PURE

I'm so glad we didn't get a Dark Knight coaster. Nothings worse than knowing its going to be disappointing before its even installed. As far as how an EK clone might be, they don't look like anything too extreme, so i can understand some room for disappointment, especially for teenagers. Hopefully what we get will be another 50 feet taller and another 500 feet longer. A woodie not breaking 3,000 feet in length is just too short a ride, IMO.

Both of those look like a waste of money.

You hit the nail right on the head. The worst part about all of this is the leads and supervisors practically CONDONE the "crappy" type of behavior, because they get along with the novice crappy employees and just about ignore the new ones. So the new employees are not willing to look stupid trying to go above and beyond, just to get shut down or yelled at. The supervisor and leads discourage employee urgency, and move just as slow as the crappy employees. They could care less about speeding important things up like food lines, dispatch times, etc. When it comes to international employees at Magic Mountain, I'd say the motivated to unmotivated employee attitudes are about the same as the regular park employees. They quickly pick up on the Magic Mountain employee culture too because they know if they work harder or "run" to check restraints, they're not even going to get recognized for it. Especially because they're only going to be working for a month or so. Its unfortunate there are not "cycle counters" on each coaster so MM higher ups could keep track of how many trains are cycling per hour. That way if a staff hits a optimal number of dispatches an hour, they can get rewarded. Instead of 4-5 minute dispatches for Tatsu. Deja or X2 because they just "don't feel" like working hard.

Whatever the ride is, I'm sure it won't disappoint. Magic Mountain and its higher ups carry great pride in offering some of the best and most unique roller coasters in the world (evidence being the love they gave to X2 this year), I have a feeling this one won't be an exception. Even with a clone or two in the park, MM typically makes a ride that's similar in the chain, and upscales it a notch or two to be in contention with the other "xtreme rides" in the park. I can't wait to see how this one measures up to Magic Mountain standards.

Well it seems like Six Flags Great Adventure is the most popular among us. HHN Dylan: Just hope you don't have a day like this guy if you decide to go to there... LOL!

LOL. *high five* I've been to CP and MM quite a bit, so the park I want to go to the most is Six Flags Great Adventure. Followed by any park that has a Superman Ride of Steel. But if you haven't been to CP or MM, for coasters, I'd suggest going to those.

Wow that's a great idea. Do you happen to know what SFDK did to boost employee morale? It would be interesting to hear how they did it, and how they continue that type of atmosphere for their employees. Because its one thing to get it started, its a whole 'nother ball game to keep it going for the long run.

^Well, as I'm sure you know, even a broken clock is right twice a day. To add to the employment situation at SF... Anyone who's worked there can tell you its not a kush job. Summer days hit the 90's on a consistent basis with little to no breeze in the Valley (Santa Clarita forecast this week is 94 across the board), there's few break rooms with air conditioning, the employee food they offer is bad, as others have mentioned the jobs aren't high paying, and some of the employees there work up to 10-12 hours a day, 5 or more days a week. Combine that with the fact that the parks huge and the ride ops and food staff have to walk to their attractions, and it gets easier to understand why employee morale is the way it is. Sadly, they've kind of dug themselves in a hole. I don't know if they can afford, or have the ability to dig themselves out anytime soon.

^Thanks for that. Looks like someone was aware of these types of problems- when memos like that come out, typically mechanics/inspectors are supposed to pay special attention to the problematic areas. There might have been 2 areas on the main arm support where cracking was occurring, and apparently no mechanic saw them or bothered to repair them. Stress cracks are normal, but when rides aren't inspected every day, they don't get repaired and just get worse and things like this happen Either we're more available to information like this because of communication technology, or this kinda craps just happening way too often. I don't know if I even wanna get on carnie flats at the OC Fair anymore...

Unless the video is one constant clip without all the editing and cut ins, when magic is done on video or on TV, it just doesn't do it for me. Like that Lance Burton video, it'd be much more believable if they showed the jump from a POV camera placed on the front of the train. Kinda convenient they neglected to show more than 2 clips from 2 practically identical angles. And we wonder where kids get the idea to run in front of coaster trains...

