Six Flags Enthuseast Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Awesome photos, Jer! I really hope it runs backwards for a while longer; I'd love to get to Great America to ride it, but I doubt I'll be able to do so. Enjoy it while you can! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinnwitted Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Great report there. One question about the theming; has it improved or just been updated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_IntaMAN_ Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Great Report Jer! It looks like an interesting experience, and I hope to one day make it to SFGAm as it seems to be one of the better parks in the chain, and I especially love their coaster collection. I wonder if any other SF parks are thinking of running Batman Backwards as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatdan Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 Yup, the one at Great America sure did have the fog. So did the Demon. sighs... There was also some graffiti in the queue that said very large and clearly "what's the Point?" It was a couple years after Magnum (which was the year after Shockwave/the year after Iron Dragon/the year after Z-Force, for those keen on the industry back then). The Point came a couple years later in the form of Raptor. I'm not the biggest fan of Batman (but I do love an occasional ride), I think it's still better than Raptor Batman was ridiculously themed when it opened, and it looks like this backwards change has restored some of it's theming. You're right about the graffiti and fog. The cop car, tunnel and station seem to be restored to a sort of foggy way. Other theming that disappeared at one point or another was there used to be junk rotting all over in that part near the cop car, and my favorite detail... row 8 used to have blinking LED lights on the back of the train that would blink green, yellow and red throughout the ride. This was an amazingly small detail, and an even better detail was that the battery for this was on the link bar of row 8 in the middle, and was custom stamped with the Batman logo. It was an amazing detail for a style of ride that rarely is that detailed. I believe that the blinking lights only blinked for the opening season. X-Flight made me sort of interested in heading back to Great America... Batman backwards makes me feel like I need to make it happen. Where did everyone get the July 6th date from? I know that my first opportunity would be very shortly after that day... so I've gotta hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GayCoasterGuy Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 and my favorite detail... row 8 used to have blinking LED lights on the back of the train that would blink green, yellow and red throughout the ride. This was an amazingly small detail, and an even better detail was that the battery for this was on the link bar of row 8 Really!? I don't remember that, which is weird cuz Great America is my home park. But that first year (and 2nd!) I only went to the park once or twice because I was busy working at Cedar Point. The detail I remember was the plastic "button" fake lights on the molded theme "strips" behind each seat. Over time, people pulled them out and/or scratched them up. Do you have any pictures of these lights? That sounds very cool. It would be nice to have some glowing lights somewhere on the train now, but I know - money money money... Now this reminds me of Whizzer's lights! Headlights and taillights on each car. They burned out here and there over time, and people also stole them (they were BMW). Good times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathbydinn Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 ^^ The park is hosting an event on July 6th and said that Batman will be backwards for it. Haven't heard anything past that date yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatdan Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 Really!? I don't remember that, which is weird cuz Great America is my home park. But that first year (and 2nd!) I only went to the park once or twice because I was busy working at Cedar Point. The detail I remember was the plastic "button" fake lights on the molded theme "strips" behind each seat. Over time, people pulled them out and/or scratched them up. Do you have any pictures of these lights? That sounds very cool. It would be nice to have some glowing lights somewhere on the train now, but I know - money money money... The molded backings to each chair are still there as far as I know, they just look really old. The fake lights have been changed little by little, until they disappeared. I remember seeing them as plastic buttons essentially a number of years ago. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the lights. I never rode it when it opened, but I once did see a video of them. I can confirm that the batteries in row 8 were still there about 10 years ago, but I was told they have since gone missing. Interestingly enough, the link bars where those batteries were seem to be missing on the Batman Backwards incarnation, although the place where they connect seems to be there. Those bars were only on a handful of B&M inverts before they changed them to not be there, but it seems odd without them on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GayCoasterGuy Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 ^Very cool information. I had a friend a coaster buddy at the time who was RABID over that ride, I don't remember him mentioning the lights. I learn something new everyday! On a related note, the bolt holes are still on Whizzer where the lights used to be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tylercolby83 Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 Sorry if this has been discussed before, but does anyone know the fate of the Ameri-Go-Round? It was an antique carousel from Fontaine Ferry Park here in Louisville. According to the wikipedia page, it is stored in crates under Superman. Is this still true? I read that at one time there was an effort to bring it back to Louisville and I'd love to see that happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 I rode Batman three times it's opening day. I don't recall any lights, and I went right after school so it was dark by the last two rides (the line was over two hours long the first run through). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathbydinn Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 The IgNite stage is coming along. The show begins June 1st and runs until mid-August. From Twitter Hometown Fun Machine and Orbit have opened for the season and East River Crawler now has all it's arms back on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenFreeze Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 I think the new show will be interesting, but I don't like how the structure blocks the train station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zcev5454 Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 ^^ I like how it looks much more permanent than the stage at Cedar Point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrow Dynamics fan Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 ^^ The park is hosting an event on July 6th and said that Batman will be backwards for it. Haven't heard anything past that date yet. I bet this is going to be a traveling attraction to the different Six Flags parks over the next several years as a way to draw people back in for their pre-existing ride as they have done with many other rides, only they want to create the rush for people to come now with their claim that it will only be at this park for an uncertain amount of time. I will give them this, that is clever marketing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameron Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 I saw a billboard today that stated Batman will be backwards "until July 7th". Cameron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GayCoasterGuy Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Was at the park this weekend - both trains are now on Batman (one with wheel covers, one without). Went to get on, then they shut down the entire ride for 30 minutes to clean up a protein spill. Later on Raging Bull: same thing - shut down entire ride for the better part of 30 minutes for a protein spill. When I worked at CP and SFOT, we would not load the train where the protein spill was. We'd quickly clean and spray it down good, then let it cycle a couple times empty to dry. But we always loaded the other trains. Weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blade1 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 I don't remember any lights on the back either. Got to ride it backward this weekend and I definitely like forward better. I rode in what was the old row 1. It was rougher than before and seemed more forceful too. Both trains were running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanM64 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Glad they finally got the 2nd train done. Anyone know if they ever got X-Flight's 2nd train finished yet? I'll have to head up there soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathbydinn Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 ^ X Flight is still one train. It appears there may be some problem with the front car as they've finished every other car but the front car is still just a frame and doesn't appear to have been touched in a few days now. The ride was also closed Sunday and Monday, so it might be having some other problems as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojo19799 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 When I worked at CP and SFOT, we would not load the train where the protein spill was. We'd quickly clean and spray it down good, then let it cycle a couple times empty to dry. But we always loaded the other trains. Weird. When I worked at SFGAm, we would only close down the ride depending on how bad the protein spill was. Most of the time we'd clean and spray then let it cycle. Then again this was many moons ago under a completely different management. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blade1 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 X Flight was running early Sunday with one train. I got on about 12:45 after a 45 minute wait. It closed for the day sometime in the midafternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanM64 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Good to know about X Flight, thanks! I didn't make it there last year at all, and I'm definitely not going until X Flight has both trains working properly, especially if Batman will be running backwards until July. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blade1 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Superman is also running one train and Raging Bull 2. XFlight was 45 minutes, Batman 25, Superman 60+, and Bull about 35 minutes on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAMTABSFGAm Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 On screamscape it was reported that Viper might run backwards for the first time. How do you feel about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 When I worked at SFGAm, we would only close down the ride depending on how bad the protein spill was. Most of the time we'd clean and spray then let it cycle. Then again this was many moons ago under a completely different management. And probably OSHA guidelines too. And infectious diseases knowledge. We're a bunch of pansies here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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