Lost Legends: The Bat
	Way back in 1980, October 29th to be exact, King's Island held a press conference to announce their next roller coaster: The Bat. It's billing by the park as the world's first suspended coaster, though not quite true, (see Article: History of the Suspended Coaster) was a forgivable oversight. It was to be, however, Arrow's first. Construction had already started by this time: The second lift had been completed, and the station was complete. The cars were also present for the press conference, hanging from their overhead tracks in the station.
	During the winter months of 1980/81 crews poured 1100 cubic metres (1500 cubic yards) of concrete, and erected 162 support columns. From these support columns they hung The Bat's twisted orange tracks. In total, The Bat cost $3.8 million to construct, and covered 2.9 acres. 6.4 kilometres (4 miles) of pipe were bent and welded to form it's tracks. Construction progressed right through the winter despite snow and freezing temperatures. Steadily, The Bat began to come together, right alongside King's Island's "The Beast" in the Coney Mall section of the park. The ride was completed right on schedule, and on April 21, 1981, The Bat took it's first flight, for a media day. Dudley S. Taft, president of Taft Broadcasting (the parent company of King's Island at the time) and F. R. Bush, King's Island's VP took the front two seats on the bat's maiden flight. On April 26, the park opened for the season, and The Bat was an instant success; everyone loved it.
	"Rider reaction has been unbelievable" -Tom Nowlin, Director of Marketing for King's Island
	A ride on The Bat started off with a slight incline out of the station, and right turn leading onto it's first lift hill, which took riders up 31m (102'). At the top of that lift, it levelled off slightly before entering a high-speed descending spiral drop. After that, it sped through a sequence of curves and spirals that sent the cars swinging past horizontal. It's second lift hill then took riders up 30m (97') before a second spiral drop and another maelstrom of curves and helices. The Bat's layout was brilliant, and it's pacing flawless. It's perfect blend of out-of-control turns and head chopper effects made it the ultimate suspended coaster.
	"For me, there were two highlights of a ride on The Bat. First, there were two or three seemingly out-of-control s-turns which caused you to swing wildly from left to right and back again, mimicking the erratic flight pattern of a real bat. Second, it carried its high speed into several horizontal helixes, and you would swing out nearly horizontally because of the heavy positive g-forces, and be pinned into your seat as you circled 360 degrees. It seemed as if The Bat was trying to tear itself apart in these spirals...it was the most thrilling suspended coaster ever built." -Paul Ruben, Editor of Park World Magazine
	The Bat, though a fantastic ride, had a few problems. Suffice it to say, it didn't thrill it's maintenance crew as much as it did it's riders. The track was not banked, and so the extreme swinging of the cars made for heavy wear on the shock absorbers; in fact, sometimes The Bat could wear out a set of them in less than a week. Also, it's braking fins were on the bottom of the cars, which put extreme amounts of pressure on the track and wheel assemblies whenever the trains were braked. The problems began in July of 1981, when The Bat was shut down due to problems with it's chain lift system. This problem was quickly solved and The Bat reopened. Then on August 19, hairline cracks were discovered on it's wheels, and it was shut down for the rest of the season. Again in 1982 The Bat was shut down before the end of the season due to various mechanical problems. During the 1983 season The Bat was shut down several times, again because of hairline cracks found on the wheels. The braking systems were modified several times, extra wheels were added, and some track sections were banked in an attempt to solve the problems, but to no avail.
	Through all the wear The Bat caused on its parts and structure, it never actually broke anything. It had a perfect safety record; that was not the cause of it's demise. But in time the wear problems proved insurmountable. In 1984, it stood idle while management decided what to do with it. On November 9, 1984, King's Island announced that The Bat would be dismantled. The dismantling began in 1985, bus was not completed. The rest of the job was completed in 1986, in preparation for the installation of "Vortex". No suspended coaster built since The Bat has ever been able to match it's high speed turns, plunging spirals, and extreme banking. It's riders agree that it was the best Suspended coaster ever built, by a long shot.
	"Put simply, it was the fastest and the best. The turns were sharp enough and the speeds high enough that you were easily 135 degrees away from the "starting position" (hanging straight down). The rides that followed it's demise were of the same design, but were considerably slower so that the mechanical difficulties that The Bat experienced no longer existed. The newer designs have never been able to duplicate The Bat, failing in either the speed or the sharp turns (some of the newer ones have one or the other, but not both, and from that group most have gone for speed instead of turns). The Bat was also long enough, which is another category that some of the suspended coasters fail at miserably. There were two lift hills, which quite honestly made it twice as long as some of the suspended coasters today. And The Bat was as smooth as any suspended coaster that you care to name. All in all, it was quite possibly the perfect suspended coaster, save the mechanical troubles. And it's a shame that with all of the progress that has been made in the design of suspended coasters that they have never been able to duplicate it." -Johnothon Sauer, rider of "The Bat"
	You can still find traces of The Bat today. For example, King's Island's Arrow looper "Vortex" uses the same station as The Bat. Vortex also uses many of The Bat's access stairs along it's lift hill. Other remains include unremoved footers, traces of it's queue line, and clearance holes in Vortex's storage shed doors, originally cut for The Bat's track. The Bat may be gone, but it will certainly never be forgotten.
Statistics Height: 31.1m (102') Length: 748.6m (2456') Max Speed: 54kph (34mph) Ride Time: 2:30 Inversions: 0 Year: 1981-1983 Designer: Arrow Type: Suspended Layout: Freeform Restraints: Horsecollar Power: Chain Lift (2) Max Vertical Gs: - Cost: $3.8 million

Written by James Kay
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Layout Diagram © Coasterglobe.com
Photos: Paramount King's Island, Jason Park, Coasterguide
All photos used with permission, and may not be duplicated elsewhere
Thanks to Johnothon Sauer, Shawn Wehrley, and Paul Ruben for their help with this article