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The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread


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^Sounds like typical wish-washy operations, unfortunately. But I know what I'm getting into, so can't complain much.

 

^^Thanks! I probably won't mess with the app when I'm there, but it's nice to get a look at it.

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Viper's line seems to top out around 15 minutes but Ninja's line posted at 55 minutes twice in the last week.

 

Click here if you want a general idea of ride queue times. When you click on a ride, go to the "Last Week" graph. The data is all populated by the Six Flags app.

 

 

Don't necessarily trust the times. I was there multiple days in May and at points Ninja popped on the app at 45 minutes. I was in the area on 1 occasion just getting off Tatsu, going to Superman and there was probably 30 to 40 people in line, no way it was 45 minutes. I have had numerous experiences of already being in line for the ride that the app is showing a way longer wait for than what I am experiencing.

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^The app was interesting to look at, but only one time. I know enough about Six Flags operations to have a healthy level of ... how do you say.. the "desire to ignore it the best I can." Any information retrieved from anything having to do with SF will always change, depending on who you ask. I'm referring to employees, officials, etc.

 

I wish they would someday attempt to match the operational level of a Cedar Fair park.

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Yeah, the in-park app time thing doesn't work. At best, the numbers are arbitrary, but more often than not, they're just not updated at all.

 

Sadly, the only way to enjoy Revolution now is if the VR breaks and they temporarily shut it down. It's one of my favorite rides in the park, but the 10-minute dispatches have basically made it unridable. When it first opened, they were allowing single riders to fill up all the empty seats without VR, but I'm guessing the non-VR proved to be as popular as VR so they pulled the plug on it. You can still opt out of the VR (it's really bad VR!), but you're stuck waiting with everyone else now. I rode it a couple of days ago as the VR was down, but that's first time I've been able to get on it in recent trips.

 

Viper rarely has a line, but on crazy busy days (which I usually avoid), it can get backed up. The same is true for Ninja as families tend to flock to that one. It really all depends on what day you're going. I was there a couple of days ago and there were no lines for anything at all except for Revolution, and that only had a line because of the VR problems.

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^The app was interesting to look at, but only one time. I know enough about Six Flags operations to have a healthy level of ... how do you say.. the "desire to ignore it the best I can." Any information retrieved from anything having to do with SF will always change, depending on who you ask. I'm referring to employees, officials, etc.

 

I wish they would someday attempt to match the operational level of a Cedar Fair park.

 

Except Knotts, which can be nearly as bad depending on when you catch them.

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I didn't realize it was so much worse than the other parks in the chain. Of course those wait times are never 100% accurate but at most parks they give you a great general idea of crowd levels and wait times on specific rides.

 

I guess I should have expected that from Magic Mountain.

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The app was pretty great when it first arrived, and the times were often spot-on and updated regularly. That didn't last long, though. From what I understand, wait times are updated by employees, but SFMM doesn't exactly excel in staffing the park or paying its workers. Often, the wait times posted at the entrance to the rides are way, way off as well, so clearly they just don't have the manpower. For a park of this size, investing in a more sustainable approach with some computerized signs would be helpful. Perhaps they could sell off Revolution's cell phones to pay for it

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The app was pretty great when it first arrived, and the times were often spot-on and updated regularly. That didn't last long, though. From what I understand, wait times are updated by employees, but SFMM doesn't exactly excel in staffing the park or paying its workers. Often, the wait times posted at the entrance to the rides are way, way off as well, so clearly they just don't have the manpower. For a park of this size, investing in a more sustainable approach with some computerized signs would be helpful. Perhaps they could sell off Revolution's cell phones to pay for it

 

 

The old fashion way of eye balling a line and having experience of previous waits for that distance in line is more reliable than modern tech...Lol. I have had many times where people see the wait time listed on the sign and are about to turn away and I tell them it's not nearly as long, the sign is way off. Not having enough staff is across SF parks from my experience, not just MM. Look how the 2 chains run the staff on their respective B&M wings, Gatekeeper vs Xflight or TTD vs Kingda Ka. SF would be incapable of cranking train out like they do on Maverick with 6 train operations.

