Canobie Coaster

That's a positive sign!

Holiday World sent out a survey to those who bought HoliWood Nights tickets in advance. It seems like they're targeting August 14-15 or August 21-22 as a backup date.

Six Flags Magic Mountain West Coast Racers. New for 2019 or new for 2020? On one hand, it technically did open at the very end of 2019...for members only. On the other hand, it didn't open to everyone until 2020. There's no right answer. It's like asking yourself if Nick Cage is a good or bad actor. But most people who ride West Coast Racers are in agreement that this is an incredibly fun coaster. Me included. 2020 was already one of the best years for new coasters. Magic Mountain went above and beyond our wildest expectations make this a new-for-2020 coaster. West Coast Racers is part of a whole new area called the Underground. The back section by Apocalypse was always one of the park's ugliest and most lifeless areas, but now it has a vibrant atmosphere. The freshly painted buildings and kinetic energy of West Coast Racers revitalized the back corner of the park. This is also among the better themed rides Six Flags has ever created. It's not Disney level, but the queue line is on the level with Six Flags Mexico, the chain's undisputed king of well-themed queue lines. You pass through an auto shop with a beautiful model car and panels showing the mechanics at work. Six Flags has evolved. This isn't a parking lot coaster. This is a street coaster. In terms of seats, I tried West Coast Racers in both the front and back. When I visited, they were assigning seats, but they were granting requests so long as the queue for an individual row wasn't too backed up. But it didn't matter too much in my opinion since it rode pretty similarly in every row. I also thought both halves rode pretty similarly. All 4 launches lacked a good initial kick, but each one had a decent punch by the end. All 4 inversions were of the floaty variety with some great hangtime. The helices on both sides both had spots where they piled on the GS. And there were also several pops of airtime scattered throughout. In general, the airtime was fairly weak except for one shining moment- the high five. This element is incredible. It's as wild as the best RMC wave turn. You get some powerful sideways ejector airtime. And the best part is that you get to experience this element twice! The last thing I want to touch on was the controversial pit stop. Unlike Twisted Colossus where your duel is at the mercy of the operators, West Coast Racers forces a duel. As a themed element, the pit stop is just ok. But I am 100% in favor of its inclusion. If the alternative is plowing through the whole layout and then stacking on the final brake run, I'll happily wait an extra minute to get a duel. Because it's what makes West Coast Racers special. West Coast Racers isn't the world's most intense coaster, but I enjoyed it more than I expected. It's an incredibly fun ride thanks to the interactive dueling. Plus it's a long ride with a diverse mix of elements. It's probably my fourth favorite ride at Magic Mountain after Twisted Colossus, X2, and Tatsu. 8.5 out of 10 This is what happens if you have a pit stop. No pit stop. Give me the pit stop. Rumor has it, Universal has a heart attack if you show them this photo. And one of the more underrated things about the Underground area was that Apocalypse was retracked. It was running just as smoothly as my December visit, but the airtime didn't feel as strong. The usual quick ejector pops characteristic of a GCI were replaced by milder floater airtime. 7 out of 10 This ride's theme sure is fitting in light of current world events. Every time I visit Magic Mountain, Twisted Colossus is running less and less trains. 2016- 4 trains 2018- 3 trains 2019- 2 trains 2020- 1 train Needless to say, I didn't exactly get a duel on this visit. And in case you were wondering, the second lift still crawls even if Twisted Colossus is running one train. The lift is programmed to wait for the other train under all circumstances it seems. It just put salt in the wound and killed the throughput. Thankfully the park was dead so it never built up a sizable wait. The dueling doesn't make or break Twisted Colossus for me; it's just gravy. This is one of my favorite RMCs. It may be fair to call Twisted Colossus two coasters spliced together, but I don't care one bit since both halves have some powerful ejector airtime, a great inversion, and no dead spots. 10 out of 10 Duel or no duel, Twisted Colossus is an incredible coaster. One of RMC's best! At this rate, Twisted Colossus will be running 0 trains on my next visit. The park was so dead that even Full Throttle was almost a walk-on. That never happens! As a result, I got a few rides on the park's original Premier coaster. I know it's easy to mock Full Throttle for its premature ending, but I love the elements it includes. The launches are solid; the vertical loop has some terrifying hangtime; the dive loop going forwards is whippy; the dive loop backwards stall has some great hangtime; and the airtime over the top hat is fantastic in any row. In the grand scheme of things, isn't that more elements than a lot of launch coasters? 