ajinaz

And miss out on hearing all of the really loud and obnoxious cell phone conversations of perfect strangers?

Did you happen to time the dispatches? How long did you wait to ride?

Why not offer your rebuttal? Or at least tell us what your feelings are about the park? Personally, I would enjoy reading about any inside update information that you have. How is employee moral? What has the staff heard about new rides?

I think that if I had to sum up what I saw on Thursday it would be a complete lack of urgency. There seems to be a general feeling that it doesn't matter how many people ride. This line will never end so why do I care?

While visiting family in Ventura I decided to make a visit to the park on Thursday. This was my first visit since the X2 Campout. My only plans for the day were to use my four fast passes and maybe ride X2. I arrived at the parking lot at around 10:45 and the first section was about 3/4 full. I noticed that X2 was not running so I got in the line for my fast passes. I don't know why they don't have a dedicated line for extreme pass holders to pick up their passes. The line is always too long because most of the people need to have the system explained to them and this takes way too long. In fact, I don't know why they don't just give them out at the turnstiles. While I was waiting I heard X2 begin to cycle so I headed up to check the line. The line was already to the back queue but I decided to wait. This was my first time in the actual queue (thanks to the Campout!) and I do think that the industrial feel is a good theme for this ride. There are little touches that do not indicate a lack of theme to me. I talked in line with a family from Puget Sound who told me: 1. They thought that X and X2 were different rides. 2. They were surprised to hear the park was still here because most people in Washington think the park was torn down and turned into condos. 3. They couldn't wait to ride freefall after this. 4. The mom told me that she was shocked at how clean the park looked. The last time she was here was in 2003 and she was disgusted by the whole place back then. I did have the pleasure of hearing some guy from New York having issues with getting an apartment emptied out in D.C. which may require the assistance of his friend's girlfriend's dad who is a lawyer. Why can't people understand that nobody cares? After a 90 minute wait and consistent 3:15 dispatches I made it the infamous gum support. When I arrived on the loading dock I noticed that there was one employee that was simply not into working today. He was literally hiding under the bridge and staring into space. The girl on the bridge yelled down to him to check restraints and he was just staring into space. Finally the guy in front of me yelled at him and he snapped out of it. I was on the next train and I was in the very back row. Once again the girl up top yelled down and he was once again in another place. She had to hang over the bridge and scream at the top of her lungs before he snapped out of it. It was obvious that he didn't want to be there and sadly this was a recurring theme for the day. After X2 I headed over to Revolution. The ride did seem smoother but I did take one really good hit in the head. I just don't like to fight my rides. I headed down to the cafe for a sandwich and pop. The guy that took my order was one of the friendliest guys I met all day. The funny thing was he was working with the biggest slackers I saw all day. I ordered my sandwich and asked for it grilled. The other guy simply did not want to grill it. He put it in the grill thing and kept walking away. Not to do anything, he just walked away. The other guy ended up yelling at him to pay attention to my sandwich. Next up was Tatsu and another employee that looked like he was walking to death row instead of checking restraints. The funniest part was that when he saw my TPR shirt he actually started hustling. I know it's hot up there and honestly I wouldn't want the job but there must be a solution. One thing I thought of was to maybe make working X2 and Tatsu "premium" positions that are paid at a higher rate. Once at the higher rate you would have to continue to perform at a certain level in order to stay in that position. After Tatsu I headed over to Goliath. Once again, I couldn't get over how clean this park was today! It's really strange when you can't find any trash at all! I did see two or three leaves. Goliath had the best crew of the day for me. Everyone was hustling and the dispatcher was personable. He did announce that they were losing a longtime employee to Disney today and asked everyone to give him a round of applause. Next up I went to check out CSI Live mainly to get out of the heat. I know many people here don't care for it but I thought it was really funny One of the audience members was really funny and that might be why I enjoyed it so much. Next up was Colossus. The crew was not good or bad which I guess can be considered good. I still like this ride a whole lot and I don't find it to be too rough if you know what's coming. I decided at this point to call it a day and headed out. I stopped in to Thomas Town for a second and I was the ONLY person in there. It's really almost depressing to be in there by yourself. Overall, I had a really good relaxing day. I had never been to MM alone before and it was kind of nice to just wander around and not be obsessed about riding everything. Magic Mountain is now just as clean as Disneyland in my view and there are many more families there on a weekday than I recall in the past. I saw lots of smiling and excited faces. The Sinus Buster Looking all new From the X2 Queue Characters were everywhere and it makes the park feel safe and family friendly. This guy has problems and he needs to share it with everyone! 20 minutes with a pressure washer is all it would take. Base of the Video pole.

