The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[CedarFlags]

"Stand up" roller coaster

 

I sit for about 1/3 of the ride, tbh. Keeps the blood from rushing to my feet and causing the tingling pain sensation I normally get.

[DoubleDown]

Went to the park yesterday for the $10 with a buddy deal at about 4:30, got on Twisted Colossus 2x with single rider, Revolution, X2 and Batman. Tatsu's queue was full (I've never waited that long for it), Superman was out the cave (bleh), Yolo looked to be an hour the entire day (worth the wait?), and Goliath's line extended out halfway through the switchbacks (nope). Lex Luther was closed (BOOOOOOO!). Viper closed (which I don't think it's ever been closed when I visited in my 20 years of going to the park). I decided to go on a Wednesday because it sounded like they weren't that crowded...didn't seem to be the case this time. Lots of cars in the parking lot.

 

Ride operations overall were sub-par to say the least. Do these employees really think they're that cool getting paid $10 an hour to drink water, check restraints, and push buttons? Who do they think they're kidding? They're really good at making ridiculous asses of themselves, just based off watching their incompetency and idiotic decisions, for the most part. At one point my buddy asked "Is it possible to get kicked out of the park for telling one of these ride operators off? Like, could you actually do that and get away with it?" I said I don't know, but I know how you feel!!

 

Stacking on Twisted Colossus was happening late in the afternoon, so a race was impossible. At a couple points during our wait, all 3 cars were at a standstill, 2 in the brakes, waiting for the one train in the station to dispatch. Is that a 6 minute dispatch??? Later in the evening they were getting better, but I can't understand for the life of me why 1 guest standing outside the gate on the exit ramp talking to the ride operator for minutes takes priority over 500+ guests waiting to ride. Tell the guest to wait, and make sure the people on the ride are ready to go! Why do the ride operators seem so brain dead? Are they really incapable of multi-tasking while getting cars loaded and dispatched? Never seen anything like it before in my life except at this park. They just don't seem to care about operating the ride properly, at all. Love the ride, but it seems like the operators go out of their way to put a "Six Flags Black Eye" stamp on what is one of the better rides in the park.

 

Revolution was a 3 train wait (we were behind 4 people), and it took about 20 minutes. I'm not kidding. Probably the worst 3 ride operators I've ever seen in my life. Talking talking talking about anything they could other than checking restraints and getting riders on and off. I thought we'd be on and off in 5 minutes. Last thing they cared about was getting the trains filled and dispatched. F- to the ride operators at Revolution. Look, I know it's probably one of the more boring rides to operate, but that doesn't mean you can't get people on and off in a timely fashion.

 

Caught the late afternoon X2 lull and the wait was about 20 minutes. Crew was working very well and at some points the train was dispatched and out of the station to lift before the other one even got back to the station. Impressive!!! Can the park PLEASE have this kind of ride operator workmanship distributed throughout the park? It'd really make a trip to the park a lot more enjoyable. We had a great ride on X2, no audio or fire, but wild as all hell, and that last raven didn't rattle around nearly as hard as I'm used to.

 

Batman was Batman. Seems kinda tame now after Twisted Colossus.

 

Had a great trip to the park thanks to the rides and the Full Throttle Bar which was actually very pleasant, but to underscore, the only thing that bugged the both of us was how incompetent, ridiculous, and uncaring the ride operators were in regards to getting waiting guests on and off the rides. It really sucks that the only thing in the way of everything being great is the EASIEST thing to do. Basically just do your job and care about paying guests that want to get on roller coasters. I don't understand the horsesh*t attitudes of some of the employees, who really don't care whether paying guests have an enjoyable experience or not. They suck.

 

It's NOT that hard to be nice to people who are funding your paycheck! Trust me I know, I've been there before!

[theintimidator]

Part 2 of the July 29th trip report!

When we exited Batman, our device had not rung yet to ride Green Lantern. We decided to go to a restaurant and buy the green souvenir cups. I'm glad we do so we can get refills all season long. Finally our device buzzed so we could go ride Green Lantern. We were greeted by a line for flash pass. It was probably 5 to 10 people in front of us. For some odd reason, they were not allowing any people to enter the queue building for a good 20 minutes. Once they finally let us in, we were greeted by a line to actually get on the ride. So far this was the longest line that we have had to wait in all day. I've heard this ride was uncomfortable. It was 100% true in my honest opinion. It hurt my shoulders and my thighs. Is it always this bad?

