| For more uses, see Batman: The Ride. |
- "Fly like a bat. We provide the wings."
- ―Ride blurb[src]
Batman: The Ride is a steel inverted roller coaster located in Studio Backlot at Six Flags St. Louis. It was manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, and opened on April 22, 1995. It replaced Jet Scream, a looping roller coaster, which was relocated to Six Flags AstroWorld as Viper in 1989. This is also the park's only B&M roller coaster.
The ride is the fourth of the seven installations of the B&M version of Batman: The Ride, and was opened to coincide with the theatrical release of Batman Forever, though the ride itself is based on the 1992 film Batman Returns, a sequel to the 1989 film Batman. Unlike its predecessors, this is a flipped version of the Batman clone.
History[]
In the early 1990's, following the success of Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Great America, then-parent company Time Warner quickly worked on more versions of the ride to build at other Six Flags parks across the United States.
On September 7, 1994, it was announced that Batman: The Ride would be coming to Six Flags St. Louis. It would be located towards the front of the park. Construction of Batman: The Ride would officially begin in the fall of 1994. The attraction welcomed its first guests on April 22, 1995, three days after the Oklahoma City bombing. Upon opening, the wait times were over six hours long, though this was due to the ride's long queue paths.
In the spring of 2018, Six Flags St. Louis debuted Batman: The Ride Backwards (also known as Namtab). For the first time, guests can choose a forwards or backwards ride experience.
Experience[]
Queue[]
The entrance to the ride is an archway that reads "Gotham City Park". In the queue, guests walk Gotham City Park's long path. After winding through the curvy path, they go through a straight pathway that leads to the next area, which is the alley. A left turn leads straight into a small sewer tunnel, followed by a straight path underneath the tracks. Guests approach a long switchback section that stretches from the building to the ride's first drop. A portion of this section is enclosed in a corridor. On top of the corridor, there are a few stones and a highway. To the left is a Gotham City Police Department barrier, a shed and a concrete pad with a fire hydrant where the police car was. Guests then pick one of the two different paths. If guests go through a straight path, they walk through the corridor and go around the building by the Tommy G. Robertson Railroad train tracks. If guests go through the path on the left, they will go through an extended queue area with several switchbacks, winding paths and the garden section. This path is also a chicken exit. When both paths become a single line, guests walk into the tunnel which leads to the station upstairs. The station resembles the Batcave with a large illuminated Batman symbol being seen above the boarding gates.
Ride[]
The entrance archway in July 2019
Batman: The Ride starts by climbing a 105-foot chain lift hill. Then the ride drops 85 feet to the right, and reaches speeds of 50 mph. It goes into a vertical loop, then a Zero-G-Roll, followed by a second vertical loop. The ride goes then through several turns and 2 corkscrews. After that, the ride goes into the final brake run inside the Batcave.
Changes[]
The crashed GCPD police car in 2008
- Batman: The Ride opened with fog effects in the station, though they were abandoned after the first season. The tubes used for the effects can still be seen to the right next to a maintenance door after coming back into the Batcave at the end of the ride.
- The Batman Plaza area once was the location of the Batmobile, though the iconic vehicle was later removed for unknown reasons. As of 2019, the Batmobile still exists in park storage, but part of the former "circle" that the Batmobile was located on is covered by a Coca-Cola Cotton Candy Factory stand.
- After coming down the exit ramp, the backside wall that separates Gotham City Park from the exit area was once adorned with graffiti from various Gotham criminals. This was later painted over around 2012 due to confusion with real graffiti.
- The attraction had junk in the queue line, but was removed around the 2000s.
- The ride's official Six Flags Photo location "Gotham City Power Shots" was shuttered and has since sat abandoned.
- While walking through Gotham City Park, you would hear ambient sound effects such as birds chirping and kids playing coming from speakers hidden in the bushes. As you progressed through the park halfway through, these pleasant sounds would be replaced with approaching vehicles, police sirens and gunshots. These were removed sometime in the late 2000s. However, the streets section's sound effects would return around 2023.
- In 2009, the crashed Gotham City Police Department police car was removed from its spot in the queue, which was located below the lift hill between the shorter and extended queue paths and behind the entrance to the Broad Avenue storm drain tunnel. The reason for its removal was due to vandalism. The spraying fire hydrant still remains, though it has been turned off. The car was temporarily replaced with toxic waste barrels, though they have since been removed as well.
- In 2012, the blue Gotham City Public Works banner on the back wall of Gotham City Park was removed. The spotlights that once illuminated it are still installed, though they are turned off. During this time, the exit path was extended with the addition of a black wall.
- In 2021, the queue line was updated with a Batman symbol and a shortcut in the center. The original paths were turned into an extended queue area.
The entrance sign
Trivia[]
- The Six Flags St. Louis version of Batman: The Ride features the largest garden queue area, as well as the first queue line to be different and longer. The other Batman: The Ride coasters with a different queue line are at Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Over Texas. The St. Louis version is also the first "clone" to be flipped.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Queue Photos[]
Exterior Photos[]
Layout Photos[]
References[]
See also[]
External links[]
- BATMAN: The Ride | Six Flags St. Louis
Batman: The Ride at Wikipedia- Batman: The Ride at the Roller Coaster DataBase
