The Bat Opening Day - 1981

[Oldiesmann]

So many great pictures. Here I was thinking we didn't have many clear pictures of it. Thanks for sharing!

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[Vortex lover]

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.

I noticed that to could that wear down the chain faster?

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[thedevariouseffect]

I wouldn't necessarily be worried about the chain. I'd be more concerned with the lift motor. Rides that use a trim brake or feeder wheels before the lift help match the train to the lift's jog speed to allow it to easily engage. B&M's have been a pro at this IMO, it just effortly glides up, engages, and away it goes. Like Gatekeeper, I didn't even know we'd engaged until I heard the anti rollbacks.

[Vortex lover]

Okay thanks for telling me!

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[XGatorHead 8904]

Thanks for posting that jandyb79! Great pictures that I had not seen before.

I was lucky enough to get one ride on The Bat when I was a kid. Even in the center of the train, that was one wild ride unlike any other. At the time, it was quite an experience to have nothing underneath you and to swing out that much. It's definitely one I will always remember!

And I'm pretty sure I spy a familiar face in one of those pictures...

[jandyb79]

Bumping this thread for the original Bat 35th anniversary opening!

[darkrider68]

I rode it multiple times.  Can't remember if it was better than the new Bat or not. 

[freaks76]

Makes ya wonder if the original Bat would have survived, what KI would look like, today.

I would almost bet a million that we wouldn't have the other Arrow suspended tucked away in one corner of the park. What about Vortex? Maybe we would've never seen it. Maybe it goes to another park.

Still, that bein said, it would've been hard to imagine that the original Bat would have been standing 35 years later.

[medford]

I've read (don't know if its accurate, it come from someone on here) that KI got a significant discount on Vortex from Arrow as a way of making up for the failures of The Bat.  So its while its likely that KI would have built an Arrow Looper at some point, there have to be doubts that it would have set the records that Vortex did (or been as awesome).  If The Bat had worked, then certainly Top Gun never would have been built back in the woods.  I found it interesting that the park had sold just prior to The Bat's opening, which is a similar story with Top Gun (what was its original name?); guess if Cedar Fair ever wants to divest itself of KI, they need to build another arrow suspended coaster.

[Italian Job 2005]

which is a similar story with Top Gun (what was its original name?);

 

Thunder Run was to be Top Gun's original name, until Paramount came on set in 1992 and quickly changed the name to go along with their slogan for 1993... "Where the Magic of the Movies meet the Thrills of a Lifetime"

[PKIVortex]

I thought it was going to be called Swoop?

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[The Interpreter]

It was.

No less than Carl Lindner said so himself.