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The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread


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Talking about new areas in need of maintenance---when is the last time the water jets worked in YOLOPlaza? I'm sure if I bothered to go to the park more than once every few months I could find plenty more.

 

It's been a while, but to their credit, I wouldn't really want them on in the winter months anyway. If it were like USH, where they turn off the water effects in the winter season, I'd be fine with that.

 

They have been off the entire 3 years I have had a membership. No matter the season.

 

You are so negative. They were on this past summer, and they always turn them off when it’s not summer. If you want water, go on Jet Stream which is still open.

 

I guess you and I visited at different times during the summer. Visited numerous times this past summer and never saw them on. But in case you missed my original point: making a section of the park look nicer for one season means absolutely nothing if the money and effort to maintain it isn’t there.

 

If you would like another example that always stands out to me...I’m pretty sure the same gross trash cans have been in the parking lot for my whole life....

 

I accept SFMM for what it is. A park with a super cheap pass and a few good rides I’ll stop by to attempt to ride. The more you look at the details, the less enjoyable it is.

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I guess you and I visited at different times during the summer. Visited numerous times this past summer and never saw them on. But in case you missed my original point: making a section of the park look nicer for one season means absolutely nothing if the money and effort to maintain it isn’t there.

 

If you would like another example that always stands out to me...I’m pretty sure the same gross trash cans have been in the parking lot for my whole life....

 

I accept SFMM for what it is. A park with a super cheap pass and a few good rides I’ll stop by to attempt to ride. The more you look at the details, the less enjoyable it is.

 

The rest of the area still looks nice. Are you saying that just because the water jets aren't turned on, that entire section of the park is a disaster? The tables and chairs in that area still look new, the paint seems maintained, and granted I haven't looked at it in a while, but I believe even the TV screen in front of FT is still working and plays sound just fine. So what else have they not maintained in that section?

 

I've never noticed that the parking lot trash cans are the same. At least lately, though, they haven't been overflowing with garbage like they have in the past.

 

Is the park perfectly themed? Of course not. There is plenty to complain about. But complaining that non-functioning water jets (that were kind of annoying to begin with, if you ask me) aren't turned on = disaster in maintenance strikes me as splitting hairs.

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You are missing my point. I don’t care about the water jets personally. It’s the idea that they spruced up an area with a water feature that just so happens to cost money to maintain...and I haven’t seen it work in years. It’s symbolic for what SFMM still is at its core. Or trash cans in the parking lot that look like they’ve never seen a power wash in their life. Or putting up chain link fence and rocks on the ground to use rrv queue as the queue for their brand new ride.

 

But, as I’ve said...I accept it for what it is. I can go for super cheap, ride a few rides, and leave. Or hurricane harbor. For $7/month. All the things I see make me laugh, but for so little per month, it is what it is.

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But I am in no way disillusioned with the reality that this park still has a lot to overcome in order to become the great park that it could be and should be.

 

Can that happen with $85 season passes?

 

It can, so long as those people who have $85 passes are spending money each time they visit the park.

 

That's where the problem lies---if you are ONLY known for roller coasters, people don't care to spend money. You do need all the other things to make the complete package, which is where SFMM is lacking. I pay the $8/month for my membership, yet only go every few months just to ride a few rides and leave.

 

Talking about new areas in need of maintenance---when is the last time the water jets worked in YOLOPlaza? I'm sure if I bothered to go to the park more than once every few months I could find plenty more.

 

 

Completely agree! SFMM has amazing coasters, but that's it. Everything else is done with half effort. If they stepped it up, they could be a huge competitor. When you visit a ton of SF parks, it's obvious that SFMM is on the top end of great coasters, but near the bottom for theming and operations.

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I actually agree with Jew...mostly. I find myself going to the park and just enjoying the coasters I feel like riding that day. The park really doesn't offer much more than that right now. However, visiting SFMM isn't nearly the chore it was a decade ago, where even showing up to ride coasters wasn't really worth the headache. So there HAS been much improvement.

 

The new areas look great, I do like the addition of flat or non coaster rides and I also appreciate showing up to find 90 percent of coasters actually open.

 

So while I agree with Jew that the park still has a long way to go, I do also agree with giving credit where credit is due.

