly themed coaster can't be done, just look at Universal Studios' "The Mummy". 6 flags half-assed this ride to a T. The concept was great, but it didn't work out. I would advise you to not bother with this one unless the line is under 20 minutes.
Horrendous. Not worth a 10 minute wait, let alone a 1 1/2 hour wait. The worst ride I have been on. I am warning you, don't waste your time. Very disappointing.
Well, I wish I would have read these reviews before wasting 2 1/4 hrs of my life. Actually, if the ride had no line wait, I still wouldn't go on it. That is how awful it is. I can't honestly say anything good about it. Six Flags GA needs a new coaster in a bad way. I sure wish I lived closer to Cedar Point!. Alan
The new "The Dark Knight" roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ is not only one of the worst roller coasters I've ever been on, but one of the worst rides I've ever ridden.I went to Great Adventure today. I hate Great Adventure but Girlfriend Melina likes it, so we went. I hate lines, so we got a mega-expensive gold flash pass so we didn't have to wait in line with the peasants.We both love Batman and were really excited that there was a brand new Batman ride. So of course the first ride we went to was The Dark Knight. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait in line for this glorified carnival kiddie ride. I would have been infuriated if I had to wait in line for this complete and utter disappointment of an attraction.The Dark Knight is an indoor roller coaster. When you first get inside the building, you're in a cold room that they made a half-ass attempt at making look like a monorail station in Gotham. Then you watch a press conference by District Attorney Harvey Dent from the new Dark Knight movie. He talks about fighting crime. You can't really hear what he says because of all the sparkling wiggles in the room with you who jibbajabba during the presentation. Then the video gets all screwed up because the Joker broke it, or something.Then you leave the room and get to wait in line some more before boarding a little roller coaster cart. Beyond the boarding station, your cart goes into a very dark room and goes up and down some two-foot hills and makes a few sharp turns to jerk you around. There's some flourescent Joker graffiti sprayed on some of the walls in the darkness.The coaster's top speed is a whopping 28 MPH. This is the same speed as the Space Mountain roller coaster, which this attraction is failing horribly at ripping off. Space Mountain uses tricks to make you think you're going faster than you are. The Dark Knight doesn't bother. It's about as thrilling as wearing a blindfold and having your grandma drive you down a bumpy road.This ride gets two thumbs down — WAY down — from me and Melina! It's sad that it is the flagship new attraction for Great Adventure this summer. The space this ride takes up would better serve as a restroom or animal feed storage. If you are unfortunate enough to have to go to Great Adventure, do not, DO NOT waste your time waiting in line for this ride, or even riding this ride.
I'm actually going to Great Adventure this weekend. I always get the Flash Pass because I can't stand waiting in lines especially when you have line jumpers that are never seen by park officials. After reading all the negative feedback on this ride, I will probably only key the ride up if I get to the park really early, before the crowd gets there. I'm not wasting valuable "real" coaster time to wait for a kiddies ride. When I first herd about this new ride, I was really excited. I thought it was gonna be like this indoor space ride they have at King's Dominion which is awesome! That ride launches you off like Kingda Ka. It's really fast and it goes upside down. You don't know what's up from down. I'm not a fan of the "crazy mouse". It makes me kinda sick. It's too repetitive. I'm just sooo pissed that they removed the Watertown Effects for this crap. That log flume was one of the best parts of going to Great Adventure during the hot summer. It was a way to get soaked and laugh then do it again. I'll miss it. I sure hope this ride fails with fans and everyone boycotts it. Maybe then they will see we are pissed and want "real" rides.
I just rode this at Six Flags Great America today. I was astonished at how bad this "ride" is. Even "Ragin Cajun" beats this one into the ground. There are no surprises, the whole set looks extremely generic and the wait in line is likely to be more than an hour. However, once the word gets out as to how bad this ride is, you'll probably be able to just walk right up and ride it if you wanted to. I can't believe this is our new "attraction". We never get anything groundbreaking like King Da Ka. Superman(ONLY in the front seat) and Raging Bull are still fun, but those even get old after a while. This ride is so weak, I think my 2 year old son would be able to handle it. They call this a "MAX" thrill. Surely, they must be joking. This one will be gone in 3 years. No kidding. What a waste of 7 million dollars! Does anyone review these designs?
