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I was at the park today. Got there around 10:30. With the thermometer inching close to 100 degrees, most people were heading to Hurricane Harbor. SFMM was primed for a typical Sunday -- Revolution running one train, Riddler's Revenge running tests for hours but never opening, Ninja closed all day, wind shutting down Drop of Doom, Colossus trains dispatching too slow to race -- everything proceeding as expected. It was probably between 12:00 and 12:30 when I exited Batman and there were huge plumes of smoke billowing from the brush area on the far side of the park entrance. The sky turned orange and there was a lot of ash in the air. From where I was in the back of the park, no one was panicking and most rides continued to operate. Many people just went inside stores and restaurants, planning on waiting out the poor air. It wasn't until between 1:00 and 1:30, after smoke had overtaken most of the park, that rides started shutting down across the back. Rides towards the southern end of the park (Tatsu, Superman, Roaring Rapids) held on for a bit longer. Around 1:30 the park appeared to have decided to call it a day and shut everything down -- all rides, restaurants, shops, etc. No one could leave the park since LA County Fire had shut down Magic Mountain Parkway and the ramps to and from the southbound side of the 5. So they directed everyone away from the fire towards DC Universe and Colossus. By this point, Hurricane Harbor had already been completely cleared and evacuated since the blaze was directly across the street. People were sitting in their cars in the parking lot and the exit road trying to leave, but couldn't go anywhere because of the road closures. I needed to get some water, and whatever the Mooseburger Lodge is called now was the only thing still open, so I stopped in there. At that point, a small congregation of people were camped out in the lovely air conditioning. We waited it out in there for about 45 minutes before we heard LA County Fire had opened Magic Mountain Parkway and we exited the park for the day. While driving out (probably around 2:30) it looked like Superman and Goliath had both reopened with people on the trains. Many people, both SFMM and HH guests, were walking back from the parking lot to try to get back in, seeing that rides were operating. I just wanted to get out of there and away from the ashy air. Overall, SFMM's emergency response protocol seemed disjointed. Employees didn't have any more information than the guests, and the only way information seemed to be spreading was supervisors calling each ride station and instructing them to close and evacuate guests to certain areas. Came home smelling like I had just gone to a beach bonfire. Interesting day to say the least.

It's also much more difficult to find open single-rider seats on trains with only two people per row. Sometimes you just get continuously unlucky. Rides with four per row burn through the SRL like crazy.

Hey everyone, quick question. Does the double-sided Revolution exit still exist in the aftermath of the opening of New Revolution? (I.e. if I walk in the park when the gate opens and want to take the old shortcut up to Tatsu, it's still there?)

Didn't see this posted already, but the LA Times has a piece today on SFMM President Bonnie Weber.

Glorious news! This ride might finally enable me to block the election out of my life for a solid two and a half minutes. MAKE REVOLUTION GREAT AGAIN

As selfish as this sounds, I hope this tragedy accelerates implementation of a plan to just "fix" Revolution.

True. Consistency was also an issue. The drives this season were either first down, first down, first down, or three and out. But as you said with the depth back, hopefully this problem will go away.

Was that 2011? If I remember correctly Kiffin went 1-2 against Oregon, surprisingly winning in Eugene and losing at the Coliseum two times. Oregon should be beatable next year without Mariota, but our defense needs to step up. We miss you Clancy Pendergast. Also, someone tell Sark to stop calling plays. Make Clay Helton do it, and send clay to the press box.

So the lift hill isn't going to rise at a steeper grade?

As a political crackhead, I thought this was funny. Nevada Senator Harry Reid's YouTube channel used the same song as SFMM's Twisted Colossus video, in obvious attempt to ramp up the intensity in this riveting, engaging three and a half minute video on clean energy projects.

Batman sdrawkcab at SFMM last Friday!

Hello from Mission Viejo, CA, the definition of SoCal suburbia. Winter: Summer:

I haven't read this thread for a while and was skimming it. A few pages back people were discussing the Sky Tower's potential removal, I don't know why they were talking about it being taken down from the SFMM site, it's still there. https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/attractions/sky-tower If that was already established, then:

Noticed Riddler's got some love when I was at the park on the Sunday of President's Weekend. The facade in the front was redone (the previous one had chunks missing and parts were peeling off). All seven of the station question mark lights were on and functioning, and the station DIDN'T actually have piles of trash everywhere.

I just called the park to clarify the season pass upgrade deal. The guy said that you must purchase the four passes by January 5th, but you must process them at the park by JANUARY 26TH, and you don't have to process all four of them at one time either. I can't find any information on their website to confirm this.

If it was any other park chain or company that was operating Magic Mountain, I would have been mad that Deja Vu was removed. Any normal park operator would have reduced its downtime over time as they learn how to operate the ride better, but Six Flags would have just gone for business as usual for years and years. It's better at a seasonal park.

Went to Fright Fest yesterday and was very impressed in many ways with how the park was operating. I didn't go through any of the mazes. At around 8:00, there were still people pouring into the park both buying tickets at the front gate and paying for parking (which incidentally has gone up to an impressive $20). I don't think I've seen so many people heading in at such a late hour, but I think them extending their park hours to 1am has really helped pick up more late night business. Green Lantern was running so slowly (I had some out of state friends visiting with me and they wanted to ride it, so they went on while I waited). They were only running three out of five cars and were dispatching at mind-numbingly slow intervals. I doubt they were even hitting 200 riders per hour. Since Riddler's is the only ride I truly care about, they finally replaced that facade in the front near the entrance. Previously it was peeling and large chunks of it were missing. I was very surprised! Nice work SFMM.

Least favorite would have to be that stupid batwing thing on Viper after the brake run. It's terrible, particularly the transitions into and out of the element. The ride can be considered very ridable if that thing wasn't there. I think if Viper ever gets removed because the ride is too rough, it's going to be either directly or indirectly a result of that stupid thing.

I agree, easily my favorite ride I took at WCB 2011 (it was 2011 when they did that, right?). I think they did it for Fright Fest 2011, but then they stopped. I wonder why? It was very cool. Especially since they don't do much to their rides during Fright Fest, it's focused almost entirely on the scare zones and mazes.

Was this the same or similar problem that they encountered back in 2006 or 2007 when X closed for a few months? I can't remember what the issue was back then, but if I recall it had something to do with the lift hill.

YESSS LOL!! "0HH eMm Geeee thER's p0Is0N IvYY!!"

Yeah, the fairy picture was from last year. I think it was a year or two ago, I saw one of a guy dressed as a plant on stilts around the Rapids Camp area. Everyone thought it was Poison Ivy. First, Poison Ivy is a woman. Second, isn't Poison Ivy normal human sized??

Our tax dollars at work.

Every few years, the fireworks they shoot from behind X2/Viper manage to cause small brush fires. It was a running joke among employees. As is the running joke of people cheering the seasonal wildfires on to burn SFMM to the ground. Well, more so in 2007 and before.

If you're traveling from the UK and visiting on the weekend, I'd say go all out and get at least the Gold Flash Pass. About mid March is when it gets crowded on weekends, so in my opinion you'll need one. Shouldn't need one otherwise. Any other tips? If you can gather anything from recent discussion, don't eat the food inside the park... Thanks so much for your advice im going to get my ticket and then decide on the day once in the park if i need the flash pass. As for the food i shall stay well clear of it thanks. In their defense, not ALL of it is bad. I'd recommend Mooseburger Lodge if you're looking for good food around the park. The meals I have eaten at JB's BBQ haven't been bad either. But the park won't let you bring in food of your own, so plan on either leaving or packing stuff in your car that won't melt and won't be bothered by heat.