Ridewatchers

TC seems to be the only ride that has dedicated queue space for single riders (even though it's not being used...right now because SF is still learning how to operate the ride, basically). And this is a good idea: when I went on Thursday, trains went out with 1-2 empty spaces because of groups of 1 or 3 (or 5). It is a little-known fact that ALL rides at SF have single-rider lines (according to one of their gold pass newsletters published several months ago), but that only a handful of rides have posted signage. For rides that don't have SR signage, it is at the ride operator's discretion. Goliath, that means you! Re: 4 trains: TC will never (according to park management) run 4 trains at once. One will always be in rehab. Also, having that 4th train on the tracks will not increase RPH because it really isn't possible to load one train in 60 seconds.

I concur. Operations were quite good and they got out trains (later, train) quickly. Those who wanted to ride in the back asked and were told to wait at the front of the queue, but this might very well be a "sit where we say" ride as it is one wide to the stanchions and there is no dedicated space for "row 12" (back row). I don't think they will let people choke the line by asking to ride in the back, or, if they will, they will need a "queue ambassador" where the line fans out.

From SF maintenance: Fourth train coming in a couple weeks, BUT... Twisted Colossus will NEVER run with more than 3 trains at once (at least according to them, and a senior guy in the corporate relations department). Also, rph is ~1000 according to the CR guy who "heard it from a friend"... FYI.

Arrived 10:00 and was 8th in line at 10:20. TC opened at 11:05; boarded second train in back row. Ride was awesome, but there were squeaks everywhere and it seemed like the ride needed a good greasing. Later on, wait times went from ~35 minutes to just 10 minutes during two-train operation. After they took off the orange and blue trains, they ran a disappointingly slow one-train wonder with 50-minute lines. I saw a couple of guys fuming because they were only running one. So that was the entirety of six flags operations in one day: great in the beginning, but, well, you get the idea....

So who's going to GP preview days (tomorrow and this Friday) for TC?

Loading times during Preview will probably be the fastest TC ever sees: employees will want to do well and guests will be excited, park management will probably be there, and guests will mostly be enthusiasts who are eager to get going as fast as possible.

