The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[JeromyL]

I wish I loved it, but. 7 trips to the mountain since it's debut. Down every time

 

One of these days I'll get the credit...

 

Not complaining. Just disappointed. I do always have fun at the mountain

 

That's awful. Just bad timing.

[singemfrc]

Why do we care so much about such a terrible ride?

It's not a terrible ride when working correctly, it's just gotten unforgivably rough in recent years...it wasn't always this bad. The first 3/4 of the ride is still amazing (still the best first drop on any coaster imo), but I just can't ride it more than once a day anymore it's too painful.

[dylanreich]

(still the best first drop on any coaster imo

This. I guess after riding it so many times you get used to the roughness, but it can certainly have good days and your seating on the ride can greatly affect it. The first drop still makes me ride it despite everything else.

[XYZ]

Why do we care so much about such a terrible ride?

 

I personally don't think it's terrible, but it can be terribly overrated. (I think Green Lantern serves the purpose of SFMM's terrible coaster.)

[singemfrc]

Why do we care so much about such a terrible ride?

 

I personally don't think it's terrible, but it can be terribly overrated. (I think Green Lantern serves the purpose of SFMM's terrible coaster.)

I know I'm in a minority but I absolutely love Green Lantern. I don't find it uncomfortable at all like a lot of people do, and I love that you never quite know when or how fast you're going to drop or what direction or how many times you'll flip. It's also easily the most forceful ride at the park (depending on your car's weight distribution).

 

The fact that there's a single rider line that lets me basically just jump on the ride at any time regardless of the line is also a definite plus. GL and Riddler's single rider lines are the best, almost every time you can walk right onto the ride. Lex Luthor has one but you still wait 15-20 mins a lot of times and Viper and Revolution's Single Rider lines are pointless on most days.

[Team Thriller]

We're at the park today. Not too busy and it's beautiful out! Too bad Full Throttle's closed for maintenance all day...

 

-- James

[GigaG]

Screamscape retweeted NL developer Tom Zeliff (@ride_op) who said this-

 

Slow loading at Goliath. Crew must check all seat belts before locking and checking the lap bars. Thanks lawyers!

 

And also, he said that YOLO's second train is stopped in the tunnel This seems like an unusual breakdown for SFMM, because it logically should be that the ONLY train running got stuck.

 

Back to Goliath. While I understand seatbelts and think they are good backup safety devices if the ops can minimize the delay between dispatches, having to go through two separate restraint checks is overkill and frankly, a load of crap. Is this an America-only thing, and how do safety checks go in other countries? I think I read that they don't even do the checks on Expedition GeForce, but that was a long time ago.

[SFMMGeek27]

I was actually going to compliment the Goliath ops today. They were really on top of their game and the new check twice strategy works better. The way it works is: you get in your seat and out on your seatbelt. The lap bars are still unlocked. The seat checkers begin at the back of the train checking seatbelts ONLY. As each car is checked, the main op at the control panel locks the lap bars of each car individually so that the people that have already been checked can pull their lap bars down. Once the checkers check all of the seatbelts, they go from the front of the train to the back, just checking lap bars (which takes about 15 seconds to check them all). Then, the train is dispatched.

 

They were doing great today and 9/10 times they wouldn't stack with 2 trains. The line didn't feel any slower than before. I waited from the very first switchback in the queue and was in the ride in 45 minutes.

 

I would also like to applaud the Tatsu crew today. Not only were they using both stations, but they were also running to check all of the seats and were almost making it under the 1:30 timer in the station. And, while the station was empty between trains (they were only running 2) they went down the rows trying to fill them to maximum capacity (putting groups of 2 together, etc.). I thought this was great.

 

Too bad that YOLO was down. No one was working on it all day, one train was in the station and the other in the tunnel.

 

Overall good day!

[crazydude]

Yesterday at the park I overheard a good quote from a random six flags employee about the YOLO closure. "People in Germany are working on fixing it."

 

On a much more somber note, RIP to Paul Walker of the Fast and Furious franchise, who passed away in a car crash about a half mile from Magic Mountain this afternoon.

[rcdude]

I was actually going to compliment the Goliath ops today. They were really on top of their game and the new check twice strategy works better. The way it works is: you get in your seat and out on your seatbelt. The lap bars are still unlocked. The seat checkers begin at the back of the train checking seatbelts ONLY. As each car is checked, the main op at the control panel locks the lap bars of each car individually so that the people that have already been checked can pull their lap bars down. Once the checkers check all of the seatbelts, they go from the front of the train to the back, just checking lap bars (which takes about 15 seconds to check them all). Then, the train is dispatched.

 

They were doing great today and 9/10 times they wouldn't stack with 2 trains. The line didn't feel any slower than before. I waited from the very first switchback in the queue and was in the ride in 45 minutes.

 

This is how it really should be done. I can't imagine seat belts increasing dispatch times more than 20-30%, but the way they were checked before (combined with dumb visitors) resulted in a 70-80% loading time increase. I do think the seatbelts are ridiculous, but as long as that is all the park is doing to the ride I don't really mind. At least there wasn't excessive downtime to add them.

