The Dark Knight Ride at Six Flags

[TracyThom]

The wife and I went down to Six Flags Great America this past Thursday. I hadn't been to Great America in probably 7 or 8 years. The new ride this year was The Dark Knight. I will tell you all beforehand. Save your time, it is not worth the wait at all. Throughout the day, we had to wait no more than 15 minutes for all the rides except TDK. Our wait for TDK was around 1 hour and 10 minutes. The ride is all indoors, which will make the lines really long on rainy and/or really hot days.

 

 

****RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD TYPED IN WHITE*****

 

Anyway, this ride belongs at Disney or Universal much more than Great America. It isn't even really a roller coaster. After waiting outside for awhile, you finally make inside a building, where you wait a lot longer. Once you are at the front of the line inside the building, you are ushered into a room where you watch a faux press conference with DA Harvey Dent. Towards the end of the press conference, the video feed begins to fade in and out, and you hear the Joker's laugh and voice. The lights go out momentarily, and when it comes back on, there is "graffiti" written all over the walls. You are then ushered into a hallway, where you wait some more. Your line stretches down two long hallways until you reach the actual ride.

 

Your ride is made to look like a train cart, because you are supposed to be riding a train to vacate Gotham. There are 4 people to a cart, sitting 2 in front and 2 in back. The cart never stops for you to get on. You have to get on while it is still moving like The Haunted Mansion ride at Disney MGM Studios. The ride itself is awful. It reminded me a lot of The Mad Mouse at Little A-Merrick-A in Marshall. You ride along and your cart makes sharp curves. There are a couple dips but nothing scary. You hear the Joker's laugh throughout. It is awful, just awful. They tried to make The Dark Knight more of a movie attraction than a ride, but the failed miserably doing that as well.

*****END RIDE SPOILERS*******

 

On another note, Viper was a lot more fun than I remembered. That was also the first time I rode Superman, Raging Bull, and Vertical Velocity. I didn't like Superman. The inverted loop pinned me back and hurt a little bit. Raging Bull was okay. Not too good and not too bad. Vertical Velocity was more fun than scary. I liked it. Out of all the rides, Batman the Ride is still my favorite.

[TracyThom]

 

If you skip ahead to the 4:52 mark of this YouTube video, you can see the press conference they show while you are waiting in line.

[T B0NE 10]

Raging Bull is awesome and is my favorite....That loop on Superman is crazy. Batman always makes me seem a little sick. De Ja Vu was one of my favorites too before they tore it down cuz it was broke all the time

[InsomniacInkRoss]

I have never heard of ride spoilers before, haha

 

Did they tear something down to make this? Or did they convert the space shuttle again? I was under the impression they just jazzed up the line on the way to the current Batman coaster.

 

I love every ride there except for Iron Wolf (Rolling Thunder sucked, but it's gone now) I actually blacked out in a corner on Iron Wolf, that has never happened anywhere before or after, something that did not make me feel good about that ride at all, oh, and the, um, "man parts" issue with the harness.

[razzzorsharp]

Raging Bull=Awesome

[Team Canada]

Yeah, I heard DK sucks too. On the other hand, I love Raging Bull.

[burniebrewer]

something that did not make me feel good about that ride at all, oh, and the, um, "man parts" issue with the harness.

 

I love that ride. I think the trick is to squat down low before they lock the seat into position. The squat affords you a little extra room.

[valpocrewsader]

I still refuse to believe they got rid of Shockwave. Worst decision ever.

[Menotti80]

shockwave was amazing. as long as you know where to position your head during that one part where you get rattled a bit, it was an incredible ride. i did get stuck on the top of shove wave once and had to get out on a windy afternoon and walk down those little stairs. talk about nerve-racking...

 

raging bull and viper are also very good. batman is alright, but its so darn short.

 

superman??? you know its been too long where there are rides you've never even heard of...

[Bikeage77]

geeze, de ja vu is aleady gone? i remember it was the big thing, but never got to ride it cuz the 4 times i was there when it was up it was always shut down...i used to go to six flags for free when i did camp counselling...i guess de javu made sense cuz every time i went it was closed....what was that other ride that six flags used to have that was always closed? dejavu took it's place and that was always closed too...the eagle and viper are the best rides there cuz they're wooden, but i love raging bull...giant drop is also pretty sweet...i haven't been there since superman opened...i dunno what people have to even pay for a ticket these days....i remember when twickets were a dollar, now i hear they are 20?!?! that's a joke...get the half day pass and get there after work...all the kids groups are gone and you can hit every ride without much of a line, besides, after 5 hours yer prolly burned out anyway!!!!

 

great america = money pit!!!!!!!

[Raw Biz]

Raging Bull is easily the best ride there. I love Superman too though. For some reason I feel safer laying down (looking at the ground) going up on the ascent than I do sitting down (looking at the sky) on most other ones.

