PURE

I don't think anyone was expecting perfection. But when the theming doesn't even cut it for a Six Flags park, I think people have every right to be disappointed. From what I've heard and seen, this ride blows. I think most Batman Inverts have better theming in their queues line then this one has on the actual ride.

Yeah, waiting in line for Tatsu is for suckers. I don't think I've ever waited more than 5 or 10 minutes for Tatsu, thanks to my Xtreme Pass, b*tches! And would some of you PLEASE stop saying you would spend $200 dollars for Xtreme Play Passes? What are you people crazy?! I have no problem with them bumping the price a little bit, but a whole 'nother $75 dollars? What for, so they can make another 75 bucks a pop to screw over us loyal regular customers who they know will buy the Pass either way? General Admission, Parking, All Day Lockers and Souvenir Cups are expensive enough as it is. Before they start raising prices again, I think the quality of the park needs to improve. I wouldn't mind paying more for the Xtreme Pass (Which I'll probably have to now, because of you guys) with all of the perks, but suggesting it to the park is like throwing yourself on the railroad tracks! Now your going to be paying more, and for what reward? MM to make more $$$ off of you?

H*S*T*H*

Top Thrill Dragster & Tatsu. TTD was because of the anticipation, sitting looking up at the tower that couple seconds before you launch. Tatsu cause I had no clue that pretzel loop would catch me so off guard.

Understood. What I mean is it doesn't make SFOG look good when their safety systems are *only* what's minimally required. If the park would have took it upon themselves to simply add another fence around the low zones in case something went wrong with the perimeter fence, I think it would be more of a cut and dry case. It would have shown that they went above and beyond to protect the guests safety. I'm not standing up for the kid at all, I'm just trying to understand why the plaintiff even thinks they have a case. I'm totally siding on the park on this issue.

^Thanks for the advice, I found an even better view of the ride. Green- existing fence - Perimeter Red- existing fence - Restricted Yellow arrows - Low Zones That's a pretty good view, and it doesn't look like I'm missing an existing fence. Not having an additional gate at the low zones (Arrows 1, 2 and 3) means theres not 2 gates between guests and the danger zones in certain areas of the parking lot. And not having a restricted zone sign on the black perimeter gate because its acting as both a perimeter and restricted gate, is not a good thing for Six Flags.

I think the park is screwed to an extent, simply because there are no "Warning: Restricted Area" signs anywhere along the black fence, and in areas of the parking lot, that's the only thing between the low points and the guests. You can clearly see there aren't chain linked fences surrounding the low point at the last corkscrew. According to people on here who've been to the park, these are the existing fences. The Green line is the perimeter fence, and the red line is the restricted area fence. If I owned the park, not only would the perimeter of the ride be surrounded (the green line), but so would every low point of the ride where someone could be in danger if somehow they got in there anyway (illustrated by the yellow line). The fence that's inside the perimeter now (the Red line) doesn't cut it, IMO. There should be 2 fences between guests and low points at any time, in order to keep the dumb and the rebellious out of a low zone. Not that it would have stopped this kid, but atleast the park would have a better case that they did the most they could to avoid this from happening.

I was at USH today for the first time and the park was brand spankin' clean, all day long. Queue lines, spotless. The Jurrasic Park water, clear and clean. I don't think I saw ONE piece of trash on the ground the entire day! And I have to say, when everything is clean, and employees atleast talk and smile, it really doesn't make spending 18 dollars on lunch hurt so much. It just doesn't seem like that's something SF, nonetheless Magic Mountain, has understood in the past decade or so. They'd rather drop millions on a coaster to bring in attendance pops of teens than divide out another $20 or $30 grand to improve employee morale. To give each employee a broom, dustpan, or a fresh rag to clean with when they're bored. Or to provide an atmosphere that creates some sort of personal dignity for employees and the place they work at.

