When a popular ride at a theme park or amusement park is announced to be closing, it’s pretty normal to see a significant turnout of fans to say goodbye. This past weekend, we saw not only the closing of one ride, but of every ride at Six Flags America. The park is now closed permanently, but one fan decided he wanted to say goodbye to one particular ride in a special way, which got him arrested.
The Batwing was a Baman theme roller coaster at Six Flags America in Maryland, which has actually been closed since July when a mechanical issue was discovered. The issue was never addressed because Six Flags, which recently merged with Cedar Fair, had already decided back in May to close the park. However, that didn’t stop one guest from saying a final goodbye by jumping a fence and climbing up the coaster, only to be met by security. The interaction was caught on YouTube by ClebyHarris
The full video shows the guy climb one of the coaster’s hills before coming to the end of the service way and having to come back down. At that point, he’s met by security. The video ends with the man, now handcuffed, being escorted out of the park by what appears to be both security and police.
Comments on the YouTube video, as well as an associated X post, really let the guy have it. While some can at least understand what he might have been thinking, the fact of the matter was that there was really only one way that decision was going to end. Comments include…
- Some dumbass just climbed batwing
- Is it bad for laughing at this moron.
- I hope that view was worth it.
- He might not be able to be banned from SFA since it’s closed, but he just might be banned for life from every Six Flags and Cedar Fair park in the chain. Hope it was worth it lol
This is the sort of behavior that is routinely going to result in a permanent ban from a theme park, but as the one comment above and many other similar ones point out, that can’t happen here because the park is now closed forever. Maybe the guy thought this fact would save him, but not so much.
While the desire to see a them park attraction up close is understandable, there's an entire subculture of urban exploring in the theme park world. The fact is that even on a ride that's closed, there are safety concerns.
Following the merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair, the question of whether any parks would close was a major concern. Thus far, Six Flags America is the only park to have its closure officially announced. However, this past summer, it was stated that Six Flags currently has no plans to extend the lease on California’s Great America in Santa Clara, CA, which would mean the park will close following the 2027 season.
The only other recent significant closure in the Six Flags portfolio is the record-breaking Kingda Ka roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. There's no risk of anybody trying to climb all over that one, as the park blew it up. At this point, we don't know when, or even if, the Six Flags America attractions will come down.
