The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[simon8899]

If this was a real report to the attendant or ride ops - specially as it is a report of some object hanging in the way of the ride - they should have checked. Seeing the pic and as the kid was not hurt at the arm - keep your arms and legs inside the car. Authorities investigating this case should check if this was indeed a real report and take it into consideration in their efforts.

 

I once told told the operator of Alpina-Bahn at the Hamburg carnival that the rear wheel assembly of the train I have ridden was making a banging sound. They took the train off the loop and on my second round around the carnival I saw that they were replacing wheels on my reported train on the last wheel assembly.

[Tmcdllr]

Yelp is the epitome of evil.

[TNT]

Deleted 

[rcdude]

That's terrible but really what is the park supposed to do... stop a ride every time somebody complains like this? Sure in this case it may have prevented this but if they stopped a ride every time a guest complained about something, made up or not, rides would never run. As far as the rest of her complaint I don't know.

 

I don't know the whole story, but I'd imagine that hitting a tree branch would leave some kind of mark. I'd think if a rider comes back with some kind of visible injury, even if it is just a scrape or bruise, it would be wise to cease operation and do a quick inspection to make sure there isn't something wrong. If the priority is guest safety and someone reports something that could potentially be wrong with the ride, it is a questionable practice to continue operation without checking it out in my opinion.

 

Now, I don't know if this report was legitimate or not, but if it was and the kid had visible injuries upon exiting the ride the fact that they didn't at least suspend operation and have someone check from the ground if anything looked close to the track is troubling. If the report is fake, then shame on the person for posting it.

 

Where exactly on the ride did this occur? I've been on the ride enough I thought I'd would've been able to figure it out, but I'm stumped!

 

I'm 99% sure it happened right after the first pass under Jetstream's lifthill. The ride turns right down the first drop, goes through a left hand helix, zig-zags toward Jetstream, dives under the lift, then rises into a left hand turn. It was on this rise that the coaster derailed.

This is the most zoomed out picture I could find. You can see that the train is about to enter a left hand turn.

The train was stuck roughly in the highlighted section here. The supports in the above picture look exactly like those seen here in the turn.

[Sf-Dad]

I have a hard time believing this for a couple if reasons. First the ride has OTSR. How is a tree branch going to hit him in the chest with a harness in the way. Second, other people would have been hit by the branch not just one person. Third and final reason is if he was hit by a branch he would have scratches to go with that bruise, I have never been hit with a branch and just get a bruise

So.....you get hit with branches often? I would be more careful in the future.

[CPSFMMCW]

So if there were first time riders on that train, and assuming they aren't gonna ride again cause they'll be too scared that another accident will happen, I guess that means they only got half the credit. That sucks.

[TNT]

Deleted 

[Mechanic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pW2bE61Z9U

[dylanreich]

That's terrible but really what is the park supposed to do... stop a ride every time somebody complains like this? Sure in this case it may have prevented this but if they stopped a ride every time a guest complained about something, made up or not, rides would never run. As far as the rest of her complaint I don't know.

 

Yes. If a guest comes back from a ride injured (beyond things like head banging) you should (IMO) stop operation to find out why.

 

I completely agree as well. As the saying goes, safety first. And I'm not quite sure, Tmcdllr, what you mean by "every time somebody complains 'like this' because I don't know of any other complaints like this. In my opinion (and I don't see why this is even a debatable issue), someone getting hurt on a ride (as Comeagain stated, outside of something like headbanging) is serious and should be taken seriously by the park. If Disney, Universal, or Knott's received a complaint that someone was hurt from an obstruction on a ride, you bet they're going to shut down the ride immediately.

 

And to the argument that rides would never run if they addressed complaints whether they were made up or not, well look, Ninja can't run AT ALL right now because they didn't look into something they should have.

[Jew]

I doubt the review is legitimate given the fact it was his very first review.

[snoflake15]

Plans are already in place to re theme it as another Saw: The Ride.

[aCoasterStory]

That's terrible but really what is the park supposed to do... stop a ride every time somebody complains like this? Sure in this case it may have prevented this but if they stopped a ride every time a guest complained about something, made up or not, rides would never run. As far as the rest of her complaint I don't know.

 

Yes. If a guest comes back from a ride injured (beyond things like head banging) you should (IMO) stop operation to find out why.

 

I completely agree as well. As the saying goes, safety first. And I'm not quite sure, Tmcdllr, what you mean by "every time somebody complains 'like this' because I don't know of any other complaints like this. In my opinion (and I don't see why this is even a debatable issue), someone getting hurt on a ride (as Comeagain stated, outside of something like headbanging) is serious and should be taken seriously by the park. If Disney, Universal, or Knott's received a complaint that someone was hurt from an obstruction on a ride, you bet they're going to shut down the ride immediately.

