The Bat Opening Day - 1981

[jandyb79]

April 26, 1981

From Timothy Dagg

*For immediate release in the next issue of COASTER WORLD.

*Enclosed: 1 Bat article, photographs (with descriptions) and 1 reply card.

*Allen, see you end of May at Great America!

The Bat FLIES!

By Tim Dagg

Kings Island, Opening Day – A friend of mine and I ventured down to Kings Mills from Toledo to be a part of the park’s opening day activities and hopefully of the maiden run of The Bat, Kings Island’s newest roller coaster. Interstate seventy-five took us not only to our destination but also to better weather than what Toledo had.

As we traveled, I became less skeptical of the weather and was glad to know that Ms. Ruth Voss, A.C.E.’s official Kings Island contact (sort-to-speak) and director of public relations, would have a nice day for the unveiling of her new “toy” The Bat.

Opening day for Kings Island was Sunday, April 26^th. We learned that on Saturday, April 25^th, the park had been bought-out by three major firms. Also that day, according to Ruth Voss, the park’s phone system had been out of service for six hours that afternoon. Thus officials were in somewhat of a frenzy having to rely only on walkie-talkies for communication. What was funny was the fact that one of the companies in the park that day were Bell System employees!

Nevertheless, Terry, my traveling cohort and I were at the front gate of Kings Island very early Sunday morning. Unfortunately for us, that night was the beginning of daylight-savings time. While we waited at the Guest Relations office for Ruth Voss to meet us and take us to The Bat, we were joined by other A.C.E. members from different parts of the country. Matter of fact, throughout the entire day, we probably saw close to thirty or forty A.C.E. member in the park wearing the logo.

The Bat’s safety runs ended at about forty-five minutes after the park opened. The riders of the first train came off with different thoughts about the ride showing on their faces. Some definitely enjoyed the ride and ran to the back of the queue while others may have been thinking they ‘never want to go on it again’ but probably would. There were also some who may have thought The Bat was simply another gimmicky technological tool for some company to make money with.

Terry and I personally thought The Bat was an excellent roller coaster. However, it cannot be fairly evaluated because there is nothing to compare it to. The Bat is the only suspended coaster built to date.

General comments about The Bat among members of A.C.E. were varied. Many agreed that the color of the station, bright purple and white (or something like that) were a poor choice of colors.

A positive item of thought was that we (A.C.E.) might actually have heavy influence on the roller coaster industry. I am referring to the change in the over-the-shoulder harness that Arrow developed for The Bat.

Last summer at the Kennywood convention, one A.C.E. member made it quite clear to Arrow representative Larry Neuman how uncomfortable the harnesses were.

Arrow’s original suspended test coaster constructed in their prototype field in Mountainview, California had the round harnesses similar to the type used on their corkscrews. The Bat’s harnesses, however, are flat at the top where they rest on the rider’s shoulders and round at the bottom near the rider’s stomach. After The Bat dropped us back at the Victorian mansion (style of station), we ventured deeper into the woods only to be captured by The Beast. Next to follow was The Racer and the SCREAMIN DEMON then back to The Bat and BEAST, circling around for the rest of the day! All in all, Kings Island’s opening day went well and fast – the park closes at 8:00 p.m. until their full schedule start on Memorial Day. We thank Ms. Voss for her hospitality, her enthusiasm in A.C.E., and of course, for her fine job she does at Kings Island. The Bat is out of the bag…and is a big success. Which park will be the next “victim” for a BAT or similar suspended coaster?

###########

This is the unusual merchandising symbol for Kings Island's newest thrill ride, The Bat. The hanging coaster, the first of its kind in the world, will feature three 7-car trains, with each car custom-designed to resemble a bat in flight. The Bat is scheduled to open in April of 1981.

Series of signs shows message that greeted guest to Kings Island on opening day in late April:

A crowd of "Coastermaniacs" seeking truth behind gossip of a bat flying around at Kings Island patiently await the opening of the front gates.

Ruth Voss (center) leads member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts to The Bat.

Kings Island Maintenance workers check the wiring on one of the chain lifts of The Bat before its maiden run on opening day:

A view from the front of one of the trains shows The Bat creature head detail and "round design" shoulder harnesses before they were changed:

BAT riders in the front seat saw something like this as the coaster climbed the first chain lift...

...the coaster reaches the top of the 100 ft. high lift...

...at the top of the two lifts, just before the coaster is released from the chain, the catch-guard and cat walk end suddenly producing a feeling of psychological insecurity resulting from not having frame work beneath you!

The countries only suspended coaster starts its descent far above the treetops at Kings Island.

The Bat currently is running two trains on its layout. When Kings Island's full summer schedule begins and certain discrepancies get ironed out, three trains will run with a ride capacity of 2000 pph.

This picture not only show how close The Bat comes from the ground and its support columns but also show the different swing-angles. At this particular S-curve toward the front of the ride, the coaster comes through at such a high speed that it appear the third car from the right swung even higher than 90 degrees as if it's trying to "dump" its passengers!

Finally The Bat enters its Victorian mansion-styled station to drop off its white-faced victims and pickup a new batch of thrillseekers.

The Bat roller coaster suspended from its track rolls smoothly and quietly into the station as Kings Island guest look on.

A.C.E. members ride the front seat of The Bat to familiarize themselves with the layout and to compare front to back seats.

