Batman The Escape

Infobox roller coaster
name = Batman The Escape


caption =
location = Six Flags AstroWorld
type = Steel
type2= Stand-up
manufacturer = Intamin AG
designer = Intamin AG
model = Stand-up
status = Relocated
opened = 1993
closed = 10/30/2005
height = 90
drop = 85
length = 2300
speed = 46
duration = 1:37
inversions = 1
capacity = 3 trains
height restriction = 54
rcdb_number=3472

Batman The Escape was a steel stand-up roller coaster located at Six Flags AstroWorld and designed by Intamin. The coaster featured one loop.

History

The ride was originally built in 1986 for Six Flags Magic Mountain where it was known as Shockwave. It was one of the first stand up roller coasters in the world. The coaster was a very popular attraction at Magic Mountain regardless of its roughness due to the positions of the restraints. At the time, Six Flags had a ride rotation program, in which some coasters would remain at a park for a couple years and then transferred to another park.

Late in 1988, the Shockwave was closed, in 1989 removed, and in 1990 relocated to Six Flags Great Adventure and opened there. At Magic Mountain, the former Shockwave location would be where the California Psyclone wooden twister coaster would be built in 1992.

At Great Adventure, the Shockwave would open a month into the 1990 season and be plagued with many technical difficulties. The ride continued to be quite rough but would have some of the longest lines in the park. At times Shockwave would not even open until 12:00 p.m. while the rest of the park opened at 10:00 a.m.

In June 1992, it was announced that Six Flags Great Adventure would add Batman The Ride, a then-state of the art steel inverted coaster for the 1993 season and begin building it on the then-current site of Lightning Loops. Lightning Loops would shut down at the end of July to be disassembled and for construction of Batman to begin. Then in August, the park would be told they would also be losing Shockwave, which closed after Labor Day weekend.

Shockwave would be dismantled in September 1992, relocated to Six Flags AstroWorld in 1993, and reopened in 1994. The coaster was painted a blue shade of white and renamed and rethemed "Batman The Escape". A Batcave adjacent to the coaster was also built and heavily themed as guests would prepare to ride the coaster.

This coaster was considered by some riders to be uncomfortable due to the restraint system. It was for this reason that many riders nicknamed this coaster "Batman The Mistake".

In 1998, the theming at the Batcave would be eliminated.

On September 12, 2005, Six Flags CEO, Kieran Burke, announced that the company's legendary AstroWorld theme park in Houston, Texas, would be closed and demolished at the end of the 2005 season. The company cited issues such as the park's performance, and parking issues involving the Houston Texans football team, Reliant Stadium, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo leveraged with the estimated value of the property upon which the park was located. Company executives were expecting to receive upwards of $150 million for the real estate, but ended up receiving less than half of that amount. After spending $20 million to demolish the park and clear the land, Six Flags received $77 million when the bare property was sold to a development corporation in 2006 (reported in a corporate earnings report). [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2006/05/08/daily27.html?from_rss=1 Local developer to acquire former Astroworld site - Houston Business Journal: ] ] This transaction contributed to the decision by shareholders of the company to remove CEO, Kieran Burke, from his position on the board. He was replaced by Mark Shapiro formerly of Disney and ESPN.

After being dismantled, this coaster was moved to Darien Lake where it is currently in storage. That park (along with several other Six Flags parks) was sold to PARC Management. This coaster was included in the sale. It may be added to one of the parks owned by PARC Management at some time in the future.

Influence on Future Coasters

Shockwave was one of the first standup coasters in the world. Another stand up looping steel coaster called "Shockwave" was built at King's Dominion by Togo but has no association with this coaster at all. In 1988, a roller coaster designing company called Bolliger & Mabillard (B & M) was formed by two former employees of Intamin. Their first project would be a stand-up steel looping roller coaster. This coaster would be much smoother and had more comfortable restraints than Shockwave. This coaster would be located at Six Flags Great America and known as Iron Wolf. B & M then began designing steel inverted coasters as well as steel floorless coasters.

In 1996, B & M designed a stand up steel looping coaster for Cedar Point called Mantis and another one in 1998 for Six Flags Magic Mountain called Riddler's Revenge. Both of these were even larger and smoother than Ironwolf. Though B & M perfected the stand up steel looping coaster, Intamin's Shockwave was the original which makes the coaster an important development. Without the Shockwave, these other stand up rides might have never been made.

Facts

*The ride featured a 66 foot tall vertical loop.
*The ride was originally blue and black. It was painted white in 1994 but was re-painted yellow and black in 2004.

References