Photo TR: Six Flags Great America Dark Knight Media Day

This morning I headed over to Six Flag's Great America to be a part of Media Day for The Dark Knight Coaster. It's official opening is tomorrow. I had tried to stay away from previous media day threads on other Six Flags versions of the ride, but my prying eyes couldn't keep me away. That being said, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. And with that being said, there will be spoilers in here, so turn back if you want surprises!

 

I'm was a bit dismayed when I heard Great America's version was going into Orleans Place. How would Gotham fit in there? To be honest, they did a pretty good job of squeezing it into an area where it doesn't look all that out of place. After Superman: Ultimate Flight, they have a nice little superhero corner thing going on.

 

The first thing you notice, is that this isn't your typical Six Flags "theming." That's not to say it's on par with Disney or Universal, but it's definitely well above the mark of anything else they've done. And with GAm's version, the queue is in the old Theatre Royale building, so it's out of the weather, and it's got A/C which will be a nice welcome on those hot Chicago, August days.

 

As you most of us know, the ride is simply a Mack Mouse themed, enclosed, and in the dark. You enter the Gotham City Rail station to board a subway, the queue winds around oddly on the old theater floor which is still sloped. Then it's into a pre-show room, where the story of the ride attempts to unfold. The Joker hijacks a Harvey Dent press conference, and you're led into the actual ride. The actual ride vehicles are awesomely themed. Little subway cars that have seen better days.

 

The ride consists of random little scenes to which I think they try to tell the story of how the Joker is taking the city for ransom during his crime sprees. If there's a negative about the whole experience, it's that the story gets a little lost, and that there's no theming for the last half of the ride, so it's loses a little "oomph."

 

All in all, I think Six Flags has hit nail on the head in their quest for a more family oriented coaster. The preshow might scare the bejesus out a small kid, but the ride is entertaining, and certainly nothing like they've offered before. So enough of my rambling, off to the pictures!

 

Oh yes, thanks to Dan for showing us around today!

2008's new addition. A family pleaser.

I still love the drop. It's simple and silly, but I loves it.

The Joker terifies Marco. Or he's about to lose his bagel.

There's a lot to look at the first 2/3's of the ride.

I mean, look at them! Just look at them!

Loading platform. The trains, are seriously the coolest!

A little more theming on your way to the ride. This is one long queue.

Uh oh. The Joker's here! Why so serious?

Harvey Dent addresses the masses.

Theming like this newspaper, is a cool little detail.

After queuing for a bit you get a little pre-show entertainment. This where the story attempts to unfold.

Looking the other way. They've also got new HD tv's with new programming which should be a huge improvement over the old sets.

This is the main queue, where the theater seating was. The whole floor is sloped, so it's kind of funky.

I wonder if they can fix the pothole on my street?

The old queue from Theatre Royale was reused.

Posters and maps galore. Gotham is bar none when it comes to public transportation.

Ok enough. Let's check it out!

Shot one of the entrance.

Again, the ride show isn't as blaringly obvious as the others.

And we're off!

Cut the ribbon!

And then on to the GM (whose name escapes me. For shame.).

A short little talk from Brooke of PR.

There were little batmen everywhere!

Batman and pizza. Could it get any better?

The ride building is off to the left, so it's not such an eyesore as the other parks versions.

It's nicely nestled into the corner of Orleans Place.

They had these cool Joker cards marking the way to The Dark Knight.

Planting of the marigolds. The big opening day must be right around the corner!

I have to admit, that looked too cool. I was !!!

 

I loved the theming they did to the ride: the preshows and connections to The Dark Knight movie. And the design of the trains themselves: they resembled the subway trains in Gotham City. Too Cool!!!

 

Six Flags Great Adventure got themselves another prize winner here.

 

LOL! The pictures of you on the ride are great!

 

I'm really intrigued by this new Six Flags theming thing. Very excited to get on one of these little mice this year.

 

And I'm VERY happy that it has a long, indoor, air conditioned queue! We all know that park needs it!

 

Did you notice, was it on the Flashpass system?

^ I don't recall seeing any signage, but I wasn't looking for it either.

Great report.

 

I really like the location of the ride. It is nice and, as you say, nestled in the park very nicely. It really doesn't appear to be an eye sore like the one at Great Adventure.

