The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

Eric, that was you! I've never met you so I wasn't sure. I was also there at noon and waited until probably 4ish and then we decided to bail. I was there with my wife and daughter; we were the only ones waiting with a stroller! Didn't hit any other coaster but played in Bugs Bunny World for a little bit. BTW, all holes have been filled at the Road Runner site and the land is completely flattened with stakes placed everywhere.

We might try tomorrow since we live close by.

I was dissapointed but I hold no anger at the park; I believe they handled it very well and the employees were really nice.

The one question I have is what was the true issue? They kept saying that since it rain last night, they needed to wait until the track dried. Is this because of the new trains? I worked at the park when the ride first opened and I remember standing in the rain letting season pass holders into the park during the week for the previews and remember Superman running in the rain quite a bit. I do remember that they close the ride when the rain gets to be too much because of the feeling of rain pelting your face at 100 mph but they usually opened it right back up when it stopped. I just don't understand how rain that happened over night affected a ride all the way up to the next night.

Unfortunately, there's little or no more of the good floater airtime from before---perhaps because of the new position of the riders.

Do you think a tiny size guy, like me ( 95 LBS.) Will get any airtime on the tower?

Were there any changes to the Fortress itself?

And that kinda sucks that we might have less airtime. Even with the thing reportedly launching at 104mph.

^^^ Sorry I didn't meet you today, but not having ever met you, I didn't know what you looked like.

When SFMM ran their season passholder preview back in December 1996, it rained on the day I went, but operated anyway. This time, they kept saying that they had to dry the track, and then ended up not being able to get the right track to run. So they switched over to the left one for the runs they did tonight. As I said, they only ran the ride three or four times with people aboard because less than 15 people were there when it finally opened.

As for changes to the Fortress itself, the outside still looks the same, but they did paint the side facing the tower and put a Superman logo on it. Inside, it's still dark until the room where the lines split off. Where it was once dark, it's all done up now in green. It was brightly lit tonight, but I don't know if that will be the final theming.

It's not supposed to rain tomorrow, so if any of you with passes/invitations are planning to go, it would be a good idea to give it a shot.

Eric

They said that they were going to redo the fortress and that what we see now is not what it will eventually look like. Not sure exactly what that means. Oh, and they did say that they would be running both sides depending on crowds when it opens, but didn't have any plans to "race" the cars.

^ I had a feeling that what we saw this weekend won't be the final theme.

They say that they can't race the cars because of the power draw, although they did race them for at least one Discovery Channel shoot. I know that because I've ridden it with both cars racing for one shoot that I did in early 1998. (Riddler's Revenge was under construction at the time, and you could see the lift hill in various stages of completion during that show.)

Eric

Glad you got to ride Eric.

Sorry we didn't recognize you up there Magic Alumni. Would have been nice to meet you, I think we saw you guys on the bench where the restaurant is right? We were mostly sitting on the little curb by the entrance while my son was playing Angry Birds on my phone.

Oh man I wish I could have made it up there this weekend! I forgot yesterday was the 500 and today are a bunch of errands.

I'll shoot for next sunday.

After about a half dozen launches for testing, Neal Thurman came out to announce that we needed to have our season pass and the ticket issued to us in hand because...we're goin' in. It was about 6:45pm.

Glad you got your ride. I left the park at around 5:30, so I definitely missed it. I'm excited for the ride as well, doesn't matter whether it screams airtime or not, that ride needed some new life. Good report!

Glad you got to ride Eric.

 

Sorry we didn't recognize you up there Magic Alumni. Would have been nice to meet you, I think we saw you guys on the bench where the restaurant is right? We were mostly sitting on the little curb by the entrance while my son was playing Angry Birds on my phone.

Yeah, that was us! I called Guest Relations right now and they said they plan on opening it but having difficulties again. We want to ride it but don't want to get stuck hanging out around the park again. I may try calling them again in a hour or two to get an update.

Wow! 104 MPH! I hope it stays that way for years to come!

On another topic, I remember somebody saying, quite a few pages ago, that Viper's wheels had been replaced and that the ride was extremely smooth. Can anybody else, who's been on Viper in the past month or so, confirm that? That would be awesome if true!

Wow! 104 MPH! I hope it stays that way for years to come!

 

On another topic, I remember somebody saying, quite a few pages ago, that Viper's wheels had been replaced and that the ride was extremely smooth. Can anybody else, who's been on Viper in the past month or so, confirm that? That would be awesome if true!

Went on Viper twice yesterday, but I don't ride it often so I can't really compare. One train seemed smoother then the other, though. They still have that one train wrapped with hair gel ads.

Just got back from a little sneak preview of Superman: Escape From Krypton. All I can say is "WOW! Now *THAT* is the way to *plus* an older ride!" Looking down 350 feet from the top of the tower, and launching at 100MPH again really made it awesome!

Photos & video to come later....

Just got back from a little sneak preview of Superman: Escape From Krypton. All I can say is "WOW! Now *THAT* is the way to *plus* an older ride!" Looking down 350 feet from the top of the tower, and launching at 100MPH again really made it awesome!

 

Photos & video to come later....

Great! Can't wait to see how this turned out!

 

I agree on the FB comments - truly disheartening. The post simply had to do with the current delay/situation because of an immense downpour the night before. People were discrediting TPR members when they said they rode it yesterday (Saturday) - implying that they were liars.

 

Plus, people were dragging TPR members into the mix.. I just don't get it. Some of the stuff that was brought up - wow. GROW UP people!!!

