Well I just got back from Six Flags St. Louis Media Day for Justice League Battle for Metropolis.
You can tell that Six Flag's St.Louis has seriously upped their game for creating a state-of-the-art 4D dark ride. Six Flags has partnered with Sally Corporation, they designed the complete experience of the ride. Pure Imagination are the geniuses behind the Computer Generated Imagery. Alterface are the ones behind the interactive game play. And finally Oceaneering is what tied this ride together. I truly believe if they did not have a part in JLBFM, it would not be the ride it is.
You start by taking a stroll through Centennial Park which is on the left side of Hall of Justice. As you enter Hall of Justice the first thing you notice is the air conditioning! You will truly appreciate it because in St. Louis we have and hot humid summers that have excess temps of 100+ degrees!.. as you approach the end queue line you will notice Cyborg the life-size realistic looking animatronic that is basically explaining what is going on for the story of the ride. His job is to recruit you to help save the Justice League from The Joker and Lex Luthor.
As you board your six passenger car you will notice that the ride does not stop at all. The cars continuously load and unload while slowly moving. This will defiantly will help moving the line as fast as possible. Get those 3D glasses on right now!
Now as the ride begins you get a shot of "laughing gas" and then are you finally whisked away to the first scene of the ride. It’s on a very large screen and which has lots of action going on. Joker is standing on top of a monster truck, Joker’s crew is in the orange jumpsuits and are throwing all different sorts of weapons at you. Superman captures The Joker, and right away Lex Luthor comes and takes out Superman and immediately takes Superman to LexCorp Headquarters. On to the next scene…
The next scene begins as you enter a set of automatic sliding doors. Your car approaches animatronic of The Joker sitting on an a.t.v. He then moves forward and shoots another blast of “laughing gas” at you. Now your car slides down a portion of the track and then spins sideways and you get a small flash fireball directly in front of your car. As you come around the corner you have a classic old school dark ride part… the front of a van as it honking its horn while flashing the headlights while moving directly toward your car. This is the end this scene. I’m calling all of this part the second scene.
When the next scene starts you are in front another large video screen. On this scene it has you placed at LexCorp. You have Cyborg telling you to “watch his back” as he tries to dismantle the security panel. Then almost out of nowhere Batman arrives in the Batmobile as Cyborg was able to dismantle the security panel and gain access to LexCorp. End of this scene…
As you enter LexCorp you are immediately confronted by Lex Luthor and he has now warned you about joining forces with the Justice League. He urges you to surrender or face his full force. Now as your car begins to go through LexCorp he has a rack of falling drums of full of flammable liquids that feel like they will fall onto the side of your car. As your car moves on down the track you come onto another scene on the large video screen. Now you join Cyborg while you help defeat the black spots while the Just League is being rescued!
Now these final two scenes are my favorite and they have the most action and the car has tons of motion on the scenes as well. As you and the Justice League escape from LexCorp you begin chasing The Joker and Lex Luthor throughout Metropolis. My favorite part of the ride is the world’s first-ever virtual loop on a dark ride. You feel like you’re blasting through a loop on a rollercoaster with the way the car moves. Next, as you are exiting the loop you hit a building and spin out of control and fall directly onto the street, and resume chasing Lex Luthor and The Joker down the subway. You are racing down the subway track next to the speeding train as it knocks your car over and it literally feels like your car rolled over with the way the screen and car moves. As your car comes to a crashing stop Lex Luther and The Joker are finally captured and the car now heads to the exit as the ride is now over. But just before you exit the car, you are shown the high scores from your car and where you rank at!
This ride is absolutely amazing. The sound effects on Justice League were absolutely phenomenal. I also thought the volume was perfect. The way the cars move is very impressive. The cars can move 360 degrees. They are very quiet and don’t distract you from the ride at all. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this exact ride pop up at other Six Flags parks in the near future. This ride will be very popular for many years. You can tell that lots of detail and design went into this ride.
Now a few things from what I had heard at the park today. I don’t know if these are 100% true but I will just tell you what I was told. They have the ability to display the scores from the JLBFM at Six Flags Over Texas. Kind of like a compare the scores between the parks as the day goes on. I also heard that they plan having a high score of the month and the resetting the scores each month…kind of cool,…but do you get a special prize for the high score of the month?
I apologize that some of my images are out of order. Justice League Battle for Metropolis opens Friday June 5th.
Standing directly in front of Hall Of Justice
Cyborg the life-size realistic looking animatronic
Another shot of Cyborg the life-size realistic looking animatronic
The large video screen behind cars at the loading station.
It changes colors...I thought the green looked the best..but that's just me
Another image that is on the large screen.
You can see some of the track that the cars ride on.
The Joker animatronic . Once again so life-size and realistic looking.
The "laughing gas' that The Joker shoots at you.
A scene when you are with Cyborg trying to break into LexCorp.
The rack of drums that are filled with flammable liquids that try to fall on you.
A few of the many 3D glasses.
A great photo opportunity with Senior Designer Rich Hill and CEO John Wood from Sally Corporation. These guys are super nice and down to earth!
The Justice League just before the start of the ceremony.
Our host for the day Marc!
Local radio and tv stations got to give away "first rider" tickets to Justice League during media day!
Another shot of Cyborg the life-size realistic looking animatronic
The Allen-Bradley control panel PLC.
They have cameras throughout the ride so that they can see everything at all times!
Just some more pictures of the large video screen that is behind the loading station.
Just some more pictures of the large video screen that is behind the loading station.
This photo of The Joker animatronic was from the side of the track. I had special behind the scenes clearance for a few photos. I thought I would share this one.
2 extras cars that were sitting behind the scenes.
Make sure you read those ride instructions!
The queue line. Did I mention that it has air conditioning?
Isn't she beautiful?
Just another image on one of the tv monitors at the loading station explaining what to do on the ride.
Justice League
The newest member of Justice League...ok I wish!
Centennial Park a.k.a the queue line
Another shot of Centennial Park a.k.a the queue line
Hey keep out! But we'll leave the door open!
Love these! They really stand out on the building!
It looks like real stone!
Some of the management from Six Flags getting a photo with Justice League
Justice League standing next to Cyborg
Another shot of the track.
Ok inside that open door is the brains for JLBFM. I was able to see all of the computers and networking servers inside the control room. I asked if I could get a photo and they told me that I couldn't. So if you ever see that door open and you're standing near you should be able to see inside the control room. It was neat!
The loading station as the Media Day is almost over. The building was empty and they were shutting down everything.
A great side shot of the car. I thought the cars were very roomy.
Some of the scores from the last riders.
The LED's on the ceiling are changing colors every second. So the cars look a different color every few seconds.
I think this guy has had a long day!
On this image you can see the track and the wheels of the car.
Freshened up Justice League store. It looks great!
The Super Heroes vs Villains store. This is also where the ride will exit through.
