lapseofreason

I live about 30 minutes away from SFMM. So whenever I need a Tatsu fix (or whatever coaster there decides to make me want to ride it recently), we just head up there

From yesterday's Los Angeles Times: Magic Mountain Owner Seeks Package Sale Six Flags aims to unload six parks as a set, making development of the Valencia site less likely. By Roger Vincent, Times Staff Writer August 19, 2006 Six Flags Inc. on Friday sent potential buyers detailed financial information on six of its amusement parks, including Magic Mountain in Valencia, after signaling its intention to sell the properties in a single transaction. When the New York-based company announced in June that it might sell the parks to reduce its $2.1-billion debt, it listed options including selling one or more to theme park operators or dismantling the attractions and unloading the properties to real estate developers. But on Thursday, Six Flags Chief Executive Mark Shapiro said that he would like to sell all six parks as a package, reducing the likelihood that Magic Mountain and neighboring Hurricane Harbor water park would be picked off by a local builder eager to blanket the land with homes. In an interview with Bloomberg News after ringing the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange to mark a change in the company's ticker symbol from PKS to SIX, Shapiro said Six Flags might keep the parks if it didn't get a good enough price. "The real estate angle might be overrated," said Dave Omel, vice president of operations for Palace Entertainment Inc., a Newport Beach holding company for Raging Waters, Boomers and other entertainment centers. "If they did some work, these would be very viable theme parks." For example, Magic Mountain could benefit from improved marketing and operations that would "make it nicer and more family friendly," such as implementing a dress code, Omel said. Magic Mountain has a reputation for security problems and attracting rowdy teens. Shapiro has said he would like to make it and the company's 29 other parks more attractive to families. In addition to Magic Mountain, Six Flags hopes to sell properties in Buffalo, N.Y.; Denver; Seattle; Houston; and Concord, Calif. Keeping them bundled would ensure that the less desirable parks are sold. The buyer could operate some and resell others for real estate development. Development makes the most sense to another industry expert. "There's very valuable dirt under some of these parks," said Carl Winston, director of the hospitality and tourism management program at San Diego State University. "Certainly that's the case at Magic Mountain." The land in Buffalo and Houston might have little potential for development, but the four other parks are in thriving real estate markets, Winston said. Local developers have expressed interest in creating a mixed-used project on the 250-acre Magic Mountain site with housing, retail and perhaps office space. Parcels near the Valencia site sell for $750,000 to $1 million an acre, making the land on that property alone worth $200 million or more. Shapiro has said that when evaluating which parks to sell he considered whether they were on valuable real estate. He also has said that the combined sale price would have to top $500 million to be worthwhile. Six Flags' stock price fell more than 50% in the last six months but ticked up recently on Wall Street's assumption that the properties looked good to builders, Winston said. "My speculation is that some real estate developer is thinking, 'Wow,' " he said. Shares of Six Flags fell 6 cents to $4.99 on Friday.

I think for me it was about 8 months (from when I last went to Geauga Lake, I think August 2001; to the first time I went to Magic Mountain in April 2002). It was hard.

^The single rider line is in the exit? Oh. I didn't know that! -Amanda "Watch, it'll be closed next time I go now" V.

I hate the MCBR (or that weird brake run somewhere near the middle, which technically WOULD make it a... oh, never mind) on Revolution. To me, it hurts, and I always think "Why the fudge is there a brake run HERE?" when the train hits it.

I was just there today, and I didn't see jack cookies going on. Anywhere. Everything looked in the same shape as when I was there 10 days ago. Some points from my trip: -Freefall's car is still up near the top of the tower -Circus Wheel and Orient Express are still in refurb -Stupid Log Jammer was busted AGAIN, as well as Superman -I saw for myself that they did remove the sign from Flashback. Not a soul in the area all day, either. It's not like I hung around there all day, but every time I passed, it was a ghost town. -Tatsu was having problems with one of its trains this afternoon but we hung around and got a front row ride out of the deal... sweet -Almost got my Deja Vu credit but the line was insanely long -One train operation on Goliath and X, but 2 on Ninja... WTF??? -I finally rode Sandblasters (the bumper cars).. it sucked. Now my back hurts. -We learned that it's easier to get wet standing on Tidal Wave's exit bridge than actually go wait to ride it ...Um, I think that's it. Not a lot of update-worthy material, but really, there wasn't much going on.

OK... will try and make it over there

Haha, that would be cool. BLOW IT UP! I don't think I'll ever get the credit anyways! Anyways, I'll be there tomorrow (Friday), pretty much all day, so I might try to put together some kind of an update.

Maybe they're just making a new sign? ...Nah. On second thought, it's toast.

Ditto!

