Magic Alumni

Bonnie Rabjohn officially announced... Rabjohn is the new park president of Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor Bonnie Rabjohn is the new park president of Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor, officials said Wednesday. Rabjohn, who began Tuesday, replaces Jay Thomas, who is taking a position at the Six Flags corporate office in Dallas. "I am very excited about rejoining one of the leading family theme park properties in the world," Rabjohn said in a statement. "Having worked at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor for many years, I look forward to ‘coming home' and contributing to the park's exciting future." Rabjohn has lived with her family in the Santa Clarita Valley for 16 years. Most recently, she was director of worldwide marketing for Warner Bros. Consumer Products division. Before then, she spent 25 years with Six Flags, a New York-based amusement park company, handling marketing, promotions, sales, communications and retails. "Bonnie is one of the strongest, most talented and aggressive park marketing people in the industry, and has a proven track record of success in the highly competitive Southern California market," Six Flags, Inc. Chief Operating Officer Al Weber said in a statement. Thomas was appointed to president of the Valencia theme park in 2007. He navigated the theme park through the economic recession and financial setbacks. Despite the challenges, Thomas and the theme park celebrated the opening of its roller coasters X2 in 2008 and "Terminator: Salvation" The Ride in 2009 and the new children's area, Thomas Town, as part of a mission to make the theme park family friendly. "What I'm proud of is how the team came together and created an environment where employees felt like they were empowered to make a difference in the guest's day," Thomas said. The details of his new position in Dallas are still being worked out, but Thomas said he is looking forward to returning to Texas, which is where he and his wife are originally from. "I'm really excited about Bonnie Rabjohn taking over the reins of the park," Thomas said. "I know she is going to do a phenomenal job moving the park forward." Besides running Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor, Thomas devoted his time to serving local nonprofit organizations, an experience that showed Thomas how much the local community serves those in need. "We have had the opportunity to live all over the United States," Thomas said. "When we came to Santa Clarita, we definitely came to a community that's unlike any other." Thomas' dedication to the local community did not go unnoticed. "He was just involved in everything," said Don Fleming, co-owner of Valencia Acura. "He helped everyone that he could. This community will miss him and I will miss him." Fleming and Thomas became friends after meeting at a nonprofit board meeting. "There's always a smile on his face," Fleming said. "He's just an absolute asset to this community." Thomas also served on the College of the Canyons Foundation board, where he became friends with Chancellor Dianne Van Hook. "You can tell he loves what he does," she said. "You can't fake that. There's no way to fake that twinkle in your eye." Gail Ortiz, city spokeswoman and vice president of the local Domestic Violence Center, appreciated how Thomas put cleanliness and safety as a top priority for the Valencia theme park. "Jay Thomas leaves behind a legacy of community service and the highest level of customer service to be emulated for years to come," Ortiz said.

Now it seems The Signal is going back on their claim that Jay is going to the Corporate Office; it now says he "may" go. Here is an expanded article and there is suppose to be an interview with Jay in tomorrow's issue... UPDATED: Magic Mountain president to leave Jay Thomas, park president since 2007, may take a position at a corporate office in Dallas Jay Thomas is leaving Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor as park president, potentially taking a position at the theme park's corporate office in Dallas, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. Six Flags Magic Mountain spokeswoman Sue Carpenter denied other media reports that the park president had been fired from the company. There was no word Tuesday night on who would replace Thomas. Thomas was appointed park president in 2007 and navigated the theme park - one of the Santa Clarita Valley's largest employers - through the economic recession and financial setbacks facing the New York-based amusement park company. In 2009, Six Flags filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the goal of reorganizing and shedding $1.8 billion of its $2.4 billion debt. Despite the economic challenges, Thomas and the theme park heralded the opening of its roller coasters X2 in 2008 and "Terminator: Salvation" The Ride in 2009. That all followed a $10 million revamp of the five-year-old rollercoaster, X. Thomas oversaw the park as it reintroduced itself as a family-friendly destination, evident by the launch of the new children's area, Thomas Town, which is based on the character Thomas the Tank Engine. The park also began enforcing code-of-conduct rules at the entrance to rides and popular destinations, prohibiting smoking, profanity and other behavior deemed not family-friendly. Outside of running the theme park, Thomas immersed himself in the Santa Clarita Valley community, joining a series of nonprofit organizations like the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clarita Valley. "Jay never had the kind of airs that corporate people do - he is a genuine, good human being. It's hard to find those kinds of people today," said John Mahaffey, former interim director of the Boys & Girls Club of SCV Foundation and owner of SC Construction Company. "His departure is a devastating loss," Mahaffey said. "He's been a great member of this community. No one has done as much personally as he has done in support of the nonprofits." Thomas and the theme park received numerous awards for a dedication to the community. In 2009, Thomas accepted the Economic Impact Award during the Santa Clarita Valley Business Leadership Awards. Earlier this year, local leaders "roasted" Thomas as part of the Elks Roast, which raised nearly $35,000 for the Samuel Dixon Family Health Centers. "Jay Thomas is a fine executive and leader," Signal Publisher Ian Lamont said. "He is greatly respected and admired and his next community is going to love him."

