The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[Bilby_AUS]

^Personally, I'd stick with the Gold Flash Pass and just ride YOLOcoaster first thing in the morning. Everything else is available with a Gold Flash Pass and the price difference is fairly significant.

 

Hi everyone!!

 

I will be coming to the USA (from Australia) from last weekend of september till the 17th October. I will be in LA for 2 days and I am wanting to spend a day at SFMM on the saturday 28th. (open 1030-1800) I will be at the park the whole time and I will probably get flash pass (gold or Platinum, not sure). Would it be worth getting it before I arrive (no risk of them having ran out)? or will it be OK to wait to get it when I arrive to suss out crowds, weather, ride closures and so on?

 

Definitely wait until you arrive. The park is not likely to sell out of Flash Passes, especially in the off-season. Besides, you might not even need one. I've visited on off-season Saturdays and gotten on every coaster without a problem (though re-rides were limited, but that could be because I left the park and had lunch at a sit-down restaurant). If you do get one, I'd recommend sticking with Gold unless you plan to use the YOLOcoaster upcharge as Platinum is very expensive for what it offers.

 

Thanks for the advice rcdude!

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Thanks. I have 1 more question:

 

Are there any good fast food places near SFMM? Please don't mention In N' Out.

[805Andrew]

Thanks. I have 1 more question:

 

Are there any good fast food places near SFMM? Please don't mention In N' Out.

 

You could try Tommy's. There just down the road on The Old Road next to Del Taco and Jack in the Box. Tommy's is a local LA area burger chain that specializes in chili burgers. You could also look up Yelp on your phone to see what has good reviews outside the park. And if you hop on the freeway south for a few exits there's an In N Out which in my opinion is way better than Jack in the Box or Wendy's which are near the park.

[Sir Clinksalot]

^Personally, I'd stick with the Gold Flash Pass and just ride YOLOcoaster first thing in the morning. Everything else is available with a Gold Flash Pass and the price difference is fairly significant.

 

Hi everyone!!

 

I will be coming to the USA (from Australia) from last weekend of september till the 17th October. I will be in LA for 2 days and I am wanting to spend a day at SFMM on the saturday 28th. (open 1030-1800) I will be at the park the whole time and I will probably get flash pass (gold or Platinum, not sure). Would it be worth getting it before I arrive (no risk of them having ran out)? or will it be OK to wait to get it when I arrive to suss out crowds, weather, ride closures and so on?

 

Definitely wait until you arrive. The park is not likely to sell out of Flash Passes, especially in the off-season. Besides, you might not even need one. I've visited on off-season Saturdays and gotten on every coaster without a problem (though re-rides were limited, but that could be because I left the park and had lunch at a sit-down restaurant). If you do get one, I'd recommend sticking with Gold unless you plan to use the YOLOcoaster upcharge as Platinum is very expensive for what it offers.

 

Thanks for the advice rcdude!

 

Even though I'm a local to SFMM and therefore have never used the Flashpass at that particular park, I ALWAYS recommend that if you are travelling and only have 1 day to see a park to get a Flashpass. I've used Flashpass at every other Six Flags park I've visited. You never know what you are going to want to ride again or how many times you are going to want to ride it.

 

For example, on my visit to SFGAm a couple of years ago I couldn't get enough of Whizzer and probably ended up riding it 9 or 10 times that day. Without the Gold Flashpass that never would have happened.

 

Yes it's an offseason Saturday but you never know what kind of event or camp or school may be there that day. But I do agree with the above, best to wait until you get to the park. I can't imagine they'd sell out.

[cmullin]

Thanks. I have 1 more question:

 

Are there any good fast food places near SFMM? Please don't mention In N' Out.

Chipotle

[VTown661]

 

Also is there a good food place near SFMM (Don't Mention In N' Out please)

 

 

Larsens Steakhouse is within 2 miles near the Hyatt Hotel and the mall at 24320 Town Center Dr Valencia.

[scooterdoug]

Thanks. I have 1 more question:

 

Are there any good fast food places near SFMM? Please don't mention In N' Out.

