The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[mark549]

I don't think SFMM is going to get to 20 coasters for at least a few more years. They'll have 19, but if Iron Colossus is coming soon, that would be a major investment, but it would keep them at 19 coasters, unless they leave one side as wood? Or maybe they could make both sides each a different coaster, but have them racing? Honestly, I would expect they add another small kiddie coaster the year they do Iron Colossus, that way they can advertise it as the big 20th coaster. But I would love to see them not get their 20th until 2018 and have it be a terrain giga starting from where Deja Vu used to be and moving up to the mountain. That would be awesome, but that would be a serious investment, but it would be so worth it!

 

Haha. This could not possibly some up how I feel any better. A 2000m long Giga with raging airtime would be an awesome investment. I guess the number of 20th coaster could also be symbolic in a 2000m long coaster!

 

Unfortunately, this is the land of No Metric System, so the symbolism would probably be a 2,000 foot long coaster, not 2km. Another Yolocoaster, not a Voyage.

 

(It is actually illegal to post metric measurements on US highways, thanks to a law signed in 1995 - we cannot even have signs in both US and Metric, which would be needed to help with the transition.)

[robbalvey]

If there is one take-away from my visit this weekend is that Six Flags Magic Mountain has no clue what the park is or who it's demographics are. Neal told us at the lunch "We have identified ourselves at the 'thrill capital of the world'" and if that's the case, why are the building a FOURTH kiddie coaster next year? Clearly they aren't about "families" anymore as they took out a family show venue to put in tables in front of Full Throttle. I get the feeling that they are just trying completely random things with little to no real thought put into any of them and see what "sticks."

 

What makes no sense is that they seemed a bit annoyed by our "YOLO" shirts, yet I walked into the Full Throttle gift shop and took pictures of Full Throttle merchandise with YOLO printed right on it. If you're going after a "YOLO" crowd, they should appreciate the fact that we are embracing it, even if we're poking fun at it. I mean, I watched some of their night time atmosphere and they kept playing things like the Harlem Shake, mentioning things like twerking, and going Gangnam style. Seriously, how do you NOT poke fun at that??!?

 

And you know, it's "ok" to make a bit of fun at something and even poke fun at yourselves. I wish the guys at SFMM would take a nod from Jeff Tucker at Knott's and realize that sometimes parks do things that deserve being made fun of and it's "ok" to call yourselves out on it. How many Windseeker jokes did we make at Knott's and the park management were right there laughing with us?

 

The whole "YOLO" attitude around Full Throttle with the dancers and the band didn't really seem to be resonating with anyone. And I'm not so sure what is so YOLO about doing "Minute to win it" style contests with props that didn't even seem to work. Every time we walked past the live band at night, there was like 5 people dancing and a huge crowd going "WTF is this???" Maybe they saw ElecTRONica at DCA and thought that was "YOLO?" I dunno....

 

I liked Full Throttle. Thought it was actually a pretty "fun" ride. But the area around it and the "theme" they chose for it... I'm sorry, it was embarrassing. How did a ride like Lex Luthor actually get a nice looking queue, station, and some attention to detail, but Full Throttle got some temporary looking tarps and a giant TV. There wasn't even any music playing in the station to give it some atmosphere.

 

I just wish the park would figure out what they are an who their audience really is.

 

YOLO!!!!

Edited September 9, 2013 by robbalvey

[chickenbowl]

If there is one take-away from my visit this weekend is that Six Flags Magic Mountain has no clue what the park is or who it's demographics are.

 

I agree, I've kinda just given up on trying to understand what they're doing, because like you said, they don't even know. SFMM has become such a weird place to me, lifeless and bizarre. I guess they still have a couple decent coasters and everything, but any possible charm they ever had is gone. It just makes me happy to see Knott's in such good shape nowadays. (Although I feel they're still missing one thing...) It's truly remarkable to see how fast a good (or bad) management team will influence a theme park, as seen in both KBF and SFMM recently.

[Sir Clinksalot]

Totally agreed with your comments Robb. The kiddie coaster makes absolutely no sense to me. They have 3 now and none of them ever have a line, even on the busiest of days. I would have been less surprised if they had said they were removing Bugs Bunny World and putting in another coaster. We actually walked through BBW a bit on Saturday and the area is totally void of any personality ... or people.

 

I'm still hoping for some improvements to the Full Throttle area once the offseason comes (after Fright Fest) but I'm not holding my breath.

[robbalvey]

Oh, and I was absolutely stunned to find out the SFMM museum in the Sky Tower is completely gone. Just another example of why I feel that park has no clue at all what direction they want to go in.