^Me too. And I haven't even ridden S:RoS! I think seeing what the stations have deteriorated to is one of the more saddening things about some of the coasters at MM. I don't so much mind seeing the track color fading; when the stations are kept up well, it sets a good mood for the rides. The Riddler's station used to be so bad ass with the lights and ride ops "clear, dispatch" breaking the music up like a DJ at a club ("The Riddler's train can accommodate 4 riders per row..."). Same with Batman, really cool effects like the fan that used to spin in the storm drain and the drip drop sounds. I also always liked X's queue music, same with Scream and Goliath, and all of those are now gone. Even Superman's "Stand by for launch!" Sorry if it sounds like it but I'm not trying to complain. I'm just saying I dug 'em when they were there and its sad that they haven't been kept up. But I have faith, maybe someday they'll be back!

Alright, woo hoo! It sounds like we're starting to get somewhere with understanding eachother! Good points everyone. Exactly! I think we all want whats best for the park, otherwise we wouldn't be in here discussing it so in depth. As I'm sure with most people on here, I'm very optimistic that Magic Mountain can continue to turn things around for the better. Its just frustrating when you go to the park and still see things going on that we all thought were part of the past (like sub-par employee morale). I have faith that Jay, Tim and the rest of the higher ups can take care of those issues eventually. Keep it up Magic Mountain!

Or in Colossus' case, 20+ years. Magic Mountain already has a painted wood coaster that they don't take care of, I'd much rather be able to see the grains in the wood on this one. And some terrain hugging wouldn't hurt!

This is EXACTLY the type of stuff that's going on around the park that brings down the rest of the improvements in the park that are very positive. The employees that are in good moods and are upbeat, typically are only that way because its their personality. They might not be happy because they're at work, but it makes their job better when they make guests smile. Then there's the employees that walk around with their shirts untucked, frowns on their faces, walking in unapproachable groups wearing iPods, eating funnel cakes in front of guests because they're not on the clock any more, etc. And its sad, because guests don't concentrate on a clean park and well run rides when they're distracted by crappy employees with crappy attitudes. Sadly, I've seen it happen myself. A great new employee on her first day, with a motivating attitude and a smile. Within a week, the other employees and their crappy example had brought down her spirit to "This job sucks, I can act like I don't want to be here and get away with it." And its sad, it really is. Its one of those issues that seems impossible to address, cause even when I worked there, I saw crap like this going on and would address the employees about the issue on the spot, and people looked at me like I was losing my mind. Ninja would typically open at 11 or Noon, and when guests would come in the line because the ops that opened the ride were too lazy to move the sign in the way of the entrance, they would see guests walking through the line and say "We're CLOSED. Come back later." And not in a nice way, it sounded so rude! Basically like they were saying "We're closed go away!" So I would tell them, "You think you could atleast say the ride will be opened in an hour, or say 'We're closed" a little nicer?" and again, they didn't care, I'd get the look. So what I'm saying is the problem stems deeper than it seems, and I don't know what the park can do to shake it off. There just aren't enough people that work there that care to make sure the employees treat the guests better. I'm sorry to say, just cause you're not happy to hear what some of us are saying about the park, doesn't mean it shouldn't be said. Maybe in 2-3 years if the park continues to improve, these types of issues won't be around anymore, but I really doubt it. Don't get me wrong, it's nice that the park is doing the best they can, and all of us appreciate that. But a cleaner park (that should be a basic standard in the first place) and rides finally running the way they're supposed to (which is another basic standard) does not make up for bad customer service. Or ride ops not smiling. Or employees slacking off cause they know they can get away with it. Put it this way, I do the best I can to prepare for all of my exams, does that mean I should always get an A? Absolutely not. Just cause I try as hard as I can doesn't mean squat if I don't perform when it really counts. In Magic Mountains case, them "doing the best they can" doesn't mean anything if it doesn't perform that way in areas where and when it really matters.

Wow this looks awesome! I really dig how more coasters these days have only 1 or 2 cars to them, it makes the ride more consistent on every cycle. Maybe the train will stop before the launch section, NL just couldn't display the launch that way? Because from the looks of it, that may be the biggest potential problem of this ride. That and the oddly place corkscrew right into the final break run. Its going to be exciting to see the ride AND the station when this thing is all done!

Wow, you got in some great photos there. The one where half the loop is cut off, and the one right above it are my favorite. Why couldn't Knott's make their Moto Coaster bad ass like that one?! That one actually looks like a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing!

