singemfrc

Green Lantern used to be good? I rode it when it first opened and found it to be atrocious then too. For me, it's held the crown of "worst coaster currently in operation" since the day it arrived. Good to hear you had success with Revolution, JT325. I assume the VR was broken on your visit? I too have never had a "good" ride on GL. Trust me, I've ridden it probably a dozen times thinking beforehand that it's not that bad. But then I ride the damn thing and instantly remember that yes, it's that bad! I skip it every visit now and spent my time riding TC instead. Yeah, unfortunately the ride ops always attempt to balance the cars as they want everyone to have the boring ride, so you usually either get that, or if they try but don't quite succeed to balance the car (most common), you get a painful ride. The way MM has the cars set up, fun rides usually only come from wildly imbalanced cars, which don't happen as often.

There are 3 kinds of rides on GL: The boring flat ride, the fun flippy ride, and the painful rip your face off ride. What I like about GL is that unlike other coasters, I never know what kind I'm going to get, it's always a coin toss. The bad rides make the good ones better. Sure, a ride that's good every time like Twisted Colossus I love too, but GL excites me unlike any other coaster because it's unpredictable unlike any other coaster. I've never had pain due to the restraints though, only due to the forces. If you get a car balanced just right where you are kind of thrown face down at the bottom of the drops and yanked back up in that position it kind of feels like it wants to rip your face off. And that can vary from just uncomfortable to extremely painful. I think it tends to happen more on cars that are unbalanced just a little bit but not a lot. The perfectly balanced cars tend to be more boring and the extremely unbalanced ones tend to be more fun flippy. The best ride I ever got was me and a huge barely fitting in the seat person on one side and an empty seat and a very small girl on the back side. We were face down going up the lift and flipped constantly in the last half, it was great!

Not an authorized one, no.

So you got one of those rides on your first ride eh? Unlucky!

There just aren't any pass holder discounts going on right now being the peak season... I noticed SFDK is doing BAFF days in July up north, but not SFMM as far as I can tell. If you're at least 7 days out, you can get a ticket online in advance for $58, which isn't great but beats the $80 gate price. If you don't get any advance deals, they'll give you $15 off at the ticket booth for showing a Coke can. You could always also talk your friend into getting a membership, and then at least for today you won't be paying much, and you could both go again later.

You can still ride without the VR if you want, VR in use just means slower dispatches and longer waits.

That is correct, though you can purchase a reservation on X2 for $15 when you pick up your flash pass. IMO not worth it as you can either ride X2 first or catch it in the early evening when the line almost always shortens up. There's almost never a significant line to get the flash pass, unless it's a ridiculously busy day like a summer saturday, holiday weekend, or the dreaded Key Club day. You won't need FP for Ninja, Viper, or Goldrusher. You can walk on those all you want. Sometimes Ninja gets a line on a busy day, but not always. Jet Stream does always have a long line on hot days, and the water rides usually have the longer wait times on Flash Pass too. In general the FP does work well at Magic Mountain, the merges are all very close to the front except for Superman. Tatsu in particular you can really save a ton of time on. You pass the entire lower queue and go straight up the stairs (while everyone downstairs glares at you) If you plan on riding Tatsu repeatedly, FP is worth it right there. Also works really well on Goliath, Green Lantern (if you like that kind of thing), Riddler, Lex Luthor, and Batman. Though you can only use it once each, it also saves a bunch on FT, TC, and Revolution. If you're on your own or have a small group, single rider queues are available on Viper, Riddler, Lex Luthor and Green Lantern. Revolution used to have one before the VR garbage. Now its reduced to allowing you to grab a free seat when you are near the front instead of having a separate line. Lex Luthor's single rider line only operates when the standby queue is long enough to warrant it, and though it will still save you some time, note that its usually the longest single rider wait, due to the gondolas having a lot of seats in a row, they don't need single riders that often, waits can be 15-20 minutes sometimes. For Green Lantern, the single rider line takes you right behind the dispatching ride operator and you usually get put on a train within a couple minutes. For Riddler the single rider line almost always guarantees you walk right onto the next available train, you rarely wait more than a couple minutes. I've never used the single rider line on Viper, because, why would anyone need to? I recommend Gold unless you care about using it on Superman and Revolution. In my experience the wait time for your ride to be ready is usually the same between Gold and Platinum contrary to what the website says. And since I brought it up, Key Club Day this year is Saturday November 11th. Do not plan a trip to the park that day. (Also: Im surprised the park is only open until 8pm, usually they're open until 12 or 1 on KC day arent they?) http://www.cnhkeyclub.org/downloads/Events/Fall%20Rallies/2017%20Fall%20Rally%20South%20Flyer.pdf

