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| THE DARK KNIGHT
COASTER Opening Ceremonies May 15th, 2008 The Dark Knight Coaster opened to the public today, and it is a GREAT ride, taking the park's collection of coasters and rides to the next level in terms of theme elements and ride experience. While the ride itself is a standard Wild Mouse style roller coaster, the theme elements and attention to detail take it beyond the traditional coaster ride, and makes it an immersive environment with lots of great details everywhere you look. |
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| Coming in to the media event | The queue of the ride looks great with all the landscaping | The former Chiller site looks great |
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| Dark Knight souvenir cart | The queue and the sun shade in front of the building | The landscaping really adds a lot to the look of the ride building as well as the Movietown area |
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| The exterior of the building looks really great with the landscaping and the newly painted background | The new Glow in the Park parade barrier cans came in handy for blacking off the ride area for the media event | |
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| The enthusiasts line up to be the first riders on The Dark Knight | The media sets up | Everyone is anxiously waiting for the grand opening |
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| "Now Open" banners are all around the park | A benefit comedy show is being held to help celebrate the grand opening of TDK | Theme elements are all around |
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| The crowds arrive as the park opens at 10:30 | A correspondent from G4 interviews the waiting crowd | The ceremonies begin |
 Mark Kane addresses the crowd |
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 Mark Kane and the Mayor of Jackson cut the ribbon to officially open the ride! |
| Our lovely and talented mistress of ceremonies, Angel | ||
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| The pre-show features a "news report" film specially made for the ride, featuring Aaron Eckhart, the actor playing Harvey Dent in the new movie | ||
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| The detail level of the theme elements is REALLY impressive! | ||
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| The Joker interrupts the press conference | ||
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| Everywhere you look there is great attention to detail | ||
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 The TV monitor in the queue is fun, superimposing masks on the guests as they pass  |
| The Joker's calling cards are scattered all around | ||
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| The station carries on the theme, and
the ride itself is really great, beyond expectations. The
Dark Knight Coaster truly brings the Six Flags experience to the level
of the studio theme parks. Great job and thank you to our hosts for the Dark knight opening event!!! :) |
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May 15th General Park Notes |
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| The landscaping looks great all around the park | The Dark Knight is NOW OPEN! | The hanging baskets are up all around the park |
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| The Looney Toons topiaries are looking good | ||
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| The hanging baskets are up all around | ||
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| There are some really great deals available in the Park stores | ||
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| Dark Knight stuff is EVERYWHERE | Why are they selling soap? | There were a lot of school groups in the park today! |
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| Ironman merchandise is front & center in the shops | Cool new shirt | Granny's lost its name on the top of the signs |
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| New sun shade on La Cocina | The new neon signs are up on the Plaza del Carnaval Johnny Rockets Express | |
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| More new shirts! | The tropical plants are now out around the park | |
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| Really cool new El Toro shirts! | Tiger topiaries | |
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| A new Dippin Dots stand has been added to the Plaza | The Camp kitchen got some more permanent Kosher signs | Tortoise topiary |
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| I think that's Dr. Fright's chair from FrightFest... | Old Best of the West benches | Foghorn Leghorn topiary |
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| The old Pirate's Flight/Turbo Bungy site looks like it will soon be home to some kind of show | New structure...maybe for the Stone Figure Garden show? | |
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| Nice new benches have been added to the old ladder climb area | Need a job? Six Flags is a GREAT place to work!!! | |
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Glow In The Park Parade Route |
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| The hundreds of new green garbage cans line the new Glow in the Park Parade route | ||
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| The garbage cans have little star markings on the pavement to mark their proper locations | ||
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| Can't wait to see the new Parade!!! | ||
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April 26 The Dark Knight Construction Update --and-- General Park Notes  |
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| The beautiful waterfall is running | The cart is back in The Golden Kingdom | |
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| Birthday with Bugs was taking place at Best of the West | The Festival Stage roof has been raised into place | |
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| The Log Flume was open today despite cool temperatures and the crew was filling boats with 4 and 5 guests each for maximum throughput | Some brand new garbage cans have arrived, still in bubble wrap | |
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| Overview of the front queue and entrance doors | These concrete blocks will be the ride queue entrance | The locker covering and the photo booth are looking good |
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| The workers were busy all around even on a Saturday | The sign gives it a finished look | The concrete walkways for the queues are taking shape |
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| This will look even better once the building gets painted | Lots of really nice plantings are going in all around the ride | Overview of The Dark Knight |