This was on The Signal.com. It looks like he has been transferred to the corporate office... Jay Thomas exits Magic Mountain for corporate gig in Texas Jay Thomas is leaving Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor as park president for a position at the theme park company's corporate office in Dallas, an official said Tuesday. A Six Flags Magic Mountain spokeswoman denied that Thomas had been fired from the company, which was part of initial reports. "Jay never had the kind of airs that corporate people do -- he is a genuine, good human being," said John Mahaffy, former interim director of the SCV Boys & Girls Club Foundation. See Wednesday's Signal for the complete story.

It's true, Screamscape just announced they have the list of the replacement names and will supposedly release the names tonight in a update. I'm not too familiar with the other parks and their Presidents but I'm sad to see Jay go. I think he has really been a breath of fresh air at Magic Mtn. Today, I believe the park looks the best it's ever been since Premier came in and destroyed it in 1996 and that is all due to Jay and his influence on the SFMM team. Hearing that Jay had been fired; I honestly thought they would promote Tim Burkhart since he's been with the park for so long but I can tell you this; SFMM will be making Six Flags history with their announcement...

A replacement has already been named but not yet announced...

I was there too...third row...second from the left!

THANK YOU!!! I never understood why people complained about Scream being over a parking lot when Collosus is sitting on the same piece of land; it's just been 32 years so the white lines of the old parking lot have faded. Getting back to Superman, I look forward to whatever SFMM has in store. It's one of my favorite rides in the park. Granted the force is gone but it's still a fun experience. I'm hoping hey can redo the technology and get it back to the full 100 mph if not faster. A backwords side would be awesome as well but I'm not getting my hopes up for that. I know people complain about the lack of thrill on Superman but if you notice it's still after over 10 years one of those rides that people are "scared" to ride. It always have a ton of family/friends who chickened out waiting in the courtyard area and I don't think there wasn't a time when I've walked into the Fortress of Solitude that there wasn't people out front talking one or two of their friends/family into riding. "Don't be Chicken Carlos..."

Yes, as mentioned in my complaint above - I saw the "#2" and it was horrid. I can't believe anyone would do that...I was pissed...but not that pissed!

What a mess! I was also there for the 10:15 show and I'm still pissed over the whole situation. Let me first say; I'm a annual passholder but I still have the right to gripe and the only reason I say that is because they make this a show where they make you arrive when the park opens and sit through an hour long line to get a fast pass and then stay through the whole day only to wait another hour pinned up in a roped area to see a show that doesn't start until 10:15 at night. I would care less if Fantasmic or the fireworks were cancelled because you don't put that much time and investment into it to seeing it. Here's our story with some added (disgusting) details not previously mentioned... We arrived at 9:50am to run back and get our fastpass where the line stretched all the way to the sun plaza. After 1 hour in line; we finally get fast passes for the 10:15 show. We have yet to see the show and this was the last weekend our passes were good until August (when they actually expire). We spent the whole day at the park which is exhausting and we haven't done in awhile. We arrived in front of the wine area at 9:00pm and were sent to sit in the roped pinned area for ONE HOUR!!! They didn't actually allow us in the paradise park area until 10pm which should have raised a flag because as mentioned in prior posts they already knew about this pipe break at the 9:15pm show and were obviously trying to deal with it after and made the decision to go on with the show and move the 10:15 people into the area. We sat in the paradise pier park for about another 15 minutes where we could see the employees frantically trying to mop up water in the play area. After the 15 mins we had one of the castmembers come down and announce to our area (we went down to the boardwalk...dead center show view) that the show has been cancelled. No one moved because no one wanted to believe him after all the mess you have to go through to see the show. Another 5 minutes went by and they did an announcement over the loud speaker that the show was cancelled and to start leaving the park. This is where more of the madness began because they just kind of pushed everyone out with no organization and to top it all off someone must have been so pissed that the show was cancelled that they "dropped a duece" right in the middle of the yellow section and the castmembers were so disgusted to clean it up they just let people walk right next to it. We finally got out of the park and we could see people ropped off for the 11:15pm show. We went up to GR and the line was out to the sun plaza. All I was going to request was a blackout pass so we could come in July or August to see the show before our annual pass expires but the line literally did not move for the 30 minutes we stood there so we left only to be hit with another blow when as driving through the parking garage to leave we see the paradise pier lights go down and the 11:30 show begin. My honest opinion...if there was a chance the show was going to go on; they should have just let us stayed and started the show a little late and then started the 11:15 show right after ours ended. It would have saved GR from a lot of pissed off people because it just screwed the 7,000 people waiting to see that show. ...end rant...

