MagicMountainMan

I feel bad for the cast members who have to deal with the flow of people (the word escapes me right now) that is going to be worsened by all of the construction. Imagine when World Of Color lets out, it's going to be a nightmare. In all honesty though, when 2012 hits, at least in my eyes, the park will only be half done. There's still a lot of glaring issues with all of it that aren't going to be addressed by this current remodel. Hopefully phase 1 is successful enough that we will see a phase 2 that corrects the remaining issues with the park, like Hollywoodland and Condor Flats.

To address some concerns: The Maiboomer junkyard is currently being converted into a little "park" and meet and greet spot. Rumor has it that eventually Screamin and the Fun Wheel will get the Victorian look, but don't look for it to happen in Phase 1 of the construction. (Phase 1 is considered the 1.whatever billion that they're spending on BVS and Carsland, it will end in 2012) Supposedly there might be a Phase 2 which will fix Hollywood and Condor Flats as well as giving Screaming and the Fun Wheel period appropriate queues. This, however, is a rumor, not a fact. Goofy's Sky School is happening, but nobody knows exactly what it will look like when it's done due to all of the conflicting concept artwork (but when was concept ever the real thing anyways?). This is also another rumor, but supposedly the Sky School makeover is only temporary and that later on down the line (2014+) it will be ripped out entirely. Also, that concept artwork posted on the Disney blog of the main entrance was one of the earliest concept drawings of the turnstiles. I'm not sure how accurate that reflects the current entrance plan now. And the California letters are being moved, at least according to a guy who's an "insider". I'd bet on him too because he's been spot on with pretty much everything. I like to think of it this way, when Phase 1 is done (Carsland and BVS as well as all of the other current projects) DCA will only be half done. Fixing everything else, including Condor Flats and Hollywood as well as parts of the Pier, will come later on after 2012. I'm guessing that by 2016 or so the park will be truly complete in the sense that all of the crappy mistakes of the original DCA will have been fixed or torn out by then. At least that's what I hope. Here's to hoping that Carsland is a massive financial success so that they do get the green light for a Phase 2.

One positive note- I visited the park last Sunday and Tatsu's operations were actually pretty good! The thing that made it stick out in my mind though was the lead ride op or whoever the guy with the mic is was singing songs and saying stuff and getting the crowd to join in with him. It didn't come off as annoying, it actually came off as funny and enjoyable and it definitely stuck out in my mind. So that was definitely positive! Riddler's needs its second train back though, it had the longest line I've seen for it in a long time! When all is said and done though, I really think that Magic Mountain is going through a new transitional phase. The next two or three years will definitely be interesting...

^^I wonder if that would be the same case if they stopped people taking pictures of the pictures at Disney... This might come as a shock to you, but teenagers are actually the lowest spending subset of the general population at theme parks. Mommy and pappy got a lot more dough then teenagers do. And I'm not saying Disney-like prices, nor am I complaining that they are too low. All I'm trying to say is it's my own personal belief that Six Flags undersells their season passes. I would actually like to see Magic Mountain perform better, not worse and I believe that if they raised gate prices and lowered parking and food prices people would have a better experience and be more likely to come back. I'll say it one more time just to clarify, it's my own personal freaking opinion. This is the Magic Mountain Discussion Thread, I'm just discussing. -Brandon "I really love how everyone is complaining about people complaining. It's a bit ironic eh?" Tisor

In theory it should increase traffic to both parks. But has it? To me it seems that the only traffic that has increased is the amount of teenagers and other low-spending guests. I don't have any official statistics or anything like that, but to me it seems like they're catering more and more to people who don't spend hardly any money in the park - a bad thing. Has Magic Mountain even seen an increase in attendance these last few years?

Well, I really don't think they can do much more to give away the gate... Honestly I think they're shooting themselves in the foot by giving people admission for next to nothing but that's another discussion. Has X2's original audio been put back on the ride or did they keep the Halloween audio?

Somebody has to say it... Aquatrax. Personally 2012 is a bit too far off for me, I'd rather enjoy 2011 first. I'm pumped for Green Lantern!

Until I got out of California I had no idea what airtime was. After riding El Toro and the Voyage within 1 week of each other, they successfully broke my infatuation with Goliath's "airtime". Granted I still love Goliath but in relation to other rides, it really has minimal airtime. Speaking of the girl who died on Goliath, I was there in the park the day she died and I wanted to ride Goliath... I'm surprised I wasn't scarred for life! I guess the inner coaster addict has been there since I was born. Looking at satellite images of the park there's definitely room for expansion. As to where they will put their next big ride, who knows. Oh and what ever happened to the plot across from the park where they were doing all of that land clearing?

What's the mode called when they don't use any trims or breaks (unil the end of course) and they put the lift hill at full speed? Now that would be a fun ride on Goliath! I'm really interested as to what Superman is going to look like when it's all said and done. I've gotten so used to seeing the big gray tower in the sky that it's going to be an interesting change. I'm actually surprised Magic Mountain has started painting it already. I figured they would wait unil next spring.

^I wish they would just "accidentally" take the ride out with it... Hehe I agree though, that Tron segment was awesome!

^Heck I think they even had that problem when they were building Goliath at SFMM... Although maybe that was actually a part of the design (the really short segment of track that connects the last turn to the brake run) I'm not sure. ^^Nice update! Thanks for taking your time to post these and especially do the graphic. It helps out a lot when trying to visualize the construction and I really appreciate it! This coaster is looking really sweet. I hope that if it turns out to be a good ride, this process of renovating old woodies catches on.

