The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[Domm]

Heading to the mountain tomorrow morning for some rides and then FF at night. What’s the scoop on the crowds? Our hope is both the weekday and heat would keep the people out til night time. Hope for a nice smooth ride on apocalypse

 

QQ: we have gold passes, what is the cost for the express maze pass? I saw a $32 price from a 3rd party website but not sure how reliable that is.

 

Also, are there In/out privileges at night?

 

Lets break this down:... Crowds should be minimum until around 3pm when FF peeps start showing up. Be on lookout around 9pm as once Universal sells out (which it has 3/4 times so far this season) the peeps rejected from there seem to show up at SFMM.

 

Weekday being a Friday sure wont be early arriving crowd and all local schools are in session so should be sweet until around 3 when it will be steady flow into the park.

 

The Heat is only projected in low 90's and for most locals that's a cooling trend as we had been rolling around 114 so the temp is non issue as they will come.

 

Apocalypse i would wait to ride until later in the evening when your back in that area to go to the maze Aftermath. There really is nothing in that area of the park to do unless you like fudge at Coaster Candy Company. If you choose to ride Apocalypse during the day ask any ride attendant or security officer if its open as again it would save you a walk to that back side of the park if its not open.

 

Maze express pass is listed at $32 on the SFMM site for Friday the 29th and season passholes save $5 when the maze pass is purchased at the park.

 

Yes in / out is available at night just get hand stamp. Of course you will lose your good early parking spot and might be parking in Fillmore when you return.

 

VTown! Thank you for the detailed reply!! This is awesome & also good news. We haven’t EVER been to the mountain at a time when it’s dead. Always the game of getting there early at rope drop with the credit card or gold pass entrance and racing around til the crowds reach the back of the park, then flash passing.

 

Crazy to hear about the universal overflow situation, makes sense though! We just got back from universal and it was a fantastic event. The new shining, saw and (I think also new) titans of terror were a ton of fun. That demon scare zone going into the lower lot of 3 mazes was a nice surprise too.

 

Thanks again for the good info.

[anonymouscactus]

Moved from the KBF forum.

 

At SFMM we went into 4 of the mazes tonight, even with paying for express, decided not to do the rest of them and left the park as it wasn't worth our time... truly awful. We were trying to find redeeming moments but most of the scareactors in the mazes were annoying more than anything.

 

Definitely for us as a virgin to all 3 events: Knott's >> Universal >> any other park Halloween event >> Magic Mountain. Not even kidding. There was one maze with a lot of fire which was neat, but neat doesn't make a maze good. You can't polish a turd and all that stuff (kind of like Riddler's Revenge -- it might be the best stand-up out there... but it's still a stand-up.).

 

We saw a surprisingly decent amount of actors in some of the ones we went through, but... it just didn't do anything for us. Not sure if we were biased because there were some events during the day that pissed us off greatly and operations were ABYSMAL -- i tried to not let it effect my opinion of the event... just don't go in expecting much.

 

Thank God we had flash pass for the lines, and express for the mazes... it was insanely busy (which we expected going into it especially on a Saturday). Good luck to anyone going out there, but you are much better off going to any other chain for haunts. Some of the rides were fantastic, and I got to ride Twisted Colossus 3 times thanks to the one time use FP for passholders (my fiancee not wanting to go again so I used hers as well), and then the flashpass itself. And I actually got one dueling session. That was a fun experience.

 

But, yeah, there you go.

[livai]

for nothing credible, but that's fine. they also serve the world's hateful

[edgeboy]

I was there last night as well. I think Fright Fest is a good deal for the price. Is it on par with Universal or Knotts? Of course not, but relative to what they had before, it's improved. Talent is probably more consistent that Knott's (which is what I feel their weakness now is).

 

The haunts also don't change much (if at all) from year to year, so in my mind, it's really more of an introductory haunt. Something for the first timer. And on that level, it's quite good. If you're a more experienced haunt guest, then you're likely to be disappointed unless your expectations are in check. Even as a more experienced haunt guest, the pricing makes it a good deal to me.

 

It's also easy to forget the haunt experience can really vary with timing. We did Willoughby's 3 times... twice near haunt opening, and once again later in the night. The first two visits were amazing, with 3-4 scareactors in each scene working in conjunction. On the third visit, it was down to 1-2 and some scenes had none. Did we catch them on break or a cast change? Possibly, but if that had been our only visit, we would've been pretty disappointed. But we had been very impressed on our first two visits.

 

My biggest complaint is that there was a lot of "dead space" between haunts. Aside from scare zones and a character meet and greet with Suicide Squad (and one hypnotist show), there's not a single maze between FT, TC, Batman, JL, Jet Stream, and Apocolypse. More or less, the entire east side of the park. Plus, all the mazes near FT (Red's Revenge, Vault 666, and Toys of Terror) all have short pre-show sequences, making their lines really long and slow moving.

 

I admire what they tried to do for Dead End, but just make the line a lot faster moving by cutting out the flashlights altogether and having people go in the dark, with carefully placed minimal lighting inside to guide the way. We did the Nightmare maze at Clifton's Hill, in which it's entirely in the dark, save for a small series of red lights you follow. That'd be a lot easier for them to manage.

