A classic Schwarzkopf shuttle loop coaster that sat in the space now occupied by Batman The Ride. The theming on this ride was incredible, and Marriotts pulled out all the stops to make this one of the most fun to see coasters ever at Great America! Themed to the Yankee Harbor area of the park, the coaster was light blue, with a sandy "beach" and old fishing boats and netting landscaping, and featured a huge wave motiff alongside the track with white lights that would "chase" the train down the track, and blue lights that would "chase the train going backwards. It was awesome to see at nighttime! The train was launched out of the station by a cable connected to a weight-dropping inside a tower at the far end of the ride. It would go through a huge loop, which was located right behind the restrooms which are in front of Batman the Ride. After the loop, the train would race up a dead end track over 140 feet tall. If you were in the front seat, this is one of the scariest experiences you will ever have on a coaster, as it always felt that you were going to hit the dead end and crash. Then gravity took over and you fell backwards down the track, back into the loop, back through the station, and backwards up another dead end track, then forwards back into the station where you would exit the ride. While Batman is an awesome ride, I wish they could've built it elsewhere and kept the Tidal Wave. It was removed in 1992, moved to Six Flags Over Georgia where it was painted orange and rethemed as Viper, and now it currently operates at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom with a blue and green race theme, and is called Greezed Lightnin'. The orgiinal Tidal Wave theming with the lights is sorely missed.

Let me clarify- I meant to say I wish they would've built Batman elsewhere IN THE PARK.

I remember when the Tidal Wave first opened. It was really cutting edge at the time. You had to wait in really long lines and the ride itself didn't seem to last more than a minute. I also remember that depending upon how much weight was on the ride it would go further up towards the ends of the track, sometimes getting pretty close to the end. This was at a time when ride control technology wasn't quite as sophisticated so it was mostly plain old physics. When you would rapidly accelerate out of the loading area they would say: "Bye Bye!" over the loudspeakers.