[Jew]

I think it is pretty obvious the kiddie coaster is just a cheap way to add another coaster to their count, so they can further play that angle out. "Most coasters in the world...but only about half of them are actually thrilling."

[pianojohn]

"Most coasters in the world...but only about half of them are actually thrilling."

 

Or running. Still annoyed by my horrible visit in April when X2, Tatsu, Colossus, Gold Rusher, and Canyon Blaster were never running. And of course no Lex Luthor or Sky Tower either.

[cfc]

Oh, and I was absolutely stunned to find out the SFMM museum in the Sky Tower is completely gone. Just another example of why I feel that park has no clue at all what direction they want to go in.

 

That's too bad. They used to have some interesting stuff in there.

 

Knott's, on the other hand, has a keen interest in their own park history. Even Cedar Point has a museum.

Edited September 9, 2013 by cfc

[coasterfreak101]

Agreed, Robb. I was actually just chatting with someone in line at Great Adventure yesterday about Magic Mountain, and the best way I could describe it was: "Well, they have some really good rides, but it's really kind of a miserable day other than that." About sums it up, I think.

[Pacificoaster]

Totally agreed with your comments Robb. The kiddie coaster makes absolutely no sense to me. They have 3 now and none of them ever have a line, even on the busiest of days. I would have been less surprised if they had said they were removing Bugs Bunny World and putting in another coaster. We actually walked through BBW a bit on Saturday and the area is totally void of any personality ... or people.

 

I'm still hoping for some improvements to the YOLOcoaster area once the offseason comes (after Fright Fest) but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Not entirely true, In the peak summer season both Canyon Blaster and Road Runner Express have lines and sometimes quite lengthy ones. The only kiddie coaster that doesn't get much traffic is Magic Flyer. However, I do agree that BBW does NOT need another coaster. As for Saturday, it was a really slow day at the park. The park has now gone into off season operations and the crowds have exponentially decreased which explains the lack of people in BBW. Although, the personality of the area has reduced over the years as the paint has become saturated and worn off and the lack of shows in the Carrot Club Theater leave guests with a more lifeless experience in BBW.

[robbalvey]

Totally agreed with your comments Robb. The kiddie coaster makes absolutely no sense to me. They have 3 now and none of them ever have a line, even on the busiest of days. I would have been less surprised if they had said they were removing Bugs Bunny World and putting in another coaster. We actually walked through BBW a bit on Saturday and the area is totally void of any personality ... or people.

 

I'm still hoping for some improvements to the YOLOcoaster area once the offseason comes (after Fright Fest) but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Not entirely true, In the peak summer season both Canyon Blaster and Road Runner Express have lines.

So what you're saying is that you have to go on the top busiest days of the year for those rides to have any sort of lines?

 

That just further shows how the park doesn't cater to families.

Edited September 9, 2013 by robbalvey

[Sir Clinksalot]

^^ I've been to the park over 40 times in the past 2 years. I've never seen more than a 1 train wait for RRE when I've walked by. I'll certainly try and remember to take some pics on upcoming visits to see if I happen to be missing something.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Sir Clinksalot

[cfc]

Totally agreed with your comments Robb. The kiddie coaster makes absolutely no sense to me. They have 3 now and none of them ever have a line, even on the busiest of days. I would have been less surprised if they had said they were removing Bugs Bunny World and putting in another coaster. We actually walked through BBW a bit on Saturday and the area is totally void of any personality ... or people.

 

I'm still hoping for some improvements to the YOLOcoaster area once the offseason comes (after Fright Fest) but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Not entirely true, In the peak summer season both Canyon Blaster and Road Runner Express have lines.

So what you're saying is that you have to go on the top busiest days of the year for those rides to have any sort of lines?

 

That just further shows how the park doesn't cater to families.

 

And do the lines on those days consist of families or enthusiasts getting credits?

[Blue Fire Guy]

Rode Apocalypse, that thing is rough ... REALLY rough. It's now the 2nd best woodie in the park (IMO).

Agree. Apocalypse has gotten really rough and Colossus has somehow gotten smoother. (Not smooth, but smoothER.) Ive really enjoyed my last few Colossus rides and cannot say the same for Apocalypse.

100% completely agree. I took my very first ride on it in the early evening before WCB night ERT started, and didn't even care to go back to ride it during ERT. When I was in the queue, I looked closely at the track to see (and hear, it was squeaking in the turns) that there was no grease on it. When it opened as Terminator in 2009, I guessed it would get rough in less than 5 years due to poor maintenance, and I guessed right. It felt like the train was running on octagonal wheels (by 2015 it will feel like hexagonal wheels, and by 2020 square wheels considering how poorly maintained it is as of now), and I got off with a headache and feeling like my spine had been compressed.

