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On Saturday 11/21, Theme Park Review was invited to see the Six Flags Magic Mountain Holiday in the Park Drive-thru Experience. It’s rare for park patrons to get to drive through a theme park, so this was such a treat! We arrived at 5:30pm, before the normal first reservation time of 6:00pm, and were directed through the Toll Plaza, through the Guest Parking Lot, and we queued in the Employee Lot. Along the way, we encountered many employees who were waiving, and joyfully greeting each car. Clearly, the SFMM team is thrilled to have patrons back at their park in any fashion. Our journey began with a short drive through a back-of-house area, and were then welcomed by a Holiday in the Park marquee as we drove into DC Universe, and passing Batman: The Ride. As you can imagine, lights of all sizes are placed through the entire park. Several uniquely themed areas throughout the park were featured, and the variety was greatly welcomed. There were an unexpected number of performers of all kinds throughout the park, contributing towards more personalized interactions to which theme park customers are accustomed. Fortunately SFMM, had a robust amount of Holiday in the Park infrastructure from past years, and from what we could tell, additional equipment and holiday décor featured this year will serve this seasonal event well into the future. Congratulations to the Six Flags Magic Mountain team on such a wonderful event, and thank you for inviting us! Event information can be found here: https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/events/holiday-in-the-park Enjoy the photos, noting that any of the photos below of excellent quality were taken by TPR member John Tanaka; thank you John! As the sun sets on quiet coasters, winter magic is ready to come to life! First heading back-of-house, here sits a remind of a time where "We like to party." We were a featured car in the longest vehicle parade ever! The Underground area featured our favorite soundtrack at the event with a more grunge take on in the holidays! Heading into the Rapids Camp area. It wouldn't be a "Six Flags day!" without these two critters! Mrs. Claus nicely lit across from Bugs Bunny World. We would have loved to see these Toy Soldiers doing some of their great routines from previous years. Holidays of the Future! The event ends with cars passing by Scream, as the reindeer seemingly pull Santa up the lift hill. Thank you again to the SFMM team, and congratulations on a great event!

They have background music that plays through their normal park speakers, which is themed to each area. It is set to the perfect volume to be "full and present", where we are still able to hear the performers talk to us along the route.

Here's some random night shots from Taste of Merry Farm. Camp Snoopy looked the best at night, imo. I guess I like the lights up the trees thing the best. The Bear-Y Tales sign looks great lit up. Baby Yoda being carved out. Required Catawampus picture. The big tree. Happy 60th Birthday to the Calico Mine Train! The stage looked great! They had live entertainment this time around. This was soft serve on top of a chocolate chip cookie. The warm cookie made quick work of the soft serve. Is this the equivalent of kids jumping into the fountain? This is the shirt and pin combo that you can buy for $16.99.

AMEN!!! It's so dumb to me that a company (Premier) which made headlines and won awards and praise from all of us for taking OTSR's OFF of rides that didn't need it is now needlessly putting OTSR's back on rides that don't need them!!! UGH!!! AND THERE IS NOTHING COMFORTABLE ABOUT COMFORT COLLARS. Sorry, I'm just really passionate about this and I think it's crap.

This is so great for all of the reasons you guys talked about and more. This really is the best Six Flags park and continues to prove it even in a shitshow year!

I honestly think that Universal Tweet is pretty pathetic. Why do they need to shade on Sea World!?!? Have some confidence and focus on your own park.

I'm sure I read the Ice Breaker height restriction will be 48" - I remember they were really pushing the exact family-friendlier tone when they initially announced the coaster. On the topic of the trains, I think Premier's current rolling stock is just about the worst out there from any of the major manufacturers at the moment, especially when you compare them to Intamin and Mack's current designs. I think they're ugly, not easy to get in/out of and the comfort collars are a really stupid solution to a problem that doesn't really exist.

Turns out SFMM won't be the only park with a drive-thru lights experience this year! Holiday in the Park Drive-Thru Experience Experience millions of dazzling lights and holiday cheer from the safety of your own car! Enjoy the warmth of the holiday season from the safety of your own car! For a limited time, experience Holiday in the Park like never before. There’s no shortage of magic with 12 immersive areas of more than a million dazzling lights seasonal music favorites and even a sighting of Santa and Mrs. Claus! Don’t miss out on one of the largest holiday drive-through events in the Northeast, running Monday through Thursday evenings November 20 through December 17, beginning at 6pm. Admission tickets are available on a first come, first served basis and are $14.99 per person. Reservations are required. Tickets & reservations will be available beginning Wednesday, November 25 at noon. Click here for more information.

Interesting that their mascot Kenny, was played by (at least) three young women back then. And their hair! If that isn't the 80's, then I don't know the 80's! ??

LOL...yeah I don't get it either, especially if you don't live in the area/have no intention of going anyway. ? I guess it should also be mentioned again that this is FREE for memberships!?

Happy 60th Birthday, Calico Mine Ride! Me and my mom rode it in 1963, during my first California visit, at age 10.