I was praying that X2 was not like that. After Green Lantern we decided to sit down because that messed up our mood. At this time most lines were getting a little long on our device. We decided to reserve a ride on Revolution thinking that it was very close to where we were. We have to walk up the mountain to get on the ride. On our way to Revolution, we stopped by Gold Rusher. I really like that ride. It was surprisingly long for a kiddie ride and it wasn't as rough as people say. We got to the station of Revolution, nobody scan our device. We went ahead and we canceled it so we can reserve the next ride. The ride itself was OK. It banged my head a couple times but it was still pretty fun. We realized that we were close to Viper. The party that I was with... everybody else was tired so I went to ride Viper alone. Viper was closed. I went back to my party and told them and they said that they had reserved a ride for Tatsu. They still were tired so I want to go ride X2 alone. Much to my surprise, the line was not long like everybody said it was. I called my party and told them and they said they'll be right there. I want to ahead and got in line and by the time my party was there, I was up in the station.

Luckily for me, the ride attendant let my party up and let me wait for them near the lockers by the station. They rode in row five and I rode it row six. I had to ride with a stranger so I went ahead and made friends with her before we boarded the train. She sat on the inside seat and I sat on the outside seat. They locked and loaded the train very quickly. They were the second fastest crew that I've seen all day right behind Gold Rusher. As we climbed up the lift hill, I was becoming more and more nervous. The lift motor slowed down and I knew that we were at the top. We went over the fake drop and then the seats rotated and we went down the drop face down. The seats were rotating so much that it became uncomfortable. At one point at the bottom of one of the drops I was shaking so vigorously that gave me a headache. When the ride stopped, I din't know how to feel about it. It ended up jumping to second favorite ride! I knew it wasn't usually like that since everybody loved it so much. I'm gonna give it another chance.

And now for my number one.

Our device buzzed so we could go ride Tatsu. Can somebody explain why nobody was actually waiting on the stairs? It was like they were holding people back and letting them go one party at a time. The line was not moving at all. Do they usually do this? They weren't letting anyone past the queue onto the stairs before the station. Once we were at the top of the stairs, we decided to go to row number three. On row three and row six only three of the four seats were available. We waited for about four cycles.

I LOVED THIS RIDE. IT WASN'T INTENSE AND I FELT IN CONTROL. IT WAS LIKE TRUE FLIGHT! THE PRETZEL LOOP WASN'T AS INTENSE AS I WAS EXPECTING BUT IT WAS FUN AS HE**.

This is sooooo beautiful!

I had a beautiful day at a beautiful park! While leaving I was greeted by a beautiful ride with a beautiful sunset! I'm planning to go next week. What day should I go to avoid the long lines? And how do I have a pain free ride on Green Latern?

[Mertens S. Elias]

Nice trip report. Although I wouldn't have been excited as you about going to Magic Mountain. I hate that place. I hate how they tear down all the family flat rides and build immense coasters on top of them. I hate how they took out a historic coaster that they abused for years with taking out the camel backs and putting in a block break, added Morgan trains, never repainted it, never fixed or ran the second track, not even for it's last few years. Until they start adding family rides, I will hate that place.

[jonskinny12]

"Stand up" roller coaster

 

I do this every time. It's the only enjoyable way to ride a stand up. And like CedarFlags, I sit for a lot of the ride as well. Riddler's is actually a lot of fun if you ride it that way.

[SoCalJasonland]

"Until they start adding family rides, I will hate that place."

 

You have Disneyland, California Adventure, Knott's and Legoland if you want a family park or rides. We need a thrill park with big coasters.

[coasternut]

What's going on with Lex? This if from the MM website this morning... I'll be there Sunday and I need my drops! At least Goliath is open. I've missed this ride!!!

 

 

LEX LUTHOR: Drop of Doom

Temporarily Closed

[CedarFlags]

Stacking on Twisted Colossus was happening late in the afternoon, so a race was impossible. At a couple points during our wait, all 3 cars were at a standstill, 2 in the brakes, waiting for the one train in the station to dispatch. Is that a 6 minute dispatch??? Later in the evening they were getting better, but I can't understand for the life of me why 1 guest standing outside the gate on the exit ramp talking to the ride operator for minutes takes priority over 500+ guests waiting to ride. Tell the guest to wait, and make sure the people on the ride are ready to go! Why do the ride operators seem so brain dead?

 

To be fair to the RO, could you tell whether or not the guest was complaining or just chatting? Asking a guest with a complaint to wait is guest service suicide.

[Quetzal]

"Until they start adding family rides, I will hate that place."

 

You have Disneyland, California Adventure, Knott's and Legoland if you want a family park or rides. We need a thrill park with big coasters.

