Shane's Amusement Attic

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject:

A lot of times, parks reuse names because it saves money on marketing. They can reuse logos and graphics for different parks.

Eric

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:56 am Post subject:

In the words of the scientists who rebuilt the Six Dollar Man " We have the technology, we can rebuild him!" It would be nice if the coaster companies would listen to the people who actually ride their creations for feedback maybe they would give us something like The Bat today. It's not like that they don't have the technology to rebuild a ride like that today. Oh well, wishful thinking. Great trip down memory lane, please keep the report coming!

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:26 am Post subject:

Actually as I understand it, the Bat wasn't that good of a ride. I've always heard it was slow and rather boring. I could be wrong, seeing as how it was removed 2 years before I was born, however people whom I've spoken to who have been on it, say that it was nothing special.

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:54 am Post subject:

Watching the Video seems to clear up a couple things.

First: it looks like fun to me. Swaying like that back in the day must have created a sensation that hadn't been done before, I bet it was nice to get on something innovative.

Second: it's pretty obvious from just watching the footage that the swinging trains and non banked track definitely did a toll on the structure and the trains. Some parts of that video you can see where the train is tugging on the track in both directions which I'm sure was a lot of fun, but it looks like the ride simply wasn't made to be doing that everyday if they expected it to last a couple years.

5 years after this closed they had finally worked out the kinks for Ninja at MM which is one of the best suspended rides I have ever been on, and overall is a lot of fun for kids, especially if they don't like loops (although when waiting in line for Ninja this past Friday I heard young kids mentioning loops and their parents discussing amongst each other if there were loops or not).

However Ninja still has minor flaws. There are minor structure problems with the ride, especially in places where the train swings rapidly and creates strong pull forces. Every so often there are minor cracks in the track structure, and they get have to get repaired. The train design is great for swinging side to side, but has a forward/backward "tugging" feel that's hard to avoid. The ride can valley if its too cold, or if the wheels have been over-greased.

But if you rode it at all this summer you'll know it was riding much better and faster than usual. In fact the safetys had problems with the train coming in too fast almost every day, it would miss its mark, and the ride would be down for about a half hour.

Thanks for all the videos and pictures, it really makes it easier to understand how these rides have evolved and improved over the years! Very interesting!

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:56 am Post subject:

I found the promo video of The Bat as well and was amazed to find out that either me or my brother is actually in the video at 6:14, in the front row. I say it is me, my mother says it is my brother, it is definitely one of us. Check out the huge 1980s style glasses he or I was wearing.

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:00 pm Post subject:

Admin Edit - Make sure that you read the TOS and posting rules stickied at the top of this forum. Pointless posting is not tolerated. Consider this your one and only warning.

dt

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 2:46 pm Post subject:

This is from a Magic Mountain brochure (slightly OT I guess, since it's not from a magazine):

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 3:26 pm Post subject:

Thanks for posting that pic from the brochure. I remember seeing that model, they had it on display near the front of the park before Colossus opened.

I remember they also had a model of the Revolution, it wasn't the whole ride, just basically the loop and the track coming through the loop. It had little dolls in the trains. Does anyone else remember that?

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 3:42 pm Post subject:

I remember that model. It was at the old food court. The food court still stands but it has some horrible sushi place in it now.

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 3:55 pm Post subject: Magic Mountain maps

Again thanks for the great pictures! It really takes me back to the days when I worked at Magic Mountain. I was there from '85-'89. I worked in Attractions and got to work on a lot of those now defunct attractions. My favorite rides to work on were Shockwave and the Revolution. What good times we had!

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