Which newsletter is the right one? Do gold passholders really get TC Preview on 5/21 and 5/22? Sounds like occult madness. Beat the confusion with this Imputed Fast Pattern TR (IFPTR) instead! Ridewatchers encountered a Ghosttown Wednesday today, 5/6/15, upon reaching the "toll plaza" at 9:32 A.M. We asked the attendants a trivia question: "When will TC open," to which they replied, "early June...?" After that, we took a spot in the front row and noticed that an enthusiast group was taking photos of TC. I walked up to the chain-link fence and asked one of the construction workers when TC was scheduled to open, and was told the 23rd, as expected. The metal detectors did not open until about 9:50 A.M.: there were only 20-25 people in front. Amazing! We gathered data on the number of people that had passed the detectors at certain times, and came up with the following: Time Number of People ------ --------------------- 9:48 22 9:58 55 10:00 59 10:02 76 +/- 5 10:04 89 +/- 5 10:06 103 +/- 10 10:08 116 +/- 10 10:10 136 +/- 10 10:12 166 +/- 10 It was clearly going to be a very light day! We decided to go for a "fast pattern," which is riding all 23---24 when TC comes on line---non-premium rides in under 4 hours. This is a difficult goal that requires fast feet; see our website for details. At 10:15 A.M., we were let into the gold-pass waiting area, and at 10:20 A.M., we were let into the park. YOLO saw zero wait time: there were two people sitting in the front row, and myself in the back. There is a lot more action in the back in our opinion, and we decided to ride twice in a row thanks to the very low turnout. An older man (who looked like a very senior person at Six Flags) was helping to run the ride: a taller, white-haired gentleman who wished everyone a good time. The jog to X2 was done at a 9-minute-per-mile pace with 160-180 steps of turnover. General admission was getting in just then, and about 50 people were ahead when I exited YOLO. After passing around the same and reaching the turnstyle, I was told my large water bottle wasn't allowed on and had to be put in a locker or thrown out. After chugging, I threw the bottle away and waited to board the second train of the day from row 7: a 2-minute wait. X2 had the sound turned off and there was no jazzy tune accompanying us up the lift. The ride seemed to be in good repair otherwise, but the last half-inversion gave me a smack (as usual). Viper was next, followed by Revolution. One of the ops at revolution would not open the single-rider line because she said it was "too slow," but this may have been out of inconvenience. After jogging all the way around to the stand-by entrance, I boarded, looped, screeched to a halt, and went for Tatsu. Total wait: 3 minutes. The situation at Tatsu was truly unusual: no line! Only 2 of the 8 rows had people, and the gentleman on the train I was about to board decided to ride again. He said he was on holiday from England (from Kent, more specifically) and that he had done SFDK, Sea World, Disneyland, USH, and was doing SFMM for the second time this week. This would be his last day, and he would be leaving by 1 PM. I told him it was a wise decision to come on a Wednesday, and he seemed to need no advice (as weekdays see far fewer people). We ended up riding together for 1-2 hours and had good conversation. Wait time: 1 minute. Superman was closed for maintenance. When I asked the people at the gate, they said they didn't know why (OPSEC, cough...plausible deniability and all that), and so I went over to RR which is open! The person opposite me decided to risk his iPhone on the rapids, and I was ready to offer him one of my ziploc bags, but manner blocked the motion, and I said nothing. After a very dry RR run (and after *yawn* ninja, the one train wonder), it was time for apocalypse. I met my acquaintance on apocalypse and, in the midst of squeals and creaking...they had removed the second train for maintenance...I decided to open up and wax rancorous about how cheap SF theme parks are. But the ride was awesome, and one of my favorites, Jet Stream, was next. Apocalypse was longest wait of the day at 4 minutes. Jet Stream, Gold Rusher, Scrambler: 0-0-0. All walk-ons during Walk-On Wednesday. Even the bumper cars were quick, at a 2 minutes wait. Riddler had a lot of people in queue, and maintenance came over the coaster and seemed to be spraying for bugs. One man was carrying a big blue bottle with a hand-held spray nozzle toward the control panel. Scored a front-row seat using SPRQ (Single-Rider Priority Queue), and was able to preserve my knees by speaking up and asking the ride ops to adjust the height of the seat so there was a slight bend in the knees. Tidal Wave was a walk-on, and so was Flash and Wonder Woman. But not Green Lantern...oh no, not GL. One minute for SPRQ, 10-15 minutes for the others as the stand-by queue was at the bottom of the steps. Batman was a quickie with only a 1-minute wait (compared to 15-20 minutes during off-summer weekends). Lex Luthor: 2 minute wait. "Hands up!" It's just physics. Buccaneer was grounded, but not because of mechanical issues. No one wanted to ride it, until I went in and asked for a seat. I was told I would have to wait for another, since Buccaneer, like RR, and probably every other ride, was a buddy system ride that required two people minimum. A little girl ran and sat next to me, and we went on the ride twice. Grand Carousel is one of the 23 non-premium rides and was done in a quick spin. But Superman was still down and I decided to record statistics for the day. Time from park opening to end of last ride: 3 hours, 14 minutes, 42 seconds (including wait time and transit between rides). Imputed time in park: 3:14:42 x 23 rides/20 open = 3:53:54, making this trip a fast pattern. Total wait time: 18 minutes.

Banhammer so much for our line cutting advice vis a vis getting to the park early heading straight for TC to avoid 3-4 hour wait better going wednesday or thursday of opening week etc sorry

Memorial day seems optimistic.

Great view from behind the scenes! So are they using new wood for the entire ride or recycling?

Track. Paint. Testing. Demarche for SF management. Predicting TC opening between June 10th and June 20th. Place your bets, place your bets.

To be fair, I'm not convinced a day at Magic Mountain can be enjoyed, period. Careful what you say. SFMM fanboys will have you burned at the stake. True up until three days ago.