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^I agree completely.

 

 

This is exactly what I don’t like about this site. All the mods back each other up and it’s just a hierarchy. There’s no reason negative Jew should be a mod. Six Flags Magic Mountain maintains their areas just fine, and the park has a great vibe. Maybe if you open your eyes you’ll see the charm. Or try going to another Six Flags Park and seeing how much worse it is.

If you are just gonna be grumpy when you post, like every single time, go post somewhere else.

 

And don’t tell me “if you don’t like it, go somewhere else!” Because guess what. I actually do like the concept of TPR, it’s just the execution that sucks. But also, no one else does it better than TPR, so this is what I will stick with. They really are the best, even if the best is only a 5.

 

Um, I don't want to play mod here, but I've been on this site for a while now, and this is just inappropriate. The way you go after Jew just for posting his opinion and suggesting he shouldn't be a mod is, to put it lightly, unnecessary. By the way, Jew isn't going anywhere, so if you don't like hearing constructive criticism about this park, maybe you actually should leave.

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I see Metropolis as a really solid themed land that needs more shade, but is a drastic improvement over The Movie District. It has a solid dark ride, a really fresh looking standup coaster, and a great BBQ place, with some awesome landscaping. Certain people see Metropolis as a not-completely immersive themed land that is a small improvement over The Movie District. It has a solid dark ride that could be solider, a fresh looking standup coaster that could look better with new decals on the trains, a great BBQ place that could have faster service, and some landscaping that could be swapped out more often. I tend to look at how much that section the park has improved over it's previous incarnation, when some people tend to look at what the land could be and how it's not meeting that. End fact, Magic Mountain has maintained it's new lands very well. Magic Mountain rethemes the sections to the best of their ability with the budget their given. Metropolis got:

-Brand spankin' new dark ride that WASN'T a clone

-Major overhaul to one of the park's largest coaster's paint scheme with brand new paint

-Almost brand new entrance to Riddler's Revenge

-Repaint and Rebuild of 3 restaurants plus an adjoining food court area with new tables, chairs, and umbrellas

-Repaint/Retheme/Rebrand of the BBQ into a nicely themed Metropolis restaurant

-Destruction of the complete eye-sore gas station

-Rebuilt planters with very nice landscaping

-New concrete flooring throughout the land

-Entirely new upscale eatery with gazebo bar including a stage for live entertainment

-Repaint and maintenance to Riddler's building facade and "set" pieces

 

And when you exclude the small Coca Cola labels on the umbrellas in the food court, they took out all the advertisements in the entire land so that way the theming is immersive and consistent. So if you want to say Magic Mountain isn't maintaining their park over gravel instead of plants in a queue that's been filled a handful of times a year, you're not enjoying all the work they did. While enthusiasts always want brand new stuff, why spend all the money to build a really nice extended queue, when they could reuse an already existing structure with new paint and a shade canopy. Instead, please complain about something that actually is an issue like Ninja's station (which will continue to remain nice looking once it gets it's big overhaul, just like Full Throttle Zone)

Edited by Mr. Corn
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Also, couple things to note from a friend who's at the park today (sorry for the double post):

-Completely agree on the parking lot trash cans, they look horrible

-New signage is currently going up at the front of the park, no work on the metal cage or ticket booths has been seen

-Ninja's line is spilling out of the 2nd extended queue and is roughly 140 minutes (provided they're having 2min dispatches)

-Justice League's line is just barely coming out of the sign, and is just a touch under an hour line

-Bumper Cars queue line is starting to fall apart... literally

-Twisted Colossus is back to 3 trains

-No confirmation but supposedly they pulled VR on The New Revolution because of the ridiculously long line

-No further work on Crazanity has been seen

 

Just a prediction but park closing hours are probably going to be pushed back an hour due to insane crowds

 

 

 

EDIT: Goldrusher has a line, crazy stuff people

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I was at the park yesterday, and it was VERY crowded. We ended up splurging on a Flash Pass to make the day more enjoyable. Despite the crowds though, it was nice to see TC back to three trains and Superman running both sides.

