The Bat (Kings Island) - April, 1981 full-circuit POV / TV advert
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2013
- A full-circuit POV on the Bat during its April, 1981 grand opening. Operated sporadically between 1981-1983, and eventually dismantled in 1985. So few people got to ride this legend - now is your chance! Bonus: vintage TV advert for this now-infamous roller coaster.
This video allows us to truly see what a flawed masterwork it was.
Oh - and BTW, while the ride turned out to be a tragic engineering failure, NO ONE ever died or was seriously injured while this ride briefly operated. Any claims to the contrary are false.
I felt like I could almost hear the ride tearing itself apart, especially when it hit some of those turns
It was hitting the stoppers, like at 2:10. The non-banked tracks did the ride in.
It was hitting the limits of the shock absorbers, which prevented it from swinging any further
@@_lucas_1k_ The metallic sounds is the limits of the shock absorbers. They are always in action but have a certain range.
Yeah Arrow did not bank the turns on this ride, which led to the shock absorbers wearing themselves out too much. Plus it had many other problems, including the computer system, the lift hills, the braking system, the ride structure. A lotttt.
@@TonyKimtheamusementparkfan But it had the highest swing. I'd give a 1000 to ride it once! 😁
Wow this is legendary. Back in a time when recording like this was rare you actually get to see something that doesn't exist anymore. The sounds of the chains the metal gosh I love roller coasters it's so sad to see one go.
Wow, this ride looks like it was insane. Just look at how extreme the swinging was on some of the turns! You can definitely tell this was a prototype, especially when you read about all the technical problems it had. Looks like it was a hell of a ride.
I rode it around 5-10 times and I didn't like it. Kept riding again showing up with different friends. Last time I rode it... Like 2 days later the cars fell off, and death
I rode it once as a kid with my mother. She had a death grip on me as I was sliding around a lot and she was afraid I would be thrown out.
@@shac9131 Nobody ever died on this coaster
No car ever fell off the bat and there were no deaths. The only death from a ride at Kings island was when a drunk woman fell off flight commander
I'm surprised someone was able to film this in full without it breaking down.
But only because someone knew which button to quickly press at lift 2 😁
The bat is still riding 😁
Top gun which was renamed the bat to honor the original is still running. But the original bat was torn down after only 3 years in the park
@@ShoeTubeShorts.Completely different coaster.
As a teen in the early 80s I absolutely loved this ride. It was so problematic though and a trip to the park was always a gamble if you'd be able to ride or if it was "temporarily closed" Oh the memories!
I love how people say "Oh The Bat is still at Kings Island." No this is The Bat people. They renamed Flight Deck/Top Gun. This was located where Vortex is now.
WickedlyMe328 yeah. The old bat and the new bat are similar ride models but they were built in different locations and in different times
Sophie's Blog04 the bats color skeam sucks orange and grey I hope they rename it TOP GUN
At one time, Vortex had the most loops of any coaster in the US.
I rode the old bat. Scary but fun
And now vortex is gone
I actually rode this bad boy back in the day, and the thing that really freaked me out about it was how the car would swivel right before encountering several support pillars for the track, with split second timing to avoid the pillars.
I was genuinely spooked by that little touch!
Thanks for sharing this. It's hard enough to find pictures of The Bat, let alone a POV video.
The TV commercial was fantastic.
Why can't they make commercials that cool anymore?
1:05, 1:09 1:13 (especially) 2:07 2:10 - Nice clear reasons why The Bat was truly a learning experience for Arrow... yikes!
Glad they learned to bank the turns!
not only that, but put shock absorbers on the hinges
Yeah, at 2:11 you can legit HEAR a bang as it swung as far as it could.
Thank God it didn't go past 40 mph, or there would've been worse issues.
Jeremy Barker they should have kept the original bat instead of vortex, if they would have kept the original big, and TOP GUN they would have 2 arow dynamics suspended coasters
The bats color skeam sucks orange and grey I hope they rename it TOP GUN
The only time I got to ride this was right after it had been raining. We were lucky enough to get the front seats! But, as luck would also have it, the design of the rail made ALL of the water that had settled on the rail be pushed off right into the front seats as it started on its journey, which was a downpour onto my head, making my Farrah Fawcett hair plaster over my eyes. For the whole ride I couldn’t see a dang thing! Whoever videotaped this, thank you so much! We thought we would ride it again because of our season passes, but every time we tried the ride was “temporarily closed”. Awesome ride, so sad they couldn’t work the bugs out of the original Bat!