 

There's nothing wrong with a park becoming more well rounded. While family rides may not be the smartest addition to the park, it would be nice to see more flat rides in the park, as most of the non-kiddie rides in the park are roller coasters.

[bostonlva]

What's going on with Lex? This if from the MM website this morning... I'll be there Sunday and I need my drops! At least Goliath is open. I've missed this ride!!!

 

 

LEX LUTHOR: Drop of Doom

Temporarily Closed

 

Maintenance?

[scottiemon]

What's going on with Lex? This if from the MM website this morning... I'll be there Sunday and I need my drops! At least Goliath is open. I've missed this ride!!!

 

 

LEX LUTHOR: Drop of Doom

Temporarily Closed

 

Maintenance?

 

Superman was not running when I was there today. I left at 1:30, so it could have opened later.

[Superbatboy]

Nice trip report. Although I wouldn't have been excited as you about going to Magic Mountain. I hate that place. I hate how they tear down all the family flat rides and build immense coasters on top of them. I hate how they took out a historic coaster that they abused for years with taking out the camel backs and putting in a block break, added Morgan trains, never repainted it, never fixed or ran the second track, not even for it's last few years. Until they start adding family rides, I will hate that place.

 

Which family flats did they take out to add coasters?'

 

MM never really had many family flats to begin with, maybe just the Granny Gran Prix, Sierra Twist, Yosemite Sam, and Spin Out. None of which were replaced with coasters. I guess you could count the Circus Wheel/Jolly Roger where Goliath sits now as a family flat.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

SFMM's problem isn't that there isn't enough kids rides. There are plenty of them. The real problem is they are all in one single area of the park.

 

There's literally no reason for the young kid to walk around with the bigger sibling around the park since there's nothing for the little one to ride save for maybe Gold Rusher. Ninja can work but is way up the hill and not on the way to anything. Not many families are going to want to come to SFMM if they're going to be split the entire day, or have one kid completely bored and sad for not being able to ride over & over again.

[theintimidator]

So, it turns out that I will be able to go next week! What day should I go for the least amount of crowds? I went Wednesday of this week and it was pretty crowded.

[Superbatboy]

So allegedly Six Flags is looking into purchasing a new version of the Zamperla Air Race instead of more Larson Loops for 2016. That sounds a whole lot more promising than Larson Loops IMO. Hopefully MM is on the list for one...

 

(Rumor via Screamscape)

[ImNotOneOfYou]

But there's no way they can advertise them as roller coasters. Unless they find a way to make it an incredibly specific "world's first"

[KBrylczyk]

^ Oh, they'll find a way. They'll re-theme the planes to look like coaster cars and add a circle of track around each arm, having the cars connected to their individual loops with wheels. That way, they'll be able to market it as 6+ coasters in one!

 

Edit - forgot this: "World's first ever multi-track, sideways-looping, spiraling, spinning, central-hub rollercoasters!"

 

Edit 2 - Hey Six Flags, I'll take compensation in small, non-denominational bills. I know you psychos are using this idea.

[CedarFlags]

I'm kind of surprised it's taken us this long to figure out what exactly the deal is with Lex.

[singemfrc]

I'm kind of surprised it's taken us this long to figure out what exactly the deal is with Lex.

I'm guessing it's just maintenance/rehab because it's on the schedule for WCB, and though I know that can change and it could be swapped out before the event, if there were some other issue going on with unknown duration, when the ERT schedule was being made they probably would have mentioned it "wouldn't be available" or "might not be available" and something else would have been in it's place.

[SFMMGeek27]

One of the catch car hooks is broken on Lex. They are awaiting the new part before the ride is operational again.

[singemfrc]

One of the catch car hooks is broken on Lex. They are awaiting the new part before the ride is operational again.

Any idea why they can't run just the other side?

[Guy T. Koepp]

^The two sides operate on the same spindle. If I were to guess, I would think it's some kind of weight dispersement.

[SoCal_Coaster]

One of the catch car hooks is broken on Lex. They are awaiting the new part before the ride is operational again.

Any idea why they can't run just the other side?

 

My guess is that they probably could run just one side, but that would be a capacity nightmare and the line would practically never move. Just eight riders at one time....

[singemfrc]

^The two sides operate on the same spindle. If I were to guess, I would think it's some kind of weight dispersement.

Ah, I didnt realize that. Makes total sense then.

[moviemansig]

What is the best place to sit for Tatsu? Also, what would be tips for riding Goliath? (I’m especially nervous about the helix part of the ride.) Thanks.