 

And to the argument that rides would never run if they addressed complaints whether they were made up or not, well look, Ninja can't run AT ALL right now because they didn't look into something they should have.

 

I was in line for Cheetah Hunt at BGT a couple of nights ago; it was nearing closing time, had been storming for a couple hours, and the park was just coming out of code purple/red/orange and back to yellow. People in line were anxious for them to run through their testing and re-open the ride. Sometime before I got there, they did a test run with an op on it, and he came back saying he was brushed by a tree. Maintenance came & rode and confirmed that the tree was inside the ride envelope and the ride wasn't safe to reopen to guests. It was dark and they didn't have time to go do anything about it before closing (this was like right at 9), so they gave 2 single-use quick queue tickets to each guest in line for the next time they visited the park.

 

Props to them for 1) doing proper safety checking before re-opening after a big storm, 2) not ignoring when something was outside the safe operational parameters to just get the ride back open, and 3) making it right by their guests afterwards.

[singemfrc]

I have a hard time believing this for a couple if reasons. First the ride has OTSR. How is a tree branch going to hit him in the chest with a harness in the way. Second, other people would have been hit by the branch not just one person. Third and final reason is if he was hit by a branch he would have scratches to go with that bruise, I have never been hit with a branch and just get a bruise

Depending on the angle it is possible for him to be hit, but yeah the second thing - if this happened an hour before the accident, then dozens of other people would have been hit too, especially as that kid was probably just big enough to ride and a majority of riders would be larger targets than he.

[FaithPlus1]

Plans are already in place to re theme it as another Saw: The Ride.

 

lol

[PeoplemoverMatt]

I was in line for Cheetah Hunt at BGT a couple of nights ago; it was nearing closing time, had been storming for a couple hours, and the park was just coming out of code purple/red/orange and back to yellow. People in line were anxious for them to run through their testing and re-open the ride. Sometime before I got there, they did a test run with an op on it, and he came back saying he was brushed by a tree. Maintenance came & rode and confirmed that the tree was inside the ride envelope and the ride wasn't safe to reopen to guests. It was dark and they didn't have time to go do anything about it before closing (this was like right at 9), so they gave 2 single-use quick queue tickets to each guest in line for the next time they visited the park.

 

Props to them for 1) doing proper safety checking before re-opening after a big storm, 2) not ignoring when something was outside the safe operational parameters to just get the ride back open, and 3) making it right by their guests afterwards.

 

Not a real great comparison to this situation since the plethora of trees around Ninja does create the potential for a branch or even an entire tree making contact with the track at any time, including between ride cycles. Yes, BGT did do their job there, but if not for the storm, that would have been a guest that was brushed by the tree who may or may not have reported it. Then who knows what may have happened afterwards.

 

This looks like one of those freak things that is sort of amazing that it never happened before in Ninja's 20+ year history. It would be a gross overreaction to implement some sort of regulation that required protection of the ride envelope from the surrounding trees. As was mentioned earlier, plenty of rides go 'through the trees' without any problem at all.

[singemfrc]

This looks like one of those freak things that is sort of amazing that it never happened before in Ninja's 20+ year history. It would be a gross overreaction to implement some sort of regulation that required protection of the ride envelope from the surrounding trees. As was mentioned earlier, plenty of rides go 'through the trees' without any problem at all.

It may not have happened to Ninja in 20+ years, but it just happened to its next door neighbor Revolution only months ago. Two major accidents involving threes in a very short period of time.

 

I'm not by any means suggesting removal of trees...as Elissa said we want to keep every last bit of shade we have left, but I think some procedural changes in inspection of surrounding vegetation would be in order. It's not possible to completely prevent every freak accident but for example they could increase the ride envelope for vegetation or just be a little more aggressive or frequent with their tree trimming to minimize the chances of something like this happening again soon.

[pyrocoasterkid]

Hopefully my post doesn't get lost in the discussion about Ninja here, but I was hoping to get some up-to-date advice on a good attack plan for my first visit to the park this Friday. Being right after the holiday weekend, I was hoping the Friday won't be too bad in terms of crowds? Unfortunately, I had no other options for a day to visit the park. I have read online in a number of places in which direction to attack the rides, but it was either out of date, or don't agree with each other, so I figured I'd come here. What direction would you suggest hitting all the major rides (I've read some things that say X2, some that say Full Throttle, some that say others)? I can be there at opening, and plan on staying til maybe 6:30-7pm. Also, when the calendar says the park opens at 10:30am, does that mean the gates open then or the gates open prior to this and the rides open then? Thanks everyone!