Well, the addition of this coaster was just going to tie SFMM with CP for the greatest number of coasters, correct? Perhaps they decided to open it next year with a new coaster (or two if CP builds one) to beat the record and use it as a huge marketing tool like the "Extreme Addition" several years back.

No, they bulldoze the existing kid structure with the big skelton on the top to make way for this addition.

Visited the park today...as for the new coaster activity...a wall with the regular "coming soon" sign has been installed from the Johnny Rockets all the way to the Deja Vu entrance and the old theater building and extended Deja Vu que have been completly demolished and the land cleared. They're not wasting any time...

That's not true; look at the map again. What is the only land with a different brighter ground cover? Bugs Bunny World...sure draws my eyes to it.

But it was pouring rain on Saturday. A normal Saturday has a much higher attendance than 10K.

That's what I was thinking...I've never seen it happen. They would sometimes close at 6pm but never the whole day. I'd be curious to know how much this company forked out. After the backlash they'll get from regular guests, I doubt we'll see this happen again.

Just a heads up...don't plan to go to MM this Saturday (the 8th). They're closed all day for a private event. It seems a company forked out enough money to close the park on a Saturday. There are going to be thousands of pissed off general admission guests arriving Saturday morning...

You think Colossus backwards is rough? Does anyone remember when they did Psyclone backwards for that one or maybe more Fright Fest(s)??? Now that was rough!!!

So, when is the big announcement for 2009?

I have to agree...since it's in Robb's inbox, I also want to say it's SFMM. I'm just trying to figure out where they would put it. It has way too big of a foot print to fit in Pyclone's former home unless the red station is by the midway and they plan to go out to where the new homes and Magic Mountain parkway extension will be. Hmmmm...

Haven't heard much about CSI: Live...has anyone seen it?

^ The light show is still there and working. It was on Sunday night! My guess would be the backwards side working all year or they change the operations so it races at all times.

Thanks TPR and SFMM for a great event. I had a great time. SFMM is my old stomping grounds and it was cool to see it from a coaster enthusiast point of view. We didn't stay for the late ERT as we were exhausted and needed to work the next day but I was shocked and thrilled to hear that SFMM was going to have EVERY coaster open for the late ERT. They never even did that for the employee patries but to do that for 300-400 coaster fans shows that SFMM is finally going into the right direction. I'm thrilled to see the progress the park is making and to see the management excited about where the park is going. Also, I'm sure I speak for everyone to say "Thank Goodness the wind died down" so we got to see the progress of the museum in the Sky Tower. It's looking great and will be a great addition to the park. I own a lot of cool old SFMM stuff that would fit great in the museum but hell if I'm going to give it up! Lastly, about 2009. I was trying to see where I can find them slipping about what they're getting in 2009. This is what I pulled out of the different speeches. We all know it's going to be coaster ala LA Times. Jay said it won't be on Psyclone's old site which means it needs to very small footprint to fit anywhere else in the park. Lastly, when the S&S spokesperson went to talk about El Loco, he asked Tim if it's okay to talk about it and Tim said as long as it's about yours. Then at the end he said there is a El Loco planned for a park on the west coast. Hmmmm...maybe I'm reading into it too much. Again, kudos to TPR and SFMM for putting on a great event. Here's to next year...

What gate are you talking about? There was/is actually two gates in that area. There is one where the entrance to Joker's Hideout is and it was when Hurricane Harbor first opened they placed a gate between the two parks and actually had a ticket booth right next to it for people that would want to "park-hop" for an added fee. I used to supervise the main gate when HH opened and needless to say we never sold tickets there which led to it's permanent closure. The other gate between the restrooms and ticket will call is used for special private events. They usually have the red carpet lead up to that gate so regular guests can still exit the normal entrance area without interfering with a special event that takes place after park closure. Many of celebrities have walked through that small gate.