The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[ryder]

Yeah, I was there this past Wednesday, and Tatsu, Superman, X2, TC, and Apocalypse (in addition to Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman [flat ride], and Drop of Doom) were all down.

[coastercoaster5]

On 12/10/2021 at 4:43 PM, CACoasterCruze said:

According to Theme Park ERT on YouTube:

"Tatsu's paint job has been paused temporarily due to a lot of the crew getting sick and them not having enough painters to continue efficiently. So, with the holidays coming up, they've decided to halt all work on it until the New Year. This is very unfortunate considering they were trying to meet a deadline, but the good news is that Tatsu will open today and remain open until the New Year. What are your thoughts on this?"

Wonder what the source is...but if true that is very unfortunate. Sad to hear, however I am sure lots of people visiting MM this month will be more than pleased. Might have to make my way down there to experience a partially re-painted Tatsu lmao

[scooterdoug]

On 12/10/2021 at 4:43 PM, CACoasterCruze said:

According to Theme Park ERT on YouTube:

"Tatsu's paint job has been paused temporarily due to a lot of the crew getting sick and them not having enough painters to continue efficiently. So, with the holidays coming up, they've decided to halt all work on it until the New Year. This is very unfortunate considering they were trying to meet a deadline, but the good news is that Tatsu will open today and remain open until the New Year. What are your thoughts on this?"

I emailed the park and they confirmed it: Tatsu's paint job is paused until 2022, and the ride will be running until then. 

I'm absolutely thrilled about this. While I'm not happy that people are falling ill (I hope it's not COVID), I'm really happy that the ride will be open. I'm going with my family (including my daughters, who hit the 54" mark since the pandemic began and haven't been on a roller coaster since that time). So, my wife and kids will get to find out just how crazy that pretzel loop is.

[coasterlvr]

22 hours ago, scooterdoug said:

I emailed the park and they confirmed it: Tatsu's paint job is paused until 2022, and the ride will be running until then. 

I'm absolutely thrilled about this. While I'm not happy that people are falling ill (I hope it's not COVID), I'm really happy that the ride will be open. I'm going with my family (including my daughters, who hit the 54" mark since the pandemic began and haven't been on a roller coaster since that time). So, my wife and kids will get to find out just how crazy that pretzel loop is.

they probably sent all the guys to knott's to paint xcelerator.  LOL   there's been no shortage of painters there. 

[VegasBaby]

I feel bad for the painters that got ill, but overall this works out much better for the park.  It was a bad idea to have one of the most popular coasters in the park closed for the holiday season, so at least now Tatsu will be open thru the end of the year.  I am glad they are showing it some love with the new paint job, but moving it to January makes so much more sense.

[CACoasterCruze]

The Flash ride has been removed and the station has been completely leveled. Anyone know if it will be relocated to another place in the park? Maybe the Pistachio Park spot?

[scooterdoug]

Hi everyone,

I'm in search of some quick advice. I'm planning on going to SFMM with my family on either 12/24 or 12/25 (it's open both days, and we don't celebrate Christmas). I went once on Christmas eve (12/24/2019), and found the crowds to be pleasantly low. Weather might make the decision for us (it's supposed to rain on Friday, 12/24). However, if weather isn't a factor, can anyone advise on which of the two days  (Christmas eve or Christmas day) would be more likely to have lower crowds?  Thanks in advance!

-Doug

[VegasBaby]

21 minutes ago, scooterdoug said:

Hi everyone,

I'm in search of some quick advice. I'm planning on going to SFMM with my family on either 12/24 or 12/25 (it's open both days, and we don't celebrate Christmas). I went once on Christmas eve (12/24/2019), and found the crowds to be pleasantly low. Weather might make the decision for us (it's supposed to rain on Friday, 12/24). However, if weather isn't a factor, can anyone advise on which of the two days  (Christmas eve or Christmas day) would be more likely to have lower crowds?  Thanks in advance!

-Doug

According to Is It Packed, both days will be alright.  But personally, I think Chirstmas Day will be the less busy of the two. 

[ryder]

Small update:  they've torn down the old bathrooms by the Flash Pass center towards the front of the park.    Hopefully they'll construct some updated ones?

[IronWolfman]

^Those were always convenient when heading up to X2 & Viper, but definitely old. There's really no others that close by, as the bathrooms inside nearest to the front gate have been closed off on my visits (while the ones outside the gate but inside security are open), and from there in that direction it'd be all the way up to Tatsu. Would be great if they could replace those or put some new ones up the hill closer to Viper/Chop Six.

[joelwee]

Inb4 someone says, "Or better yet, it'd be great if they just replaced Viper with some new bathrooms."

[CACoasterCruze]

Making $70,000/year as a roller coaster painter.

[Zand]

How good is Uber service at SFMM? 

