The Dark Knight Coaster: Take it for what it is.
 By Dave Kaminsky
  June 28th, 2008

Before even beginning to read this, open your mind to new ideas and a new way of thought. Otherwise, a pointless read may await you, depending on your position on The Dark Knight Coaster, of course.

This editorial is directed towards those who have already ridden The Dark Knight Coaster, and were unsatisfied with your ride experience. To you, I will begin with a question: Did you take The Dark Knight Coaster for what it actually is? The answer: probably not.

When I first entered the queue for my first ride on The Dark Knight Coaster, I was pleasantly welcomed by an array of beautiful flora and theming, and I must say: I didn't even feel like I was at Six Flags anymore. It felt like a step above. Unfortunately, however, my newly-found pleasantry was rudely interrupted by riders exiting the ride yelling out things such as "It sucked!", "Not worth it!", "What a waste!", etc:. I was disheartened by these cheap blows to the new ride. What then made it even worse was to hear those cheap blows followed my remarks such as "Kingda Ka and El Toro are SO much better!". My disheartened feeling was replaced with disgust. The Dark Knight Coaster was not even getting a fair chance. It was then that I realized that people were actually riding this with expectations similar to the magnitudes which Kingda Ka and El Toro deliver. That alone is the problem.

Ladies and gentlemen...boys and girls: The Dark Knight Coaster is on a COMPLETELY different wavelength than rides such as Kingda Ka and El Toro. Rides such as those are designed to be a full-fledged roller coaster. The Dark Knight Coaster is NOT. Is The Dark Knight technically a roller coaster? Of course! However, a different take on how the roller coaster is used to deliver the thrill has been varied: for The Dark Knight Coaster, instead of using pure speed and varying gravitational forces to deliver its thrills, The Dark Knight Coaster uses a clever mix of some moderate gravitational forces and speed with heavy theming, multiple sets, and special effects (including a phenomenal preshow to really set the mood!) to deliver its thrills. So, while The Dark Knight Coaster is INDEED a roller coaster, the anticipation must not be built or viewed as a pure-bred roller coaster, as it is actually a coaster/themed-dark-ride hybrid...and must be taken as such. If you ride The Dark Knight Coaster expecting the aforementioned explaination, in otherwords, take it for what it actually is, then you while be quite pleasantly surprised with it, as it is an incredible ride and a great deal of fun. However, if you sit down in the cars' extremely comfortable seats expecting to be rocketed around like Kingda Ka and El Toro are designed to do...well then you waited on the wrong line. The Dark Knight Coaster: take it for what it is.