I find it slightly creepy that some of you are interested in checking out his Myspace. Maybe its just me, its a tick of a degree of stalker status if you know what I mean. Even worse the immediate judgement when none of you even know him. All other details aside, that b*tch on his backround is smokin'. The way I see it, anyone who's ever been a male, a stoner, or a human being would be hard to deny 2 of the 3 things listed as pretty much whats going on in a 17 year olds mind. Unfortunately when people display themselves openly and explicitly like this young man, far-off assumptions are going to be made about them. It can be easy for society to be judgemental. I'm not advocating the explicit display of vocabulary, however I know when I was around that age that was pretty much all I could think about most of the time. I was just smart enough not to tell the world about it on a page that everyone could read. In other words, linking his Myspace page adds nothing informative to the event at the park, perhaps its unneccesary? I don't see the need to ridicule a person that's already paid the ultimate price for his mistakes.

Latest update: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/ap_on_re_us/six_flags_death "We're not clear on what happened," he (Father of the victim, Asia Ferguson III) said. "All we know is that we don't blame anybody." Sounds like the family isn't going to be pressing charges, God bless them. What a horrible disaster, I can't even begin to imagine what the parents, family, and friends are going through. Autopsy is supposed to be happening today. Maybe it'll clear up some questions.

I know there's still a lot to this story to be released, but this is such a random event with so many questions, I can't help but try to create a situation to explain what the heck was going on from the time they thought about hopping the fence, right up to when the kid got hit. 1. If they were going to get something in the track area: a. Why did they both have to go? b. Why didn't they wait for the train to finish cycling before going into the areas where the track was close to the ground? Batman's ride cycle is what, 45 seconds? With a 2 minute dispatch interval, and only 2 or 3 sections of the ride that are actually close to the ground, you're chances have to be pretty lousy to be in the way of the train coming. Not to mention completely ignoring the thunderous B&M roar coming your way. If that's not it, it leads me to believe they were hanging out in the track area for more than a couple minutes, and knew what they were doing was wrong. If this is the case: 1. Did they really think they could get away with grabbing someones feet on the train? 2. If you're going to break into the park, or shortcut the entrance by hopping into restricted areas, atleast stay the hell away from the ride! Its not hard to look, see the train, and move away for a 30 seconds until it passes. This kind of reminds me of situations where people try to beat the train at railroad crossings. It doesn't seem like it when you're sitting there watching it, but that train is coming alot faster than it looks. You might think you have time to get out of the way to beat it, and by the time you've made the decision to cross, its too late to look back. I'm surprised nobody saw the dipsh*ts and pulled out their camera phones to coincidently record some video of the event. Either way, the friend that survived has A LOT of explaining to do with investigators. He's probably the only one that knows exactly what was going on from planning on hopping the fences, all the way up to the collision. It will be interesting to hear the story unfold.

I don't know why anyones surprised with how the media is treating this event, have any of you been around for the past ten years? They're like this with everything: Weather, "Breaking News," World Disasters, War in Iraq, Politics, Pop Culture, the list goes on and on. Dumb people with no education plop in front of the TV and think the things that are said and done are all "reality" and truth-and all it does is make them dumber. More people are watching TV now than ever before, and all its doing is creating a very uninformed, disillusioned society. A society that is molded to think and believe exactly the way they want you to! The best thing to do is look for consistency in the facts, and base your own educated opinion off that. I can't watch TV for more than 5 minutes anymore without wanting to unplug it and throw it out my freakin window. In terms of the actual event: I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Batman cars and the horizontal brace that keeps the seats from swaying left to right. I highlighted the braces in this photo. It sounds like the seat brace under the car snagged him under the chin, carried him for a bit while decapitating him, then flung him against a support after a change in direction. I imagine the people in the first car saw it coming, and the people in the second car saw the actual event happen right in front of their eyes. If anyone should be sued it should be the parents of the dipsh*t that hopped the fence, by the people that had to witness the event and get to see it in their nightmares for the rest of their lives. As for the invincibility playing a factor, I think we've all gone through that and some of us still are. People tend to forget it doesn't take a lot for a minor mistake and a catastrophic event. In general, I think people think they're too safe all the time. Even if they don't do stupid things, the false sense of security is a dangerous thing, and can lead to disaster if you're not thinking ahead. I guess the only plus to all this is that its lead to a quite an ironic situation. He definitly won't be needing that hat anymore.