^ Very good points. I'm a bit confused about some of the "complaining about complaining." I think that most of the people on here know the score and read all of the reviews. If I read a perfect TR or a scathing TR I tend to take both with a grain of salt. I give more validity to a balanced review. I'm a person that tends to let a single thing really cloud my judgment about an entire day. Because of this I don't tend to do reports because even I recognize that it would not be valid most of the time. I'll be visiting on Thursday and if I think I had a balanced day I'll post a report or just mention something that stood out. Good or bad.

lame X2 theming. Not real sure what you are talking about as far as theme. I think that the ride has a good "industrial" feel to it. I'm not sure what kind of theme you wanted them to create that wouldn't take them into a budget that made the ride impossible to be profitable.

It's not just money ... three words: DMV

Just a quick question, but does Universal Studios (or any park for that matter) treat their employes differently? Do other parks offer perks which would make them happy to work there? Because it seems like the better Six Flags would treat their employes the happier they will be to work there. Just a thought... I suspect that this might be a chicken and egg thing here. WARNING: GENERALIZATION AHEAD! I think that the more family friendly the park is, the more friendly the staff will be. You just don't have to put up with as many disrespectful attitudes at USH and DL. In case you did not read my warning, I have seen bad behavior at every park but MM seems to have more of the sowing my wild oats and look at me I'm a bad-a$$ types.

Are you locked in to LAX or can you fly into Burbank?

But not thinking they went on a coaster won't help in the long run. My wife rides BTMR over and over at DL. It is her absolute favorite thing to do there. However, she is petrified of coasters. I figured out a long time ago that it's wrong to keep pressing the issue. She did have a great time last week zip-lining in Honduras, so maybe she's starting to come around. People have irrational fears and it's that simple. I learned a long time ago that you can't make someone overcome their fears.

I don't think that the drawing had anything to do with it. Bottom line is they now need to raise 100 million before the state support kicks in. This is where we see if this is based on reality. If they start emailing me (I joined the mailing list) to become a founding member by donating then we know this is a real pipe dream.

The Governor signed the legislation yesterday.

I was in Tampa for a few hours last Saturday and went to BGA for a couple of hours at closing to try and get some credits. I went to Gwazi and waited for around 15 minutes as they were dispatching very slowly. When the gates opened for me the girl told me I would have to wait for the next car because someone had a front of the line pass. I said OK. The next train came in and the gates opened and the same girl told me I would have to wait because someone had a front of the line pass. I told her this was the second time she made me wait. She said that the pass holders must never wait. I told her that this was bad customer service on their part. She then went up to to the front of the train and told her friend what I said while pointing at me and laughing. I left and won't be back.

I know what you mean. If we were to somehow do a fantasy TPR park blueprint where anyone could log in and add stuff it would not look as overblown as this thing does. Heck, if they just built half of what is on that map I'm sure I would make few trips down. Living here in Arizona and teaching in an inner city middle school gives me a unique perspective. My students think that Castles and Coasters is the coolest place on earth. They just don't get to travel to other parks. It is not necessarily because of money. It's mainly because they use their vacation time to travel to Mexico. If there was a park right along the route I think that they would be all over it.

Yeah I've seen that conceptual overview before. I don't think that I have ever seen such a convoluted drawing before. Why is there a wave pool with no water park? How many millions would need to be spent just for licensing? I suspect that with the opening of Hard Rock that they will toss that drawing and are now working on raising money for a resort hotel that will have the theme park built around it. It will be easier to raise the 100 million if they can say those magic words in Arizona, "resort" and "golf course." Of course that is speculation on my part since I have not read the legislation and I don't know how specific they were with the definition of theme park. I wonder if there is any chance that they could bring Hard Rock on board.