 

There's a great In N' Out just up the freeway

Sorry, couldn't resist. There's also a Five Guys in the Valencia Town Center, less than a mile on Magic Mountain Parkway going away from the park. You can also check out this thread: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=65101&hilit=eating+outside, which has many dining options handily listed on the first page.

[smallish]

Went yesterday.

 

The good:

Not too crowded

Two sides on Superman

Two trains on Yolocoaster

 

The bad:

Apocolypse closed

One train on Scream

 

You don't need a flashpass to hit every coaster in the park. Just make sure you don't go to the park on a crowded day. Any time between now and October should be just fine. Rush to Yolo at opening, before the line gets onto the ramp between the station and switchbacks. Then wind your way around the park, riding (in this order) Goliath, Lex Luthor, Green Lantern, and Batman. Climb the hill to Samuri Summit. Ride Superman, then treat yourself to a front row ride on Ninja. Go back down the hill. Ride Riddler. Ride Goldrusher if you're in an Arrow Mine Train kind of mood. Ride Tidal Wave or Jet Stream if it's hot. Ride Apocalypse. Pass by Tatsu because the line is too long. Ride Viper unless the wait is longer than three trains. Ride Revolution unless the wait is longer than three trains. Leave the park for lunch. Save your parking receipt so you can get back in. Savor your lunch and take your time because there's no hurry. Return to the park, making use of the shuttle if you parked all the way over by Scream, and head over to Colossus Country Fair. Ride Colossus and Scream. Walk back around the front of the park and ride Revolution if you didn't already. Check the line for X2. With luck, there is no line. This is the fabled "afternoon-slump" of X2. If you aren't lucky, either tough it out and wait in a line that could be an hour, or come back later. Ride Viper if you didn't already. Finally, go to Tatsu. The line should be 1/3 to 3/4 the length it was earlier. Just wait in it because it's actually kind of a nice shaded area, and you've been running around all day so it will be a good change of pace. Hit X2 if you didn't already. And there you go, every ride done, and it should be between 4:30 and 5:30 depending on how good of time you made.

[mykolbeta]

Got another trip in yesterday with another group of friends. Monday was definitely better than Thursday as there were less people at the park.

 

Yolocoaster is running 2 trains again, as someone else posted a few days after my Thursday trip. Wait time was about 40 minutes, way better than Thursday's 1 hour 20 minutes/1 train operation.

 

Lex Luthor was a 15 minute wait.

 

Colossus was a walk on, Scream would have been a walk-on if it were running 2 trains...since it wasn't, wait time was only 15 minutes.

 

Skipped Batman, Green Lantern was a 40 minute wait.

 

Riddler's Revenge was 45 minutes, 2 trains were running.

 

Gold Rusher walk-on (duh).

 

Jet Stream was 15 minutes.

 

Apocalypse still closed. Then instead of going to Tatsu right away, went up the hill...

 

Superman was 45 minutes, both sides were running.

 

Ninja was a walk-on.

 

Tatsu was about an hour. 2 trains were running.

 

Viper was a walk-on.

 

X2 was an hour. No audio or flames this time.

 

Park closed at 6 pm...and I was complaining about the 8 pm closing time of Thursday

[Wes]

Why is Apocalypse closed?

[DJeXeL]

Because having Colossus as the only wooden coaster that's open is "better than nothing."

And YOLO. That's why.

[Sir Clinksalot]

You don't need a flashpass to hit every coaster in the park. Just make sure you don't go to the park on a crowded day. Any time between now and October should be just fine. Rush to Yolo at opening, before the line gets onto the ramp between the station and switchbacks. Then wind your way around the park, riding (in this order) Goliath, Lex Luthor, Green Lantern, and Batman. Climb the hill to Samuri Summit. Ride Superman, then treat yourself to a front row ride on Ninja. Go back down the hill. Ride Riddler. Ride Goldrusher if you're in an Arrow Mine Train kind of mood. Ride Tidal Wave or Jet Stream if it's hot. Ride Apocalypse. Pass by Tatsu because the line is too long. Ride Viper unless the wait is longer than three trains. Ride Revolution unless the wait is longer than three trains. Leave the park for lunch. Save your parking receipt so you can get back in. Savor your lunch and take your time because there's no hurry. Return to the park, making use of the shuttle if you parked all the way over by Scream, and head over to Colossus Country Fair. Ride Colossus and Scream. Walk back around the front of the park and ride Revolution if you didn't already. Check the line for X2. With luck, there is no line. This is the fabled "afternoon-slump" of X2. If you aren't lucky, either tough it out and wait in a line that could be an hour, or come back later. Ride Viper if you didn't already. Finally, go to Tatsu. The line should be 1/3 to 3/4 the length it was earlier. Just wait in it because it's actually kind of a nice shaded area, and you've been running around all day so it will be a good change of pace. Hit X2 if you didn't already. And there you go, every ride done, and it should be between 4:30 and 5:30 depending on how good of time you made.