Heard it was terrible. Went to six flags in chicago yesterday. My freinds waitied 2 hours but i didnt waste my time waiting for it i went on other stuff. They said it was horrible. More for familys. I think u can tell when u see how tiny of a space the coaster is in that its not going to be that great. They need a new indoor coaster like the batman but inside in the dark!
i waited on line for an hour and 20 minutes after hearing all the hype about this ride. when we got closer to getting in, people who had just rode the ride walked out in dusgust with their thumbs down. but we were curious and still gave it a shot. this ride seriously sucked, it was just like the crazy mouse you would see at a carnival. it was wack as anything and the video in the begginning was lame and the room they made you wait in was FREEZING.
in Nj batman is at the first turn on the right crouching down….and joker is hanging over one of the walls…..i didnt think it was a great coaster but i took it for what it was…
Made me glad I got FlashPass, and didn't have to wait in line for this well over-hyped CRAP!
I went to Six Flags today and used a "Flash" pass, so my wait for Dark Knight was only 20 minutes. We were in line next to the exit for the ride. At least 1 out of every 2 people left the coaster TELLING us how horrible the ride was. Once inside, we watched a lame video. My expections couldn't be lower.Unfortunately the ride had no surprises at all. It was basically LEVEL, with lousy, slow turns. Totally pathetic. I wouldn't go on this even if there was no wait. Ride El Toro and Nitro! Much better.
The wait was only 40 minutes, but I'd rather watch grass grow. It was a terrible ride. It's not even good enough to be called a ride. The website rates this coaster 'moderate' and that's exaggerating. It was a waste of 7.5 million dollars, and they're better off tearing this down and should work on bringing back Batman and Robin, Stuntmans Freefall, etc. I'm a thrill seeker and this was definitely no thrill. Even people who are afraid of roller coasters have said that it was boring. That definitely says something..
All, I can say is luckily we used the flash pass for "dumb, I mean dark night", so we only waited 10 minutes to get on it. I think Six Flags spent more money on the stuff in line leading up to the actual ride; then they did for the entire ride itself, very slow no "big moment" during the ride, if I had a pillow, I colud've taken a short nap. This ride sucked.
Ok, I wish I had thought to come to this site BEFORE our group trip to SFGA. Can you say WASTE OF TIME?!?! Two hours of my life I can't get back, and didn't even get to ride one of my favorites, El Toro! We were on a time schedule, and we chose Dumb Night first to make sure we got it in. Whomever approved this crappy ride should be fired. We went on Skull Mt. and waited all of 20 mins, and that was a hundred times better. I hope these comments help someone else that doesn't like wasting time. SFGA, please CLOSE THIS RIDE!!!!!
this coaster is hands down the WORST ride i have ever been on. at great america i waited 2 hours for it. basically everyone wanted to try the new thing. it was a children's ride. the first half is spent making repeated "S" patterns. its more like a tour than a ride, and the decorations arent even good. biggest waste of time, money, effort, hype, ever! and it tainted the Dark Knight's name!
At first, I was exited to ride the Dark Knight coaster, and you have to admit, the theaming was prety good(althou only during the openig video (That led to a line that was longer than the one you finaly steped out of, like it could posibly be longer)) .But the line wasn't worth it.And in line, the only thing that was there to enter tain you is a big screen with a camera on top, on it, you see a joker mask over your face, but the height requirement is 36 in. but you need to be 5' to actualy see your face on it! The video was good, but even after the part that actualy made sence was over it was just a bunch of crapy pictures with pretend blood spilled over it just to scare little kids.The ride itself was horible!they didn't even think to bank the turns the only fun part was the unexprcted airtime.and C.C. if your reading this, heres the awnser to your question: exiting is the bast part of the ride.