 

I'm NEVER riding it again until the highly unlikely event (it's SFMM, what do you expect?) of a major retrack, and expect to only see reports of it getting rough to the point of being unrideable. Really hoping CGA takes care of Gold Striker the way they are taking care of Grizzly now, as I would hate to see it get rough as well (I've got my hopes up since CGA has a proper off-season).

[Angry_Gumball]

Keeping it short here but in agreement. Apoc was rough...it gave me a headache actually, and am glad I hopped on it before ERT. I didn't even care to ride it again and no plans on riding it again anytime soon.

 

Colossus on the other hand...smooth, smooth, and again, smooth. I'll ride that again!

[Jerome]

Totally agreed with your comments Robb. The kiddie coaster makes absolutely no sense to me. They have 3 now and none of them ever have a line, even on the busiest of days. I would have been less surprised if they had said they were removing Bugs Bunny World and putting in another coaster. We actually walked through BBW a bit on Saturday and the area is totally void of any personality ... or people.

 

I'm still hoping for some improvements to the YOLOcoaster area once the offseason comes (after Fright Fest) but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Not entirely true, In the peak summer season both Canyon Blaster and Road Runner Express have lines.

So what you're saying is that you have to go on the top busiest days of the year for those rides to have any sort of lines?

 

That just further shows how the park doesn't cater to families.

Agreed, One look at the Yoloplaza stage will show they are moving to the teens and not the families. The fourth coaster in the kiddies area is for coaster count only.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Jerome

[Tmcdllr]

Rode Apocalypse, that thing is rough ... REALLY rough. It's now the 2nd best woodie in the park (IMO).

Agree. Apocalypse has gotten really rough and Colossus has somehow gotten smoother. (Not smooth, but smoothER.) Ive really enjoyed my last few Colossus rides and cannot say the same for Apocalypse.

100% completely agree. I took my very first ride on it in the early evening before WCB night ERT started, and didn't even care to go back to ride it during ERT. When I was in the queue, I looked closely at the track to see (and hear, it was squeaking in the turns) that there was no grease on it. When it opened as Terminator in 2009, I guessed it would get rough in less than 5 years due to poor maintenance, and I guessed right. It felt like the train was running on octagonal wheels (by 2015 it will feel like hexagonal wheels, and by 2020 square wheels considering how poorly maintained it is as of now), and I got off with a headache and feeling like my spine had been compressed.

 

I'm NEVER riding it again until the highly unlikely event (it's SFMM, what do you expect?) of a major retrack, and expect to only see reports of it getting rough to the point of being unrideable. Really hoping CGA takes care of Gold Striker the way they are taking care of Grizzly now, as I would hate to see it get rough as well (I've got my hopes up since CGA has a proper off-season).

 

 

I don't think you have to worry about Gold Striker, CGA does a good job taking care of their rides. SFMM on the other hand, well......

[XYZ]

It's too bad to hear the negative reviews on Apocalypse as the last time I rode it, six months ago, it was relatively smooth and very enjoyable.

[Jerome]

Rode Apocalypse, that thing is rough ... REALLY rough. It's now the 2nd best woodie in the park (IMO).

Agree. Apocalypse has gotten really rough and Colossus has somehow gotten smoother. (Not smooth, but smoothER.) Ive really enjoyed my last few Colossus rides and cannot say the same for Apocalypse.

100% completely agree. I took my very first ride on it in the early evening before WCB night ERT started, and didn't even care to go back to ride it during ERT. When I was in the queue, I looked closely at the track to see (and hear, it was squeaking in the turns) that there was no grease on it. When it opened as Terminator in 2009, I guessed it would get rough in less than 5 years due to poor maintenance, and I guessed right. It felt like the train was running on octagonal wheels (by 2015 it will feel like hexagonal wheels, and by 2020 square wheels considering how poorly maintained it is as of now), and I got off with a headache and feeling like my spine had been compressed.

 

I'm NEVER riding it again until the highly unlikely event (it's SFMM, what do you expect?) of a major retrack, and expect to only see reports of it getting rough to the point of being unrideable. Really hoping CGA takes care of Gold Striker the way they are taking care of Grizzly now, as I would hate to see it get rough as well (I've got my hopes up since CGA has a proper off-season).

 

Agreed. If any ride can use an Iron horse at Magic Mountain it's Apocalypse. It already has the twists and speed that will make it right for an Iron horse.

[Sir Clinksalot]

I don't think that the only answer for Apocalypse at this point is an RMC makeover. It's not so far gone that it needs that. It just needs some love and these short "emergency" shut downs aren't going to cut it. After FF it needs to go down until Spring Break and get some track work done. Doesn't need to be complete, just needs some work, trains need some work, and some grease on the track/wheels.