I remember riding this. It was my favorite at Kings Island back then. I would of never known he had mechanical problems. It was SO MUCH fun.
Everyone knows the best advertisement ends with someone on the ride saying "That hurt my body!"
Those outrageous swings! The later models don't go that high!
man this coaster looked wild...I've heard the stories..did you hear the way that thing slammed into that second lift hill...I'm good lol
Was a great ride. I rode it several times in 1983
There NEEDS to be more ads like that
+Julian Dale Agreed... the new ads suck. Banshee's ad was embarrassing...
Back when Kings Island and Hanna Barbara cartoons were owned by same company - Taft.
SteelVortex I'm 15 years old I like the old ads better
Hand animation
SteelVortex I liked banshees advert. Loved the inclusion of the son of beast.
I rode it July of 83 shortly before it shut down to riders permanently. The thing I remember that scared me was when the trains would swing you would hear an unsettling squeaking sound. I thought it was thrilling but honestly I didn’t want to ride it again because it felt very unsafe. Probably shocking that nobody ever was seriously injured or worse on it. I remember the day that I rode it that it did have a couple of of periods of mechanical downtime.
Ten years before Batman: the Ride at Six Flags Great America opened (1992), we had The Bat at Kings Island. I consider these Arrow Dynamics suspended coasters to be the ancestors to the Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coasters we have today.
It makes me wish that the roller coaster companies of today would remake the rides of yesteryear for future generations to come... If only the parks respect their elder coasters more (e.g. Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, VA)
I am so glad I got to ride this several times before it was closed for good. I was very lucky and I loved this ride! The rumors out there saying that there was people killed on the Bat are false! The ride had many technical problems due to the fact that it was a prototype and very first of its kind. They learned from the mistakes of this type of ride to be able to make future ride types. The big problems the original Bat had was non-banking of the stressful curves on the shock absorbers and also the braking fins installed on the bottom of the trains. The ride experienced cracks in the steel track, the wheels and the brake fins made the ride too stressful on the actual wheels on the track above.
This ride really was a great ride but a maintenance nightmare! Also a very costly rollercoaster to try and operate! It was fun while it was here! It would be nice if they could get a new "Bat" that could be very similar to the original that wouldn't be too costly to operate.....,..
+Jim Ewen Was it good? I would expect with the classic Arrow restraints and the... Arrow trains that this would be rough. Was it smooth?
+Skylord To be honest it wasn't too rough but it took the turns way too fast and furious and was too much strain not only on the trains but on the track as well. If the turns were banked, then the trains wouldn't have stressed so much and the Coaster may have as well been here today still. This very first Arrow Dynamics Coaster was really awesome when it was running but it would break down continuously on a daily basis.
Yes this coaster was a HEADBANGER. The main thing though was that these were the type of over the shoulder restraints and there was more room between the restraint and the persons head. The restraint was a (thinner) type therefore making more room but it did still headbang some. I guarantee you that you would have loved this coaster. Only if the banking was a little better they may have been able to save the original "Bat" coaster!!
By rough I mean head banging. So, that's a yes to that. As for the banking, well... I guess they wanted to test their swinging cars to the limit.
There's one a lot like it, just not two lift hills.
I was at Kings Island July 1982, and saw BAT 'standing / not operating'.
It really did slam against the stops. Uncomfortable but fun. Seems I remember it being down a lot. Being a "first" they learned a lot about hanging coasters.
Yes uncomfortable but fun. 1983 my favorite ride
Incredible. Probably at this time the rarest POV video out there. Thanks for sharing!
I rode it 3 times during a grad night during '83...I remember at one point they had to replace some wheels while we were in line....but kept it going. It was a great ride while it lasted.
Love it! I'm stating to think those unbanked turns were intentional. Like they new the ride would be more insane with less banked turns, but probably didn't realize how stressful it would be on the ride
jones2tl They were intentional because the car was able to swing freely from the track.
They certainly were. All earlier attempts at the suspended coaster that I have seen had unbanked track and relied on the trains for the banking. Werner Stengel worked with some German company with a long German name that I don't have memorized by heart to make their version of the suspended coaster. Quite like Arrow's original attempt, it put too much stress on the ride.
@@FanOfVacuums2 This gave it so much stress, that it wore those shocks out in a week. After that, it would swing even higher and hit the stoppers. They were constantly changing them. They even put steel retaining cables to support the track, later on.