Quick note - when I was there Thursday they were soliciting single riders for Superman! Very nice to see that being done again! Rode Wonder Woman and actually really liked it. Probably the most intense ride in the park G-Forces-wise. It really moves when it gets up to the top, I thought my shoes were going to get yanked off my feet!

They can, and it's AWESOME when they do. That is what in my opinion what makes LL better than it's sister out in New Jersey even though that one is a bit taller. Nothing better than when you get about 3/4 the way up the tower on LL and a Superman car screams up the track and causes the whole tower to sway back and forth. Unfortunately they don't do it very much anymore in my experience. I don't know if it's intentional or not, but sometimes it sure seems like they intentionally wait for LL gondolas to clear the tower before dispatching SEFK. Still, often you will be climbing the tower in LL shortly after a SEFK car has cleared and you will get some swaying. The more popular a ride (and X2 is always at the top of that list) the more they wait for offseason to do maintenance. Barring unforseen technical problems, it should run 2 trains through the end of daily operations in the fall. 3: General rule of thumb is that the later the park is open, the busier they will be. Sure, they're open until 1am on Saturday, but that's because they'll be busy as hell that day. I usually do Sundays myself, but I am not usually able to do Fridays which I think are the best balance between crowds and operating hours. Just stay away from holidays and special event/group days. The best days of the entire year are the last couple Fridays right before the park goes back to weekend only operation. Long hours and totally empty park. 4: Another rule of thumb regarding what row - front row is the best for view, back row is the best for thrill/speed (on most coasters, not all). I agree with Canobie Coaster that X2 front row is an absolute don't miss. That first drop when you are face down with nothing in front of you is one of the best coaster experiences in the world. (Note that the front row is actually the "back row" in the station - you climb the hill backwards and then turn over at the top!) 5: If you're just looking for El Cheapo, look at some of the desolate suburbs nearby like Sylmar. The further away from civilization, the cheaper it gets. (Also, try airbnb - you can find great deals to stay in other people's places!) 6: Magic Mountain is the best around for thrills, but Knott's Berry Farm has a few good ones too. If you're a coaster enthusiast (And well, you're here) I highly recommend Ghost Rider. After it was recently refurbished it's become one of the best traditional wooden coasters (meaning non RMC) in the country. They also have Xcelerator, one of the best Intamin launched coasters of it's type in the country (It's smaller than Top Thrill and Kingda Ka but does more than just go up and down), and Montezooma's Revenge, the last remaining Schwarzkopf flywheel launch coaster in the US, and Silver Bullet is a very underrated B&M Invert. And if you do go to KBF, try the Fried Chicken..it's pretty amazing. Yeah same here. I usually don't do more than 2 because my legs are unbearably sore after that second raven turn. I think I did 3x last time because it was so dead that on our second lap they just sent us around without stopping.

I did 5 quick laps on Friday night and there wasn't a trace of roughness, even going into the corkscrew which was previously what felt roughest to me. I was with a friend who doesn't do coasters at all and felt bad that he was just standing there waiting for me otherwise I could have ridden for hours.

Yeah I almost was going to go the park on Monday but then I remembered it was a holiday weekend, gonna be packed Saturday-Monday. I'll drop in Thursday instead since I happen to have a day off work in the middle of the week.

I've been a bit out of the loop lately (no pun intended), but was in town for a concert this weekend and decided to drop in (ok maybe I'm doing this subconsciously, coasters on the brain) on El Loco Friday night, and while I was there I of course decided to also partake in a little Canyon Blaster but I was amazed at how much smoother it seemed. Maybe it's just me, I know it can be very subjective, but in my previous visit a few years ago CB was quite rough. This time it was probably the smoothest rides I've ever had on an Arrow Looper. They only had one train going, which was fine, because it was barely even a station wait. I did multiple laps in the front and back rows and both were equally smooth. It's a lot more fun, especially in the back, when its not beating you up. El Loco was, as usual, the most comfortable coaster trains ever. I could ride it all day (especially with no lines). Weekends like this with 118 degree heat really make you appreciate that dome.