8 out of 10 You know what would make this loop better? An interlocking Larson Loop. Half Throttle. The longest wait by far was for Tatsu. It was a perfect storm at Tatsu- one train ops, slow dispatches, and a passenger had a nosebleed. Magic Mountain didn't immediately take Tatsu down. Instead, they just ran the ride at even further reduced capacity and blocked off the two blood-splattered rows. And I'm willing to bet the pretzel loop was the culprit. That inversion is downright insane. It's arguably the most intense inversion in the world. The pretzel loops on the Superman clones already feel like an endurance test and the one on Tatsu is twice as large. Tatsu's pretzel loop does some unnatural things to your body. It feels like your head will explode, your chest will cave in, and your pants will be ripped off. But I love its primal intensity. The rest of the ride is graceful, but that isn't a bad thing. Tatsu's setting atop the hill allows for some memorable barrel rolls and overbanks. That's especially true since you can admire Magic Mountain's impressive skyline from many unique vantage points. 9 out of 10 Tatsu's pretzel loop turns men into boys. And boys into dust. Thanos would be proud. Since Emily wasn't with me on this trip, I felt no guilt marathoning X2. If you remember my last trip report, Emily said that was her least favorite coaster of all time. She literally thought she was going to slip out of the harness and die. As for me, I love the sheer insanity of X2. Yes it's a bit bouncy, but in a way it feeds into the ridiculousness of the ride. You have a Falcon's Fury-esque dive towards the ground with a flip mixed with one demented flip after another. The final raven turn and inline twist in particular standout because of their compactness and snappiness. The biggest flaw for me is that far turnaround that does absolutely nothing and the fact that I know Eejanaika exists and corrected that flaw. 9.5 out of 10 Alan Schilke- I want a vertical drop. Arrow Engineers- We've never done that before. Alan Schilke- Oh ok. Let's have the seats flip too then. Eejanaika translates to "What the Hell"? That's an apt description for any 4D coaster. Including the recently removed Green Lantern. Except it isn't a term of endearment there... I also made sure to pay my respects to the park's older Arrows. These rides may not have the best transitions, but Viper packs in positive Gs during the first half and awkward hangtime in the second half (6 out of 10). Meanwhile, Gold Rusher (5 out of 10) and Ninja (6 out of 10) use the park's mountain terrain to perfection. Only five flags? Six Flags is slacking. I never noticed before this visit that Ninja's queue stands atop an old turntable. Samurai Summit is just littered with remnants of deceased attractions. As for the park's older B&Ms, I only rode Riddler's Revenge. Batman is a fantastic ride, but I tend to skip it at Magic Mountain since I ride the crap out of Great Adventure's during Holiday in the Park. As for Scream, I choose not to ride it since Great Adventure has the superior Bizarro...which I rarely ride since I can't pull myself off El Toro. Riddler's Revenge is the king of stand-up coasters. As long as you get your head above the restraint and that bike seat below your loins, you're in for a treat. Riddler's Revenge pulls some serious Gs and just keeps going on and on. I think that last point may be why Riddler's is a love it-hate it ride. If you ride it wrong, you're in for a bad time. 8 out of 10 This view may look different next year with the rumored Raptor slapped in front of it. Meanwhile, Goliath is the weenie of hyper coasters. While that drop looks impressive off-ride, it's a ride of wasted potential. I wish that speed was used for airtime as opposed to gargantuan, positive G heavy helices. 6 out of 10 Arguably the best thing about Goliath is that iconic sign. It was also a nice surprise to see Superman running. Most of my visits seem to take place during Holiday in the Park when the Man of Steel is down. For that reason, I snagged a few rides on the last remaining reverse freefall coaster. And this launch was better than I remembered. It has a decent initial kick and you just keep getting faster and faster. And that view atop the tower is breathtaking. Superman may be a one-trick pony, but I like its trick. 7 out of 10 I was also able to get back on Lex Luthor, which is always temperamental for me. I've come to realize the drop on Lex Luthor isn't as intense as other drop towers, but the sheer height and threat of Superman swaying the tower makes this one of the scariest rides in the world. 9 out of 10 Six Flags Magic Mountain is one of the jewels of the Six Flags chain. That coaster lineup carries the park, but they have incrementally been improving each section of the park as they add a new coaster. Goodnight Wally World.

