The Bat Promotional Video

[Vortex]

The link to The Bat.

Wow its been alont time. Wish they could have fixed the coaster so it would still be in the park.

[flightoffear1996]

You have to be a member buts its so freaking sweet!

[RollerNut]

I know Iron Dragon at the Point is boring, but it didn't swing that much.

[Gordon Bombay]

Is that the cemetery thats located on PKI's land in the video?

hahah I love the shorts that reporters wearing.

[CoastersRZ]

Yes. That is one awesome find there Vortex! This video, although somewhat low quality is a rather lengthy video, featuring tons of clips from The Bat, both from the ground and on ride video! I definantly reccomend people heading voer to coasterfanatic.com and signing up for their forums just to see the awesome Bat video!

The severe swaying from side to side is one of the problem`s that led to The Bat`s downfall. Yes, there were some rather violent looking transitions, and parts where the care were almost swinging 90 from horizontal! Another problem with the trains, the brake fins on the bottom of the trains, can be seen in the video.

[Jasper]

Great Find Thank You For Contributing It!

[Gordon Bombay]

Its a darn shame it had soe many problems it looks so amazing.

[jzarley]

Great find! Thanks for posting it.

Yeah, The Bat swung A LOT. Unfortunately, that's what ultimately caused its problems... If you notice in the video, the track wasn't banked, and the assembly that held the train to the track absorbed all of the forces. (Of course, that lack of banking is what made the swinging so great.) I doubt that the way coasters are designed today (CAD models) a problem like that would happen again.

Of all the times I was at KI while The Bat was installed (three years, maybe?) I think I only actually got to ride it once, because it was down the other times I was there. (I even have better luck with TTD than that!! )

Thanks again for posting...I really enjoyed it.

[WooferBearATL]

Oh, I so miss The Bat. It remains my favorite coaster of all times.

[Shaggy]

Ick.... the video is a true reminder of the days of short shorts and tube socks. My, how unfortunately well I recall them... LOL.

BTW, worth noting is that "The Bat" only went about 35 MPH.

By comparison, Top Gun goes over 50, Italian Job goes over 40. It surprises many to find out that it only rivaled Beastie in terms of speed. (Beastie clocks in at 35 m.p.h.) Actually a better comparison is Adventure Express... it runs around 35 m.p.h. too. Just as with AE, "The Bat" was big on lateral thrills and sharp turns. However a unique feature (that was great for coaster fans but ultimately led to the ride's demise) was the fact that the ride's could not be trimmed. (Meaning with brakes.)

Pretty much everyone knows that the brake fins were located on the bottom of the train, which not only caused issues with stopping the train, but eliminated he ability of the park/Arrow to take some of the "Ooooooph" out of the voilent directional changes. (Violent to the train and track, not riders.) With the track overhead, and brake fins underneath, nothing could be done to control the speed oustide of stopping the lifts.

The legend of "The Bat" actually far exceeds it's actual operation. Not only in the time it spent at the park, but in thrill as well. In the few years it was an actual operating attraction, it had a downtime of something horrible like 75%.

It was indeed a fascinating coaster at the time, but if it existed today, it probably would be considered by most park goers as boring.

Side note... "The Bat" is what sparked my personal fascination with Coasters and KI... I was fortunate enough to attend the park the year "The Bat" opened at age 9.... and yes, if you do the math... that makes me 33. Now, do the math again... ironically enough I am indeed the same age as KI. ;-)

Shaggy

[FOF/Z 4-ever]

Was it my computer or did the video do a slow-motion in some parts??

[Outdoor Man]

OK, to any KI and/or Bat fan.... that was breakfast, lunhc, supper, birthday cake, and Christmas dinner all rolled into one. EXCELLENT find!

I hope that at some point (the now) PKI decides to replace the "Paramount Story" or some other area with a "Coney/KI/PKI story" They could even make an admission attraction and I bet people would pay.... especially those in their 30's and above..... a LOT of memories in that park. I'm sure that any person can come up with at least one story and them with one of the departed attractions.... getting sick on Der Spinning Keggers, whipping around on the Eagles, first driving experience on the antiques, barrel rolling on Flight Commander, the best place to plant a kiss on your date in Phantom theater, etc....

One of these days a moderator from this site is going to work in the marketing and promotions department for PKI and bring about a golden age for the park (or destroy it..... one or the other).

[DeLorean Rider]

The video went into slow motion.

[Gordon Bombay]

Id hate to be a ride op at that ride, constantly having to guest relate that it was down.

[mullimann]

That was a great find. I have been looking for some operational photos of The Bat for a while now. I was truely the 1st of its kind. Taft spend millions on a ride that was short lived. IF!!!!!!!!! Vortex were to ever be raized, or anouther coaster be built The Bat lives again should be built, but as a modern B&M or Arrow suspended coaster. To rebuild it in its orginal station would be a return of history. I love The Vortex and all, but it is starting to show its age with ride quality and rider counts. That site is a great Terrain coaster site too. I noticed that 90% of the trees that were on that ride are gone from the building of Vortex. I used to work at USF IOA. And I would ride Dueling Dragons daily the feeling of a suspend coaster.

Thank you Coasterdad for the video and I hope that he has more of KI from the old days..

[Hank]

Watching the video - it all came back to me. WOW! I got to ride The Bat 3 times its opening year. (I will be 47 next week, so do more math! - and what a nice present for my B-day - this video) Anyway, I was old enough to make good reviews of things and this coaster was truly amazing. Yup, Top Gun is faster, but this had character. It's too bad that a few modifications could not have been made and the ride kept going.

[CoastersRZ]

Mullimann, and how would you know that Vortex is showing its age based on ride counts? From what I`ve seen, Vortex always had a steady line this season. Keep in mind that it and Adventure Express are two of the best rides in terms of capacity in the park. The train is the king of capacity when they have all six coaches on.

[CoasterKrazy]

Once I resurrect Arrow Dynamics to its former glory and I own Kings Island, I'm going to re-build Bat.

But this time it will work.

[Rustbucket]

This is a great video to see. I wish I could have ridden this one. Well, not too many suspended coasters are around now. I am not sure how long these rides will be around.

I can clearly see why this ride had so many problems. Also, I can see why this ride really could not be fixed. Some of the turned should have been banked which would have been very difficult to retrofit. The train swinging almost 180 degrees probably caused shocks to wear out rather quickly, especially in 1970's engineering. My guess is that maintenance would have been a nightmare.

[Gordon Bombay]

^180 degrees is a little much lol, the trains barely came close to 90 degrees.

[CoastersRZ]

Well, it was late 70`s early 80`s engineering. Yes, the shocks wore out rather quickly from what I`ve heard. This is based purely on rumor and not confirmed by the park, but I heard that they had to replace the shocks about once a week because they would wear out that quick.

[harvesterofyoursorrow]

I'm not sure if you guys know or not, but the first prototypes of the suspeneded ride were to have corkscrews.

Vekoma still makes a suspended coaster, no need to resurect arrow.

[KIBeast]

^To add to that, it was also believed that the suspended coasters would be able to do loops as well as corkscrews.

Shaggy, I also got to ride The Bat and it was a wild ride, even though the swinging was violent. The reason the coaster didn't have banking was because Arrow believed that the shocks would be enough to absorb the punishment that the wild swinging caused. Sure, The Bat only did 35mph, but, that doesn't mean it would be boring by today's standards at all. It's not all about speed or height. The swinging is what made it thrilling, not the speed.