Gotta disagree with you there. Thomas Town is a strong brand for kids age 1-5 (perfect example is KidTums being entertained). How many strollers do you see when you're walking around MM on a typical day? Maybe 2. There's the explanation for TT being dead all the time. Beyond that, kids age 5-11 are looking for something a little more exciting than a Thomas Town train that goes in circles. I liked Thomas when I was younger, but I'll be the first to admit, its not the most exciting brand in the world. If kids are in first grade and they're walking around with a Thomas Town lunch pail, they're getting made fun of. Something like Bugs Bunny world, with mini rides and semi-thrilling kid flats, is perfect for the 5-11 year old age group, (and there are a lot more 5-11 year olds walking around with their teenage brothers and sisters) which is why I don't get why MM didn't continue or improve the Bugs Bunny Theme they already have. Its a solid, marketable kid brand. When I was 7, I knew about Thomas Town, but I'd much rather go on a Looney Toons train than a Thomas Town one. Kids aren't dumb. They aren't entertained by a train ride where the main props are dirt, rocks, and a blue "T". Hell, even I enjoy a good train ride every once in a while, and the one that MM plopped in looks downright depressing! Magic Mountain has built and still holds the reputation for being a park with some of the craziest coasters in the world, and as much as they'd like to change that, its not going to go away any time soon. The "Xtreme" coasters are the first things you see when you pull up to the park. The only way to bring families back into the park is by having a good 5-10 year reputation of family friendly service. There can't be park stabbings, there can't be kids walking around with shirts that say "F*** You," there can't be lethargic uninterested employees, the park must continue its turn for the better even more dramatically than they already have. All the advertising in the world doesn't mean squat if you don't provide for each and every one of the families on each and every visit. Magic Mountain decided to say "good bye" to families more than a decade ago, and as the park and all of us are seeing, it takes more than a quick fix to bring them back.

Thats what I'm talkin bout! I prefer Magic Mountain because that's the name of the park. Saying "I'm going to Six Flags" could mean you're going to any of the company owned parks around the world. And, well, Magic Mountain just sounds so much better, IMO. Totally making myself out to look like a MM Fanboy here, but I don't care.

I'd like to know where the SF billboards are around Knotts advertising for X2, I basically live across the street, and I haven't seen any! Everyone around here knows about the park (although they all just call it "Six Flags" instead of "Magic Mountain," and that's kinda always irked me) but I don't know how many people have been informed that the parks not going to close. I still hear "Isn't MM going to close?" from first time trip buddies. SFMM has never really done a good job of letting the "dumb" public know whats going on with that. I think there was like, 1 commercial announcing it and that was all.

Actually, the Terminator Theme would make a little more sense if the coaster was built this way. It might also increase its length of operation and quality ride experience in the long run. Its also going around that this ride might be some sort of prototype for GCI? A steel frame would kind of explain that too, I don't think GCI has built a steel framed wood coaster yet. Does anybody think Shapiro might have planned a mock up "slip" to see how much uproar would be created on the coaster sites, just based off rumors? Although I think SF should stop trying to "majorly theme" every new ride that comes out because of how degraded it gets a year or so after the opening, I'm not gonna complain about the theme clashing with this ride until I see what they've got up they're sleeve. We really don't know what this ride is going to be like.

Its funny how when people heard "family coaster" with "no inversions" they automatically think one of those lame wild mouse or Tony Hawk coasters was coming our way. I mean, this is Magic Mountain. When they make coasters, they're not going to be tame. They've always had a reputation for pushing the bar of thrills in their park, I don't know why would people assume this installation would be any different. So what do most of you think, is this still just speculation? Or is this report a pretty good indicator that a new woody really is going to be landing in Southern California? And that Terminator theme makes no sense to me (with USH so nearby), I'm guessing someone made that up off the top of their head...

^Thanks for the link. Firefighter: "It's only about 2-3 stories up." News article to right of video: "Stuck 100 feet up!" If they can get a simple fact like stuck 100 feet up versus 30-40 feet up, what other "simple" facts does the news conveniently distort all the time? When it comes to important news, and events that actually mean something, how do we even know their "facts" are right? I hate the news, sensationalized stories with inaccurate information...