[Mr. Corn]

Hey y'all I just uploaded a SFMM Fright Fest '17 Trip Report on my TR thread!! Feel free to check it out!!

Link: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=72745&start=10

[coaster_girl_79]

So I am back home from my business trip to CA. As planned, we did go to SFMM on Sunday, the 24th. The crowds were relatively low and the longest we waited on any coaster was about 30 minutes. I have to say that X2, Goliath and Twisted Colossus were my faves!! At my home park, SFOG, we don't have anything like X2 so that was amazing. We have Goliath and it's very similar but SFMM was taller and longer As for TC, I wanted to give it a try because we have a wooden coaster being RMC'd for 2018. Ours will be less than a minute long due to the current layout and spacing available but if it's anything like TC, it will become one of my favorites at SFOG!!

 

Thanks for the recommendations!

[blaisedinsd]

Not sure if anyone know about these types of things but not sure where to ask.

 

I renewed my season passes with the flash sale this season. I had 3 passes and two deluxe dining plans. I renewed for 3 passes and one deluxe dining plan and 2 basic dining plans. My daughter was downgrading from deluxe dining plan to basic. We rarely need 2 meals because the parks hours are too limited for much of the year. We just went on Saturday to process our renewed passes.

 

The problem is she should still have the deluxe dining plan for the rest of the year. When she tried to get her dinner meal they wouldn't give it to her because she had only scanned a basic dining pass when she had entered for the day. I wasn't with her and her cousin ended up having to pay for her meal for her.

 

Now that was bs and I wouldn't have stood for it if I was with her when it went down. But now that I think about it doesn't this mean we have double dining plans for the rest of the season? All we have to do is exit and re enter and scan both our new and old passes to activate both dining plans for the day. Is this how it works or should those clowns have figured out a way to get her second meal on her current dining plan?

[larrygator]

^I could be wrong but I think once you renew a pass and activate it, the old pass is no longer valid for food. I think SF does this so that people don't double order food on both the 2017 and 2018 passes. I never thought about the people that downgrade the meal plan. Sounds like a question for Guest Services.

[joshfreund]

You can still use your "old pass" even if your new one is activated but you can only use the meal pass with the card you scanned to get in the park

[blaisedinsd]

Good to know. They led me to believe I could toss the old passes, glad I held on to them.

 

 

So they do know and prevent the same person from scanning two dining plans, so what is the point of giving a new pass with a new number and everything every year? This also would mean there was no way for her to use her deluxe plan because she had to process her renewal but next time she just has to use her old pass.

 

 

Don't Memberships use the same card over each year? Why is mine different since I paid for the whole thing?

[joshfreund]

For the last 3 years I've bought flash sale passes and activated them, that one time you're kind of screwed on the meal plan but just go back to using my old pass til the end of the year.. Me and my girl alternate which pass has the meal plan so from Sept thru the end of the year we have 2 meal cards...then just one January til september when the park either closes early or too crowded anyway...really, we visit the most this time of year anyway.

[The Yeti]

Good to know. They led me to believe I could toss the old passes, glad I held on to them.

 

 

So they do know and prevent the same person from scanning two dining plans, so what is the point of giving a new pass with a new number and everything every year? This also would mean there was no way for her to use her deluxe plan because she had to process her renewal but next time she just has to use her old pass.

 

Who is this woman you speak of?

[coasterlvr]

Not sure if anyone know about these types of things but not sure where to ask.

 

I renewed my season passes with the flash sale this season. I had 3 passes and two deluxe dining plans. I renewed for 3 passes and one deluxe dining plan and 2 basic dining plans. My daughter was downgrading from deluxe dining plan to basic. We rarely need 2 meals because the parks hours are too limited for much of the year. We just went on Saturday to process our renewed passes.

 

The problem is she should still have the deluxe dining plan for the rest of the year. When she tried to get her dinner meal they wouldn't give it to her because she had only scanned a basic dining pass when she had entered for the day. I wasn't with her and her cousin ended up having to pay for her meal for her.

 

Now that was bs and I wouldn't have stood for it if I was with her when it went down. But now that I think about it doesn't this mean we have double dining plans for the rest of the season? All we have to do is exit and re enter and scan both our new and old passes to activate both dining plans for the day. Is this how it works or should those clowns have figured out a way to get her second meal on her current dining plan?

 

 

yeah, at least for me, this year, or i mean a few weeks ago when i went to process my new dining plan, they told me i would no longer have my current dining plan. the past previous 2 years i had both dining plans throughout the rest of the year. since it's the same for me, it didn't matter except that previous years i had both, so i'd load up on food.

 

i know there's a phone number for the actual company that processes all the passholder stuff. you might be able to talk to them and get them to change it. that's just BS, unless they told her that she should wait until the new year to process.

[blaisedinsd]

Not sure if anyone know about these types of things but not sure where to ask.