Neither were bad for me since my head was above the restraint. Ninja was ok, but I genuinely liked Dragon. I rode it a few times.

^ Your second thought was my first thought when I heard this announcement. I'm wondering if they know this will either be a very short or limited season.

^ The only real demolition appears to be Tidal Wave and isn't that plot of land already flat?

Great reports! Do you pass through the stingray tunnel on Stingray Falls fairly slowly? I hated how quickly you blow through the dolphin pool on the speed slide at Aquatica Orlando.

I'd love for this to be named Green Lantern: Second Flight, but we can't rule out them literally reusing Green Lantern: First Flight since Six Flags Over Texas transferred the Harley Quinn Spinsanity name from their troika to their tourbillion one offseason.

What are the odds they reuse the Green Lantern name? I'd say they aren't lazy enough to do that, but Six Flags Over Texas just replaced an Aquaman ride with an Aquaman ride. And they did keep the Green Lantern sign up as of my visit in December.

Kennywood shared the new logo for the Old Mill in their latest newsletter. I'm glad Garfield was booted for an opossum and skunk.

Disneyland Captain EO and Innovations have closed. Main Street Vehicles, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run, Sailing Ship Columbia, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are missing. Main Street Vehicles Sailing Ship Columbia Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run Snow White's Scary Adventures Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Disney California Adventure Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, It's Tough to be a Bug, Maliboomer, and Muppet Vision 3D have closed. Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind has been added. King Triton's Carousel has been rethemed as Jessie's Critter Carousel. Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters is missing ride photos. Here's the sign for Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. Mickey's PhilharMagic opened. Soarin' Over California has been replaced (through most of the year) by Soarin' Around the World. Toy Story Midway Mania's pictures aren't showing up. Knott's Berry Farm Here's a picture of GhostRider with the Millennium Flyer trains. Here's the Grand Sierra Railroad (the park has a second train completely separate from the Calico Railroad). Riptide has closed. The park also has a set of bumper cars called the Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars, but I have no photos of them. Voyage to the Iron Reef is being rethemed as Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair.

That's an awesome magnet!

It looks like they cloned Jersey Devil, but added a little dogleg off to the side so they could reuse the old Green Lantern station.

^ It's a shame because everything else I either ate or saw at the festival looked good. At least I could get a good waffle at the nearby hotels.

Great report! Thanks for the quick tour of the UK. It's a bummer the Wild Mouse closed shortly before I made it to Blackpool, but I doubt I could have had as much fun as those two.

^ Glad to hear Surf Coaster was able to reopen before all this went down. I'm probably in the minority that preferred Surf Coaster.

^ I think the concern is about spreading the virus rather than the crews being busy with other projects.

If Six Flags Magic Mountain gets the rumored Raptor next year (although all next year plans are really up in the air at this point), it will be interesting to see if they still take longer to build it than Great Adventure in the midst of a pandemic.

Wasn't California's Great America supposed to get an Intamin Impulse in their multiyear plan? Maybe they'll send it there? That park doesn't have a launch coaster yet, so it would fill a niche.

It says Dorney's application was withdrawn from the April 16 meeting. https://southwhitehall.com/news/april-16-2020-planning-commission-public-notice/

I'm going with Kemah Boardwalk.

Great news if this happens!

Great report! Tokyo Disney really is the best way to end a Japan trip. Once you get to Tokyo Disney, it's hard to leave.

I guess no water is better than dirty water. And it also keeps the ride time high since you move so slowly.

I actually like Viper more than Scream since the ride has more character, but in the long run, you'll find me on Twisted Colossus, X2, or Tatsu.