My family and I just came home from Fright Fest at Great America in Chicago. The Dark Knight was our first ride of the day. We saw the movie during the summer. It was awesome. We had been anxious to try this ride all year, and so headed straight for it as soon as we entered the park.Now I know how it must have felt to see PT Barnum’s Egress.When it was over, we spent most of the day talking about how disappointed we were with this ride. After coming home, we found this page on a Google search, and it was uncanny how many of the same criticisms we made were posted here: The lack of any Dark Knight content during the actual ride including any appearance of Batman or the Joker, the generic aluminum panel building, the anti-climax, and particularly the lame coaster it was built around. Everyone had great expectations for this ride, and it did not deliver.I expected something like the Revenge of the Mummy ride at Universal (for those of you that haven’t been on this, it’s an awesome ride. Universal does it right). I would expect the ride to carry the story forward. There would be confrontation between the Joker and Batman, and the ride would become a true roller coaster. Instead, the ride takes you through a bunch of cheesy sounds and generic visuals (glowing “Ha Ha” graffiti, flashing lights, machine gun sounds) while whipping you around 180 degree turns. I seriously thought that the entire “mouse coaster” / “light show” crap was just a build-up for something far better to come because this just couldn’t be all there was. We went over a couple of small dips and I’m thinking “Ok. Here comes the good part”. We turned the corner and saw……people being unloaded from the ride. There it was…the exit. WTF.It was stupid. It was predicable. It was like somebody took a copy of the “Ragin’ Cajun”, swapped the spinning cars out for fixed trains, and put a big box over the top of it. And like other reviewers said, there was still enough light inside to see what was coming (thus no real surprises or thrills). Lame, lame, lame.The Six Flags web site rates the Dark Knight coaster with a *Max* thrill rating. That ranks it up with Raging Bull, Superman and V2. But guess what…so is Ragin’ Cajun. Whatever. They’re on drugs. Try medium at most. Both the Dark Knight and Ragin’ Cajun could rank top in the physical abuse and annoying categories. Both are probably an 8 out a 10 on the whiplash scale.My wife says that instead of the Dark Knight, this should have been called the Big Left Down. My son says the coaster should be moved to the “Wiggles World” section of the park. Speaking of Wiggles World, there is ride there called “Yummy Yummy Fruit Salad” which give’s you a birds-eye view of the park from a spinning, fruit-shaped platform. My 10 year old daughter said she would rather ride that, than the Dark Knight…no lie.Those of you that complained about the time you waited in line – think about it. This was probably the best part. It’s the only place you got to see anything at all remotely pertaining to the movie.The Dark Knight + Heath Ledger’s Joker = Mouse Coaster????My initial thought was: What pack of overpaid, expense account abusing, executive retards at Six Flags made this call? Did they do any legitimate research on the project at all? I certainly don’t claim to know anything about running a theme park. I didn’t even know that this type of ride was called a wild mouse coaster until tonight after reading these reviews. But did any of the Six Flags executives actually watch the movie or do any research before designing this? The movie was awesome, a wild ride in itself. It raised the bar all other films in its class. It was exciting, fairly intense I might add. I was hesitant to take my kids to it, but eventually did. So how can a person knowing anything about this movie conclude “Hey, I know the perfect way to build this! We’ll use a MOUSE Coaster!!!” Someone as Six Flags did, and the coworker that heard this must have failed to slap him hard across the face and say “Idiot!!!”The reason was more obvious though. It was really just about $$$. All I needed to do was a little research the Wild Mouse Coaster. Read this from Wikipedia:“Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the Wild Mouse type coaster was nearly extinct. However, beginning in the mid-1990s, Wild Mouse-style rides made a comeback for two reasons: First, they were cheaper than larger, conventional coasters; second, they added to a park's "coaster count" with minimal impact on cost and square footage.”So there you have it. The task was to build a theme park ride representing the second highest grossing movie of all time. And Six Flags answered with a mouse – one of the cheapest coaster technologies available. It’s just typical, large corporate corner cutting BS. I’m sure that explains the absence of any Dark Knight content within the ride itself which must translate to a savings in royalties to WB. Well judging by the reviews, this strategy was clearly a winner. With a disappointed customer base, poor reviews, damage to their reputation, and millions wasted, you would hope an exec or two will get sacked for this. Ticket sales and passenger counts will tell. I’ll probably take my family somewhere else next year. And I plan on warning everybody I know to not waste their time with this ride.Six Flags executives need to get their butts down to Florida to the Universal Parks to see how to really make successful entertaining themed indoor roller coasters. Then they should rip down the Dark Knight, rebuild it right, and beg for forgiveness.
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.
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.
I wouldn`t skip Great adventure or new england either, they have some of the world`s best coasters.
errr… "Lady in the Lake"?
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.
errr… i suppose coaster desingers also enjoy blogging, and they had to start somewhere.
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.
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.
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.
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.