Dark Knight Fading?

[Coaster Justin]

Obviously not the movie, but the coaster here at Great America.

I remember hearing that the ride line for TDK was 1-2 hours and lately I heard from My Friend Ken that the wait was small and not many guests were in Line. Also, the ride has been getting bad reviews from Not just Fans but also the General Public.

So my question is, do you think The Dark Knight Coaster is Fading in Popularity?

[coasterkidd100]

Yes I think so, it is such a bad roller coaster. I think by the next season or two the line will be very small with a little wait. It is badly themed and it is such a short ride. I have rode it once and will probebly never ride it again.

[bobbinbop20]

i rode it once and i dont think i took it all in so i would go back if lines were small

[onyxhotel08]

Wednesday it was still at least a 45min-1 hour wait. It is still new and families will be checking it out for a while. You can't tell this point in the season. We'll see during Fright fest when it is the busiest time of the season. And of course 2009 will be the year to see how it does from the beginning.

[Trailblazer Tony]

I think people are a little too harsh on this ride, and I definitely think it's popularity won't die. In case you guys haven't noticed, it's a huge hit among dads and moms with their kids 8-10 in age. That age frame love the ride, and the parents tolerate it since it isn't too big of a ride. The problem with that age, is that they don't want to wait for an hour or two to ride, so this year it's going to strike out badly amongst the people actually willing to wait for it (coaster fans and teens). I think in the coming years, it will be a huge hit for families with kids, similar to Whizzer now. In addition, it's still the best way to beat the weather (extreme heat or cold during fright fest) as well as the only ride to enjoy during storms and/or inclement weather. Lastly, in terms of what it is (a glorified mouse coaster), it's smooth, zippy, and enjoyable. It's not something i'd wait an hour or two for, but when the line dies down to a usual 20 minutes in the next couple of years, i see myself riding it often for the nice ride. So no, I don't think it's fading and I don't think it will ever fade entirely, I just think it's getting closer to it's "normal" wait in the future.

[Coaster Justin]

The Thing about the Dark Knight that I don't like if you don't count:

- Wrong Demographics to the Movie
- Bad/ No Theming
- Unthemed Queue Line
- Confusing Pre-Show
- Cheap Props
- Bad Capacity
- Slow Moving Lines
- Construction Delays
- Wrong Demographics for the Ride (High Intense Ride)
- Dark in Several Sections

Is that the ride is a Wild Mouse. We already have that and its called Ragin Cajun (I know its a Spinning Coaster but still)

[coasterkidd100]

I don't think that it will completely fade, but it will a little bit. After the people that ride the thrill rides find out how lame it is they will move on. It will be loved by little kids for seasons to come, but the thing has bad capacity and no kid wants to wait 2 hours for a roller coaster. I don't want to wait 2 hours for a ride.So, yes I think that it will fade a little bit but it will always have a wait for it. I will probebly ride it again just because I could not see everthing the first time I rode it, but I will wait until the wait goes down.

[tsalas08]

The lines are shorter, because its not brand new any more, and the regular season is winding down with Illinois schools back in session and Wisconsin schools going in soon, combined with shorter hours, the attendance is much lower.

[guitarhero119]

I've been wondering whats going to happen to the ride as this ride continues to fade. DK was a great movie bu eventually it wont be that popular (not enough to have a ride heavily based on it). Is it possible that six flags would recycle the ride and change the theming after a few years when tdk has gotten unpopular?

[coasterkidd100]

^^ What do you mean TDK is not new? We got it this year, it is still new to the general public. People will continue to ride it for the next season or so because it is a newer ride to the park.

[Trailblazer Tony]

I've been wondering whats going to happen to the ride as this ride continues to fade. DK was a great movie bu eventually it wont be that popular (not enough to have a ride heavily based on it). Is it possible that six flags would recycle the ride and change the theming after a few years when tdk has gotten unpopular?

I think the fact that Jaws, Mummy, Shrek, Men In Black, and Terminator are still working and extremely popular at Universal will answer your question here. Before go into the "these movies are classic" argument, the Dark Knight was the second highest grossing moving in the history of our country!!!!! It will remain a popular enough and respected enough film to keep this ride alive in theming. In addition, if a sequel is ever made, the opportunities for ugrades will arise. Also, for those of you that have the plans/sections for this ride like i do, if you take a second look, not all the theming was installed on this ride (assuming for budget reasons?), so I would venture to say that the theming isn't entirely up to the final product for this ride. The only thing I worry about is if they call the ride a failure and just leave it as is for years and then knock it down. The latter is generally a Six Flags move, so who knows....

[BP317]

I've been wondering whats going to happen to the ride as this ride continues to fade. DK was a great movie bu eventually it wont be that popular (not enough to have a ride heavily based on it). Is it possible that six flags would recycle the ride and change the theming after a few years when tdk has gotten unpopular?

