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The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread


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I think we're complaining because we know SFMM could be better. The park keeps adding in one area (coasters) while lacking in everywhere else. If they spent time off building large coasters and spend more time building flats, family, water, etc, they could become a better park. Instead, they build gimmicky coasters (Full Throttle and Green Lantern) just to increase their coaster count. Instead of targeting a portion of theme park visitors, I don't understand why they don't target everyone. There's other Six Flags parks that have done this well, but SFMM always seem to do this miserably. Even the coasters they do have aren't being put to their full potential (or in Revolution's case, neutering it to the point of pain). I say they need to take care of what they have and increase the park's size in other ways such as increasing the size of their water park that hasn't been updated in years.

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So SFMM attracts a pretty rambunctious/dangerous crowd?

 

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how you guys view this park. By the way most of you talk about it you'd think it was an awful horrible place. I mean there is an awful lot of YOLOcoaster bashing here. It looks like a pretty fun ride that I would guess going to be better than other somewhat similar rides such as Mr Freeze:Reverse Blast and Xcelerator. I love both of those rides and I can't imagine YOLOcoaster not being a fun experience. Yeah the YOLO advertisement is lame, but its made for some good laughs.

 

Though I really shouldn't talk. I've never been to SFMM. Apparently, they have some of the worst ride ops around according to you guys. It's just that I can't imagine park patrons of any other place complaining about getting YOLOcoaster.

 

Being from SoCal, I know when I was growing up I wasn't allowed to SFMM because of "dangerous crowds". I finally went to SFMM back in 2009 with coworkers and I enjoyed my time there. But, really, no matter where you go you do have the chance of sharing the park with obnoxious, stupid crowds. I still see them here in Texas at SFOT. lol!

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By browsing Google Earth a little bit, I found plenty of space for a moderate-sized coaster without the removal of any major attraction. I found some space in Deja Vu's corner as well as in the front of the park. I think something like a Eurofighter would fit nicely in the park's line-up of coasters.

 

Yeah, I can really imagine if they would build some new coasters, but sadly my grandpa can't ride coasters anymore!

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Well can I ask you a question? How would you like it if SFMM purchased a Vekoma Flying Dutchman, (just imagine) would that be really great, a park with Two Flying Coasters?

It would be pointless since it would be like La Ronde which already have a Vekoma SLC and a B&M inverted coaster.

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Enthusiasts have very high expectations for parks, and when a corporate chain like SFI runs a park, there's a balancing art between money going to the parks and money going to the stockholders. SFMM most likely has an immense thrill ride budget because they practically have a guaranteed return. Categories such as ride maintenance, landscaping, and park maintenance are given small budgets because they won't be seeing a return profit from them. It's a business of money.

 

That being said however, people don't seem to realize that SFMM is a completely different park than it was a decade ago. It's changed for the better too. When I was younger, my parents, like many others, refused to let me go to the park due to the huge amount of gang activity. Heck, you would be scared to walk around the park at night. I remember seeing videos of gang riots at SFMM on the News. It was probably one of the factors that led to it being put up for sale during the SFI Bankruptcy.

 

That issue has been solved, and the park is 1000x better as a result.

 

Personally all the stuff about Full_Throttle (sorry, it's not YOLOcoaster to me) can be put to rest with the simple fact of $$$$. SFMM had a ride budget, most likely given to them by the corporate office with guidelines. They went to Premier, who designed them FT.It has a decent length for a layout. It's not like they built Stealth or Kingda Ka, which are one trick ponies.

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I think people do a lot of ribbing of SFMM because it can be fun, but I don't think people flat out hate the park, otherwise why keep going? To me it's a good not great park that people seem to think could be great with better choices made by the management.

 

I'm over that school of thought. For me, pinning and hoping for what could be is a waste of time. I enjoy the park for what it is, and seek what it lacks elsewhere. The end.

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I'm sure all of you locals have GP friends. And, I'm sure they LOVE SFMM! OF course they do! The fact of the matter is, most of us have traveled and seen other parks, and know what potential SFMM has. Now, most GP here in Southern California have not left the state in their entire lives (sans Las Vegas), and even if they do they rarely go to theme parks during their travels. That being said, think about it.

 

DL: The park for families and rich people.

SWSD: That zoo place with a few rides.

KBF: The little park in OC with really short rides.

SFMM: The 'cool' thrill ride place.

USH: The wanna be DL with nothing to do.

Everything in Vegas: Ghetto

 

That's IT! That is their entire world. As long as SFMM keeps providing thrills, that will make the locals happy. It doesn't need outrageous theming or doesn't even need to be particularly tidy because it never has been, and that's not what the locals expect out of it. It's where you go to scare your little brother. If anything, the dodgy parts of the park add to the scare-anticipation of the big scary roller coasters. You have all heard the stories in line about how they almost fell out when they were stuck upside down on Viper for 3 hours. When these kids finally get off the ride, they are pumped because of how cool it was! They could care less about seeing a backstage area through the fence, they are more worried about what they're riding next.

 

How many of your friends love loops but hate 'that dropping sensation' aka airtime? If you haven't asked, chances are, most of them are like that. The GP out here is just a weird different breed, and I think SFMM responds correctly to it when they build these new attractions. As long as it breaks some kind of record or its the first of its kind out here, well eat it up. That's why Scream didn't go anywhere...it's not the first or biggest of anything (or it could be the crummy location!).

 

Anyway, I was just watching this conversation go in circles and wanted to add a reminder that the demograph out here truly is different than anywhere else in the states. It's less traveled and expectations vary based on venue. Is SFMM truly 'lacking' or is it wishful thinking on our behalf that they 'need' something they don't truly 'need' ? If I want flat rides I'll go hang out at Knotts. In the meantime, when I want big sprawling coasters, I'll head up to SFMM.