Very lucky to have ridden it during two of its short lived seasons. Love the Zodiac double wheel in the background too! Oh how I miss classic Kings Island...
Totally miss this coaster! After watching the POV, I'm reminded of why it suffered so many problems.
Thank you for posting this! This is the first full POV of the bat I've seen!
I used to love this commercial, I am so glad you placed it here!
I remember riding that with dad in the 80’s. Thank you for bringing back a good memory
It was a thrill to this 9 year old! This is one of the coasters that made me become an enthusiast and learn about the different designers etc. Was great to see Arrow perfect their flaws and build many more of these. I'm sure a ton of Top Gun/Flight Deck riders don't know they are riding a direct descendant of The Bat :)
this aged well
Gave it the name now.
Thanks for uploading this! I've always wanted to see video of this ride! It's hard to find!
I've read about this ride for years, but this is my first time seeing it. It looks absolutely insane, I'm amazed that passed any kind of inspection. I also never realized it had two lift hills. In retrospect, Arrow sure made a lot of bad decisions.
This ride was fucking insane when I rode it, I was like being in a wine bottle swinging every which way
Brings back some memories. I was barely 10 when I first rode it so it's nice to see it again. Lines were ridiculous. I rode it a few visits the first and second years, but after that it always seemed to be shut down, until they finally removed it.
Thanks for sharing that man! Never got to ride it. 81-85 dude?! Soooo cool.
The camera quality is surprisingly good for early 1980's tech and although it is no longer in operation closing after an embarrassingly short 3 seasons it still looks like fun and you can kinda hear it dismantling as it proceeds
I don’t think this was shot on a digital camera, so as long as the film was stored properly it has near infinite quality, only limited by the scan.
Awesome man, thanks for posting! It's crazy how much the cars would swing.
Thank you so much for uploading this! Ive been looking for it for 2 years! You are awesome!
this looks absolutely fucking insane, wow, everybody that got to the chance to ride this i envy you
Thank you for making this video!!!
My dad went to KI in 1983, saw this ride but they were doing the dreaded maintenance on it.
This ride was awesome! I rode it more times than I can count back in the early 80s and was on one of the last rides at the end of July of 1983. Yeah, it had its problems. But it was still a million times better than that pathetic excuse for a ride they call "The Bat" today.
I never got to ride this Bat, but I hate how people say Flight Deck/Top Gun is very similar! I didn’t even have to ride this one to know that’s not even accurate! I was born in 1981, so this was long gone before I was at the height limit. I only remember Vortex being there.
1:13 and 2:10 you can literally hear the supports hit the unbanked track. Plus putting the brakes on the bottom instead of above caused an alignment issue. Great concept but was a structural nightmare.
This ride was down more than it was running. They put steel tie-downs on the track to keep the track from rocking back and forth, after the track broke. The shocks on it were replaced constantly. I think it cost too much to maintain. It was fun though. Swung high, and was exciting!
Thank you for sharing this gem!
Ouch @ 1:12 and again at 2:10! I see why they removed it.
killwize and cuz the dreaded chain lift
I like how it stops on the second chain lift so that the cars can stop swinging before resuming
for years I was wanting to see what the bat looked like! thank you so much! :)
Just amazing to see this video!. I rode this with my dad in 81 when I was 7. First year I was tall enough to get on everything. I remember it stopped on the second hill for a few seconds, severely creeping me out due to all the press about the breakdowns.
When the ride hit the break run in this POV, that jolt and bang was actually one of the break fins not being alined and snapping off 😂
Oh my! Thank you so very much for posting this! The tv advertisement was a real treat as well!!!!
I rode this a kid in the rear car. I was scared. After watching this video, it brought back some memories. However, seeing it slam against the stops in the two right turns worries me. Thankfully nobody really was injured badly on this thing. The track should have been banked too.
Just the video I was looking for! Thank you!
