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"The Bat's" complete history


Shaggy
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There's a TON of myths, questions, rumors and mis-information about Kings Island's most notorious ride "The Bat." In honor of the 37th anniversary (to the day) of it's announcement, my latest blog is live on Kings Island's website. A true labor of love for me to write, click here if you'd like to read the true, fascinating story of the legendary, original suspended coaster... "The Bat."

Happy Halloween!

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2017/october/the-sporadic-erratic-flight-of-the-bat

 

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You always do a great job with your blog. I knew some of the history of The Bat, but there were some things that I was unaware of. 

I got the chance to ride this legendary coaster and it was really cool. Funny how years later, I had heard some of those rumors concerning deaths on The Bat. 

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Great blog!

I can't help but wonder if KIC was around during the OG Bat's building, malfunction and eventual demise what the forums would have looked like!  We lose it over a building going down over in Coney Mall, but if something started going up in plain sight without announcement - this place would be a madhouse.  And quite fun to watch.

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LOL!  Yes, 37 years ago, people had to suffer the painstaking process of "patience."   In today's world of instant news demand, can you imagine the furor?

I remember hearing that people speculated that the entire ride was upside down - since the track was inverted.  They didn't comprehend the hanging concept until it was announced.  Looking at the track, it appeared back then that the trains would ride upside down the whole time!

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I love reading about all these past rides. Great job Shaggy!

I was fortunate to get quite a few rides on the original Bat. It's too bad the initial design was so flawed, but I got lucky I suppose with the rides I had during the first year or so. It wasn't the fastest thing around, but it was a wild ride in it's inception. The descent off the second lift flying through the trees was my favorite part. Just watching the train swing through along the track was mind blowing as a 12-13 year old kid. It was such a new concept at the time. And I loved all the commercials for it and The Beast on TV back in the day. I still have a pennant the the original Bat, Beast and Screamin Demon logos together...it's one of my most loved souvenirs!

 

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I truly appreciate the encouragement.

Frankly - that blog was waaaay too long.  But how do you tell the story of the most infamous coaster in KI history in 4 sentences?  LOL!

I'll let you all in on a little secret.  I had to shake off a lot of the responses on FB, because even so, some went on and on in their comments about how it killed people, fell of the tracks etc.  Hoo boy ;-)

LOL!

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On 10/30/2017 at 2:11 PM, whengodsaysgo said:

Great blog!

I can't help but wonder if KIC was around during the OG Bat's building, malfunction and eventual demise what the forums would have looked like!  We lose it over a building going down over in Coney Mall, but if something started going up in plain sight without announcement - this place would be a madhouse.  And quite fun to watch.

See 2009-2012 Son of Beast.

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^ Except much worse.  At least with SOB we knew that it was not going to open any time soon.  That lended itself to a certain degree of speculation.  However, open for 3 days, closed for a month, opened for a day, etc. would be a much sweeter subject of conversation. 

Just think, though - had KIC been around it would have been Bill Mefford reciting to me, "No decision has been made about the future of The Bat." instead of Don. 

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  • 2 months later...

This was a really cool article - thanks for sharing! I've always been a bit curious as to the history of that ride, especially when they renamed the old Top Gun ride in homage to the original Bat. 

 

I've always been interested in the old Tomb Raider ride as well - I never had a chance to ride it, but always wondered why it failed. I read an article that told some of the story but I feel like it is missing some important details. And why don't they do something with it other than for the haunt? Surely the inside of it is in decent shape...

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5 hours ago, KImom said:

I've always been interested in the old Tomb Raider ride as well - I never had a chance to ride it, but always wondered why it failed. I read an article that told some of the story but I feel like it is missing some important details. And why don't they do something with it other than for the haunt? Surely the inside of it is in decent shape...

I never rode it as Tomb Raider, but I did on its final summer as The Crypt. They used bits of Hans Zimmer's score from Inception, which added a little bit to the experience for me. It was fun, but I miss the flume they tore down to build it. I do kinda wish something would go in its place. 

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42 minutes ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

This article does a decent job of chronicling Tomb Raider's life and includes video: https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20160207/31467/tomb-raider-how-one-americas-best-ever-themed-rides-was-buried-good

And no, I didn't write it. :P

Great article! I wish I got to ride it in its original form. It sounded great. Also, I never knew that Paramount Parks was linked to Blockbuster. 

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17 hours ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

This article does a decent job of chronicling Tomb Raider's life and includes video: https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20160207/31467/tomb-raider-how-one-americas-best-ever-themed-rides-was-buried-good

And no, I didn't write it. :P

That's a great read! I'm trying to imagine the disappointment of it going from an amazing ride to the hokey version with the screeching bat. It's astonishing to me that CF couldn't have found a way to make it work in a way that would live up to the original ride (while I never rode it, this article makes it sound like it was something I would have loved...much like the old Questor ride at Busch Gardens Williamsburg...the queue was just as awesome as the ride part--funny, I think I was only about 10 when I rode that ride and still remember it vividly). Anyway, with all of the artistic talent that can be found around Cincinnati, you'd think they'd have given this more of a fair shot. Thanks for sharing!!  :D

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