TR for 3/7. Arrived at 9:45 A.M. and found parking in first row. Bus was kind enough to stop on return. Was about 25th in line at GP; took 7 minutes to get in park. Boarded Yolo at 10:23 A.M. Had nice chat with gentleman who studied physics and told me about magnetic trains, and how yolo "hovers" above the track. Jogged over to X2, but stopped along the way to use the toilet. Noticed a small line and estimated a 15-20 minute wait from the end of the first switchback. At 10:34, the ride is down for a "minor delay." Then the delay becomes less minor and we find out the ride may be closed, so I continued to Tatsu. Encountered a 10 minute wait for Tatsu and boarded the next-to-rear row after waiting an extra train because someone had a platinum FP. Decent ride; ran smooth. Got off and noticed that the line had grown to more than 60 minutes because the X2 people decided to walk up the hill. Found out Superman would be closed for another 30 minutes, so I took advantage of a legendary 2-train operation on Ninja. The ride seemed to need maintenance as it was grinding badly out of the station. Saw the lack of trees and noticed Jet Stream was dry. And RR and Tidal wave was closed. No water rides, and X2 was still not up. Must be "three flags" day. Superman opened about 10 minutes after a double walk-on at Goldrusher, but when I got to the front of the line, something frightening happened. The car came back with people screaming, as if something was wrong. Almost suddenly someone popped out of the disabled entrance door and told us that there'd be a "minor delay." I looked through the cracks in the doors and the car was not in the station: the auxiliary brakes must have come on. Thinking strange things were happening, I decided to leave. It looks like "M"arch at SF means "M"aintenance as half the rides were closed down: all water rides, Superman, X2, Revolution, and Scream. And someone said LL was not working.... Trees next to Ninja were down, too. I felt like I was a beta tester instead of a normal guest! Others were complaining about downtime, too, and it just didn't seem like a good day to go.

Why not? They have to reprint the maps anyway for TC. It might be more realistic to have season pass holders vote through some sort of a "survey" (like the ones MM sends out every so often). You'd see the top 5 or 10 or whatever and click a radio button next to the one you think is best. Another possibility: a prize for doing all 23 non-premium attractions at the park during a peak operating day in under 4 hours. Catch: you don't get to use a flash pass. The prize: a walking tour of Six Flags Magic Mountain. Don't forget to BYOB.

Also consider visiting a site called Ridemax. The author says he has found optimal ways to tour both parks to minimize wait times. This might be worth the investment. If the folks on this thread advise two days for Disney, consider coming to SFMM on Sunday. Get to the parking lot at about 9:45 A.M, and make sure you are at the park entry ASAP. Consider the platinum FP (since you don't have to leave your seat and can reride immediately), but Gold is almost just as good. If you decide to get a GOLD pass, don't buy the pass first. Instead, go to Full Throttle, then X2, then Superman, then take the Orient Express downhill and buy the pass then. If you decide to get a PLATINUM pass, don't but the pass first. Instead, go to X2 and THEN buy the pass. Click my siggy for more data.

Only one: Hurricane at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Opened in 1992 and was dismantled recently (2012). How in the world did they get a coaster like that in such a small, precarious location?

Looks that way. AND they raised the price! One thing is not very clear, though: is SF saying that you only get to use FP once on Superman and once on yolo and then the ride is cleared from the screen, or that they will not allow you to ride twice in a row but instead will ask you to make another reservation?

Argh...too bad about the trees. Samurai Summit is one of the more scenic areas of the park, but I guess SF is finally feeling the "ouch" from that train derailment that was a result of an overgrown branch a few years back.

We agree. The cost of doing something is not just the dollars, but time, too! Cost = Dollars + Time Cost of Tatsu off-peak = $40 + 1 hour of research Cost of Tatsu on-peak = $40 + 2 1/2 hours of waiting Cost of Tatsu with flash pass = $40 to $110 + 1/3 hours of waiting

As guests who like to ride as much as possible, our position is one of self-interestedness. The only reason to buy a FP is to save time, and if this increases the wait of the "stand-by public," that's no problem to us. For those with money, a FP is generally the right option, especially during peak times. Using a FP during peak times (at least at our home park) can cut off 2 1/2 hours of waiting per ride. Additionally, not much research has to be done: just grab a park map and ask where to get the pass. If going to park X has been your family's dream for the last 6 months, and y'all are crazy about riding big-name coasters, FP's are a good investment. But for those who don't have much money and have flexibility, trip planning is the best thing, and our wait-time data show how a well-planned trip can result in average waits that are less than the FP. But there's a different kind of cost: you'll have to come early, follow an itinerary, etc. So it depends: are you willing to do some research beforehand, or do you have the resources to "buy down" the cost of research?

Pardon the interruption, but when did work on Thunderbird begin? We're getting a new ride here at SFMM, but they've already removed an airtime feature and are running late! Seems like your ride went up real quick!

So how long will the lines be for TC on opening day? Guesses, anyone? And will FP be available?

Re mugs with Deja Vu labelled "X2": someone ought to let management know. X2 is (currently) SFMM's flagship ride and operations should know better than to raise ghosts!

The difference was most notable on the approach to the station. They were rattling a lot before but not so much as of yesterday.

JACKPOT! Have a nice dinner and a glass of wine tonight!