Just walk down the midway and look at BTR, which is themed after Batman Returns a movie that came out 17 years ago and its still one of the most popular rides in the park.

The hype for TDK will die down, really the only reason its got huge lines now is because its new but long term its not the type of ride that will continue to draw crowds. I thought the same thing would happen with SUF and it still always has a huge line so who knows . There will always be people who dont know what it is and will wait in line for it because of the movie.

[Goku1910]

The Thing about the Dark Knight that I don't like if you don't count:
- Confusing Pre-Show

okay, it's only confusing if you haven't seen the movie.....have you seen it?

[Coaster Justin]

No, Actually I have never seen a Batman Movie Or TV Show in My Life.

[Ilovthevu']

Yes, I think it will fade into the lines like Ragin Cajun now. Only so many lines on Ragin Cajun, it takes forever. The same thing with the Dark Knight. I think Ragin Cajun was a mistake for the park. The actual line of people is so small, but the wait of the ride is huge. In my opinion, Superman is a hit with people.

Back to Dark Knight, and Batman the Ride, to me those rides are based on the Batman characters more than the movie. Sure, the Dark Knight has some Dark Knight things like the new motorcycle, but it's still the overall Batman just like Batman the Ride. No matter how old the other Batman the Ride is, it's still the overall character Batman. I think the real question is will Batman the character fade, and I don't think he will. There will always be something to watch of that character just like Superman, or X-Men.

[JordanSDMF]

Sucked so much balls. Bad move on the six flags part to put ANOTHER wild mouse into the park. I think a cool ride like the new Steel Hawg could have fit in that area, but would have been like 5x as thrilling. Steel Hawg looks so much fun.

I waited 2 hours for Ragin' Cajun with walls around it. I just like the beginning where the joker says, "And here we, GO."

[Trailblazer Tony]

^Steel Hawg would have been TERRIBLE for our park!!!! I don't know how many of you guys have been down there to ride it, but I went opening weekend (i'm actually wearing my T-Shirt now lol) and it's a great ride, but capacity is LOW. I waited an hour for it, which is unheard of for Indiana Beach! It would have been a 3 hour wait all summer and people would be even more frustrated than they already are with Dark Knight.

And for gosh sakes, I don't know very many people outside of our coaster circle that even recognize Dark Knight as a near clone of Cajun without they spinning. The most i've heard so far of it compared to Cajun is the hairpin turns...so this whole "another wild mouse" arguments don't really contribute to the reason for it's failure. And for those who have ever been to our park on a day where it has rained most of the day, or in the future when fright fest brings 50 degree weather, you will all become Dark Knight fans just for the indoor aspect!

[tp41190]

^Yep...we have to many low capasity coasters as it is. During our visit to Indiana beach.

Tig'r- 20 mins
Galaxy- walk on
Corn Ball- 2 train wait
Hurricane- walk on
Loco'suma- 35 mins wait (1 train)
Steel Hawg- 1.5 HOURS!

[coasterkidd100]

Noing Six Flags they would put in a low capacity like Steel Hawg. I would love to go ride it but I would never want to wait 1.5 hours for it.

[FParker185]

Capacity for Steel Hawg is literally 80-100 people per hour, I cant see more than 150-200 pph even with an incredible crew and absolutely no downtime, with how it's run, and how it's set up. It's retarded beyond belief. I'm just glad I got ERT on it a few weeks back at their annual event. Total of 9 people there, ended up getting about 20-25 rides on Steel Hawg over the course of an hour til it broke down and had to be evac'd from the final brakes, with another half hour of ERT that was scheduled i probably could have gotten 30-45 rides

[bigb7965]

Steel Hawg- 1.5 HOURS!

ZOMG 1.5 hours!!!


NO WAY MAN!

its new... new rides ALWAYS have long lines

it looks different (attracts more people)

capacity sucks. 80-100 ppr? jesus christ thats horrible


and if I'm not mistaken IB is a pay per ride park and guests would rather spend their money on an interesting looking, inverting, new steel coaster rather than a normal looking old woodie or a crappy 1980's jet star

[Trailblazer Tony]

^New rides at Indiana Beach don't! I have yet to ever go there and wait that long for anything, the people watching were shocked at the wait when we went and it was only an hour Moral of the story, these rides are great but NOT worth adding in a large scale park!

[tp41190]

^^
Yeah, its Indiana Beach and NO you can get a wristband for all day. But the line didnt even have that many people in it, because it is Indiana Beach. But the capacity was what made the line long. Now, imagine if we had this at our park and the line took up all the switch backs from DejaVu. The line that took about 3 hours for 400 PPH, into 12 hours for 80 PPH. Yeah NOT gonna fly at SFGAm.

And NO new rides don't always have long lines. You cant always assume everything...you have to experience it and it doesn't sound like you have much dealing with the park or many other parks.

[bigb7965]

^ seriously, what new, major rides don't have long lines??

[coasterkidd100]

^^I think that it is safe to say that most new rides have long lines.