 

As far as X2 goes, I hope it is open in time for winter break. I've got relatives from Washington visiting and we are considering a trip to the park. While there are better coasters than X2 at SFMM (I personally rank it fourth behind Tatsu, Full Throttle, and Goliath), it would be disappointing if you only visit a couple times per decade and a signature attraction is down.

[Aceattack52]

Screamscape retweeted NL developer Tom Zeliff (@ride_op) who said this-

 

Slow loading at Goliath. Crew must check all seat belts before locking and checking the lap bars. Thanks lawyers!

 

Back to Goliath. While I understand seatbelts and think they are good backup safety devices if the ops can minimize the delay between dispatches, having to go through two separate restraint checks is overkill and frankly, a load of crap. Is this an America-only thing, and how do safety checks go in other countries? I think I read that they don't even do the checks on Expedition GeForce, but that was a long time ago.

Ok, so my stance on preride safety checks is this:

-Checking a restraint is unnecessary, but it is still a good idea that it is done. (There are systems in place to be sure that the restraints are locked, plus it is still the ride's responsibility to be riding safely)

-Seat belts on a steel coaster are unnecessary.

-Seat belts on a wooden coaster are not necessary unless it is a single bar that goes across both seats like on the PTC trains on The Scream Machine (SFOG).

[IronWolfman]

^Agreed about that last one. Timber Terror (also using single-position buzz bars) would be a lot scarier without seat belts, and so would Cyclops.

[Jew]

Perhaps the seat belts are actually being used to better determine whether or not a large guest can ride?

[Woodie Warrior]

Two coasters at SFSTL have seat belts (American Thunder and Screamin' Eagle), and neither one have any slower loading time because of them. On both of them you first sit down and fasten the seatbelts. Then all the restraints are locked and the ride operators check both the seatbelt and the lap bar quickly. It is an efficient way to do it in my opinion.

[6flagsbrad]

Not sure if anyone else caught this, but Roller Coaster Data Base revealed the exact model for the new kid coaster going into Bugs Bunny World this summer. Same model they have at Six Flags America, Discovery Kingdom, and Great Adventure. Still no name given yet. http://rcdb.com/9971.htm

[coasterkyle]

I still dont get why some parks need to do this double check. It's an inefficient and slow. I was always taught to check both the lap bar and seat belt at the same time.

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

Perhaps the seat belts are actually being used to better determine whether or not a large guest can ride?

Especially after NTAG, this is likely the case.

[robbalvey]

So apparently X2, Full Throttle and Ninja were all down today. *sigh*

[IronWolfman]

^Yeah, that's pretty sad. Oh SFMM, will you ever learn..

[Mrlittle]

I still dont get why some parks need to do this double check. It's an inefficient and slow. I was always taught to check both the lap bar and seat belt at the same time.

 

That's because the park you work for, just gets it.

[christianscoasters]

^I don't understand what there is to "get" though. Checking a seat is really just that simple. And since you do it so much, over and over every day, anything that's out of the ordinary, like someone trying to hold their bar up or any other safety hazard, is clear as day and very noticeable.

 

At SFGADV on El Toro, I remember they checked both the seatbelt and the restraint at the same time, starting at the front of the train and working their way back, and they did it very quickly. Then, the attendant running the control booth would tell them which cars the computer says has a lap bar that isn't down far enough, and they'd go to that seat and push it down until it was down enough. That seems to make more sense to me, for efficiency's sake at least.

[SharkTums]

So apparently X2, YOLOcoaster and Ninja were all down today. *sigh*

 

To quote Piers...Standard.

[Aceattack52]

Perhaps the seat belts are actually being used to better determine whether or not a large guest can ride?

No I would think that the sensors on the lap bar would trip and tell the attendant that the restraint is not closed enough. I am thoroughly convinced that the seat belts on Goliath are in place only for covering Six Flags should anything happen.

[SFMMGeek27]

The reason why they do two checks is because when the lap bar is down, it is not possible to check the seatbelts due to where they are located in the seat. This is largely because the trains weren't originally designed to have seatbelts in the first place! The entire belt is hidden under the lap bar once the bar is down.

 

This is such a stupid idea and I am so glad that they decided not to put them on Colossus.

 

Now I wonder why Full Throttle is closed... The park's newest coaster and the park's most popular coaster... Both closed!? I know I wasn't very happy seeing that yesterday as a local. I can't even imagine how disappointed a full-paying guest would be to see this. I also saw the impact on the other lines because of this. The parking lot was maybe 1/3 full and Tatsu had a full queue extending down the hill with both stations in use.

[GigaG]

Perhaps the seat belts are actually being used to better determine whether or not a large guest can ride?

No I would think that the sensors on the lap bar would trip and tell the attendant that the restraint is not closed enough. I am thoroughly convinced that the seat belts on Goliath are in place only for covering Six Flags should anything happen.

 

Honestly, the seat belts are not required, especially on a ride like Goliath with not much airtime. Just make sure the restraints are over the thighs and close, and not on the stomach. Problem solved, no belts required.