The articles and videos linked to this event clearly explain the problem with the media and their need to exaggerate a simple, routine ride breakdown. Breaking news? Please! Stranded? Barely. Firefighters RUSHING to the scene? Doubt it. Frightened passengers? Maybe. No one was hurt? No DUH! Its a Skytower for gods sake! Its disgusting how they take a simple, routine event, and spin it like its some crisis. Give it up news, besides the "heat wave" it must have been a slow news day...

Which is why it blows me away that SFMM (probably one of the better parks to benefit from this Q-Bot system) is not using this system yet. Get with it Magic Mountain! Flashpasses are old school!

The fog's pointless anyway, by the time the 1st car of the train gets through it at the bottom of the drop, its already gone. And the second batch of fog they said would be after the 2nd turnover to "cool off riders from the flames" is still not there, probably never to show up. I really dig the new trains, I like the soundtrack and the fresh painted track, but the only new effect on the track layout (that actually every rider can see) is fire. So it went from tunnels and lights...to fog and fire...to just fire. And sometimes not even fire. Booooo...

Funny that you say that, last week I was in line for Deja Vu and you-know-who taps me on the shoulder: M&M (W)rapper: Hey, member that cuttin I toll chu bow? Me: Yeah, hey Mr. M&M man look, I don't want no trouble. M&M (W)rapper: So back when you were eatin my brothaz, guess you din't think bout the cons-quences den, didcha? Me: I told you (W)rapper, If I would have known polishing off a perfectly good bag of M&M's would have been such a problem, I never would ha-- M&M (W)rapper: TOO LATE for apologies, kid. Now I'm gon give you the cuttin' of a lifetime. *M&M (W)rapper reaches behind back, I panic* Me: Wait! Please! No knife! This isn't worth it! What about if I let you go ahead of me in line? This line takes forever, its a real advantage getting up a couple heads! M&M (W)rapper *gives look of disbelief*: A Knife? I got no knife, kid. *M&M (W)rapper pulls iPod out of back pocket* Me: I thought you said you were gonna cut me!? M&M (W)rapper: All I meant was getting a couple spots ahead of you when you got in line for Deja Vu. Waiting in line for these Giant Inverted Boomerangs with their Shuttle design and all is a real b*tch. So as you can see, it was all just one big misunderstanding! ^Maybe instead of dimly lit parking lots with minimum security they could drop a few dollars on adding a couple of those "security huts" that sit 20 feet above the lot to keep an eye on guests below. As far as I know, there's only 1 at MM, and after the park closes, the guards are usually gone. That with a combined badly lit huge lot does not make it hard for criminals to do stuff they're not supposed to. Its just a matter of time for these incidents to happen. Yeah this happens then they beef it up for 2 years or so, then it goes back to how it was. And then time goes by and then it'll happen again. Its a vicious cycle and it happens because the parks cheap. I'm surprised not more goes on in the MM lot...

^My last M&M (w)rapper must have been a bit more ghetto. I believe the exact words were "Ima cut you at Six Flags"... I don't blame the weapons for these problems, I blame the selfish dumbass people that feel like they have a right to do whatever they want in rectification for how they feel about a situation. If punishments for these types of actions were more harsh, they might be less frequent. For example, if you stab someone, you lose a finger. Or something to that justification. Call me crazy I just have no sympathy for these types of people.

When it comes to cheap beer I've never understood why people don't just put down the Bud and Miller and crack open a Pabst. I mean, if you're going to drink domestic you obviously don't care about the taste of your beer. Why not save even more coin? 12 pack for 8 bucks? You can't lose! And Pabst tastes even better, IMHO. I'm all about keeping the big companies in America, but you gotta admit, that's a nice chunk of dough. If I was the businessman in charge of this deal, I'd only have one word. SOLD!

Maybe I haven't been on many "underrated" coasters, but Batman takes the cake for me on this topic too. They offer such a quick, tight punch of intensity, I've always thought Batman clones cycle perfectly for what B&M invert trains were designed for. Doesn't matter which park I'm at, if they have a Batman clone, I'm gonna be riding it. The one at MM is still amazing, even after almost 15 years of non-stop cycling! I just got on it last week, and its smooth and fun and it rides just like it did when it first opened.