A view from Kings Island's Eiffel Tower shows the track layout of The Bat and its location between The Racer (left) and The Beast (off picture, immediately to the right).

Credits:

All photos by Terry Fell

Article by Tim Dagg

Coaster World magazine

American Coaster Enthusiasts

Kings Island

All documents and photographs were compiled by Josh Blake (from his personal collection) for historical purposes only.

[TTD-120-420]

This was beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

[rcwizard13]

Wow! Awesome photos; thanks for sharing!

[PhantomTheater]

The brakes were below the train. How interesting.

[Existential]

Fantastic photos!

Nice find.

[flightoffear1996]

Thanks for sharing. Some really awesome photos you have there.

[jla]

Thanks. That brings back memories.

[upstop]

Fantastic pictures!!!! Thanks for posting them!

[PKIVortex]

The brakes were below the train. How interesting.

That was one of the design flaws with the ride, along with no banking for the turns.

[sikkinixx99]

That was amazing to look at!! Thanks for sharing those. I love the layout of the track how it comes so close to the ground. Too bad when they built Top Gun they didn't use that lay out that would have been great!!

[xXDrummerKiDXx]

That station looks very familiar.

😏

[MantisMan]

And all this time I thought to have seen all existing pictures of The Bat.....I was wrong.

Thanks for posting.

[jandyb79]

This was the full article to be published in Coasterworld Spring 1981, and I don't believe all of the pictures were used. So, it's safe to say that many have never been seen until now.

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

I see they went all out on the lights for the marquee sign on Opening Day.

[silver2005]

So if the brakes were under the cars, how did they slow down before engaging lift #2? Did trains just fly up the lift? How was it slowed at the end?

[thedevariouseffect]

I couldn't honestly say, I've never ridden The Bat. It doesn't look like it has a device to hold the cars in place like other Arrow Suspended Swinging coasters. Looking at the POV there isn't a lift trim brake at all, it just speeds up the lift after slowing down and attaches to the chain.

[silver2005]

Wow, it really burned momentum really quick. A result of the un-banked track perhaps?

[thedevariouseffect]

Perhaps, I honestly never delved that much into The Bat, it looked excellent and probably a completely wild ride, but being I never had a chance to ride it and we have a replacement over it now and a newly painted beauty down the lane, I never cared to look further..

[MantisMan]

It was, and always will be....one of my favorite rides.

[thedevariouseffect]

Lucky jerk..Never had the opportunity

[AgentSoB]

The only person in my family that took a ride on it is my uncle. We talk about it almost every time we have a family function. He knows I'm an enthusiast and loves to talk about how crazy the ride was.

He said that the main reason it scared him so much was the fact that it was so different from everything else. So, I wonder if it hadn't been the first if it would have been considered by many to be a fun ride?

[jandyb79]

The only person in my family that took a ride on it is my uncle. We talk about it almost every time we have a family function. He knows I'm an enthusiast and loves to talk about how crazy the ride was.

He said that the main reason it scared him so much was the fact that it was so different from everything else. So, I wonder if it hadn't been the first if it would have been considered by many to be a fun ride?

My brother-in-law rode it a few times as a kid and is the only family member who ever had that opportunity. Naturally, he and I discuss the ride upon occasion as well. Obviously, the swinging motion set this aside from every other coaster of its time, as well as for coasters to come. Traditionally, you get pretty much the same ride each time you ride a coaster where factors such as heat, cold, night, day, etc will effect the overall ride experience. From what others have noted, who actually rode the ride, the swinging motion created a less controlled and uncertain sensation that played into the thrill factor. Arrow was always playing with gravity to move riders outside of the natural motion you would expect from a coaster. I speculate that the unimpressive statistics of The Bat may make some believe that it couldn't hold a candle to todays standards of thrill rides, but if you have ridden a Wild/Mad Mouse you'll know that it doesn't take impressive stats to make for a thrilling ride And lastly, everyone always notes the non-banked turns that lead to the Bats demise. However, if the track turns/curves had been banked it wouldn't have swung as violently as it did. This, albeit faulty, was intentional.

[AgentSoB]

That really makes sense I could imagine the ride being different each time. Really wish I had been alive at the time to ride!

[jandyb79]

One additional thought, I believe is important to understand about this ride - the suspended coasters that are still operational today are not the coasters Arrow was initially shooting for. The Bat design and overall unique ride experience was the ultimate vision. The suspended Arrow coasters we ride today are faster, more controlled and far more reliable, yet they are still a watered down version of The Bat.

Fun Factoid: The Bat may have been advertised as the "Worlds first and only suspended roller coaster" but it wasn't the first. Can you guess who else had a suspended coaster of sorts that was unsuccessful and only lasted a few seasons?

[Fire-Beast-OF FEAR]

I forget its exact title but I believe it's called Alpenflug?

[CoastersRZ]

Thanks for posting that Josh. Truly a remarkable piece of history you just posted.

[TombRaiderFTW]

^^/^ Wasn't it a Schwarzkopf? And wasn't Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens supposed to be a Schwarzkopf, too?

[Vortex]

Wow thank you for posting the pictures.

[jandyb79]

^^/^ Wasn't it a Schwarzkopf? And wasn't Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens supposed to be a Schwarzkopf, too?

It was a suspended airplane ride that worked similar to The Bat called The Zoomer at Cincinnati's Coney Island

[Dieseltech20]

Great post and amazing pictures. Thank you very much for sharing with us.