^Thing is the fact that Great America had the room to make their queue really not part of the box, while Great Adventure had limited room and really had to make their queue outdoors (as much as I rather have a indoor). The preshow and themeing looks the same on both rides, just differently placed. Though I love your guys media pass!

Nice report Matt!

 

The theming does look much better than the usual Six Flags efforts under the old management, and the new direction the chain seems to be heading in can only be for the better.

Was the Theatre Royale building/theatre where they had the Looney Toons show?

^ I'm pretty sure. I haven't seen a show there in years. Which in itself, probably made this a wise change.

 

I just really want to see how they worked this stuff into this theater. Those weren't old queues from the theater as you said. They didn't have any queues for the Theater before. They had the doors, and they would open, and you are in. Maybe, I'm just not thinking, but I don't think so.

 

The Looney Tunes show just stunk the last 5 years. There was a time when the Looney Tunes show was actually good. I believe the reason why the decided to not have that as a theatre was because they wanted to eliminate cost firstmost, but they also didn't want another kids show. They added the Wiggle's World show to that area, and that's a kids show.

 

Does the line exit into the Superman exit line, and than into the store? Do they take your picture, and is the Superman booth now the Dark Knight's picture booth?

 

Thanks for sharing your report by the way.

Hey look! Its Brad and Jeff (I ditched you with them, Matt, at Steak N Shake!)

 

 

This ride looks really really REALLY cool, to be honest. I hope its a success and I see no reason why it shouldn't be. Thanks for the photos, Matt.

Thanks for sharing! I can't wait to go this year. Sadly I havent bought my season pass yet. ( I know I'm a bad coaster enthusiast.)

 

Anyway, just to clarify Viva was right. There were no queues at Theater Royale. The doors opened and you were in. And, I think the GM is John Curty, but I could be wrong. I used to work there about 10 years ago and John was working there when I was there.

^ Our "liason" told us it was the same queue area. That's not saying it was literally a queue.

 

Both rides exit into the photo area for Superman. Right now. Dark Knight will be getting it's own photo area. Both will empty out into the Heroes store.

This ride look great. Props to SF for making a indoor queue.

 

--Jay

I can't wait to ride it!!!

I am pretty sure that it is on the flash pass system, i remember with the initial blue prints showing the que that there was a side enterence for flash pass that goes along that bypasses to the preshow area.

Great pics and great TR!

 

I'm a little confused though? Didn't I read a thread a couple of weeks ago saying that the Dark Knight coaster was no longer being built, and wasn't there pics of an empty shell of a building?

 

Since then there has been 2 threads about different Dark Knight rides opening?

^That was Six Flags New England not being built.

Good theming at a SF park?!?! IT'S A SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!!!

 

Just kidding, it's nice to see SF putting some effort into theming their rides for once. Hopefully someday I'll go to SFGA, but I would have to be in the area for some other reason.

This ride looks amazing, and it should be a big hit at the park. I think it is amazing at what was built for $7.5 million, and the theming is great for Six Flags. I can't wait to ride this and see what it looks like on the ride itself.

Looks pretty cool, Matt. I'm glad that Six Flags is trying to shake things up a bit with themeing, rather than just building a standard wild mouse.

 

The ride photos are hilarious.

^That was Six Flags New England not being built.

Thanks for the info, so how come it's allowed at some parks, but not others?

^ Thanks Chuck. We got some giggles from the staff with some of the pictures they captured.

 

The one thing I didn't touch on too much, is that the preshow movie is really quite awesome. If anything, this will be a great tie in to the movie this summer.

^That was Six Flags New England not being built.

Thanks for the info, so how come it's allowed at some parks, but not others?

 

The park didn't get proper approval for zoning and other things from the town before they started to build, and the plan had to be scratched. It is a weird situation. There might have been more to it than just that.

The subway train cars look like LEGO vehicles. Just change the GCR to LEGO, and it would look like a LEGO looking vehicle.

 

 

The cars do look nice, and they are original, but they do look LEGO like. I would rather have these subway cars, then the standard Mack Wild Mouse cars.

 

 

Overall the theming looks nice. I would have liked to have seen a nicer more detailed looking building for the outside entrance. The Black building with fake glass and fake clouds painted on it does not look that good, and could have been much better.