kraxleRIDAH

^ Pscylone and Flashback aren't going to be sold or moved to other parks. It has been confirmed Pysclone will be scrapped after being taken down. As for Flashback being re-assembled and not being profitable...I don't believe the purpose is to re-market the ride as a new coaster again anyway. They could do it, but I doubt that is their motive. Think of it more as the park relocating it, if anything else. (Again, I hope it doesn't get rebuilt).

You're right about the clearance issues on Flashback...as long as that ride is in operation, there will be horse-collar restraints. IN THE EVENT that the ride does get reassembled at Magic Mountain (I pray to God it doesn't), I hope the park does something with the vehicles. ANY kind of improvement or parts replacement (mostly restraints) would make the ride more comfortable.

^ I wouldn't be so quick to say that. It's previous on-and-off operation due to its location next to Hurricane Harbor and its current near-hidden location led to a reputation of "always being closed." It's definitely not the most comfortable ride, but I wouldn't say it's an "EXTREMELY painful" one either. You put the ride in a place where it gets high visibility among visitors and in an area with a lot of foot-traffic, you'll see that Flashback is capable of drawing in and holding a sizeable queue wait.

Though the park is entertaining the idea of re-assembling Flashback back in the park in the future, I really hope it doesn't happen. The space freed up by its removal will be greatly beneficial for the park to progress -- reintroducing it at a later date would not be the best decision in my eyes.

I guess I didn't word it well enough. What I meant was that it was seemingly tucked away in a off-location area inside the park which makes it hard to find (for those that are actually aware that the ride is even at the park). Even though you can see Flashback from the main gate, how many people do you really think actually enter the park and head for "that blue one we saw when we bought our tickets"? It's the truth though. Once you enter Magic Mountain, there are very few locations in the park (I can only recall 2) where you can actually SEE Flashback. It's pretty well hidden. They should have named the ride STEALTH

I think a good reason as to why it had such low ridership in the first place was because of its horrible location. The ride itself isn't very tall to begin with and is tucked away in a nearly hidden corner of the park away from the main pathway. The area the ride was placed in hardly ever sees any foot-traffic. To get to the attraction's queue entry, you'd have to wander up one of two deserted looking alley ways. I've been to the park many many times with the same group of friends that are pretty familiar with all the park's rides and everytime I mention Flashback, they say "what's that?"

You'd think after 4+ years of the damn thing sitting there rusting, they'd have come up with a better excuse by now. Or they could just be honest and admit that it's as big of a lemon as that '98 Saturn I tried out at the dealership yesterday. 4+ years? Flashback last operated April of 2004. That's not even three full years. Although I do get your point. My guess is that Hurricane Harbor was a legitimate reason at first, which would account for the ride going down for long periods of time between operating -- but they just decided to stop operating it figuring they could save a little bit on their allocated budget rather than use it to keep a very unpopular ride running.

That's probably a good reason, although I do see a lot of people paying to use the Cyclone 500. I think Magic Mountain should just eliminate any extra-pay attractions except for Dive Devil (which is quite popular -- and profitable, from what I'm told). Though the idea is to charge a hefty price for a single ride to bring about a big profit, a closed or unpopular extra-charge ride will only go into the red once patronage declines and all they do is take up space in the park -- ala Thrill Shot. My guess is that with the rumor of Cyclone 500 and Thrill Shot leaving, the entire back area of the park will be completely redeveloped in the next three years. I can see them renaming Cyclone Bay to something else, considering Psyclone nor Cyclone 500 will no longer be there to anchor the area's name. It's like Colossus County Fair without Colossus. Or there could be a possibility of splitting the current Cyclone Bay area into two separate parts with a different name and theme. I'd be happy to see a Thomas & Friends and Wiggles World area at the back of the park.

EDIT: Sue Carpenter has confirmed that the information below in this post is purely speculation and not true. Something new I heard...Thrill Shot, Cyclone 500 and Freefall will also be removed this season. It's unknown whether or not they will be dismantled during the same time as Psyclone (early to mid-March). We all know Freefall was sold a month or two ago, confirmed by http://irmpri.com/product.htm, but I don't see why they would remove their only Go-Karts attraction. Thrill Shot, I'm not so sure. With a little money to fully refurbish it, it could operate well again. Take it all with a grain of salt. So everything in this post is all rumor, until confirmed by a reliable source.

^ You do have to keep in mind that Flashback last operated in 2003...while Psyclone had 3 additional seasons to pick up turnstile numbers...and Magic Mountain draws approximately 2.7 - 3 million guests a year. Even so, those turnstile numbers for those two coasters are about right considering how relatively unpopular they are. By comparison, Goliath had its 1 millionth rider within 5 months of its opening!! link MOD EDIT: fixed annoying link

Hardly! Psyclone will be removed within four weeks. http://www.dailynews.com/antelopevalley/ci_5065349 However, it's interesting that Flashback is only going into storage after being taken down and the park is exploring the idea to MAYBE re-install it somewhere in the park again in the future (but not this year).

Oh Jahan, where art thou update?