Dude, what the hell WAS that spinning Mummy tunnel on the tour? I saw trams going into that building and thought it was going to be good, but once we went in, I didn't get that at all... From what I remember on the tour (from 2 weeks ago) there might have been a clip or 2 from Ron Howard, but Whoopie is pretty much the "narrator" person of the videos on the tour, unfortunately.

I was at the park Wednesday and noticed how well the rides were running too. Batman is running like a champ right now, its such a good ride. Scream front seat is great except for the little jolt at the bottom of the first drop that will always be there. Although the ride on Revolution is pretty much the same, the newly rehabbed trains keep the head banging to a minimum. And I dunno what they did to the trains, but Viper is smooth and forceful whether you're in the newly rehabbed trains or not. Its great to see clean trains, and to get on some awesome rides! My only complaint is how they're operating them. Tatsu has 2 trains but wasn't using the dual station--even on Fridays? Deja Vu had 5-6 minute dispatch times with all 4 ride ops more concerned about what was going on in the station phone than getting riders ready to ride. Its a good thing the single rider line was open cause it was really bad. I got in line for X2 at 8:30, and we were at the soda machines. Park closed at 10, and at 10:30 we were still at the bottom of the stairs on the parking lot side (East) of the station. And the line was CRAWLING. I'm talking the patented Six Flags "wait for 5-10 minutes in the same spot, then move 5-10 feet." It felt like I was in line for the old X all over again--4 to 5 minute dispatches, etc. At 10:45 we were still waiting to even touch the stairs and said forget it. After 2 hours and 15 minutes of waiting, we didn't wanna get home at 1 AM, so we left the line. The chick I was with said she didn't get it, "Wouldn't they want to move as fast as possible so they could get home earlier?" As with a bunch of other questions she asked about weird things going on that day that she noticed, the only explanation I could ever come up with was "Welcome to Magic Mountain." Hey, atleast the rides are fun.

Wow, it took me a couple looks to realize those are both the same entrance signs, but these two pictures really make it obvious! See the shed in the background? Haha, that's too funny!

You're completely right. The lame slogan fits in nicely with the rest of the lame X2 theming. That entrance sign is pretty sweet though. Complete with flashing lights!

The link says that the train broke on the lift hill. I'm sure after the lift hill it rolled just fine down that first drop, then lost so much speed because of the breakage, it couldn't make it over the immelman. Is it possible that all that was holding these trains together was 2 pieces of pipe, 1 bolt and a locking pin? Or 1 bolt, a lock washer and nut? Eek!

Sorry, up to the "head back attached" it doesn't sound like a joke to me. Guess I'm not in the "hip" group who can tell if what people are posting is a joke or not based simply off what they say.

^Not starting with me. You're the sick weirdo taking corpse photos. Let me know when some real news on this story comes out...

But wasn't it stated that a couple bolts were replaced on the trains just earlier in the day before this accident happened? Wouldn't that place the responsibility of the accident on the ride mechanics who perhaps didn't replace the bolts correctly, instead of blaming the ride company itself?

Dude, nowhere in his post did he say he's an expert. He's simply stating that in his experience selling park tickets, the average Joe isn't interested in dropping more money for an Xtreme pass he might never use again, as opposed to a $60 dollar ticket, or $70 regular pass he might use again, to get into the park now. One day tickets to MM are $30 online right now, who wants to drop another $95 for an Xtreme Pass if they don't know they're going to make it back? MM isn't a resort, people who come to the park once a year see $30 tickets, and that's a great value in itself. Nobody's denying the Xtreme Pass is an awesome value. But as far as I see it, its supposed to work that way. It keeps loyal customers coming back to spend money in the park, while keeping the one to two time visitors happy with the cheaper one time ticket prices (Buy one get one free, etc.). I agree completely. The problem is that people don't want to spend money on overpriced items in a dirty park filled with trash and depressed employees. It only makes them not want to come back. The first thing that needs to be on this parks mind is cleaning up the park, beautifying every aspect of it, and providing every guest with excellent customer service every day, every minute they're open. I said this before, I made a trip to Universal Studios this week, and there were happy, helpful, SMILING employees at the front of every ride, and at every corner of the park. It makes a substantial difference, as to the vibe in the park. Whether it be food services, ride operations or game attendants, when guests see that employees care, they do too. Magic Mountain already has the base of an awesome park, great coasters in a one of a kind atmosphere. They need to start working on making every guest happy and walking out the gate with smiles before taking more dough out of their pockets.