Six Flags Over Texas' Newest Attraction

NBC 5 got a sneak peek at Six Flags Over Texas' newest attraction, which doesn't open to the public until the Fourth of July.

The Batman roller coaster is a stable at the theme park, but later this week everyone will have the chance to ride it backwards.

For a limited-time, Six Flags is switching gears and running the Batman coaster backwards. It's the same ride, but a completely different experience.

Riders won't be able to see the twists, turns and loops coming.

NBC 5's Jeff Smith admitted he was too scared to check it out since he is not a coaster fan, but his photographer Kevin Williams did it, and gave the experience rave reviews.

The ride has a top speed of 50mph and has a top height of 110 feet, with 2,700 feet of roller coaster track.

But some of rides can be a little less amusing when some bugs fly by. In fact, keeping bugs away from the coasters is a daily fight for Six Flags employees.

Park employees showed NBC 5 what they do to keep the wasps, bees and gnats away from visitors as the summer months heat up.

Getting hit in the face by a bug or a wasp is a concern for everyone who likes coasters, since there's nothing you can do about it when you're strapped in hundreds of feet in the air.

Six Flags Over Texas has five full-time employees on its Landscape Team. They usually deal with two wasp nests a week, most of them are small and can be batted down.

"There's a lot of us out here that are behind the scenes that do a lot of work, that people don't know about," said landscape foreman Lowell McKenzie.

The team uses bug spray and broom handles to remove the nets, and occasionally have to stop a ride until a swarm dissipates.

Experts say getting hit by bugs is a roller coaster rite of passage.

"It's going to happen," McKenzie said. "There's no predicting where a bug is going to be flying. Usually you just have to let them dissipate on their own. You can't do much about them when they're swarming."

The landscape team did advise that to help keep bugs away, park visitors should not dump leftover drinks in the bushes near the rides when in line, because that draws the bugs.  

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