[singemfrc]

Hopefully my post doesn't get lost in the discussion about Ninja here, but I was hoping to get some up-to-date advice on a good attack plan for my first visit to the park this Friday. Being right after the holiday weekend, I was hoping the Friday won't be too bad in terms of crowds? Unfortunately, I had no other options for a day to visit the park. I have read online in a number of places in which direction to attack the rides, but it was either out of date, or don't agree with each other, so I figured I'd come here. What direction would you suggest hitting all the major rides (I've read some things that say X2, some that say YOLOcoaster, some that say others)? I can be there at opening, and plan on staying til maybe 6:30-7pm. Also, when the calendar says the park opens at 10:30am, does that mean the gates open then or the gates open prior to this and the rides open then? Thanks everyone!

The gates open at 1030 and most if not all rides should be open immediately unless theyre behind in morning testing or something. Friday should be the best day to go this weekend since Sunday was just announced as a surprise bring-a-friend day.

 

You should start with either X2 or YOLO (which one doesnt really matter) when the gates open and then come back around 4:30 when the lines will be shorter. I tend to do YOLO first because in my experience X2's line dies more in the afternoon. Expect both Ninja and Green Lantern to be completely closed all day.

 

Without a Flash Pass the fastest way is to hit your one big ride first (X2/YOLO) and then do the back of the park which is typically a ghost town in the morning. You can blast through several rides quickly that way and work your way out front and then in the afternoon hit whichever big ride you didn't do in the morning.

[VCXfreak]

I come from a family of arbor’s and they can make trees look much much better with a little trim work. They shape big trees into umbrellas and do other funky stuff to them. I’m not say remove trees, what I am saying is start trimming trees. I know they provide shade and landscape beauty and are environmentally good but it is SFMM responsibility to keep up the maintenance on the tree’s and shrubbery to avoid something like this and unfortunately. This accident and the Revolution tree accident is going to be the one to start this process.[/color]

[pyrocoasterkid]

The gates open at 1030 and most if not all rides should be open immediately unless theyre behind in morning testing or something. Friday should be the best day to go this weekend since Sunday was just announced as a surprise bring-a-friend day.

 

You should start with either X2 or YOLO (which one doesnt really matter) when the gates open and then come back around 4:30 when the lines will be shorter. I tend to do YOLO first because in my experience X2's line dies more in the afternoon. Expect both Ninja and Green Lantern to be completely closed all day.

 

Without a Flash Pass the fastest way is to hit your one big ride first (X2/YOLO) and then do the back of the park which is typically a ghost town in the morning. You can blast through several rides quickly that way and work your way out front and then in the afternoon hit whichever big ride you didn't do in the morning.

 

Amazing help! I knew I could count on this site to get advice from a regular visitor of the park. Thanks a million! Glad to hear that Friday luckily worked out as a better day to go.

[Tmcdllr]

That's terrible but really what is the park supposed to do... stop a ride every time somebody complains like this? Sure in this case it may have prevented this but if they stopped a ride every time a guest complained about something, made up or not, rides would never run. As far as the rest of her complaint I don't know.

 

Yes. If a guest comes back from a ride injured (beyond things like head banging) you should (IMO) stop operation to find out why.

 

I completely agree as well. As the saying goes, safety first. And I'm not quite sure, Tmcdllr, what you mean by "every time somebody complains 'like this' because I don't know of any other complaints like this. In my opinion (and I don't see why this is even a debatable issue), someone getting hurt on a ride (as Comeagain stated, outside of something like headbanging) is serious and should be taken seriously by the park. If Disney, Universal, or Knott's received a complaint that someone was hurt from an obstruction on a ride, you bet they're going to shut down the ride immediately.

 

And to the argument that rides would never run if they addressed complaints whether they were made up or not, well look, Ninja can't run AT ALL right now because they didn't look into something they should have.

 

I agree too, safety first, and if there is an obvious injury such as bruising or bleeding then yes, do the inspection now. But I'm sure the parks get guest complaints all the time of alleged 'injuries' on rides with no obvious signs of the injury and in that case, should they then stop the ride and inspect it every time that happens? Maybe it depends on the alleged injury, I don't know, or, does this even happen often enough- real or fake, to even cause a problem? What do you guys think? I'm sure they are many of you that have visited parks more frequently than I have so what is your take on this, have you seen such an incident before?

[Vonni]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but will this result in a complete removal of Ninja, or do you think they will repair it and keep the Coaster? I'm just curious because of its age, and the dying breed.

[Tmcdllr]

There is no reason to remove Ninja because of a freak accident, again, this could happen with ANY coaster with trees around it.

 

I think the interesting thing to see will be if the park gets nailed for 'bad tree maintenance' whether true or not since a tree related incident happened on Revolution recently. I could see officials going nuts over the tree issue.... just because they can, so get ready for more political ridiculousness, because this is California and stupid things happen here.

[Manic Monte]

Front seat night rides on Ninja just became the most thrilling ride experience in the park!

[KBrylczyk]

because this is California and stupid things happen here.