Omg I've been looking for this pov for years ty
Everytime we went it was closed....never got to ride it. But I'm reminded of it when I ride Vortex...as it's que-house is the original Bat's que. We got Top Gun a few years later....pretty much the same ride. In fact, as of 2014 they've even renamed Top Gun, "The Bat".
firstmusic00 the TOP GUNS bat color skeam sucks orange and grey I hope they rename it TOP GUN
They can't because thats copyrighted by Paramount.
firstmusic00 the name sucks now the bat and color skeam
if only they banked the turns, it may have survived it they did
That looked fun but the new bat is fun I really like the ad for it
Wheres the bank turns😁 As for the comments saying that it sounds likes its being torn apart. The speed the cars are going arount flat banked turns is causing the train to swing so high that each car is hitting a stopper preventing the train from swinging too far. Thats the noise your hearing
This gave it so much stress, that it wore those shocks out in a week. When they started to wear, it would swing even higher and hit the stoppers. They were constantly changing them. They even put steel retaining cables to support the track, later on.
No it's (even) hitting the limits of the shock absorbers. Which are meant to prevent this. Leading to their daily (!) demise. But it was opening so no costs are too high.
A maintenance nightmare, but an awesome ride. Got to ride it in 1982.
If anyone doesn't know the old bat is where vortex stands today. And the new bat is just top gun/flight deck
The list of Arrow’s mess up’s were quite a long one.
•you can see the chain doesn’t really like up with the thing that catches it
•Those shock absorbers are getting destroyed, you can hear it
•The track looks like it doesn’t want to live
•Again, with catchers for the chain on the second lift, it struggled to pull the thing up
•It’s going way too fast, and slamming into the supports
•You can hear the breaks trying in vain to do their job
I rode it. Don't remember the exact year, but it was wild because you just didn't see these types of rides back then. I believed all those tall tales that somebody died on The Bat for the longest time until I got internet and did my own research. haha
+Carl Gibbons lol yeah there were a LOT of rumors about this legendary ride since it spent more time closed than open. I too got to ride in 83 and will never forget those forceful swings! I loved the sculpted Bat heads on the cars.
There was an urban legend that people died on this and that's why it was removed. The other was that people had their legs torn off which makes no sense. The engineering issues obviously make more sense. You can really see the trains slamming around which would have been a maintenance nightmare.
I worked in rides at Kings Island from 1981-1988, it was not the track but the wheels that could not handle the stress
This was a wicked ride! Glad I got several rides in on it when I did. I sure was lucky but yea the ride felt like it literally was going to rip right off those rails. Also at the very end when the underside of the train the brake fins would hit very hard and it shows that in this video at the very end and you can hear someone say oh! I distinctly remember saying that myself on this ride, and even on some of those turns. You can even hear the cars swinging so violently high and hear like metal ripping at the track and the cars. This was a seriously unique ride and it was a shame that it had to go because this Bat was definitely a lot better at the swings than the current Bat we now have which was built 12 years after the original. But yes i was lucky to get to ride it more than 20 times. It was constantly broke down very seldom operating. Everyday you would go to Kings Island it would say out front that The Bat will NOT be operating today but sometimes they would open it for an hour or 2 and then it would break down again and they would repeat the process all the time. Arrow Dynamic builders and engineers were stationed at the park always while this ride was running as they were trying to find ways to keep it running permanently however during the second year they gave up on it about half way thru the season and it sat SBNO the rest of 1982 and SBNO at all in 1983. Over the winter of 1983-84 they trashed the ride and all of the track and poles were cut away and scrapped and sent to the scrapyard. All the queue lines remained and was used for Vortex. One fun fact that no one here knows about or might not remember but the loading station for The Bat/Vortex has an upstairs queue line that they currently use and there used to be a downstairs queue lines that was used on busy days! When Vortex opened, they used the downstairs queue lines the first year but didn't used them after the first year as they began using the area for storage. True fact. Also if you look hard enough you can still see some of of the old Bat footings down below the station area. Interesting facts. Have a great day all!
The sign out by the front gate where it says the following attractions will not be operating today, It always had The Bat listed everyday! The park could never guarantee that the coaster would operate at all so they just said if you see it open, jump in the line. One problem was that people would line up and after the coaster made about 30 -40 rounds on the track, the coaster would break down again! It was a nightmare for the maintenance crew, that was who are standing at the end of the ride.
That's crazy! It would bang and try to swing passed what the chassis allows! Thank you for posting this
Still better than Vortex...
Wicked vid! and oh my word you can even see/feel/hear the brake fins on the bottom of the car smacking the pre station brakes cause the train wasn't aligned perfect with the brakes.
2:10 Ow...
YES! I HAVE WAITED FOR YEARS FOR THIS! AWESOME!
Thanks for the great memories.
Worth pointing out that this was the intensity in the front. Can only imagine the back car going through those turns with even more speed.