I mentioned a couple months ago that I was looking into driving down for a day from Vegas next month. I figured out that it's way cheaper to fly to Burbank (like...$30 round trip) and Uber to and from the park. Would this work out okay or is Uber service real spotty from the park?

[IronWolfman]

^Uber service is EXTREMELY spotty from the park. Getting there wasn't too long of a wait with Uber from BUR in August, but getting back.. I was unable to get one and had to walk almost two miles to my hotel in Valencia back on my August trip. Let alone trying to get back to Burbank. When I did the same DEN-BUR trip in November, I used Burbank Bus' Orange "Noho-Airport" route from BUR to the North Hollywood transit station, Santa Clarita Transit's 757 express bus route from there up to the McBean Regional Transit Center in Valencia, and Santa Clarita Transit's 3/7 local bus route between McBean and the park. Can use the 757 and Orange buses back down to Burbank & BUR too, which I did in both my August and November trips.

Those bus schedules (somewhat easily found with a google search) don't really work for a all-in-one day trip, and don't give a great amount of park time for a one night trip either. But, I spent ~15 hours at the park between two nights/three days (one full and two partial days at the park) back over Oct 31-Nov 2 for about ~$400-450 total trip cost, though I have a SF membership covering park admission & a cheap hotel in Castaic, and only spent ~$15 on transportation with the bus systems. It honestly worked best with the earlier park close time of 6pm, as the last bus (that connected to my other local bus to my hotel) going out from the park was 6:30-6:45ish, and the park was pretty empty during the Nov weekdays. Would not trust Uber to get you around almost at all outside of Burbank, but the bus systems were extremely useful and reliable, no more than 2-3min late max in either my August or November trips. 

[Jew]

You will have much better luck with Uber and Lyft if you schedule your rides in advance.  Never had an issue getting one when needed anywhere in So Cal with that method.

[Zand]

Now that I look more into using Uber, it looks like renting a car for the day is probably cheaper than Uber. Plus no worries about potentially getting cancelled on. Probably will go that route.

All told, $60 for a car rental and $32 round trip for the flight is pretty damn good, especially since everything else about the day would be free (and WAAAAY less than I'd probably be losing in Vegas during the course of the day).

Kinda sucks to be missing Tatsu and Batman among others, but I'll be back for a full LA area trip some day. I know this sounds weird, but my two biggest reasons for going right now are X2 and Viper, because if it's 5 years before I get back you just never know what might not be there.

[AmyUD06]

1 hour ago, Zand said:

Now that I look more into using Uber, it looks like renting a car for the day is probably cheaper than Uber. Plus no worries about potentially getting cancelled on. Probably will go that route.

All told, $60 for a car rental and $32 round trip for the flight is pretty damn good, especially since everything else about the day would be free (and WAAAAY less than I'd probably be losing in Vegas during the course of the day).

Kinda sucks to be missing Tatsu and Batman among others, but I'll be back for a full LA area trip some day. I know this sounds weird, but my two biggest reasons for going right now are X2 and Viper, because if it's 5 years before I get back you just never know what might not be there.

Yeah, car rentals out there were pretty cheap when I went in mid-December for some reason.

It's funny that you mention your reasoning as going as concern that Viper or X2 would be torn down; that was almost exactly my motivation for my LA-area trip, except for me it was Montezooma at Knott's.

Anyway, have fun!

[IronWolfman]

I'm glad you found a cheap car rental, that's the best option really if you can get a good deal. I got one for my first visit in June, but the cheapest ones I could find were in the $250-300 range for my 3-day August & November trips. 

[AmyUD06]

Finally got around to posting my report from my trip on December 10th.  Read on, right here.

[Rusty Nail]

Beginning in January the park will close at 5pm on weekdays.  Lame

[Jew]

44 minutes ago, Rusty Nail said:

Beginning in January the park will close at 5pm on weekdays.  Lame

Why is that lame?  It’s the offseason except for MLK weekend in January.

[joelwee]

10 hours ago, Jew said:

Why is that lame?  It’s the offseason except for MLK weekend in January.

In the past, they always closed at 6PM during the off-season - leaving about an hour for night rides after the sun sets at 5PM.

[Rusty Nail]

1 hour ago, joelwee said:

In the past, they always closed at 6PM during the off-season - leaving about an hour for night rides after the sun sets at 5PM.

Also as someone who can't get there at opening losing that extra hour at the end is a bummer.

[coasterbill]

We haven't seen much from this new leadership yet, but annoying cuts wherever possible seem to be the name-of-the-game thus far.

[joelwee]

Yeah, I usually get there around 4:00 PM for my weekday visits, which gives me 2 hours to get on a few rides and grab dinner with my dining pass. If the park closes at 5:00, it's not worth the trip. If they want to cut hours, I'd personally rather have them open an hour later and stay open until 6:00.