In theory yes, the launch system wouldn't have to do as much because it takes less momentum to get a lighter object to a certain speed then a heavier object. At least I think it's momentum, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I think I'm mixing up my physics terms. However if the new trains still have the same friction force as the old ones, launching it at whatever speed the old ones went at would not make the new trains go any higher. So if the new trains have decreased friction, in theory the launch system wouldn't have to do as much work AND the trains could go higher relative to the old ones. That would be a total win win for Magic Mountain because they wouldn't have to spend as much money to launch the trains and the trains would also reach a higher height. But then again, I'm just hypothesizing, I have absolutely zero idea as to how much the new trains weigh vs. the old ones or what the friction coefficients are. I might be dead wrong, I just think that physics is kind of cool to think about! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what happens with Superman.

^Believe it or not, there is such a thing as an opinion. Robb thinks it's a really good coaster. You don't. Everybody wins. I for one am rather excited to ride this! I've always thought of this design as the inferior of the 4th Dimension coasters (I love my X2) but from what people have been saying maybe my opinion will change!

All I can say is, dang, that came out of left field! Well not really, Robb hinted at a vertical/beyond vertical drop. I've always been intrigued by Zac Spins so I'm definitely looking forward to riding this! Now that I think of it, didn't we give some guy a ton of crap for posting the Zac Spin rumor on Screamscape? I guess we owe him an apology...

^They inspect rides when they are closed? I could see them inspecting a ride that closes for a few days, but doing a daily inspection of a ride that hasn't been open in 2 or 3 months? I don't know the manufacturer's specifications or state code, but that would seem like a big waste of time. I mean, did they inspect Flashback everyday when it was closed for the majority of the year?

Well I see the blue on the side of the train facing the Sky Tower and the back of the car has always been blue. So it looks like those trains aren't actually backwards. Nice trip report though! I'm interested to hear X2's temporary audio but from what you say maybe I won't get my hopes up.

Wait... What? Do you have a link or something to that? I'm not trying to discredit you, but dang that's pretty far fetched from what everybody else has been speculating to this point.

^^Uncharted 2 is an awesome game! The online is also really good. You'll have a ton of fun playing it, and looking at it too because it's such a beautiful game. Oh and Rachet and Clank is fun too!

Maybe I'm too young but I really don't get the whole Tron following... It was a cool movie for it's time I guess but still... Nevertheless it's great to see World of Color being tweaked, even if that does mean adding a Tron segment. I think it's cool that the show can be constantly changing; something a lot of people don't like apparently. I think that in the long run it will serve it's purpose seeing as how even Disney geeks will probably get bored of watching the same show over and over again. Although some people might argue that it's a bit too soon to be changing the show, I don't really think so. Perhaps the idea that the show would be ever-changing was in the minds of the Imagineers from the beginning, or perhaps it won't even be changing at all. -Brandon "I wonder what they'll do in December" Tisor

^Wait... Where are you getting all of this info? I'm not saying you're wrong or anything I'm just curious. Are you a cast member? That's actually pretty cool that it's being fixed. I'm glad to hear that? Any word on why the bay is so gross and brown though?

^^According to an LA Times article it isn't going to be themed to Mr. Six anymore, but nobody knows what the new theme will be. ^While that would be a cool idea, it would dramatically reduce the capacity of the ride so I don't see it happening. I must say this is really turning into a lot more of an interesting project then I thought it would be! It really has me curious to know what they're doing up there in the Fortress.

^^I don't think that it's a matter of if those magic orb things worked or not, perhaps they just decided not to use them anymore? You are right, they did work all summer but now that we're in a slight off season mode right now they might be tinkering with the show. Or the magical orbs just got destroyed by the disgusting brown water! Not sure what's up with that... ^You took the words right out of Steve Davidson's mouth! But you're probably right in the sense that his department is more concerned on how to make a good show without worrying too much about the technicalities. There's probably another department for that, who knows! I just hope that whatever is wrong with the show on a technical standpoint is fixable so that they can get it up and running to the standard they want. I'm rooting for Disney on this one.

Well they're the ones that did Remember, Dreams Come True (the fireworks from 2005-early 2010) and I must say, those were the best fireworks I've ever seen, by far. World of Color needed some time to break in. Sure, some of the stuff doesn't work flawlessly, but then again, what does the first time around? This up and coming off season they will tweaking the show and taking the stuff out that didn't work and maybe adding to the stuff that did. Heck they even have a programming trailer out there right now which means they are doing something. And I'm not really sure if I'd call it a bad decision either. From Disney's standpoint it's been a huge success with all of the people staying in the park until closing as well as bringing more people into the second gate. If I was Disney and World of Color was a "bad decision" then I'd make it all over again.

I was really super young when Superman first opened, but I do remember going to the park a good 3 or 4 years after it had already been open and it was still getting lines down the hill of death (you know, the really steep hill). I think that Superman's popularity has really only dwindled in the last 5 years or so because it was THE ride when it first opened and for years afterward too. Hopefully this new refurb will put Superman back up top on people's to-do lists when they go to the park. Absolutely perfect timing by Magic Mountain I think!

I'm in your boat, the only problem I've ever had with those restraints is that my thighs always get raped. Thigh rape. Mmmmm But then again I don't think Superman is the type of ride that would thigh rape you, it's not Maverick... But whatever Magic Mountain decides to do with Superman I'm sure it will be better then what is currently there so I don't mind!