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Pity poor Gotham City, this fine metropolis is in the grip of a major crime wave, thanks to the sub-zero psychosis of Mr. Freeze, Batman's latest cinematic nemesis. The Ice Man has set up shop in his elaborate Freeze Generator and neighboring Observatory, and it's up to us to help the Caped Crusader enter the hideout and put an end to his wicked deeds. Up to the challenge? Before you answer, take a good look at what awaits:
Stroll over to the Movietown section of the park and, facing the queue, you can eyeball the entire length of the ride. To your left, the 200-foot-high incline jutting into the heavens above the Freeze Generator is plenty interesting to look at. But turn your head to the right, moving your gaze past the incline heartline inversions, past the horizontal launch rail, past the Observatory, and you find yourself staring at the Tower. This comic-book-bright blue and red latticework of steel is enough to leave you slack-jawed with amazement. The blue Batman Track makes a vertical climb and inverts at the peak of the tower to dive straight back down towards the ground. The red Robin track curls up into an inversion, whips around to the right and pours back into another inversion, also heading back for terra firma. Here's when folks either mutter a firm "No, thank you" and walk away, or make a frantic dash for the entrance.
Standing on line, you'll be able to take in a launch or two before you enter the darkness of the Freeze Generator. First, there are three loud, industrial blasts from an air horn (kinda like you hear before they set off dynamite at a construction site). Then, there's a muffled BANG! and the instant screaming that only a linear induction launch can create. If you don't blink, you can catch a train rocketing out of the Freeze Generator; see how every skull is plastered back against the headrests? The train rips through the Observatory and makes its way up onto the tower. After completing the multi-directional nastiness there, the cars roar back behind the Observatory and up onto the incline, twist through the heartline inversion and climb up to the peak. Just when it looks like gravity will drag the train to a halt, another string of linear induction motors takes hold and pulls the train right up to the tippy top of that 200-foot-high ramp.
And then the train falls backwards. More screaming.
Before we enter the Freezemeister's frigid den, the line splits in two and you make your choice. On your right: the Batman track takes you higher up the tower, and provides that delectable 90-degree plunge. To the left: the Robin track offers an extra inversion and more disorientation. What's your pleasure?
The two lines snake independently through the brick-walled hallways of the Freeze Generator and then meet back up on opposite sides of the dimly lit Launch Room. Inside the confines of this chamber, the full sonic assault of each launch is enough to cover your flesh with goose pimples. There's an amplified countdown, the three loud air horn blasts, a low hum as the linear induction motors juice up and that righteous BANG! as the trains are released. Oh, and of course, all that wild screaming... Are there any sounds sweeter?
The low-slung trains are dressed in the same vivid blue and red tones of the tracks. If you go for the front seat, you'll be pleased to note that the nose of the forward car is short and unobtrusive; the view down the straightaway is blissfully unimpeded. The over-the-shoulder harness is snug, but comfortable. But those earrings... sorry, they've got to go - yer noggin is in for some serious rocking and rolling.
After the harnesses are locked into position, there's a few final seconds of preparation, just enough time to squirm around in your seat and share a panicked giggle with the fellow lunatic sitting next to you. Suddenly, that air horn signals the imminent launch.
The countdown starts, and everyone whips around to face forward, gripping the harness with white-knuckled ferocity.
Two...
You can feel the tracks coming alive with power, the electricity flowing into those humming linear induction motors.
One...
You are still motionless and most of the train is already screaming.
BANG!
I don't care how many times you've done it, each LIM launch is as terrifying as the last. That explosive acceleration is a horrible treat, your inner child alternately hollering "God, please make it stop!" and "Faster, faster!" You are outside the Freeze Generator, through the Observatory and at the base of the tower, traveling at 65 miles per hour, in just four seconds.
The Robin train immediately soars up and into its first inversion, 105 feet high. The cars peel up and over, twist to the right, dive down, and then twist to the right once more, entering the second inversion, again flipping over 105 feet above the ground. Down you plunge to the base of the tower, heading back towards the Freeze Generator. Delicious.
The Batman train starts heading skyward and keeps on going, straight up, 139 feet. Up and over, the train makes a vertical U-turn, and now you're poised to drop back down, facing a nice, long 90-degree fall. Sitting in the front seat, this moment is a rare thrill, indeed. That rush as you plummet straight down like dive bomber... there are few pleasures experienced while fully clothed that are finer that this, friends.
Once through the maelstrom of the tower's trackwork, both courses run parallel up the incline. You hurtle past the Observatory and into a 45-degree-angled heartline inversion. Then the trains continue up the long ramp, gradually slowing. But before you begin to slide backwards, you can feel the electromagnetic pull of another array of linear induction motors and the trains climb even higher, nearly to the peak of the 200-foot high structure.
While you're at this vantage point, scope out the rest of the park in the distance; there's the Parachute Drop, the Great American Scream Machine, the Batman inverted coaster, all looking much smaller from this perspective.
Then the motors let go, and you slide back down the incline.
If you think the journey facing forward is unnerving, I think you can imagine what it's like doing it all over again, backwards. And it's worse than you imagine... When you step away from the train back in the station, feel no shame if you need help walking down the exit corridor. Weak-kneed and dizzy are just the way you should feel. It's awesome.