^ How is blowing it up NOT a bad image for the park? It reflects irresponsibility and shows recklessness. First of all, it's a roller coaster. There's nothing to celebrate with arranging a special occasion just to wrap explosives around the thing and have people watch it blow up. Only 15 year old kids would think that's something worth watching. It would be very expensive to pull off with no real media gain and in addition, nobody cares about the ride enough to attend and watch- third, it's dangerous. The explosion would damage buildings and rides adjacent to Psyclone from flying debris and the power of the explosion itself --- and the possibility of a hillside fire, and lastly, it's environmentally unsound. And to top it off, who is going to have to pay for the countless individuals who then have to run around the back area of the park cleaning up large fragments of wood thrown in a million directions from the explosion? The idea of blowing up Psyclone as a media event *MAY* sound cool right off the bat, but once you actually take the time to think about it and mull it over in your head, it's about as stupid and pointless as stupid and pointless can get. Not really. Old casinos in Vegas are blown up all the time to drum up publicity, and they always make the news. People LOVE seeing stuff destroyed in a spectacular fashion. Are you honestly comparing a hotel implosion to a roller coaster's dismantling? Firstly, implosions are the only way to bring down giant hotel towers in Vegas in a timely and relatively inexpensive manner. It's not like implosions are done solely for the entertainment of the people down on the strip, although that IS a side-effect that hotel gurus take advantage of. You're right. People LOVE seeing stuff destroyed in a spectacular fashion. But you can't justify Six Flags spending more money than they need to blow up a ride and clean up the resulting mess when they can take it down the traditional way, that is cheaper and more efficient. A Vegas hotel tower WILL be imploded, regardless of who's watching or not. That's the only way it's going to come down.

I've only been on two...Ninja at Magic Mountain and Iron Dragon at Cedar Point. My verdict: Ninja is miles ahead of Draggin' Iron.

Seven years ago, there was no Troika, maXair, Wicked Twister, Giant Wheel back where the Space Spiral is. So no, it's not still like that.

Meanwhile, down reality road...Cedar Point ISN'T removing any roller coasters anytime soon. So why are you guys debating which Cedar Point coaster should be taken out...especially in this thread? It'll be interesting to see how Magic Mountain decides to take down Psyclone. It'd be nice if one of us members happened to be at the park when a giant steel wrecking ball just levels the entire thing within a few seconds --- and taped it all. LOL

These not tall enough for you?

Robb! You should change the frontpage link to this thread from RUMOR to NEWS. One of the park's PR reps - Sue Carpenter, confirmed the dismantling process of the two coasters.

I have been on three Intamin towers and five S&S towers. I can definitely say without hesitation that S&S towers are much better.

Why shouldn't there be play areas revolved around little kids? The biggest criticism shrouding Magic Mountain is that it is completely revolved around and too narrowly focused on thrill rides for young adults and teens, with hardly anything else for other age demographics to do. I do understand what you're trying to say, but you need to see things on a bigger perspective. For most parents, the joy from watching their 6 or 7 year old have the time of their life with entertainment characters brought to life from the screen is worth the admission ticket to a large amusement park. By bringing in Thomas & Friends as Wiggles World themed areas IN ADDITION to Looney Tunes areas, Six Flags is capitalizing on the most important thing that drives a family-oriented theme park business...attention and focus on the younger set. Why should mom and dad stick around and spend lots of money on souvenirs, cotton candies, stuffed animals, and custom-made apparel if their little tykes are bored because they rode everything in Bugs Bunny World within 20 minutes? These new themed areas prolong the stay of families with younger children, which is extremely vital and important to developing Six Flags as a family-brand. Once both ends are evened out at Magic Mountain...I can see Six Flags begin to work on the "ENTIRE-FAMILY" spectrum with what they're doing at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Over Texas --- a family spinning-coaster or a Cirque-style show. Because at this point, Magic Mountain is completely geared at the thrill-seeking community, and a Wiggles World and Thomas & Friends may just do the trick to level things out.

Yes. And the kind of families Shapiro wants at his parks aren't the mom, dad and high school teens. Think more along the lines of pre-teens in elementary school and young parents. The kind of clientel you see so frequently at Disneyland. You're not going to get those family types into the parks with a Golden Kingdom. When Jr. watches a TV commercial for the Wiggles World and Thomas & Friends coming to Six Flags...guess who he or she is going to beg to take them there? Mom and pops. Leave the marketing and business strategy to Six Flags. They have it right so far.

^^ I don't think you need to worry so much about Deja Vu. I believe Psyclone was chosen for removal was due to its consistent lack of patrons as well as it being high maintenance. I figure, as long as Deja Vu has a high turnstile count and long lines (as it always does) and continues to operate on a regular basis (as it was doing for all of 2007), then there should be no reason for it to be removed. kraxleRIDAH There. My post has been corrected. You can calm down now. I was always calm. I just become slightly irritated when people ask questions without reading first.

EDIT

^ If you had read the entire first post of this thread, your #2 and #3's would have been answered.

When Shapiro said a "train station" with three stops, the park's current Monorail came to mind. I really doubt it's going to be a brand new traditional narrow-gauge theme park steam train. It'll most likely be a refurbishment of the old monorail with a new name and theme.