This project keeps moving ahead. I'm just waiting for the whole thing to fall apart. If you look at the picture in the article it looks like a swimming pool and a hotel. Where's the theme park? http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0625themepark0625.html Text of article: Senate OKs theme-park project Lure of new jobs, economic activity wins narrow majority Matthew Benson The Arizona Republic Jun. 25, 2008 12:00 AM State lawmakers signed off on legislation Tuesday to enable the development of a rock-and-roll theme park in Pinal County. Senate Bill 1450, approved on a final Senate vote of 17-9, now is headed to Gov. Janet Napolitano. If the measure becomes law, it would help give the green light to construction of the planned Decades Music Theme Park in Eloy, along Interstate 10 and about halfway between downtown Phoenix and Tucson. Developers, as yet unnamed, would be granted authority to create a 950-acre "special attraction district" and issue up to $750 million in revenue bonds. They'd be required to raise $100 million privately in order to access the bonds. Supporters painted the project as a means to encourage economic growth in a part of the state that hasn't seen much in recent years. Developers hope to open Decades by summer 2012, paying off the revenue bonds through sales taxes assessed on visitors to the park and special district. But critics called SB 1450 a government giveaway, noting that the theme park would be exempt from property taxes. Others worried that the state could be liable for the bonds if the project falls through, and that a parade of other development interests now will come to the Capitol seeking similar financial arrangements for their projects. SB 1450 supporters insist that language within the legislation is ironclad in its protection of state interests: "There is no liability to the taxpayer," said Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert. "If (the theme park) doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. Nothing is lost. If this is successful, it creates thousands of jobs and brings in millions of dollars to the state." The legislation has been contentious from the start, and Tuesday's Senate debate was no different. Sen. Pamela Gorman, R-Anthem, called the proposal "an embarrassing move on the part of this Legislature," and Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, likened it to a "shell game with the public." The lure of new jobs and economic activity won over a narrow majority of the Senate, though. Project backers expect it to create 3,000 jobs while it's under construction and about 5,000 once it opens.

The strangest part of the story is that they were running the other cars again "within hours." I would think that they would at least wait for the manufacturer to inspect the ride.

Talking to Jay at the camp out, I got the idea that the tunnels went out when they decided to add the speakers. The history of the speakers was that they considered it back in November but didn't think that it was viable. During March they found a company that said they could do the sound. Personally, I think that they made the right decision.

^ There is a video on YouTube entitled "X2 POV Front Seat Six Flags Magic Mountain NEW" that clearly says, "We Are High Up!"

As strange as it sounds, I think part of the reason that the exits are taking so long is because of how cool the ride is. I witnessed this during the rides I have taken. A group of more than two seems to be the problem. This splits the party up so that they can't talk while waiting for the previous train to dispatch. When they do get off the train they tend to wait for the entire party to walk out together so they can talk about how much they loved the ride. Robb reported that he has seen 90 second dispatches this week so perhaps they have become more forceful about making guests clear the deck. If they can hustle like that consistently I think that three trains may work.

So were there 2 trains consistently stacked when you were up there? At the campout I really think it was apparent that 3 trains would only be run for the sake of running three trains. Unless they start hitting the guests with a water cannon I don't see how they can get the unloading riders out fast enough to make it work. The downside to three trains is that the back train will be sitting out in the sun for at least 2 minutes. The middle train is under cover at least. We sat under the cover for almost 5 minutes one time and the seats are actually pretty comfortable in that position. Adding the sun beating down in July would probably make things much less comfortable.

"Is everybody in?" -- is that what it was? Jim Morrison of The Doors saying it? Anyone know for sure? Yep that's the one. It fits really good. The ceremony is about to begin.

After many rides, my legs feel fine. However, my shoulders are pretty sore. They make a point of really pushing down on the harness.

Just getting up after the long ride back to Phoenix yesterday. I just want to say thanks to SFMM for once again going above and beyond to make sure that everyone at the event felt that they got a good deal for their 50 dollars. I personally felt I got my money's worth by midnight on Friday. And I have a season pass! A few thoughts and observations from my time at X2 : 1. I can not describe the look of pride on Jay's face on Friday night as he stood off in the corner watching riders return to the station. This guy LOVES this park. 2. One of the trains had a sound failure (it appears) on Saturday afternoon. The train was quickly (around 20 minutes) switched out and riding resumed. 3. There does appear to be a problem with the harnesses not returning to the high position after the rider gets off. This requires 1 attendant to push the release button on the back of the seat while someone else (rider or attendant) pushes down on the seat. 4. After watching the ride operation for many hours, I am not convinced that adding the third car would have any effect on through put. The ride itself is a few seconds over 2 minutes. It takes around 10 seconds for the new car to roll into the station after the previous one dispatches. The riders then get out and must clear the station before the gates open. I never saw an unload where all the previous riders cleared the station quickly. There were people that walked slow. I don't know of a nice way for the attendants to tell a limited mobility person to move their butt. Many times there were small kids that needed help to get the harness to open up. I never saw a car dispatch without the previous one already in the holding station or at least in sight. Having that third car available as a quick replacement seems much more realistic to me. 5. Having the all day Flashpass gave me a chance to hear the GP talking about the ride. Every time I exited the ride I heard someone say, "That was worth the wait!" 6. Most impressive sight: Looking down from the exit ramp at the area below the maintenance shed and seeing Neil pushing a trash bin out back! Now that is a sleeves up management style that just makes me excited for the future of this place.