[stoutdude04]

Not to hi-jack. If you like raging bull, you should take a trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. Infact, ill say most every ride there is better then six flags. Place in unreal. Sad to hear about TDK ride though. My girlfriend was looking forward to checking it out some time.

[Katuluu]

Shockwave was a notorious maintenance nightmare. It was shutdown on almost a daily basis for small intervals to keep it up to safety standards. As fun as the ride was, I can't imagine that it wasn't a rather big drain on the park budget.

[razzzorsharp]

geeze, de ja vu is aleady gone? i remember it was the big thing, but never got to ride it cuz the 4 times i was there when it was up it was always shut down...i used to go to six flags for free when i did camp counselling...i guess de javu made sense cuz every time i went it was closed....what was that other ride that six flags used to have that was always closed? dejavu took it's place and that was always closed too...the eagle and viper are the best rides there cuz they're wooden, but i love raging bull...giant drop is also pretty sweet...i haven't been there since superman opened...i dunno what people have to even pay for a ticket these days....i remember when twickets were a dollar, now i hear they are 20?!?! that's a joke...get the half day pass and get there after work...all the kids groups are gone and you can hit every ride without much of a line, besides, after 5 hours yer prolly burned out anyway!!!!

 

great america = money pit!!!!!!!

I can see this is a topics that excites you.

 

Last time I was in Great America, a month ago, the Eagle broke down when I was riding it on the top of the first drop. Half an hour later we got down and off that ride, for the last time in my life.

[T B0NE 10]

 

Last time I was in Great America, a month ago, the Eagle broke down when I was riding it on the top of the first drop. Half an hour later we got down and off that ride, for the last time in my life.

I think they got to tear that old thing down. It takes up soo much space. They could fit 3 coasters in the spot that American Eagle takes up. After they took down De Ja Vu, all Great America has for great coasters is Superman and Raging Bull, V2 and Batman are OK, Iron Wolf is terrible. Havent gone on Viper many times.

 

If you like wooden coasters go to Mt Olympus in Wisconsin Dells and ride Hades. It is the best wooden coaster I've been on. It makes American Eagle and Viper look tiny and kiddish.

[Bikeage77]

I can see this is a topics that excites you.

 

 

Not nearly as much as a 12 pack of PBR does, apparently

 

[Menotti80]

"Iron Wolf is terrible."

 

Iron Wolf isn't the greatest, but as long as you get that "seat adjustment" in the right spot, it's a pretty good ride. The thing that makes it worthwhile is the one sudden drop that comes out of absolute nowhere. I want to say it is after a few corkscrews. The ride then turns right and BAM, you drop instantly another 20 ft. No other ride there is that unpredictable

[T B0NE 10]

"Iron Wolf is terrible."

 

Iron Wolf isn't the greatest, but as long as you get that "seat adjustment" in the right spot, it's a pretty good ride. The thing that makes it worthwhile is the one sudden drop that comes out of absolute nowhere. I want to say it is after a few corkscrews. The ride then turns right and BAM, you drop instantly another 20 ft. No other ride there is that unpredictable

Also your head rattles bad in the head holder thing. (The main reason I hate it) I think Batman is unpredictable

 

[TracyThom]

Yeah, my wife got a headache after riding Iron Wolf since her head was getting banged around pretty good. Anyone remember Z-Force? Or was it called G-Force? I remember I was younger and close to the front of the line, but I had to leave because I wasn't tall enough. That stunk.

 

The Whizzer is still there too. That was the first roller coaster I have ever ridden on. Oh yeah, Giant Drop is the only attraction I actually avoid. To me, it isn't fun at all. Just scary.

[bork]

Last year was the first time at Great America in 4 years. Before that, I had gone ever year from 1989- 2003 and am a big coaster nut. But I couldn't believe the prices. Now things have gone up again. $15 to park in the far lot and $25 to park on the main lot. Mandatory $1 lockers at all major coasters. Insane prices for crappy food. Rides closing with no replacements. It's really gone down hill since Time Warner sold Six Flags.

My 3.5 year old son had a good time, especially in the Wiggles area, but now over 48" have to pay the adult prices. He'll hit that by the time he's 5.

They still have some great coasters, but it's getting to the point where it isn't worth it anymore.

[Samurai Bucky]

The only reason we go to GA is because our kids get free tickets as part of a reading program in school. That saves a boat load of cash. We pack a lot of ice and have a sandwich lunch. We will go out, put on our swimsuits, eat lunch at the car, go to the water park for a few hours. Then we come back to the car, change, and then we'll eat something on the grounds. It is really expensive, though.

 

I wouldn't go if the kids didn't go -- and it was free for them.

[T B0NE 10]

I think instead of building that waterpark they should have built more coasters too. Maybe thats just my opinion because that waterpark at Six Flags is nothing compared to the Dells.