Batman Adventure: The Ride is the name for a series of Batman-themed

motion simulator A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that creates the feelings of being in a real motion environment. In a simulator, the movement is synchronised with a visual display of the outside world (OTW) scene. Motion platforms can provi ...

rides installed at various

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

-branded parks around the world. The ride was first installed at Warner Bros. Movie World on the

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, Australia in 1992, before being installed at Warner Bros. Movie World in Bottrop, Germany and

Parque Warner Madrid Parque Warner Madrid is a theme park located southeast of Madrid, Spain, in the municipality of San Martín de la Vega. The park opened as Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid/Warner Bros. Park Madrid on 6 April 2002 and was owned by numerous Spani ...

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

in 1996 and 2002, respectively. The installations in Germany, Australia and Spain later closed in 2004, 2011 and 2014, respectively.

History

On 23 December 1992, Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia opened the US$9 million ''Batman Adventure – The Ride'' motion simulator ride. The ride was based upon

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...

's Batman films, the second of which was released earlier that year. In 1996, ''Batman Abenteuer'' (''Batman Adventure'') opened with Warner Bros. Movie World in Germany. The ride was identical to the version that opened in Australia many years prior. In 2001, Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia revamped their ride and renamed it ''Batman Adventure – The Ride 2''. As part of this process the original live-action film was scrapped in favour of computer-generated high-definition film developed by

Blur Studio Blur Studio is an American-based production company which specialises in CGI visual effects, CGI animation and CGI design. Located in Culver City, California, the studio has produced CGI-animated films, teasers and ad spots for television, as wel ...

and music by Mike Verta. The new film featured elements from four of the Batman films as well as the animated series franchise released before ''

Batman Begins ''Batman Begins'' is a 2005 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Nolan and David S. Goyer. The film is based on the DC Comics character Batman, it stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, with Michael Caine, ...

''. On 6 April 2002, a third installation of the ride opened at Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid (now Parque Warner Madrid) in their DC Super Heroes World section. The new animated film was utilised along with 3D technology. The ride operated under the name ''Batman: La Sombra del Murciélago'' (''Batman: Shadow of the Bat'') until its closure at the end of the 2014 season. On 3 April 2004, Warner Bros. Movie World in Germany was acquired by StarParks. This acquisition resulted in various

-licensed properties being removed from the park including

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and Looney Tunes. The following year,

Movie Park Germany Movie Park Germany is a theme park in Bottrop-Kirchhellen in western Germany, north of Düsseldorf, with an area of . It consists of 7 areas based on movies and TV series. Nearby the park are several film studios. History The park originally ...

opened with ''Batman Adventure – The Ride'' being rethemed to ''Time Riders''. In September 2011, Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia announced that ''Batman Adventure – The Ride 2'' would be closed on 15 October 2011 to make way for a new attraction. Its replacement, '' Justice League: Alien Invasion 3D'', opened on 22 September 2012.

Ride experiences

Batman Adventure – The Ride (a.k.a. Batman Abenteuer)

Guests were admitted into

Wayne Manor Wayne Manor Estate (or simply Wayne Manor) is a fictional mansion appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is the personal residence of Bruce Wayne, who is also the superhero Batman. The residence is depicted as a large mansio ...

Gotham City Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his List of Batman supporting characters#Bat-Family, allies and List of Batman fa ...

on a tour of the library before entering the

Batcave The Batcave is a subterranean location appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is the headquarters of the superhero Batman, whose secret identity is Bruce Wayne and his partners, consisting of caves beneath his personal r ...

. Guests would be given an overview of the storyline in these two pre-show rooms. The live-action film revolved around Batman's quest to save kidnapped children in Gotham City. Riders would experience the adventure from Batman's

point of view Point of view or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or thinks of something * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the prono ...

(in the tracking module vehicle). The ride is strongly based on the ''Batman Returns'' movie, featuring appearances from the Penguin,

Catwoman Catwoman is a fictional character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in ''Batman'' #1 (spring 1940), she is ...

and the Red Triangle Circus gang.

Batman Adventure – The Ride 2 (a.k.a. Batman: La Sombra del Murciélago)

Guests were admitted into Wayne Manor as Gotham City Police Cadets on a tour of the library. Guests were shown a short video detailing WayneTech's latest developments such as the Gotham City Security Network and the new reconnaissance fleet of aircraft, similarly styled to the Batwing in the 1989 film. This clip was introduced by the chief of the Wayne Foundation,

Lucius Fox Lucius Fox is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Bruce Wayne / Batman. He is Bruce Wayne's business manager at Wayne Enterprises who runs the business interests that s ...

