The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[thrillrider]

I refuse to eat at cedar fair parks. On closing weekend at cedar point, they raised the price of a large soda up to $5.50. Besides the high outragous prices, the food quality is just below what they would serve at a soup kitchen. Six flags has bad food as well, but not nearly as bad as cedarfair parks do.

 

Last time we went to magic mountain, we ate at a quiznos just on the other side of the expressway at the same exit as the park. I got a great sub AND drink for around $6.

 

Here are a few examples of cedarfair.

This was the prices on opening day at cedarpoint. Since then, the price has shot up another buck to $5.50. They now charge twice as much as what disneyland is charging for the same size drink.

This is for the crappy buffet at cedarpoint.This is the same buffet that they use such high quality hamburger, that we had chunks of bone in our food.

What a deal....

The re was 10x more bun than burnt brat. Made you so thristy, that you had to buy a soda since they were not included anymore.

$6 for a hot dog that is about the same size as a ballpark frank.

More great deals to be had at dorney park.Only $20 for a few pieces of chicken.

Makes you want to buy 5 or six of them.

Over at carowinds, there are all kinds of great deals for a bottle of soda.

Pizza anyone? Only $25

[SharkTums]

We need to get this thread back on track talking about SFMM.

 

One more vote though for the CF Food prices are out of control! I have a picture from Knotts in 2009 where a regular small hamburger plus small fries and small drink was $13.75!!!! And it only got worse from there!

 

Ok, back on track now...

 

So...SFMM...yup.

[Fire2box]

Over a week ago I made a post about winning a state farm/six flags in park/online contest. The prize is 4 VIP tickets good up until the end of the 2012 season but only for magic mountain or discovery kingdom. Last night I was contacted by a six flags media agent via e-mail explaining how to set up reservations for the day I decide to go. So I'll try to go sometime in the summer of 2011 hopefully in July or August.

 

This www.sixflags.com/magicMountain/tickets/viptours.aspx is the prize package, but good for me and three other people. I'd prefer going to magic mountain rather then Discovery Kingdom since I've only been there twice and only been on less then half the rides. Plus if my dad is going, he can chill out at the water park.

 

So far I'd only be taking my friend and most likely my dad. Still need to find a 4th, though I got until 2012 to make the plans and get down there.

[GLund]

I don't care if Magic Mountain doesn't want to provide quality food for guests in the park, that's fine. What I don't understand is how they neglect to take certain business steps in order to take advantage of the situations they have once guests walk through their gates.

 

Think about it: as an amusement park you already have customers walking around getting hungry and thirsty the entire day, from morning until night, and yet the park doesn't seem interested in creating a quality food environment to profit off of them. Which is retarded. Think about any restaurant trying to be successful, the hardest part of making money is getting customers to walk into your restaurant. Once you do that, if you're a good quality restaurant with good service you will eventually gain word of mouth and business with increase.

 

But when you're a theme park you already have thousands of guests in your vicinity, and you practically already have customers to cater to! To have such terrible food quality that a good amount of guests would rather leave the park for an hour to save money and get better quality food is a huge fail for the park and company IMO. Even Panda Express at Magic Mountain, while the prices are considerably the same as a combo you'd get outside of the park, the quality can be TERRIBLE. Would I be willing to bet my $10 that the Magic Mountain Panda will give me bad food again? Of course not. I'd rather leave the park, go to a real Panda, spend less, and know I have more options and know my food will be made fresh.

 

By charging ridiculous amounts of money for terrible quality food you're not only nickel and diming people who decide to eat at the park, you're making them regret it by serving them bad food. It's not a way to make people want to spend money in the park again, and it's not a way to run a park if you expect to be successful. There is a great amount of money to be made in food at theme parks, it's too bad Six Flags has decided to give it the cold shoulder.

[coasterking2981]

Get over it.

[mr. cockblock]

Get over it.

 

Agreed! Enough taking about the food at SFMM, we have no control over the prices and or quality of the food served. I don't know about all of you but I go to SFMM for the thrills I get on the rides not the quality of the food. If you dont like the food then leave the park and go choose something else in Valencia, end of story.