Reading those posts on FB really shows why Robb decided to insist on reasonably proper grammer on TPR. Those comments make my head hurt. I can't even get to the point of considering the content. I'm too busy trying to decipher the strange language.

^^^^^

I don't know if this statement is true, but I did see a car commercial talking about it's newest car's wheels and it had a video of viper and it Highlighted it's wheels.

Superman:EFK was awesome! Unfortunately there were technical delays today, so it didn't open until around 4PM. According to an employee, the cold weather causes it to misfire and stop at the end of the launch occasionally. But it was totally worth the wait, I got to ride twice. And the station wasn't stuffy or smelly this time.

^Ryan, you are lucky!I told you I had to wait til next weekend!

-edward

I also got to ride it today. Bummer it didn't open until 4ish, but that's what happens with tech rehearsals. But it was very worth it for me. I did get an edge seat, with the arm sling. It didn't bother my arm much, but almost no room for my hand! I would much rather have a middle seat, any row. This really seems like a hands up sort of ride!

I did ride in the "front" (defined as the row where no one is in front of me going up the tower). That was fun, but I get the sense that the view isn't exactly going to be diminished by being in another row. When you go up the tower, your head naturally arcs up a bit to take in the view of the entire park, and to look at the tiny, tiny people far below you. The back row only has two seats, which will make that row a lot longer to load, so consider that if you're in line.

Didn't particularly feel any significant airtime, but I was surprised by the speed you feel throughout the ride. It seems like you shoot out the tunnel on the horizontal stretch forever before going up the tower, and my face almost felt like those astronauts in the 50's wind tunnel test footage coming back down at the end.

But I did enjoy the ride very much. It exceeded my expectations, and would totally wait in line to ride it again.

I did hear employees say that they did slow down the ride a bit yesterday (Sunday), as the wet track from the rain the day before makes it go higher up the tower. Interesting that they calculate that sort of thing.

^ I love how long the launch is! You get to really take it all in, other then getting off the launch in 2 seconds.

^^^^^

 

I don't know if this statement is true, but I did see a car commercial talking about it's newest car's wheels and it had a video of viper and it Highlighted it's wheels.

It's just a Toyota commercial. They just were talking about an idea, to use the energy that the coasters wheels produce and convert it in to energy for the ride to use. Just an idea nothing really more.

While we were on the cruise, Neal dropped me an email asking me if I wanted to come test out the new upgrades to Superman this weekend. Unfortunately, since we were out of town, it would have to wait until today. So I got a call today from one of the operations managers from SFMM today inviting me down to give the new Superman Escape From Krypton a spin. Headed down to the park, met up with Donald, and within moments I was launching backwards down the track at 104MPH!

All I can say is "WOW!" Now this is how you can take an older ride, "plus" it up, and give it new life!

Walking into the park, I saw the cars launching all the way up to the brakes at the top of the tower, but it's not until I was on the ride, sitting in the back seat, and looking back that I realized it looked like I was so close to them, I could reach out and touch them!

I don't ever remember forwards facing Superman going this fast or this high.

The additional speed was certainly one of the highlights, and the other was being at the top of the tower, some 400 feet up in the air, looking straight down!

I wasn't sure how much of an improvement the backwards facing cars would be, but it turned out that is was enough of an improvement, that I'm not sure I would ever want them to change it back again!

Superman Escape From Krypton gets two thumbs up from me!

Now some photos and video...

From across the park, what is that I see...looks like it's getting pretty close to the top!

Holy crap! That one is even closer! And yes, it's running with people!

One of the last times you're going to see that logo in the park!

Looks like it's consistently going this high with every launch!

The entrance area still looks familiar, not sure how much this is changing before opening, or if it really needs to change much at all.

The interior area is VERY GREEN!!!!

Looks like this group approves of the new version of the ride!

Here are the seats. I'm sure people will complain about the side seats, but I didn't find them that annoying. Really, they were fine.

I'm told that this outside area will actually end up being enclosed now.

Another view of the seats. I found them to be very comfortable. Didn't have a problem with the restraints at all, but then again, I've never ever had a problem with any of the Intamin OTSR restraints.

The launch tunnel...pretty soon, I'll be going 104 MPH down that tube!

TWO THUMBS UP! As you can see, Superman added some extra lines to my face...or am I just getting old?

Here are the back two seats, IMO, the best seats on the train! For some reason, I could really feel the speed and the fall down the tower from here. It's great in either the front or the back, but these seats are highly recommended!

"Look! I'm hiding my fat behind the back row!"

Here's the other side...also backwards.

New hotness.

These are the LSM (Linear Synchronous Motor) that makes the ride go 104 MPH! Let's hope it stays that speed forever!

Just a quick look around the rest of the park - some progress has been made on Green Lantern. Looks like the footers are ready to be poured.

Cranky has lost his crane.

Roadrunner Express still looks like a dirt lot...

But it does look like work is about to start very soon!

That's it for this update! Superman is a win! See you all at West Coast Bash!

^ I'm sooo excited for this! I love the heads being pushed forward in the beginning of the launch

OMG!!!! I HAVE TO I MUST GET TO SFMM THIS YEAR!!!!! I owe Superman several rides. Last time I went on it was 4 times in a row in July 06. & 1 other time in July 1999. So how frigen pathetic. Only been on Superman a total of 5 times! Had no time to go on it in July 08. Next time I go on Superman I'll try for 5 times in a row! Backwards + 104mph= 2 very high thumbs up! CAN'T WAIT!

Thanks for the update Robb! I have one question, who is the man on your left (the end seat) in this picture? I saw/talked to him today and thought he looked a little familiar...