 

Again though, you are speaking as a "local" who has gone to the park a lot. Take yourself out of the local mentality and realize that when you are traveling from far away (in this case Australia), going through all of this is pointless when you can bypass all this "work" by getting a Flashpass and eating at Mooseburger. Recommending to somebody who has traveled from halfway around the world to leave the park for lunch and follow a set schedule like this isn't fair to them.

 

In order to give somebody from out of town/out of the country the most stress-free/fun day at ANY park I can't recommend the Flash Pass enough. This will give them time to enjoy the park at a leisurely pace, come back to favorite rides later in the day and not stress out if something happens to be closed when they walk by.

 

It's a no brainier.

[rollercoasterbuff]

Going back home to California for a week beginning of September and I am REALLY looking forward to getting to the mountain and riding FT finally. It opened just after I moved to the East Coast, so it'll be exciting. Going on the 2nd of September so I don't think it'll be crowded that day.

[Bilby_AUS]

Went yesterday.

 

The good:

Not too crowded

Two sides on Superman

Two trains on Yolocoaster

 

The bad:

Apocolypse closed

One train on Scream

 

You don't need a flashpass to hit every coaster in the park. Just make sure you don't go to the park on a crowded day. Any time between now and October should be just fine. Rush to Yolo at opening, before the line gets onto the ramp between the station and switchbacks. Then wind your way around the park, riding (in this order) Goliath, Lex Luthor, Green Lantern, and Batman. Climb the hill to Samuri Summit. Ride Superman, then treat yourself to a front row ride on Ninja. Go back down the hill. Ride Riddler. Ride Goldrusher if you're in an Arrow Mine Train kind of mood. Ride Tidal Wave or Jet Stream if it's hot. Ride Apocalypse. Pass by Tatsu because the line is too long. Ride Viper unless the wait is longer than three trains. Ride Revolution unless the wait is longer than three trains. Leave the park for lunch. Save your parking receipt so you can get back in. Savor your lunch and take your time because there's no hurry. Return to the park, making use of the shuttle if you parked all the way over by Scream, and head over to Colossus Country Fair. Ride Colossus and Scream. Walk back around the front of the park and ride Revolution if you didn't already. Check the line for X2. With luck, there is no line. This is the fabled "afternoon-slump" of X2. If you aren't lucky, either tough it out and wait in a line that could be an hour, or come back later. Ride Viper if you didn't already. Finally, go to Tatsu. The line should be 1/3 to 3/4 the length it was earlier. Just wait in it because it's actually kind of a nice shaded area, and you've been running around all day so it will be a good change of pace. Hit X2 if you didn't already. And there you go, every ride done, and it should be between 4:30 and 5:30 depending on how good of time you made.

 

G'day Smallish!

 

Thanks for the detailed plan! You really have hit a soft spot there for me because I love a good plan, and that is a great one! But I think at this stage I wont have my own car which means going off site for lunch probably isn't really much of an option... that said, is the SFMM food really that bad? In Australia part of the experience of going to a park is the bad, unhealthy yet shamefully delicious amusement park food, so I'm kinda expecting a $15-20 dollar one way ticket to a coronary washed down with a gallon of coke . I will definitely be walking into the park with a loose plan of attack, but given that this will be probably the only opportunity I will have to come here for another 4-5 years I certainly don't want to be rushing between things and waiting excessive amounts of time in line, but rather give myself the time to take everything in, take some photos (I am a bit of an enthusiast) and ride the rides as much as I like. Yes I want to ride all of them and there will be energy in my approach, but I don't want to be stressing about it and if a flash pass even at $80-100 bucks will make things more enjoyable I think it will be worth it.