Also a more effective way of telling how busy the park will be is by simply looking at their operating hours. On days they expect to be busier, they stay open later. On days they expect to be dead, they have shorter hours. If the day you are going has longer or shorter hours than usual, that's a good indicator.

They're exactly the same in the park. There's no reason to purchase ahead of time unless you know it's going to be one of the busiest days of the year. In the past I have always gone with Gold, but in the last couple of years they have made a couple coasters Platinum exclusive, so it's made the Platinum level a bit more attractive than before.

There's almost never a difference in the wait time. The difference is that Platinum gives you access to some coasters that Gold does not, and allows rerides on some coasters. I always say wait until you get to the park to decide whether you want to buy a Flash Pass, especially on Fridays, they can sometimes be unpredictable. It sucks to buy a Flash Pass and then get to the park and find it completely dead.

I think it boils down to "Why did you paint this coaster that didntt need it yet instead of this other coaster that needed it more?"

No you do not! In the past Club TPR has gotten you either discounted or early access tickets, but anyone who's a member of the site in good standing can attend. The only event that requires Club TPR is Coaster Mania, as that event (not run by TPR) requires you be a member of a recognized coaster club, of which Club TPR is (the best) one.

I thought this was for the painting of Tatsu? Maybe, but from the photo I saw it looked like it was specific to that area. Also I don't think Tatsu painting has started yet..I think they're fixing the chain lift first.

I heard that there appears to be activity or preparation going on around the Sky Tower; it has a construction fence blocking the entrance area. No idea whether it could be repairs, refurbishment, all or none of the above, but pretty much any activity there is a good thing.

Great day today. Rained like hell earlier so a lot of people stayed home and crowds are light but it's clear now and everything is open. ~15 min for Joker, less for all else. Only every other row loading on joker or it'd be just a station wait.

You can ride it without VR, just ask. In fact often you can skip a good portion of the line by doing so. Since the refurb, I've only ridden without the VR, I can't stand it either. Really? That's how it was when they first opened it — you could opt out and ride in the front seat without having to wait two hours. However, they stopped offering that soon after, and now the front seat is usually left empty. The last few times I've been, I've asked and was denied (about a month ago), so maybe they've gone back to allowing non-VR riders to skip the line? I watched it cycle a few times last night and nobody was in the front seat at all for any of the trains (although they were only using 50% of the seats in general), so maybe it hasn't been announced formally? I know they got less and less proactive about trying to pull non-VR riders, but I hadn't heard of them actually refusing it, that doesn't make sense. (Though it wouldn't be the first time MM ops did something that didn't make sense) I wonder if that's policy or just a lazy or misinformed rideop when you were there. Last time I was there you couldn't skip the entire line, but once you approached the station you could detach and route to the front row, or if skipping the line doesnt matter and you just hate the VR, you can always just refuse the headset and sit in any row without one.

You can ride it without VR, just ask. In fact often you can skip a good portion of the line by doing so. Since the refurb, I've only ridden without the VR, I can't stand it either.

I mainly see it used for specialty concerts such as the Christian groups each year.

Thanks I appreciate the advice. Is the park normally slow at this time? Relatively, yes, but Saturdays are almost always somewhat busy year round.

As far as MM vs CP, I have been to both and theyre both better at some things than others. I think MM has a better selection of coasters and has more thrilling or unique coasters (arguably), but CP is a *MUCH* nicer park overall, and they have some coasters that, while maybe not as out-and-out thrilling, are actually better such as Maverick and Millenium Force. CP is a better overall experience, MM is better for the nothing-but-thrills tween and millenial crowd that they cater to in SoCal. It's fun, but it is really short especially compared to how incredibly slow the queue moves. The queue can also be really muggy hot and smelly, I think the really long unpleasant waiting experience compared with a very short ride leaves people not feeling good about it sometimes.