Bat (Paramount's Kings Island)

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This article is about the roller coaster at Paramount's Kings Island. For Other roller coasters named Bat, see Bat (roller coaster).

The Bat

Location	Paramount's Kings Island
Type	Steel - Suspended
Status	Closed 1984 Removed 1986
Opened	April 21, 1981
Manufacturer	Arrow Dynamics
Model	Suspended Coaster
Height	102 ft (31.1 m)
Length	2456 ft (748.6 m)
Max speed	34 mph (54.7 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	2:30
Cost	$3.8 million
The Bat at RCDB
Pictures of The Bat at RCDB

The Bat was a steel suspended roller coaster that operated from April 1981 to 1983 at Kings Island in Kings Mills, Ohio. The Bat was the world's first suspended roller coaster. The ride was only open sporadically, and was closed in 1984 due to numerous design problems. On November 9, 1984, park officials announced the ride would be dismantled, and over the next two years, the ride was removed. The problems included excessive stress on the support springs due to the unbanked curved track sections and stress on the wheels because the brakes were mounted at bottom of the swinging cars.

Arrow Dynamics went on to perfect the suspended coaster, starting with Six Flags Astroworld's XLR-8 in 1984, and returning to Kings Island in 1993 with Top Gun. Neither quite as fast nor as intense as The Bat, but still popular rides which continue to thrill riders today. Vortex, an Arrow Dynamics steel coaster, now occupies The Bat's former location and uses the same station building. Several trace remnants of The Bat are still visible, such as concrete footings, access stairs, the queue line, and clearance holes in Vortex's storage shed doors, originally cut for The Bat's track.