. Just as Mr. Fox started explaining the new network, they were interrupted by an alert directly from Arkham Asylum, Gotham City's maximum security facility for the city's worst felons. He remarked that it's "probably a false alarm but it doesn't pay to take chances". Batgirl linked to the computer from the Batcave to find that all of Gotham's forces are converging on Arkham Asylum. The television screen would go blank. A guide would then open the secret bookcase revealing the Batcave entrance as you walk through the Batcave tunnel through to the grouping queues you may hear dripping water and murmurs of bats flying. As guests reach the end of the queue lines the guide announces "I now present to you the Gotham City security network". At this moment several doors would open to reveal the network. It included 14 minor video monitors and one huge projection screen in the middle as well as Batman's controls in front of the screen. There was an animatronic Batman who talks in the Batcave sitting at the desk with his back facing the audience. Guests were seated in the audience and witness a second pre-show video introducing the mission to retrieve the Whitney diamond, stolen earlier from the Gotham Museum of Art. This was stolen earlier by Catwoman and is used to power a freeze cannon operated by

Mr. Freeze Mr. Freeze is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Dave Wood, Sheldon Moldoff and Bob Kane, and first appeared in ''Batman'' #121 in February 1959 as the ice-based criminal Mr. Ze ...

. Guests were then split up into groups of 20 and admitted into separate simulators where the ride would take place. Once the ride began, guests were taken on a chase through the streets of Gotham City in the pursuit of the Joker, Catwoman and Mr. Freeze. As the ride featured sudden movements, it was not suitable for those who suffer from motion sickness. For this reason, Movie World operated the ride without the motion at least once a day. When guests exited the ride they were greeted with the set of the tracking module crashing in to the Penguin's Arctic World Lair.

Ride system

The ride system used for ''Batman Adventure – The Ride'' was developed by

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

-based McFadden Systems, Inc. who specialised in motion platforms for military-style

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

s. ''Batman Adventure – The Ride'' was the company's first amusement ride. Guests were admitted into one of six vehicles which each seat 20 riders. Each of these vehicles were mounted on motion bases which allow

six degrees of freedom Six degrees of freedom (6DOF) refers to the six mechanical degrees of freedom of movement of a rigid body in three-dimensional space. Specifically, the body is free to change position as forward/backward (surge), up/down (heave), left/right ...

Voice cast

Kevin Conroy Kevin Conroy (November 30, 1955 – November 10, 2022) was an American actor. He appeared in a variety of stage performances, television series, and television films, but earned worldwide fame for his voice portrayal of the DC Comics superhero ...

as Bruce Wayne / Batman * Mark Hamill as

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, and first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book '' Batman'' on April 25, 1 ...

Adrienne Barbeau Adrienne Jo Barbeau (born June 11, 1945) is an American actress, singer and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical '' Grease'', and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter o ...

as Selina Kyle / Catwoman *

Michael Ansara Michael George Ansara (April 15, 1922 – July 31, 2013) was an American actor. He portrayed Cochise in the television series '' Broken Arrow'', Kane in the 1979–1981 series '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', Commander Kang in '' Star Tr ...

as Dr. Victor Fries / Mr. Freeze *

Tara Strong Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as '' The New Batman Adventure ...

as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl *

Mel Winkler Mel Winkler (October 23, 1941 – June 11, 2020) was an American actor, perhaps best known as the voice of Aku Aku in the ''Crash Bandicoot'' video games, from '' Crash Bandicoot: Warped'' to '' Crash Twinsanity''. Early life Winkler was bor ...

Reception

Following the opening of ''Batman Adventure – The Ride'' in Australia, Warner Bros. Movie World saw a record spike in attendance. Approximately 12,000 guests visited the park on 30 December 1992. This spike was attributed to the opening of the ride. By 1998, an average of 10,500 tours were being run by Warner Bros. Movie World every year. This number eventually peaked at 20,000 tours per year. In 2003, Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia saw a drop in park-wide attendance numbers. This was attributed to the SARS outbreak and the

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. The reduced attendance saw Warner Bros. Movie World begin alternating ride operations with ''Batman Adventure – The Ride 2'' operating from 10am until 11:15am, and from 3pm to 5pm. The popularity of the ride in Australia decreased in the late 2000s. Robert Niles of Theme Park Insider identified that the ride felt outdated and was in need of a major overhaul. On 15 October 2011, Warner Bros. Movie World closed the ride permanently.

References

External links

The full ride video on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batman Adventure - The Ride Amusement rides introduced in 1993 Amusement rides introduced in 1996 Amusement rides introduced in 2002 Amusement rides manufactured by McFadden Systems, Inc. Amusement rides that closed in 2004 Amusement rides that closed in 2011 Animatronic attractions Batman in amusement parks Dark rides Movie Park Germany Parque Warner Madrid Simulator rides Warner Bros. Movie World 2000s 3D films Animated Batman films 1992 short films 1992 films 2001 short films 2001 animated films 2001 films 1990s American animated films 2000s American animated films 3D short films Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences attractions Gotham City (theme parks)