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| That facade looks really cool | The new photo booth looks good | Still more grading work going on in front of the building |
 The facade looks really cool now with all the parts coming together and the final details being added to the "building". |
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 Does anyone know what the number "8717" means? It must have some significance... |
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April 20 & 22 The Dark Knight Construction Update --and-- General Park Notes |
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| More details of what you get with a cabana rental | Long lines for the Big Wheel | |
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| I think this is the group that usually comes to the park on Easter Sunday | OH...MY...GAWD! It looks like the 1980's are back! (UGH!) | |
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| It was a BIG group at the park on Tuesday | Woodchucks are all around the park this year | |
 The sign shop has been hard at work updating the signs around the park, and they look great  The doors of Showcase Theater are being painted, despite the fact that there is no show in it this season.  |
 New condiment rack at the Backlot  New Glow in the Park posters are now in the movie poster holders  Showcase Theater is available for events this season |
 The Glow in the Park Parade sounds like it will be really impressive!   The Theater area looks good, though few people will see it this year |
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| The reservoir on the Flume was filled on Saturday and the pumps were activated for a short time on Tuesday. All the belts seem to be in place, so it could be opening prior to Memorial Day | ||
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| The Bugs planting looks good | The signs have been updated with Hurricane Harbor stickers | Blondie is coming!!! |
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| The Coca Cola Cool Zone has bee dismantled completely | This shop features more Safari merchandise now | There are nets over the Dream Street flower beds...looks like problems with critters eating them |
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| Cool new Great American Scream Machine Tshirts! | New rubber fillers around the trees on Main Street | Season Pass processing has been very fast and efficient this season |
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| Awesome new Pirate ship background in the Old Time Photo Stand! | Special Passover menu | Good advice! |
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| The Carnegie Express is now open, selling drinks, cheesecakes, Tshirts and mugs | More new signs in the park | |
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| Some awesome new Dark Knight merchandise! | The crew was hard at work on the new Glow in the Dark Golf | |
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| Mega Putt seems popular | Another new sign | The demo Cabana with another new sign |
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| The Backlot Beer Garden got some new paint covering the old HBO name | The Picnic Grove was open serving Kosher food for Passover | The old Glatt Spot in now a Season Pass upgrade booth |
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| A beautiful day in the Picnic Grove! | The new wall blocking off Old Country from the Picnic Grove | |
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| The old Chiller station and observatory minus the tracks | ||
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| The Dark Knight continues to take shape | ||
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| Plantings are in | New sidewalks | A tantalizing glimpse into the building |
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| These pictures taken on Sunday (above) and Tuesday (below) show how fast the ride is coming together with the new Gotham City Park area taking shape. | ||
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| Can't wait to see the building finished with the Gotham skyline | ||
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| New planting in Gotham Park, which will be part of the queue | Parts going into the building | |
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 The Dark Knight is really making fast progress with workers all over the site building the queue area and working on the interior. With a couple of weeks left to the scheduled opening, the progress from day to day is amazing to watch!  |
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| There's a lot of room for the queue lines out here | The observatory makes a great backdrop | |
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| Soon this will be filled with waiting riders | Sidewalks are taking shape for the entrance queue | |
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| The framework is in place for the lockers | Framing for the entry portal and other theme elements | |
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| Jump to the top of the page |
 New banners are up on The Dark Knight construction fence announcing that the ride will open in Mid-May.  |
April 12th The Dark Knight continues to take shape, with the exterior where the ride entrance will be getting more decorative touches to the facade. The area in front of the ride has been cleared out now, with the path open to the Stunt Arena and a new permanent gate closing off the path to Showcase Theater and the Old Country Picnic Grove. |
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| The roof piece is just about ready to go up | ||
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| The newly re-opened pathway | The ladder climb game is gone apparently | The new end of the path |
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| The new gate to the Old Country Picnic Pavilion and its signs | ||
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| The Glatt Deli has been moved over to the Bugs Bunny National Park Camp Kitchen, and the Kosher certifications are on display in the window | The restroom next to Runaway Mine Train has received a mini-remodel, and now you can reach the soap! | |
 The tigers look like they're enjoying the nice weather  |
 The new wiring conduits on the old Super Teepee site have been capped with a box |
 There was a marching band in the park today  |
| The trees are in bloom all around the park | ||
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| There are new Deal or No Deal machines in Studio 28 | There's something missing here... | Cabana Cove got new, more permanent looking signs, and has set up a sample on Dream Street |
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| Click here for Opening Day News + Notes | ||
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