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The old fashion way of eye balling a line and having experience of previous waits for that distance in line is more reliable than modern tech...Lol.

Agree, but the problem at SFMM is that, for several rides, it's hard to tell what kind of state the line is in until you're well into it. Goliath and Apocalypse are good examples, but also Batman, Superman, and Riddler to a certain degree.

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The old fashion way of eye balling a line and having experience of previous waits for that distance in line is more reliable than modern tech...Lol.

Agree, but the problem at SFMM is that, for several rides, it's hard to tell what kind of state the line is in until you're well into it. Goliath and Apocalypse are good examples, but also Batman, Superman, and Riddler to a certain degree.

OMG yes especially Goliath. It's impossible to see anything until you get to the drink machine which is like halfway

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The old fashion way of eye balling a line and having experience of previous waits for that distance in line is more reliable than modern tech...Lol.

Agree, but the problem at SFMM is that, for several rides, it's hard to tell what kind of state the line is in until you're well into it. Goliath and Apocalypse are good examples, but also Batman, Superman, and Riddler to a certain degree.

OMG yes especially Goliath. It's impossible to see anything until you get to the drink machine which is like halfway

 

I avoid Goliath b/c of that and waiting for it over 10 minutes isn't worth it. It's just not a good hyper, a drop that is wasted b/c its meager angle, no airtime on the hills, mid course "come to a complete stop run", etc... There is reason the builder just has 4 or 5 coasters installed.

Edited by cejackson
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I avoid Goliath b/c of that and waiting for it over 10 minutes isn't worth it. It's just not a good hyper, a drop that is wasted b/c it's meager angle, no airtime on the hills, mid course "come to a complete stop run", etc... There is reason the builder just has 4 or 5 coasters installed.

Oh, I love Goliath—in spite of the flaws you mention (although I find that the floater hill has pretty sustained air—at least it did a couple of days ago). To me, it's a more fun/enjoyable—even relaxing ride (although I doubt that's what the manufacturer intended!)—so I'll happily marathon it if I can. I'd be hesitant to wait more than 10 mins for it too—but that's true of most of the rides at SFMM for me, and I really only ever go on the days where the crowds will be light. I didn't grab station pics of Goliath from Tuesday, but there was nobody in there. When I first walked in, a train was rolling back into the station with one solitary rider on it!

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I avoid Goliath b/c of that and waiting for it over 10 minutes isn't worth it. It's just not a good hyper, a drop that is wasted b/c its meager angle, no airtime on the hills, mid course "come to a complete stop run", etc...

 

 

There aren't many coasters that I think truthfully deserve the label of "forceless" and "boring" (certainly not many of the B&M's that get falsely labeled as such), but Goliath is a truly boring, and underwhelming coaster! I wouldn't say it's entirely devoid of forces, but they definitely seem muted, vs. what they should be for a coaster of its size...

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Where do you get the idea that L.A. is bankrupt? In any case, SFMM is located in Santa Clarita.

 

 

I'm not sure if SFMM has ever been annexed into SCV and might still be considered located in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles. I have known for years SCV wants SFMM within the city as its a cash cow for the city but far as I know LA has never let it go. If you have a site that says different please let us know.

 

It's in Unincorporated LA County. Not the City. And SCV may get their wish, as Six Flags may try to avoid LA Counties minimum wage increases by pushing for an annex.

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Hey all you locals! Another question from the out of towners that will be there on Monday. How much is the upcharge for X2 on the FP. I'll will probably pop for them since we have just one day and being Gold pass holders with dining plan aren't spending money on anything else there.

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Hey all you locals! Another question from the out of towners that will be there on Monday. How much is the upcharge for X2 on the FP. I'll will probably pop for them since we have just one day and being Gold pass holders with dining plan aren't spending money on anything else there.