On Sunday, November 22, Theme Park Review was invited to experience the Knott's Taste of Merry Farm event, the next in a wonderfully endless string of events at Knott’s Berry Farm! The tasting card has raised $5 in price compared from the last event to now be $40 for adults with 5 food tastings. Junior tasting cards remain at $20 for 3 food tastings. The value of this additional bump can be seen in the plentiful park decorations, and wonderfully creative entertainment spread throughout the entire park! A few tips if you are going to attend the event: -We recommend arriving at noon for the start of the event, as the crowd level picks up throughout the day. -Many food items can be found at multiple food locations, so check to see if one of your desired items can be found at a location off the beaten path. -The food lanyard is handed to you with the hole punch at the top of the card, causing you to have to awkwardly turn the car to read it. However, there is now a secondary hole punch on the bottom of the lanyard so you can flip the card around and easily read it from your perspective. We love these continual Knott's food festivals, giving us a reason to come back again, and again. Thank you so much to Miranda and the Knott’s team for your hospitality! Plan your visit quickly if you are interested, as only a few days are still available! Visit this link for more details: https://www.knotts.com/play/events/taste-of-merry-farm We are so excited to be back on the farm! We started with Cupid's Corn Chowder Soup. Rich and hearty, with great flavor. Prancer's Pesto Chicken Pizza: The pesto flavor was loud and proud, making for a great slice of pizza. Tater Tots topped with turkey, stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. Once I mixed all the toppings in with the tots, I found myself smiling when I would compose a "perfect bite"! Gyro with butternut squash slaw, tzatziki, and pickled red onions in naan bread. Loved this Indian/Middle Eastern dish. The slaw and tzatziki helped classify this as a "lighter" dish compared to many of the others, which helps you pace yourself instead of quickly giving you a feeling of "I'm entirely too full and I'm only on my second food item!" Cold Salmon Winter Salad. Another "lighter" dish, packed with a ton of flavor. Featuring a decent portion of salmon, I consider it to be the most premium ingredient at this festival. Back to Thanksgiving! Vixen's Turkey Burger with cheese, cranberry mayo, and stuffing on a pretzel bun with fries. This is it! This is the winner! Ding, ding, ding! Better than the tater tots from earlier, all these Thanksgiving ingredients just work so well on a pretzel bun. Rudolph's Winter Pear Lemonade. Totally refreshing, and the right option as the thought of having another food item after everything else at this point was too much! Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake Bar. Everything about this is perfection! Ending with Comet's cinnamon bun with a maple glaze and candied pecans. This was the closest thing to the famous Knott's Fun Bun, for this festival, and was a pure sweet delight! A perfected ending to the foodie feast bestowed on me by the Chefs of Knott's Berry Farm. Here is a look at the non-food highlights of the event. First, we loved dining on the bumper car platform! Up the ramp to the Charles M. Schultz theater, you can meet a few Peanuts members. This was a live 50s/60s radio broadcast that was amplified across the entire Boardwalk area of the park. So much punny holiday humor! Our absolute favorite entertainer was hanging out underneath the Hangtime coaster. Douglas Fir was trying to sell a tree with "a lot of character" to the passers-by. He had us laughing for quite some time as we sat nearby enjoying our food. We ended the day with a stroll through Camp Snoopy to enjoy the wide array of holiday decorations. This continues to be such a nice touch, as everyone seems to enjoy the playful scenic elements in this area. This looks even better at night! Snoopy hopes to see you all soon this season!

I really don’t get the hostility here... pay it or don’t pay it, there’s no need for everyone to get pissy with eachother over that. Who cares? Whether or not it’s worth it to someone is totally subjective. Anyway, thanks for sharing that update with us. Great photos. Sorry that this bickering seems to be overshadowing it.

It's really not. 2 hamburgers at Carl's Jr cost me $20. There is not too many things I can think of to do in 2020 that cost less.

Wave Breaker was open as of last Sunday 11/15 as evidenced by how many times I rode it.

Worth every penny and would totally do it if we were in California. see, I'm not gonna bitch about cost - if it's something I think is worth, it? I pay for the experience, and enjoy it. you get what you pay for, you don't wanna pay? you don't get it. end of story. thanks for the report, and pix guys. Do they have music piped in? or broadcasting on a channel you can listen to while driving? or is it a "set your own soundtrack" (ie: listen to whatever you want on your radio/cd player situation?)

Yes, $20 a person is too much for a drive-through holiday lights show, regardless of how similarly or more stupid expensive other options in the region are. The rest of country is not Southern California.

Maybe? I feel like they must be almost out of flume sections to replace at this point. It’s practically a brand new ride. And yeah, I get why they don’t run Kingda Ka (a combination of money to run the ride, money to open up that section and the fact that mechanically the ride would be super pissed) but they run it through mid-November and we’ve been on it when it was below freezing. That sh*t makes you feel alive. ?

Dollywood had a Q&A earlier today. Coaster Crew was there and posted on Twitter the magic number 2,160 feet of Lightning Rod is being replaced by I-Box, the ride is 3,800 feet long. So 57% of the track. Based on what I have heard it’s the launch through the first drop all going I-Box then a significant section of topper track. Just before the 45 degree banked hill it will become I-Box and stay that way through the brake run. So two sections of I-Box, and two of topper track, but the one will be very small just basically the station. So everything except the station visible from the park will be I-Box. This includes every area of the coaster I have every heard having problems, so I would assume it will be more reliable. It’s about what I had guessed when I heard about the work but the percentage of the ride and the number of feet of track being replaced still surprised me.

Sorry, should probably have read RCDB better if I wanted to make a list of GCIs that I have never ridden but I am willing to possibly sacrifice before Ghostrider.

I guess my tastes in coasters aren't that refined.... it goes 91 miles per hour and has a 300 foot drop. That's cool as sh*t. It also has tons of airtime, it's butter smooth, it hauls ass the entire time. It does exactly what you would want a giga coaster to do. thrillseeker, I feel like based on your post you're going to love the thing.