[gforce532]

I agree that there are other more important things to complain about than food. It is just us southern california's are spoiled so we need to find something to complain about.

[ANJLOVER14]

Just wondering, but is there any word on the progress over where Sierra Twist was? I went on Saturday, and the lot looked like a city park. It had a couple of spaces in the center with some grass and a few newly-planted trees.

 

I'm generally confused.

[metrock]

Get over it.

 

Agreed! Enough taking about the food at SFMM, we have no control over the prices and or quality of the food served.

 

Actually, while we (and every other park visitor) may not have control over the food prices and quality, we sure do have a say. However, posting about it here (or elsewhere online) wont do much good. Taking these concerns to guest relations would. Does it mean that they are going to hop to it and make the food better over night? No. But when there are trends in suggestions or concerns, it is something the park would surely take a look at.

 

As far as my take on things, well, I don't think the food is too horrible. I used to be a big fan of the pizza served in Gotham City Backlot. That is, before they changed it to Papa Johns. Not a fan. I can't say too much about the other walk up locations because when I eat inside the park, it's always at Mooseburger Lodge. And while the food there isn't on par with Knott's or Silverwood (so good), it isn't that bad either. I never have any complaints. In fact, I'd put it in line with food at Disneyland.

Edited December 2, 2010 by metrock

[atem122]

^I actually did complain about the food prices at guest relations once...and the response I got was basically, "you're at an amusement park. The prices are going to be high." I mean the woman was a bit more polite, but she said something along the lines of that.

[SoCalCoasters]

There are several things SFMM is in dire need of:

 

FLATS: It's been said 1,000,000 times before, but I'll say it again.

 

CAPACITY: The ride ops at SFMM are some of the worst I've ever seen...slowing down rides, and cutting their capacity (specifically Tatsu)

 

Tower Ride: They need a drop tower....plain and simple.

[metrock]

^I actually did complain about the food prices at guest relations once...and the response I got was basically, "you're at an amusement park. The prices are going to be high." I mean the woman was a bit more polite, but she said something along the lines of that.

 

Well, she is right. Theme park prices for food are always going to be higher. But that doesn't necessarily mean that quality has to suffer. It's all about what you are getting for the price you are paying. For instance, I spent $12 for a burger and fries at Knott's (Ghost Town Grill), and it was one of the tastiest burgers I've had. In fact, everyone at my table got a burger and we all liked them. But if you spend $12 and it sucks, well, then there is a valid complaint for the food being $12 if it is going to taste like that.

[chadster]

One thing that has been my experience with the B&M flyers are, that in general, loading hasn't been too speedy. Some are better at it than others, but with all of the sensors and safety devices in play, Its rare that you see 6 or more trains dispatched without have to recheck or jiggle a OTSR to get the computer to clear it for flight. I will say that SFGAdv, so far in my experience, has been the best at getting trains out without having to re-check over and over. Then, the time it takes to get into position and lock, etc. It just takes time. Would more ride ops solve the problem, maybe, but then they'd need to raise the price of admission, or food, to cover the extra operating cost.

[Gmaster562]

I really haven't had TOO bad of an experience with the ride ops. Except for once, when this guy on colossus was like me and this worker are gonna have a jerk battle, and jerked for a few minutes. Yeah, it sucked, especially because i was forced to watch seeing as i was strapped in and ready to ride. I would love to see a flat ride, or a drop tower, but you know SFMM. If it gets a flat or drop, its gonna have to be record breaking or NO one will be satisfied.

[GLund]

The ops at MM are terrible.

 

I rode Colossus on my last trip, and it took the crew 10 minutes to wipe, discuss, then clean some spit on the train, all while the ride only had 1 train operation.