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I'm sure all of you locals have GP friends. And, I'm sure they LOVE SFMM! OF course they do! The fact of the matter is, most of us have traveled and seen other parks, and know what potential SFMM has. Now, most GP here in Southern California have not left the state in their entire lives (sans Las Vegas), and even if they do they rarely go to theme parks during their travels. That being said, think about it.

 

DL: The park for families and rich people.

SWSD: That zoo place with a few rides.

KBF: The little park in OC with really short rides.

SFMM: The 'cool' thrill ride place.

USH: The wanna be DL with nothing to do.

Everything in Vegas: Ghetto

 

DL.. RICH PEOPLE? There are SO many things I can say about that but I would definitely offend some people.

 

My 'GP' friends hate SFMM - they think it's filthy and refuse to go back. My brother won't go because it's "a dump, requires too much walking, and is ALL coasters." Not that all coasters is a bad thing, but if you're not an enthusiast, and enjoy an occasional coaster while spending your whole day at a theme park, it is discouraging.

 

 

Vegas.. ghetto? I guess depending on the season. When it's 115 degrees and people are on the streets in wife-beaters, flip-flops and shorts, while drinking 3' tall beverages, then yes, ghetto.

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$125 for a one day park hopper, $269 for the cheapest AP.

$70 all year at SFMM.

Yeah, a ton of Angelinos think DL is for rich people.

 

As far as being 'filthy,' that may be true to somebody from a nicer, cleaner area, but it is much less filthy than the San Fernando Valley or Greater LA; aka, where 18 million of their clientele live.

 

As far as Vegas being ghetto, I was keeping it in context: Desperado, Speed, Roller Coaster at NYNY, High Roller, and everything in the Adventure Dome is/was ghetto compared to any park-like place in Southern California.

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$125 for a one day park hopper, $269 for the cheapest AP.

$70 all year at SFMM.

 

Yeah, a ton of Angelinos think DL is for rich people.

 

 

As far as Vegas being ghetto, I was keeping it in context: Desperado, Speed, High Roller, and everything in the Adventure Dome is/was ghetto compared to any park-like place in Southern California.

 

Disneyland is expensive because they are trying to weed out the passholders who have ruined the park in the last few years - I think there's at least 1 million passholders (or close to it). Tell me why Florida passes are still relatively cheap? Because there aren't a million neighborhoods surrounding the parks where people can 'just go after work'.. Disneyland has gone from a vacation destination/once a year thing, to "hey, I'm off early, let's go."

 

Disneyland has become a 'hang out' place that only costs $40/month for a premium pass..

 

*Crud, I didn't realize this was posted in the SFMM thread.

 

As for SFMM being cheap, well yeah, that's just the entry price.

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^Touche, like I said I am just trying to put out there what the GP perception is according to what I've heard, not necessarily what I think.

 

But it's true, I have price compared and everything inside SFMM proper is more pricey than DL. As I recall, a soda at dl is $2.79, and a soda at SFMM is $4.25 now? Something crazy like that. Their food prices are obnoxious as well. Oh, and the beer at Mooseburger is more expensive than beer at DCA.

 

Nonetheless, most of these people I talk to wouldn't know that because they can't get past justifying the gate fee. I can't say I blame them, that's why I got the AP and go more often!

 

I'm not sure I'm making much of a point anymore, except that I believe most Angelinos believe that SFMM is the bees knees, and the park knows this, so they are just gonna keep rolling with what they're doing!

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I think the extreme danger of being in the park at night in the past is greatly overstated. There were some issues in the past, but generally it was safe. I spent a whole lot of time in that park during the early part of the 2000's and I was never afraid.

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Of course the GP will have different opinions, but that's because all humans have that.

 

Some people will say it's a dump.

Others will say it's awesome.

 

There is just enough people in SoCal that SFMM will always have costumers, no matter how many people hate the park.

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I honestly don't see the negatives of SFMM ever changing. Some people choose to overlook it, some choose to complain, I chose to stop going; and I have not been for nearly 4 years now. Occasionally I think about going to get the missed credits, but really I don't miss it.

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^I don't think it NEEDS to change. They don't add unicorns to Saw movies to appeal to other audiences, do they? I just don't see any point in it being anything other than a thrill park. We have Knotts if you want theming and thrills, and USH and DL for all other purposes.

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^I don't think it NEEDS to change. They don't add unicorns to Saw movies to appeal to other audiences, do they? I just don't see any point in it being anything other than a thrill park. We have Knotts if you want theming and thrills, and USH and DL for all other purposes.

 

Agree with this.

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I honestly think that the three California parks sort of compliment each other - Six Flags Magic Mountain being about the attractions, Disneyland being about the experiences, and Knott's being the happy medium between the two.

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^I don't think any California local will have the ability to understand just how awesome of a park SFMM is to those of us who don't have it in our "backyards," so to speak.

 

You are kidding me right?

 

SFMM has always been my "home park", so to speak. There were years when I went to Disney or Knott's more, but for the most part, SFMM is the park I've visited the most on a year-in year-out basis, and is without question the park I've visited the most.

 

Here's my problem with the park:

I REMEMBER WHEN IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!

That's it. It's not rocket science, it's not a conspiracy, it's not because it's "fun and easy to make fun of the park".

 

The park lost it's way a LONG time ago, it tried to get it back under Jay (and I give them all the credit in the world for trying), but by that time it was too little too late. The damage had been done under Premier and there is no going back.

 

The park realizes this, which is why they must go after the "thrill" GP.

 

So before you make assumptions that we can't appreciate the park, step back and think of those of us who have lived near and loved the park for 30+ years (in my case) and imagine if your local favorite park just abandoned everything that made them once great.

 

Wouldn't you be kind of pissed and not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt?

 

end rant ...

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