 

Totally cant wait though! Hopefully there wont be too many closures... the Saturday that I can go will be the last weekend of September. Will that be the last weekend before the Halloween stuff? will it mean that some rides are more likely to be closed in prep for it?

 

Again though, you are speaking as a "local" who has gone to the park a lot. Take yourself out of the local mentality and realize that when you are traveling from far away (in this case Australia), going through all of this is pointless when you can bypass all this "work" by getting a Flashpass and eating at Mooseburger. Recommending to somebody who has traveled from halfway around the world to leave the park for lunch and follow a set schedule like this isn't fair to them.

 

In order to give somebody from out of town/out of the country the most stress-free/fun day at ANY park I can't recommend the Flash Pass enough. This will give them time to enjoy the park at a leisurely pace, come back to favorite rides later in the day and not stress out if something happens to be closed when they walk by.

 

It's a no brainier.

 

I totally agree, definitely don't want to be stressing out about this one I was going to pre-order the flash pass but I will wait until I am there just in case the weather is bad and it is a ghost town. I'll be getting a season pass as I will be going to SFGAdv too, I cant believe how cheap they are!

[Sidra]

You'll want the Flash Pass. It just makes the day so much nicer and you get to enjoy the rides more and multiple times. When I'm traveling, Flash Pass is in the budget, just makes the day nicer, especially when things like attendance can be unpredictable.

 

As for food... I don't think the new BBQ place is too horrible. If you don't have a car, stay at the park for sure. Enjoy it, it's got thrills and lots of hills, but it's not Disney

[SingleRiderCam]

Why is Apocalypse closed?

I was wondering the same thing, but then I remembered that my last ride on Apocalypse gave me somewhat of a beating.

[cmullin]

Why is Apocalypse closed?

I was wondering the same thing, but then I remembered that my last ride on Apocalypse gave me somewhat of a beating.

Maybe some retracking?

[Mechanic]

I will second Sir Clinksalot's recommendation of Mooseburger Lodge for decent food in the park. I rarely buy anything to eat in the park anywhere but Mooseburger because I have found the rest to be hit and miss, while Mooseburger is consistently good. Certainly not great, but definitely good. The atmosphere helps as well.

[_IntaMAN_]

Besides MooseBurger Lodge, another place I'd recommend is Loaded Dogs in Full Throttle plaza. The seasoned fries are AWESOME and I personally like the chilli cheese dog, or Full Throttle Dog. Just my humble opinion.

[bottom_feeder_13]

I've had consistently good experience with Mooseburger but personally prefer JD's Smokehouse because it's a bit faster and more convenient for lunch, it has some pretty good barbecue sandwiches and decent kettle chips. I'm still hoping that the park will finally add a full service Panda Express somewhere.

[Jew]

^I was interested in trying that place...until I saw them "grilling" the Chicken outside. And by that, I mean a totally uninterested employee who just threw a bunch of frozen chickens on the grill stacked up on each other and wasn't even watching the grill.

[XYZ]

The best food at SFMM is the Wendy's down the street.

[Gnome]

^ no I think I'd still take Mooseburger over Wendy's. Its a pretty decent burger over all.

[Bilby_AUS]

Thanks for all the advice guys! So many options!

[wrs28330]

I was in the "Mooseburger is the best option" camp as well until my most recent visit last month. I am sad to report that there have been a couple of changes at the restaurant.

 

First, the menu selections have been greatly reduced. There used to be four different burger options, and now there is only one. This burger has every ingredient you could imagine, turning it into in inedible mess you end up eating with a fork.

 

Secondly, the nicely printed, laminated, and spiral bound menus have been reduced to a single sheet of paper.

 

The second item isn't the biggest deal in the world, but when you finish your meal and realize you just paid $19 for your burger with tax and tip, that $11 Johnny Rockett's burger starts looking like a much better deal.

 

However, if you are desperate for air conditioning and can't stand the horrific smell of the lower seating area of Food Etc., your $19 meal at Mooseburger is rationalized.