 

Gates open, everyone hops in and pulls down lapbars. Upon walking snail pace to the front of the train to check restraints, female ride op tells the male ride op on the right side of the station "ew, there's spit on the train." He stops and checks it out, continues checking restraints. Then she told him to get the paper towels and spray. He said it's not that bad, just let the train dispatch. She said okay, then started to check restraints from front of the train. Stopped halfway. Told him it was nasty and she had to clean it. He was done checking right side restraints and walks up to the middle of the train to look at the spit himself again, and they begin to discuss the spit. He finally decides it is kind of nasty and snail paces to the cabinet at the back of the station for paper towels and cleaner (cue dragging feet noise). He takes his time as he doesn't want to accidentally rush and hurt himself, and finally finds the cleaning materials, and brings them to the girl so she can finally wipe it off. At the trade off across the track, they discuss spit at the back of the train for 30 seconds or so. How gross they say. She walks to the center of the train (cue dragging feet noise) and starts spraying the spit and cleans the spit off the train. He watches to verify the train is spit free. They discuss how the train used to have spit, and now doesn't. She goes to the trashcan and dumps out the paper towels. Walks back to dispatch to place the cleaner near the panel, to avoid a situation where the cleaner might get lost or stolen. She proceeds to the front of the train to start checking restraints from the front again. With guests in train with nothing to do but stare and wonder what the hell is taking so long, she finally gets to the back of the train and has checked all the restraints. Male ride op meets her back there and a conversation/flirtation at the back of the train continues one more time before she walks to the dispatch panel, and he walks to the dispatch panel at the front of the station. Finally the words "Clear, dispatch" is announced and they both, amazingly, find a way to simultaneously push the dispatch button.

 

That, my friends, is a Six Flags Magic Mountain dispatch if you were ever wondering.

Edited December 2, 2010 by GLund

[Tmcdllr]

^That is horrible but sadly is common.

[snoflake15]

^^ Eating my lunch wasn't the right time to read that spit story.

[Gmaster562]

^Hehehehe. I think the worst has GOT to be, either Riddlers Revenge or X2. They both take FOREVER!

[CGA_88]

^X2 has been a HUGE improvement in loading and unloading since the transformation. Their crew is very good, and the majority of the time dispatches the train before the other train hits the brakes. I just went a couple of weeks ago and the best crew, and the most efficient crew was at Terminator, and Goliath at a close second. Both crews were amazing. Tatsu was a huge improvement over the last time I went, although, it's not very professional and also extremely annoying, for a manager to sing and make stupid noises over the speakers. But then again, I've heard this at almost every ride at SFMM. The absolute worst crew was Ninja. Running 2 trains, it felt like they were only running one train and taking 5 minutes to load it. Absolute joke. We rode all open coasters except Revolution and Batman. Revolution is obvious why it's not popular, and the line for Batman was too long, and it's just not that fun of a ride.

[Fire2box]

When I was there at the end of june, X2 had pretty decent ride op's. Tatsu was a bit slow for being a dual station ride and din't have the collsus excess of only running one track.

[John Knotts]

Go ahead and let it all out guys. From lockers to bad food to lack of flat rides to slow ride ops. Just let it all out!

[PAL]

Green Lantern is going to be great! Can hardly wait. And the food at West Coast Bash is plenty tasty the past two years running, probably longer. I was late to the party. Love that Goliath crew, most of the time they're really cranking. Superman looks fab with the new paint job - good call Magic Mt!

 

Is that positive enough? The park is still on an overall upward trend. I'm happy to see it.

[WFChris]

I have a question....all of these stories about terrible ride ops that are being posted....are these isolated incidents or do they happen all the time to you? It just seems to me that when I visit, I do not run into any of these problems. I have no doubt that they DO occur, but I get the feeling that you guys are digging deeeep into your 'bash on sfmm' files and coming up with one situation out of 1000 successful ride interactions.

 

If you tend to focus on the positive side of things, you have a better chance at forgetting about the negatives and in the end, have a better time.

 

Maybe?

[COASTER FREAK 11]

^ My experience is that its hit and miss. Sometimes I go and we do the whole park in 4-5 hours if there are light crowds. But sometimes we only get on a few rides cause the ops arent doing so great.

[CGA_88]

I am in no way bashing SFMM or SF. Overall, I always leave the park enjoying my day. But every single visit I've had, there is some idiotic operator, or extremely slow crew that kind of takes away from overall day. I've also been to SFDK more than I have SFMM, and I never had any issues at their park that I have encountered at SFMM.