Every year, we award a "Best New Attraction" honor to the highest-rated attraction on the site that debuted within the last 12 months. This year, that award went to Universal's The Simpsons Ride. But in the years that we've been handing out new attractions honors, none of those winners has managed to crack the top echelon of highest-rated attractions on the site: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Twilight Zone of Tower of Terror, Pirates of the Caribbean.
But... on the other end of the scale, this year, one new attraction has plunged to the very bottom, tying long-time TPI punching bag Stitch's Great Escape as readers' least-liked attraction on the site.
I'm talking about Six Flags' Dark Knight Coaster.
Seriously, Theme Park Insider readers seem to hate this thing, but is it really that bad? I haven't been on it, since Six Flags did not build one at my local park, Magic Mountain. So I'd love to hear from readers who have been on the ride. How does it compare with other bad attractions you've ridden?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
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I think the problem with any Marvel or DC themed ride, if I may play the Average Joe here, everyone's expectations are high. For example, when I see rides like Riddler's Revenge, Incredible Hulk, those totally make me go "Ooooooooh, I gotta ride those!". But using the Batman License for anything less than an "E ticket"... seems a little strange. I know the Superman ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain isn't exactly the greatest anymore... it's pretty tame if you ask me. But is this ride confused about its audience?
Does it move and set-up like a kid's ride, but themed like a scary teen/ adult ride?
Or maybe people just don't know what to make of this type of ride?
In the present day...
I shift some of the blame to the chain. They started throwing the 'thrill' word around a bit more, and the commercials have a thrill edginess to it in reference to TDK. Also, statements claiming that if you like Nitro or El Toro you'd like this too proved to be erroneous.
In the end, I feel it is a solid family ride. It is easily the best wild mouse I've been on, and that's not counting the theming. It is absolutely nuts on the turns, the hills have good air (for a mouse), and the cars are so roomy! I've never fit in a Wild Mouse that well before with my 36/38" inseam legs. In that backseat, you realize you're in the Cadillac of Wild Mouse cars. The theming is very good for a Six Flags park, but it does have it's flaws. The major one, which incidentally might actually be categorized as good show, is the fast pace of the ride makes it hard to take everything in. However, that does add a feeling of chaos to the ride. The lack of "avoidances" at the turns hurts the ride as well. The turn near the lift does a very good job utilizing the "I'm going to fall off the track" feeling since you usually have another subway car that you're "heading right for". The lower portion lacks props as well, but you can see in the dark if you know where to look that there are some down on the floor turned off. Turning those on will add more, and make the ride better.
My usual advice- Ride it, but don't expect Nitro-in-a-box. It's more like an advanced Skull Mountain. That usually gets people into a BatMouse mindset.
So I do not think the Dark Knight or Stitch's Greatest Escape are the worst rides.
I also do not trust all of the votes on this site. I am in great disagreement with the Mama Melrose vote and I read all about how terrible DCA was on the site and I was actually impressed.
By the way, what won best new attraction over Spiderman?
The ride isn't a speed demon or 200 feet in the air, so the Six Flags thrillseeker base is going to deem it subpar. The ride is probably perfectly fine for the family, but Six Flags hasn't exactly been the authority in family attractions in a while, and families haven't exactly been packing the parking lots either. I think that Dark Knight would get better marks if people who like themed, more family oriented attractions were riding and rating it.
I understand Six Flags is trying to re-engineer their parks to be more family friendly, but there is going to be pain in that effort. An entire generation of teen/young adult, season-pass-holding thrill seekers are going to be disappointed in anything that doesn't go 100 mph, 400 feet in the air, and have double digit inversions.
However, Six Flags needs to stay focused on the task ahead. Those same thrill seekers that are complaining about this new family attraction have plenty of other hard core thrill rides to visit at most SF parks, so they are going to continue to visit. But if SF is ever going to break free of their financial woes, they are going to have to broaden their appeal beyond those thrill seekers. In other words, building family friendly attractions is not going to hurt their current customer base, but should (at some point) lead to increased patronage from the highly coveted family market.
Having not ridden the new Batman ride, I can't comment on it merits, but I can understand what SF is trying to accomplish. Problem is, and I have said it all along, there is not some magic formula for turning standard midway parks into themed, family destinations like those found in Orlando and southern California. Therefore, SF should not worry so much about adding new rides at this point, but instead they should focus on the basics: make their parks cleaner, train their staff to be more customer focused, and make sure the rides they currently have are well maintained and safe. Once the basics are down, they can move on to (as Mark Shapiro, SF's Chief executive, stated) “building anticipation to its rides through stories and characters…".
I feel like this kind of judgment is being passed onto attractions like the kid rides in A Bug's Land.
I mean, if the wrong audience is rating these rides, is that truly fair?
Tuck & Roll's Bumper Cars isn't the same audience as Stitch's Great Escape. Stitch is just a bad attraction, but Tuck & Roll is for kids.
That one remains my personal pick as the world's worst theme park attraction.
I didn't like: the waittime, the themeing at all, the movie seemed mostly like an ad for the movie and didn't hold my attention, the ride itself (and I actually like mouse trap rides), and did I mention the wait.
Also, to me, it seems like it's marketed towards the extreme crowd (even tho SFGA's site says "Moderate"). The effects during the movie, I think, would turn off younger riders.
Oh, I did like ONE (1) of the drops (short, unexpected, and almost fun)
So, based on everthing, it is the worst ride in recent memory.
b
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Seems that no matter how many executives pore over evaluative material projecting what the general public will consider the "next big thing," it's all trial and error in the end.
Annie