 

I renewed my season passes with the flash sale this season. I had 3 passes and two deluxe dining plans. I renewed for 3 passes and one deluxe dining plan and 2 basic dining plans. My daughter was downgrading from deluxe dining plan to basic. We rarely need 2 meals because the parks hours are too limited for much of the year. We just went on Saturday to process our renewed passes.

 

The problem is she should still have the deluxe dining plan for the rest of the year. When she tried to get her dinner meal they wouldn't give it to her because she had only scanned a basic dining pass when she had entered for the day. I wasn't with her and her cousin ended up having to pay for her meal for her.

 

Now that was bs and I wouldn't have stood for it if I was with her when it went down. But now that I think about it doesn't this mean we have double dining plans for the rest of the season? All we have to do is exit and re enter and scan both our new and old passes to activate both dining plans for the day. Is this how it works or should those clowns have figured out a way to get her second meal on her current dining plan?

 

 

yeah, at least for me, this year, or i mean a few weeks ago when i went to process my new dining plan, they told me i would no longer have my current dining plan. the past previous 2 years i had both dining plans throughout the rest of the year. since it's the same for me, it didn't matter except that previous years i had both, so i'd load up on food.

 

i know there's a phone number for the actual company that processes all the passholder stuff. you might be able to talk to them and get them to change it. that's just BS, unless they told her that she should wait until the new year to process.

 

So the previous 2 years when you had both dining plans, did you have to exit and re-enter the park with a different pass to activate the second dining plan?

 

I sent off an email to their support so I should hear back from them in a couple of days.

[coasterlvr]

 

So the previous 2 years when you had both dining plans, did you have to exit and re-enter the park with a different pass to activate the second dining plan?

 

I sent off an email to their support so I should hear back from them in a couple of days.

 

no, my pass just showed two dining passes on it. so when i would get food, they could see both and pick each one when i ordered.

 

i found it easier to call them when i had an issue. it was a special number, which i can't find anywhere right now. if i find it, i'll post it. but hopefully, they'll take care of your issue without having to call.

[blaisedinsd]

I did get a reply just now.

 

They said the same thing they told my daughter when she tried to get her dinner, since the old pass wasn't scanned that day the dining plan was not active. They also said only one could be used "and there can be no attempt to scan both in for admission."

They said to use the old pass for the remainder of the season since it had the better dining plan.

 

So it was BS. Sucks since the park was open to 1 AM it was actually a rare day where getting 2 meals and a snack made sense but she had to process her 2018 Gold pass by 10/31

[coasterlvr]

I did get a reply just now.

 

They said the same thing they told my daughter when she tried to get her dinner, since the old pass wasn't scanned that day the dining plan was not active. They also said only one could be used "and there can be no attempt to scan both in for admission."

They said to use the old pass for the remainder of the season since it had the better dining plan.

 

So it was BS. Sucks since the park was open to 1 AM it was actually a rare day where getting 2 meals and a snack made sense but she had to process her 2018 Gold pass by 10/31

 

oh, i see. sorry, i missed the part where she still had the old pass. i thought she added the meal plan to the existing pass. so she has two cards currently. if they were different numbers, i don't see why she couldn't scan the other pass in. i did realize that you do have to scan your pass in otherwise the dining plan won't work. at st louis this summer, i ordered a shake from johnny rockets, handed the girl my pass, and she said, it hadn't gotten scanned at the front gate. we got in using a different ticket. i showed the girl my ticket and said this is why. it makes sense, otherwise anyone could use anyone's pass to get meals. the girl just said don't worry about it, which was nice. lesson learned there though.

 

a bit off topic, but i know at cedar fair parks, the discounts for a premium pass, as well as the picture pass are okay if not scanned in at the front gate. but probably because when they scan a pass, your photo is there for them to see.

[SFMMFan76]

Looks like we got Best Theme Park Halloween Event for 2017!

[coasterbill]

Lance Hart and Arthur Levine both seem line cool dudes but that list...

 

[jonskinny12]

Ok, that list is useless...

 

Anybody been at the park yesterday or today? I'm going on Thursday and hoping for light crowds like people saw last week.

[joshfreund]

Knotts didn't even make top 10? Please, this list is worthless, lance and Arthur are wrong, experts? Lol

[bgtlover]

I don't even do Halloween events and know that list is bulls$#%.

[laqueefa]

Fright Fest over Scary Farm?! Someones getting paid.

 

[VTown661]

Ok, that list is useless...

 

Anybody been at the park yesterday or today? I'm going on Thursday and hoping for light crowds like people saw last week.

 

Monday and Tuesday were very empty but busier than Wed as M & T all the local schools in the SCV were on fall break. The local Saugus ELEMENTARY schools are on break still all week but wont really impact the as those are just tiny kids.

 

Thursday should be a great day to have a ERT day and run of the park. No need to get here early as there wont be a crowd at all.

[alexinla]

I have not been to most of the Halloween Events listed as I prefer parties and West Hollywood. But I take Fright Fest at Magic Mountain above Knotts too and even it is just for the lines. Never go there again for Halloween. It was a horrible experience.