I wanted to ride this so badly as a kid but I just wasn't tall enough. I went again a year or two later and the Bat was gone :(
I do think it's cool that Kings Island has paid homage to The Bat by renaming Top Gun/Flight Deck, but judging from this POV video, it doesn't hold a candle to the original Bat.
How tall did u have to be chef danger
Philip Koshy I don't remember, but I was 5 years old and my height at the time didn't cut it.
Ok
Chef Danger top gun is the same ride trust me.
I never got to ride it when I was little. Now it’s like I did! Thanks!
I like how there was a single "woah!" when that brake fin snapped and then silence
Amazing! Can only imagine how terrifying this concept would have been in the early 1980s. While the Bat unfortunately had a a few inherent design/mechanical flaws that would lead to its early demise, the impact the ride would have on roller coaster design would be phenomenal. By the way, those swinging sweeps on the Bat would have knocked more than a few shrieks out of me.
at the end u can hear someone talk about how much it hurt (2:27 ?)
Glad I rode it when I was a kid...don't know if my body could handle it as well now! Just showed the video to my 9 yr. old, and as it played he's pointing out the Racer, Shake-Rattle & Roll, Beast, and then says, "Hey, that's Vortex's station!"
The one behind the camera did an incredible job, those are probably the creepiest sounding anti rollback devices I've heard in a video.
what an amazing ride. if only it worked
next year will be the 40th anniversary of the original bats opening
I did not expect the cars to swing that much!
I remember this commercial.
I was 3 months old when this ride opened...damn I'm getting old.
Rode it in early July, 1983. That's the last season it operated. They used new trains that year but still had problems. I believe in 84 it stood but never operated. Wasn't fast but the swings were pretty wild.
I believe that ride was called the Zodiac. The one at 2:24.
I just found it listed. cool thank you , that's awasome
I missed out. I grew up 3 hours north of KI and only visited every few years as a kid. Never got to ride the original Bat!
I wonder what happened to the bats old trains they look cool and if they still exist they could be used on the flight deck or the new bat as of 2014
creeperboom gaming, They were scrapped all together due to the violent swinging that put major stress on the cars and tracks.
They didn't have shock absorbers on the old trains. So even if they did put them on the new bat, they would still break.
They were stored under the loading building for years until they were finally scrapped.
Not to mention the brakes are on the bottom of the train and the wheels are above the train. You can see how much the whole train and structure shudders when the train hits the final brake run. The Bat, in a way, was a prototype for future inverted coasters. This ride looks so fantastic and bad at the same time.
The Vortex occupies the same space the Bat once did. The building or station house was designed for the bat. Once the Bat was scrapped due to too much daily maintenance the station house was left and the vortex built in the same space. check KI extreme.com for some more info on this.
I was one of the lucky ones to get to ride the original the first year it opened..It was awesome! Wish the Flight Deck was laid out the same way.I have never ridden Flight Deck,but always wondered why they just didn't name it "The Bat" to start with. This was the scariest coaster I had ever ridden,and even scarier at night! It was so awesome!
kings island has re-named "top gun/flight deck" "the bat". getting all retro. plus, it is just pretty much a "perfected" version of the original bat anyway.
That looked awsome
I was too small ride ride the bay but o remember when they took it out and put Vortex in.
Crazy to think this was 40 years ago
That looks more fun than the one we have now these days only if it was painted though like the bat we have now ;)
Gawd I miss this coaster! This was way better than that stupid top gun flight deck! Its a shame because the non banking this coaster had . You can clearly see the stress the trains had operating on this track. I was lucky to ride this about 20 or so times! It was down quite a bit but I got lucky and it would open when we would be in the area and we got on before it broke down again. What a shame, a great coaster with awesome trains!
The vortex is in its place now RampGuy1
nope
Unfortunately the Vortex is also gone now... just a drone field- which are pretty cool during fireworks. We would really like to see a Maverick/Copperhead strike style in its place. fits in with rivertown. and a skyhawk giant swing too! see you at the park!
1:13 the infamous "side hit" that can cause the coaster to swing the other way far too much; this design flaw is what ultimately caused the ride to have to close very early on. This feature was also a problem on Big Bad Wolf but Arrow was able to fix the issue on BBW and it was able to stay open for many years but the bat bit the dust after just 3 years.
Flight Deck has now been renamed THE BAT and has a change of colors!
teamflyers415 the bats color skeam sucks orange and grey I hope they rename it TOP GUN