 

Roar up at SFDK needs the same thing but now that that park has gone year round I don't see it happening anytime soon.

[Jerome]

I don't think that the only answer for Apocalypse at this point is an RMC makeover. It's not so far gone that it needs that. It just needs some love and these short "emergency" shut downs aren't going to cut it. After FF it needs to go down until Spring Break and get some track work done. Doesn't need to be complete, just needs some work, trains need some work, and some grease on the track/wheels.

 

Roar up at SFDK needs the same thing but now that that park has gone year round I don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

I agree that it just needs work...But they have too many coasters and not enough maintenance people to handle what they have now. How long have they been running one train on scream?

[Xcoaster]

Even back in July I didn't notice Apocalypse being rough (granted, I only rode once), but on Saturday it felt like it was shaking consistently through the entire course. Could it be related to whatever caused the recent closure? Regardless, I enjoyed my rides on it and could've ridden more. It certainly wasn't unrideable, and I'd still take it any day over Roar or Ghostrider, but it clearly needs some work.

 

So during lunch they had an informal Q&A with Neil, and the following questions came up:

Q: Sky Screamer? A: No, especially given the problems Knott's had with Windseeker (yes, I know that they're made by different manufacturers, but still, there you have it).

Q: X-Flight (ie. B&M Wingrider)? A: No, not in the foreseeable future, since they already have the 4D aspect covered with X2 and Green Lantern.

Q: Dark ride? A: They're considered it, but since they're going for the Thrill Capital thing, they weren't sure they'd be able to make a dark ride thrilling enough to match the rest of the park.

Q: Water ride? A: They've considered it.

Q: Batman backwards, one train or two? A: Two

Q: RMC (Colossus or otherwise)? A: They didn't really confirm or deny anything. Unlike previous years where they were obviously very enthusiastic about RMC, this year they were pretty quiet on the subject.

Q: Colossus racing? A: Not next year.

Q: Deja Vu's spot? Flashback's spot? A: They have plans for those spots.

 

Anyways, I had a fantastic time at WCB! Crowds were lower than I'd expected, and I had at least one ride on almost everything (except Green Lantern, and X2 of course), with five rides on YOLOcoaster (and could've gotten more rides if I'd wanted to). I also really enjoyed my first time on LL:DoD. Everything was running pretty well, except Apocalypse, and one train on a few rides (Apocalypse, Scream, and probably a few others). Colossus was especially smooth, and I got a couple nice spots of airtime.

 

Also, we got stuck once on S:EFK. We launched about halfway down, then started braking, barely went up the tower, went back into the launch section, then went back toward the tower. From that point they had to slowly winch us back to the launch section, then the magnets took over from there in getting us back to the station. After we got off they gave us a skip the line pass for our group for any ride in the park besides YOLOcoaster.

[Condor]

I'll agree that Apocalypse has gotten rougher over the summer but a few people here are acting like it's the return of Psyclone or something. It's no longer what I would consider smooth, but there weren't any jarring, painful spots like a number of the older GCIs out there.

 

I had a great time at WCB by the way! Full Throttle was better than I expected and I picked up two credits on Roadrunner Express and Canyon Blaster that for some reason I had never bothered with.

[cmullin]

Also, we got stuck once on S:EFK. We launched about halfway down, then started braking, barely went up the tower, went back into the launch section, then went back toward the tower. From that point they had to slowly winch us back to the launch section, then the magnets took over from there in getting us back to the station. After we got off they gave us a skip the line pass for our group for any ride in the park besides YOLOcoaster.

I was on that train too! They gave you a front of the line pass on any other ride? We asked one of the ops and she said we could come back and skip the line on just Superman.

[Angry_Gumball]

Another SFMM rant, now that I can officially complain about the park. And I *highly doubt* that they'd even care to fix it, even if they do read these boards. This goes back to the poor customer service thing last week. So, morning ERT has ended and my group and I were extremely thirsty and getting rather hot. Absolutely NO food places were open. I asked one of the workers if there was any place that is open where we can get water/fill up our souvenir cups. Answer I get is "These places open at 11:30" (Lunch time for us). I ask again, "Is there anything near by that would be open so we can get something." (Superman passes by as we were by the food court by Goliath)...lady we were speaking to uses that opportunity to 'not hear us' and just walk off. Thank's for the help, ma'am!

 

But wait, not done yet! Us being not 100% familiar with every nook and cranny of the park come lunch time, I ask an employee where the picnic area is. Again, they just walk by, no answer. I did in fact speak loud enough. Finally somebody directed us where to go. All of this was completely polar opposite of what I experienced at Knott's (who were extremely friendly and pretty much had open arm toward us).