The Bat (Kings Island; opened 1981)

Development of The Bat began in 1978. Kings Island employees visited the Arrow Development facility in Mountain View, California to test a brand new suspended coaster prototype. The company spent 18 months designing the new coaster and two years building it.[2] The Bat would feature two corkscrew inversions that were 60 feet (18 m) long and had a proper lead in and proper lead out to allow optimal g-forces. Eventually, the corkscrews were replaced with helices. A blueprint of The Bat's layout can be found in the Orion queue line.[3]

At the start of the 1980 season, construction already started on a brand new ride. Park guests were puzzled about the upside down coaster-like structure being built in the Coney Mall section, with Kings Island officials being tight-lipped. On October 29, 1980, the park invited news media outlets to reveal more details about their new attraction. The press members were led to the recently constructed station, which resembled a Victorian mansion. Several Halloween characters such as the Dracula, the Dracula's Wife, Frankenstein and a human version of The Bat were invited to the announcement as well. The new coaster would be named The Bat and be a prototype suspended roller coaster. One of the ride vehicles was on display complete with sculpted bat heads produced by Kings Island's art department attached to the front of the cars.[4]

Construction of The Bat was completed in November 1980. The materials to build the ride included 1,000,000 lb (450,000 kg) of tubular steel, 180 four-inch pipe welds, 90 twelve-inch pipe welds, 162 saddle welds, 2,500,000 lb (1,100,000 kg) of concrete and 100,000 steel anchor bolts to form the bases for 162 support columns. Over one mile of drilling was performed to create foundation caissons underneath the footers. Throughout the track course, 62 sensors were placed, all connected to the maximizer by over 52,000 feet (16,000 m) of copper wire.[2]

The first test run of The Bat was performed on April 4, 1981.[5] There two test riders were John Rood and Walt Davis. Behind the scenes, the coaster was beginning to face some issues. The safety monitoring system was very sensitive and would shut down the ride with even a single train on the track. Plus, the ride was going faster than it should, causing aggressive swinging. To address the issue, shock absorbers were installed on the ride vehicles. Kings Island announced that guests should expect the ride to experience inconsistent operations since it was a prototype. The Bat had a media day on April 22, 1981.[2] Four days later on April 26, the ride officially opened to the public.[6] It was billed by the park as the first suspended roller coaster in the world, although two suspended coasters were known to exist in the early 20th century.[7] Shortly before The Bat opened, Huss Maschinenfabrik purchased Arrow Development and the company became known as Arrow Huss.[8]

Early on, The Bat experienced maintenance issues. Engineers discovered premature wear on each car's shock absorbers, so they had to be replaced daily.[9] The ride's wait times would exceed over three hours, as this had much to do with the difficulty in maintaining consistency in operation. The maximizer system proved so temperamental that the ride would often "lock up" requiring a complete track survey by engineers. If the system shut down while operating with guests, the trains would stall while climbing the chain lift hills and riders would have to be evacuated. On July 24, 1981, the ride was closed to address the lift hill issues. At the bottom of the second lift hill, the chain dog would sometimes be misaligned, causing it to become bent or break off. The paint had been chipping off and quick repair jobs had caused problems as they would flake or drip. The ride had to be repainted as a result. Modified chain dogs were added to the ride vehicles and the ride reopened on July 28.[2]

Kings Island employees and Arrow Huss were staffed at The Bat to keep it fully operational. Park management had to routinely give out free vouchers and coupons to disappointed guests due to the ride's ongoing issues. A computerized park sign near Interstate 71 and sandwich boards were added to display attraction closures. On August 20, 1981, The Bat was shut down for a second time. Arrow Huss began to analyze the ride's brake system. Each car had a fin on the bottom that slotted into a narrow channel of brakes underneath. The stress from the coaster's design and operation could cause the fins to become stuck or bent. The ride reopened during Labor Day Weekend of 1981.[2]

By the time Kings Island closed for the 1981 season, Arrow Huss started to address The Bat's issues. The trains were overhauled with each part being replaced with new ones. In addition, the over-the-shoulder restraints were changed to flatter collars to improve the ride experience. The maximizer system was revived and the sensor placement received modifications. More stress cables were installed in the support structure to help defer the strain of the outward pull of the helices placed on the supports. With these changes being made, the entire attraction was strengthened and painted again.[2]

During the 1982 season, The Bat briefly operated for the first four weekends. On May 21, the ride broke down due to a mechanical malfunction. Kings Island officials later found out that the track and supports were damaged due to the lack of banking on the turns. Since the track was unbanked, the stress caused it to be pulled apart. This also caused the welds that held the track to the supports to get weaker. On June 3, Kings Island announced that The Bat would remain closed indefinitely. The ride did not operate for the remainder of the 1982 season. Many park fans were getting very worried, but The Racer began to run backwards while The Bat was closed.[2]

The Bat eventually reopened on May 21, 1983 after a year of being closed. Arrow Huss made some modifications to the ride. These modifications included reducing the cars to six, increasing the horsepower of the lift hills and adding more support structure. Each car now had six shock absorbers. The coaster operated without significant issues for the first half of the season. It was closed in mid-July for repairs, but reopened later that month on July 23. The Bat would operate until August when it was closed for the rest of the year.[2]

In March 1984, Kings Island announced that The Bat would not operate at all for the entire season as they continued to review its mechanical problems. They had emphasized that this was only temporary and that they hoped to have the ride running again.[10] A new coaster named King Cobra would officially open the following month.[11] Unfortunately, The Bat was declared to be far too expensive and complicated to fix, so Kings Island decided to cut their losses and on November 6, the park announced that the ride would be removed.[12]

Though The Bat had a relatively short lifespan, Arrow continued to improve the suspended roller coaster design in future releases. The company forged ahead releasing XLR-8 at Six Flags AstroWorld and Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 1984.[13][14] Both roller coasters successfully operated for more than two decades. Arrow separated from Huss in 1985, but the reemerged Arrow Dynamics designed and built several other suspended models over the years, some of which remain in operation.

Fortunately, in November 1992, Kings Island announced that they would be receiving a new Arrow suspended coaster.[15] It would be named Top Gun and officially open on April 9, 1993. Fifteen years later in 2008, the ride was renamed to Flight Deck.[16] In 2014, it was renamed The Bat in honor of the original.[17]

When the ride vehicles exited the station, they made a right turn and climbed the first 100-foot (30 m) lift hill. At the top, they went through the first left-handed spiral drop. This was followed by a right turn. After going through an s-curve, the ride vehicles traveled through the first helix. The ride vehicles made a left turn shortly before climbing the second 100-foot (30 m) lift hill. They turned right and then entered the second left-handed spiral drop. After dropping, the ride vehicles turned right and entered a series of curves. An upward incline and a right turn led into the second helix. Following this helix, the ride vehicles entered a tight section of track. They made a left turn as they began to slow down. The ride vehicles made a right turn, hitting the brakes and returning to the station.[18]

An old footer of The Bat, pictured in 2012. Other footers can still be seen.

Vortex, an Arrow Dynamics looping coaster (first one in the world with six inversions), occupied The Bat's former location and used the same station building before being closed in 2019. Several trace remnants of The Bat were still visible, such as:

• Concrete footings
• The station and queue line
• Clearance holes in Vortex's storage shed doors, originally cut for The Bat's track