 

I believe the upcharge is $15 per X2 reservation. Rather than pay that though, just head to X2 at opening and you won't wait very long. Recently, they've had FP vendors out in the entry plaza, so you could get your FP before you even enter the park. If not, just head straight to X2 then come back down the hill and grab your FP. You don't get a Superman reservation with the Gold FP, so just wait to ride it until the end of the day. Superman is usually pretty dead the last 30-45 minutes before closing and I can usually get 2-3 rides in during that time.

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Hey all you locals! Another question from the out of towners that will be there on Monday. How much is the upcharge for X2 on the FP. I'll will probably pop for them since we have just one day and being Gold pass holders with dining plan aren't spending money on anything else there.

 

I believe the upcharge is $15 per X2 reservation. Rather than pay that though, just head to X2 at opening and you won't wait very long. Recently, they've had FP vendors out in the entry plaza, so you could get your FP before you even enter the park. If not, just head straight to X2 then come back down the hill and grab your FP. You don't get a Superman reservation with the Gold FP, so just wait to ride it until the end of the day. Superman is usually pretty dead the last 30-45 minutes before closing and I can usually get 2-3 rides in during that time.

 

 

Thanks! We had already planned on going right to X2, my son is just thinking about multiple rides Good to know about Superman and we will be there early enough to get the FP in the plaza so that should work. Since we only have one day we promised him open to close!

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^When I was there, I had a 15-minute wait for Superman on a mildly cloudy Sunday at about 3pm. X2 looked to be about 30-45min long, but I skipped and bought a reservation, and grayed out. My advice: hit up Revolution first. I got in line at about 10:45, 11ish, and the wait was already 45min. Also, Riddler is getting repainted, so be prepared for a possible closure there

 

Also, going back to the Goliath conversation, I heard all the crap the coaster got, so I ended up skipping it and making Full Throttle my last ride of the day. Kind of regret it, kind of don't.

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Also, going back to the Goliath conversation, I heard all the crap the coaster got, so I ended up skipping it and making YOLOcoaster my last ride of the day. Kind of regret it, kind of don't.

It's not a terrible ride, it's no i305, but it serves its purpose to the GP who seem to adore it.

 

Was this a new credit you missed? I'd never let whiny enthusiast's opinions influence my decision on whether or not I get a new credit

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I know I'm in the minority here, but given the same wait time for both, I would pick Goliath any day.

 

I've always enjoyed Goliath and it's my 4th favorite ride at the park after X2, TC, and Tatsu. Sure, it's not as good as a B&M or Intamin hyper, but it's still fun. It's fast, super smooth, and it's got a huge floater airtime hill. And I don't know how anyone calls it forceless, I grey out in the helix almost every time I ride it.

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I've always enjoyed Goliath and it's my 4th favorite ride at the park after X2, TC, and Tatsu. Sure, it's not as good as a B&M or Intamin hyper, but it's still fun. It's fast, super smooth, and it's got a huge floater airtime hill. And I don't know how anyone calls it forceless, I grey out in the helix almost every time I ride it.

That is definitely the one thing you can't knock Goliath for, it's still incredibly smooth. It chucks wheels like no other, or at least it used to, but man is it ever smooth.

 

Last summer I went back to Cedar Point and rode everything there and even TTD/Millennium weren't "opening day smooth". Not saying they aren't smooth, great rides, because they are, but I recall them riding differently years back. And to me, Goliath hasn't aged a day which is wild. That's the on thing that Giovanola nailed, that's for sure.

 

Tangent over.

 

In other news, it's not going to be too much longer before we all get to enjoy Justice League. They're really starting to accelerate the outside Metropolis area (finally) and the ride is basically done and has been handed over to Six Flags. About time.

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I know I'm in the minority here, but given the same wait time for both, I would pick Goliath any day.

 

it would probably be 60/40 toward Goliath for me. but i've probably ridden yolo more since you can see the line if it's real short. then, walking to goliath, might as well keep walking and spend the time riding TC instead.

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