HOLY COASTER RIDE, BATMAN!; RIDDLER'S REVENGE SET TO ROLL IN SPRING AT MAGIC MOUNTAIN.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Six Flags Magic Mountain is adding a new roller coaster based on one of pop culture's nastiest villains - and the ride promises to be just as pleasurably nasty.

The Valencia theme park on Tuesday presented its Riddler's Revenge, a stand-up roller coaster that will take park visitors on a three-minute, 65-mph ride through a series of loops and spirals, including one that the park touts as a record 124-foot-tall vertical loop.

``It's going to be the single biggest thing we've ever done at Six Flags Magic Mountain,'' said Larry Bouts, chief executive officer of Six Flags Theme Parks Inc. in Parsippany, N.J.

Bouts wouldn't reveal the ride's cost. ``But for us it's the single biggest capital expense we've done,'' he said.

The ride, designed by Swiss company Bolliger and Mabillard, is expected to open in early spring. It will join two other rides based on Warner Bros.-produced blockbusters that were in turn inspired by DC Comics characters: Batman the Ride and Superman the Escape.

It's the park's second stand-up roller coaster. The first, Shock Wave, was shipped to the Six Flags park in Houston a few years ago.

Bigger and better is the name of the game in the competitive amusement park industry, said Steven Bernard, leisure analyst and vice president of equity research and recreation for Everen Securities Inc. in Chicago.

``Basically there's only so many people that go to amusement parks,'' he said. ``You have to have bigger and better, faster and scarier rides than the guy down the street, particularly in California.''

According to Amusement Business, a Nashville, Tenn.-based trade newsletter, Six Flags Magic Mountain in 1997 ranked 12th among the top 50 amusement and theme parks in North America, with 3.4 million visitors during the year.

It trailed, however, the other Los Angeles-area amusement parks: Disneyland, which ranked second with 14.25 million visitors; Universal Studios Hollywood, sixth with 6.4 million; and Knott's Berry Farm, 11th with nearly 3.7 million.

The area's other theme parks are also adding new rides or revamping existing attractions.

Disneyland is in the final stages of a major overhaul of Tomorrowland, which is scheduled to reopen to the public May 22, said spokeswoman Marj Baker.

Among new attractions, there will be ``Honey, I Shrunk the Audience,'' which will combine 3-D film and other special effects, and the Astro Orbiter spaceships. Tomorrowland also will have new restaurants and other attractions, and the popular Space Mountain will get new exterior colors and an on-board audio track.

Knott's Berry Farm, recently purchased by Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair L.P., will have a new wooden roller coaster in spring 1999 whose construction was initiated by the park's original owner, said spokeswoman Dana Hammontree.

The new owner has not announced any new attractions for this summer, she said.

And Universal Studios Hollywood plans to announce its new plans for the park next month, said Director of Public Relations Eliot Sekular.

Representatives of the area's amusement parks said they don't consider each other direct rivals because each occupies a niche in the industry attracting a different kind of visitor. Also, visitors to the area tend to go to more than one theme park during their stays.

``We think that whenever there's excitement in the market, it helps us all,'' Sekular said.

Here's what some amusement park experts are saying about the new ride:

``The big draw of this ride is the stand up (feature). We have one now that your feet dangle, one with the traditional wood, and now a stand-up. ... This is the next generation - tallest, fastest and the most loops.''

--Bonnie Rabjohn, Magic Mountain spokeswoman

``We must continue to push the envelope and give our guests what they want - the latest and most innovative thrill rides available,''

--Larry Bouts, chairman and chief executive officer of Six Flags Theme Parks Inc.

``For the past decade or more, (Six Flags) hasintroduced the best thrill rides. They've become a major stop, a major destination for roller coaster afficianados.''

PaulRuben, a roller coaster historian and North American editor of Park World Magazine.

CAPTION(S):

2 Boxes, Drawing

Drawing/box: (1--color) no caption (The Riddler's Revenge)

(2) Box: Here's what some amusement park experts are saying about the new ride: (see text)