Batman- the Dark Knight is a Bolliger and Mabillard floorless coaster at Six Flags New
England.
This B&M floorless coaster doesn’t get much attention, but is it actually underrated?
Find out in this review of Batman- the Dark Knight.
Bolliger and Mabillard debuted the floorless coaster in 1999.
The first prototype was Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, which runs
as Bizarro today.
The floorless concept was similar to B&M’s sit-down trains, except the seats were elevated
higher above the track and the floor was removed to create a thrilling visual.
Six Flags was clearly impressed by the model, as they would install three additional floorless
coasters for the 2000 season.
After taking a one year hiatus from installing floorless coasters, Six Flags would purchase
two more for the 2002 season.
The first was Superman la Atraccion de Acero at Parque Warner Madrid.
The second would be none other than Batman- the Dark Knight at Six Flags New England.
And this would be radically different than the other floorless coasters Six Flags had
built to date.
The other five floorless coasters Six Flags erected had massive, sprawling layouts.
All of them were nearly 150 feet or 46 meters tall with nearly 4000 feet or 1219 meters
of track.
Six Flags New England was landlocked and did not have the land for a coaster of this scale.
Instead, B&M was tasked with cramming a floorless coaster in the South Side of the park right
up against the water park.
And it would be the smallest floorless coaster B&M had built to that point.
Batman would stand 118 feet or 36 meters tall with just 2600 feet or 792 meters of track,
but it would include 5 inversions.
Batman had a lot of similarities to the floorless coaster B&M built for the 2001 season.
Insane Speed at Janfusun Fancyworld in Taiwan was a similarly compact ride and it actually
featured an identical start to Batman.
Then in 2013, Imagicaa in India would open Hot Wheels Nitro, a B&M floorless coaster
with similar stats and the same sequence of elements as Batman.
Batman was a coaster that Six Flags New England really needed back in 2002.
At that point, the park only had 7 roller coasters, and only two that inverted riders.
You had Flashback, a Vekoma boomerang, and Mind Eraser, a Vekoma SLC that is known as
Riddler Revenge today.
Both these Vekomas were notorious for delivering rough rides, so the park was sorely in need
of a smooth looping coaster.
And Batman fit the bill.
I suspect the park would have added a Batman the Ride inverted coaster clone had they not
already been home to an inverted coaster in Mind Eraser.
Six Flags had added 8 of these Batman clones to their parks between 1992 and 2002.
In fact, they added two Batman the Ride clones for the 2002 season.
But instead, Six Flags New England got a floorless coaster named Batman- the Dark Knight with
a similarly compact layout.
And ironically, this coaster was temporarily known as Batman the Ride.
Back in 2008, Six Flags New England intended to build the Dark Knight, an indoor Mack wild
mouse themed to the Batman film being released that year.
The floorless coaster was renamed Batman the Ride to avoid confusion with the new attraction;
however, the wild mouse coaster was cancelled after Six Flags New England didn’t have
the necessary permits to build the ride.
This caused a chain of events that sent the Dark Knight to Six Flags Mexico, resulted
in Six Flags New England receiving the outdoor wild mouse in Gotham City Gauntlet Escape
from Arkham Asylum, and Batman’s name was reverted to its original Batman the Dark Knight
name.
Batman plays an impressive role in Six Flags New England’s skyline as you walk towards
the South End of the park.
The coaster is located at the end of the midway.
The dark purple track and giant inversions really caught the eye of guests.
However, the coaster’s visual impact has been reduced in recent seasons.
In 2018, Six Flags New England rethemed the South End to Gotham City and opened Harley
Quinn Spinsanity, a 147 foot or 45 meter tall Zamperla giant discovery.
And this ride was plopped right in front of Batman, but the B&M floorless still looks
great once you get closer.
Batman isn’t a highly themed coaster.
The plaza and station often play the Caped Crusader’s iconic theme song.
And the queue line has cardboard cutouts featuring facts about the heroes and villains from Batman.
Thankfully, you usually don’t have to spend much time in this queue line.
Assuming the coaster is running both trains, and it usually is, Batman usually doesn’t
have more than a 15-30 minute wait most days.
