Take a ride on one of Kings Island’s most notorious rides by watching The Bat POV video. This rare footage includes a full-circuit POV video of the Bat during its April, 1981 grand opening. The Bat was the first ever suspended roller coaster and only operated sporadically between 1981-1983 before being dismantled in 1985. Over the years, the legend of the Bat has grown due to the outrageous rumors about why the ride was destroyed and because so few people were able to ride it. Contrary to many stories you may hear, the Bat never killed or even injured a rider. Poor engineering of the trains, track, and structure is what really lead to the ride’s demise. So take a ride on this infamous coaster below (and see a vintage TV advert too).
A year after the Bat was removed, the Vortex was built on the old site of the Bat and actually reused the station. Concrete footers from the Bat can still be seen beneath the Vortex’s structure. The suspended roller coaster returned to Kings Island in 1993 with the edition of Top Gun (now Flight Deck).
Also uploaded by the same person is a vintage POV video of the Beast from 1979. This was before the tunnel was added to the double helix finale.
Were you fortunate enough to be able to ride the Bat? If you could go back in time and ride and coaster that has been destroyed what one would it be?
The Bat
Wow, the Beast vid is obviously during testing since they are slowing it down and breaking quite often. It barely made it up the final hill to the station after the double helix!!! Also, workers on the tracks watch out!!!
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I was one of the first to ride the beast and the bat
The best part was when it almost stopped on that climb