Yeah, it was. It actually had a LITTLE airtime too

^Yeah, Canyon Blaster blows Tatsu out of the water! ...Seriously, I just felt like credit whoring that day. Now all I need is Flashback (yeah, right) and Deja Vu.

^They're not going to close SFMM.

Nope. You didn't fly Southwest. Trip null and void

Thanks... I'll admit this one wasn't very good; I'll try to do better next time. It would help if I had a better camera too

I used to play this a lot when we first got a computer (Windows 98 or something). Half the time I'd blow up in 2 seconds and the other half I'd clear most of the level then die. I got bored with it after a while.

The last time I went back to school was August 27th, 2000. Hahaha (just kidding). -Amanda "Class of 2001 rules" V.

So yeah, we went to Magic Mountain again yesterday. I really didn't take that many pictures, so here's some text to go with it. We got in the park about 10:10, got the free Flash Passes from my husband's Xtreme Pass, and headed for Tatsu. Same as usual. There was no line for FP, but the regular queue was filled. Then we headed over to Riddler, stopping at Superman (which they were testing the left hand side of, BTW) and Goldrusher on the way. We then decided to try Goliath, which broke when we were one train away from getting on. Great. Went over to Batman, rode that, then stopped over in Bugs Bunny World to pick up my most embarrasing credit ever. Stupid Log Jammer was packed so we left for lunch and came back in. Used the remaining Flash Passes on Tatsu. Tried to go on X but the line was all the way to the entrance (on a Tuesday, no less) so we bailed. Then we realised that it was almost 3:30 and if we didn't leave now we'd be stuck in traffic... so we left. Here are some pictures (oh, and thanks again for reading!) And here is a random shot of X's line. Out the entrance. On a Tuesday. With probably one train running. No thanks, I'll ride another time. I have no idea why I took this one. Did I mention that Jahan just had a chain blocking his entrance and I had a WHOLE FREAKING FENCE?! They must have really known I was coming! World's Biggest Lawn Ornament! THROUGH THE TREES! Seriously, NOTHING IS GOING ON WITH FLASHBACK! *shock* Note the lovely plastic chairs and random piece of metal sitting in the queue. On the way out of Canyon Blaster, I stopped off to say hi to the World's Biggest Lawn Ornament. Yes, I'll admit it. I rode Canyon Blaster. It was pretty nondescript. #29! Woohoo! There was no line for Riddler.. here is another of my signature "empty station house" photos On the way over to Riddler, we saw that Freefall's still busted. Hey, the car's higher up than last time!

"I'm not waiting with all these pee-ons, I have a VIP pass." -Some jerk walking up the exit with his friend this morning while we were heading for the Flash Pass line on Tatsu... apparently they had VIP Thrill Passes or something. Funny thing about this was: 1) There was maybe a 2 hour line and no one in Flash Pass... he randomly said this as we were walking up the exit, trying to make people feel bad. Jerk. 2) When we got off the ride, he was still waiting. Hahaha, serves you right.

\ If you stay at the Stratosphere you get a "fun book" kind of thing with various drink/food coupons, etc. You also get free tower admission between 10AM and 12 noon any day you stay (they give you a pass for that when you check in). It beats paying the 8 bucks during the day, and I think it's 12 at night, just to go up in the damn thing. I want to say they had a few ride discount coupons in there too, but we didn't make use of them, so I can't remember. I've stayed there pretty much every time we've gone to Vegas, at least one night. They just did a rehab on all their rooms and I have to say, they're a heck of a lot better than they were before. EDIT: The area is pretty ghetto, but I've been able to always make it the 3 blocks to the Sahara monorail station without a problem. If it wasn't for the monorail, I wouldn't stay there if you gave me a million dollars... it's just too weird around there now. Hope that helps. -amanda

PIEROGIES!! Something I can't find in freaking California! I LOVE THEM! Oh, and I prefer mine with loads of butter and sour cream. MMMMMMMM....

Kurt Warner (Arizona Cardinals) or Isaac Bruce (St. Louis Rams). -Amanda "Woohoo, Ram game in 8 days!" V.

^I waited for the front row a few weeks ago and it wasn't TOO bad. Then we rode in the middle and, surprise, same headbanging as before the *refurb/Tatsu construction/whatever*. I too wish they would get rid of the stupid OTSR's as they just cause nothing but pain.

^Me too. I think we've got about 10 or 11 SFMM maps stashed somewhere now.

I was thinking the other day about what my actual coaster count is and remembered that I've ridden a Dragon Wagon or two, just to be stupid, at traveling carnivals. Do those count as credits? I don't remember; you'd think I would know since I've been here long enough. Oh, and I remember riding a steel coaster at the I-X Indoor Amusement Park in Cleveland about 6 years ago. Does that count as well? -Amanda "I'm not turning into Jeff Johnson, just wondering" V.