If you want to save time, Batman received a single rider in 2017 that’s routed up
the ride’s exit.
This will almost always get you on the next train since the 4 across seating lends itself
to a lot of empty seats that need to be filled.
Plus, I don’t think a lot of people know about the single rider line since it’s not
well marked as you approach the ride’s main entrance.
Batman features two trains, seating a maximum of 28 guests per train across 7 rows.
When the ride originally opened, the restraints were bright yellow but in 2017, the ride received
dark black over-the-shoulder restraints.
I preferred the yellow ones since they popped more against the track, but ride-wise the
experience hasn’t changed.
These floorless trains feature the familiar B&M over-the-shoulder restraints.
In terms of seat selection, I think the back is a bit more forceful but the front has superior
visuals.
However, Batman usually has assigned seating due to how small the ride’s station is.
And the park usually will not allow you to wait for a specific row on the next train.
Usually, the grouper fills the train front to back and starts with the Flash Pass line,
so it’s very hard to get the front row using the standby line.
The only time they will let you wait for a row from experience is during Holiday in the
Park when there isn’t always a grouper and the ride is usually a walk-on.
Once dispatched, you quickly ascend the lift hill.
This lift feels shockingly steep for a floorless coaster and that probably goes back to how
shoehorned this coaster is in the park.
It’s right up against Superman, the employee parking lot, and the Hurricane Harbor water
park.
At the top of the lift, you get an amazing view of the Connecticut River right in front
of you.
And then you twist to the left down the ride’s first drop.
In most rows, this drop isn’t particularly forceful.
But if you’re towards the back, the drop has some moderate whip to it.
Then comes the ride’s largest inversion, the vertical loop.
This loop is decently forceful.
I usually start to greyout on the entrance and exit from this inversion.
And if you’re sitting in the back, you also get some faint hangtime over the top of the
loop when the train starts slowing down.
That’s followed by a dive loop.
The entry into the element continues the positive Gs from the pullout of the vertical loop.
However, the inversion itself doesn’t offer any positive or negative Gs.
What it does offer are two ok headchoppers.
The entry into the element has a headchopper with the zero-G roll that threads the dive
loop.
The exit from the element dives below the ride’s exit stairs.
You have quite a bit of clearance, but it feels closer since you whiz past them so quickly.
Batman then zooms around an overbank that threads the vertical loop.
While this element provides a cool visual off-ride, it offers no sensations of note
on-ride.
It’s just a filler element to me.
The pullout from this element does feature a trim brake, but it rarely hits and doesn’t
really impact the ride.
Then comes the ride’s best element by far, the zero-G roll.
Zero-G rolls are one of my favorite inversions, particularly on floorless coasters, and the
one on Batman is one of the best out there.
It’s not as snappy as some of the zero-G rolls on the older B&M coasters, but the one
on Batman seems to sustain the hangtime longer.
You levitate out of your seat for a good 2-3 seconds.
Batman then charges around a low turn and heads through interlocking corkscrews.
These corkscrews don’t seem to have the same snap as B&M’s other coasters in most
rows.
However, if you’re sitting towards the back you get some decent whip through them.
You then turn into the brake run, ending the ride.
Over the years, I have heard some people criticize this coaster as being a headbanger- for B&M
standards.
However, I’ve always found the coaster pretty smooth.
The only section that can sometimes bang your head is the exit out of both corkscrews.
For that reason, I’d just recommend leaning forwards during this part of the ride to eliminate
the chance of whacking your head.
So what would I rate Batman?
I would give this coaster a 6 out of 10.
While it’s among the weakest B&M floorless coasters out there, Batman throws a lot of
elements at riders relatively quickly.
But outside of the vertical loop and zero-G roll, I find quite a few of the elements to
be underwhelming compared to similar elements on B&M’s other coasters.
And that’s surprising to me since I would have expected this ride to be more forceful
considering how compact this ride is.
However, this is still a decent coaster and one I try to ride each visit to the park.
So those are my thoughts on Batman- the Dark Knight, the B&M floorless coaster at Six Flags
New England.
Have you been on this looper?
How do you think it compares to the other floorless coasters?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this coaster down in the comments.
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