 

However, Full Throttle is still only running one train. It had the slowest moving line in the park. I didn’t want to touch that ride with a ten-foot pole after the one ride we get with Gold Flash Pass. I’m really curious to see how 365-day operation is going to affect operations and maintenance schedules with ride rehab and stuff like that.

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I'm always so divided on the SFMM quality argument. Yes, it is a cheap entertainment option and yes you get what you pay for, so expecting DLR or USH quality is silly. But where I do have issues are things like the parking lot trash cans (not to beat that into the ground). Even when there were some nasty budget and attendance issues for that park the trash cans weren't neglected for budget reasons, no one paid attention to them because there wasn't really any ownership and no one cared.

 

KBF, which is at almost the same price point (in fact SFMM's one-day admission is actually higher but yes I know SFMM heavily discounts), just has that overall feeling that there is ownership of the park. Are they perfect? Of course not and any given day you can knit pick there (or anywhere) something that is dirty or broken. But KBF just has an overall feeling like upper management cares about details where it can.

 

I think the park is doing much better in a lot core areas the park should have always focused on (coaster capacity and reliability being the huge improvements). And dated parts of the park have received some TLC. But to the detractors' points SFMM still has the problem of being unable or unwilling to maintain details, something the park has struggled with since the end of the Time Warner days (anyone remember the station effects on Batman? Riddler?). Do these kill your experience? Usually no. But some more attention to these details could do more for the park in the long run without really costing a lot more.... especially just freaking hosing down the trash cans in the lot!!!

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I'm always so divided on the SFMM quality argument. Yes, it is a cheap entertainment option and yes you get what you pay for, so expecting DLR or USH quality is silly. But where I do have issues are things like the parking lot trash cans (not to beat that into the ground). Even when there were some nasty budget and attendance issues for that park the trash cans weren't neglected for budget reasons, no one paid attention to them because there wasn't really any ownership and no one cared.

 

KBF, which is at almost the same price point (in fact SFMM's one-day admission is actually higher but yes I know SFMM heavily discounts), just has that overall feeling that there is ownership of the park. Are they perfect? Of course not and any given day you can knit pick there (or anywhere) something that is dirty or broken. But KBF just has an overall feeling like upper management cares about details where it can.

 

I think the park is doing much better in a lot core areas the park should have always focused on (coaster capacity and reliability being the huge improvements). And dated parts of the park have received some TLC. But to the detractors' points SFMM still has the problem of being unable or unwilling to maintain details, something the park has struggled with since the end of the Time Warner days (anyone remember the station effects on Batman? Riddler?). Do these kill your experience? Usually no. But some more attention to these details could do more for the park in the long run without really costing a lot more.... especially just freaking hosing down the trash cans in the lot!!!

 

Very well said. Both sides of the argument have good points, which is why this will continue to be an ongoing debate. Some see the glass half full, other see it half empty. And both views are correct.

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One change they should have made was to get rid of Scream and make RR a sit down floorless. I'm sorry. I know I'm in the minority but Scream sucks Schweddy Balls and RR is just horrible as a stand-up. The layout is great but stand-ups are a fad that have run their course. RR could be really amazing as a sit down, but as it is the last few times I've visited those two plus Green Lantern have been the only rides I intentionally skipped completely.

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In my opinion, both SFMM and SFGadv should get higher operating, hiring and training and expenditure budgets than the rest of the chain. If both parks are operating within the same constraints as some of the other parks, that might be the problem.

 

I'm not sure how the parks are budgeting now, but under Premier all of the revenue went to corporate and the park's overall operating budget was set by corporate. Parks which were turning a profit (which in the early 2000's was not very many of them) actually received reduced budgets with the theory that struggling parks required additional help. This doesn't mean a park like Kentucky Kingdom or Frontier City received a higher budget that SFMM or SFGadv, but those parks were more likely to received increased operating budgets while the "flagship" parks saw theirs reduced.

 

Their theory could make sense for capital expenditures I suppose but in terms of operating budget it was horrible for parks like SFMM that operated year round, generated profit, and received capital expenditures yearly that added to the park's operating cost. This is why new rides usually meant something else would close and expensive repairs (Superman B-side, Sky Tower, Metro, Jammer pump) were put off or never even completed. By the end of the fiscal year we couldn't even order pens or paper anymore (and strangely a bunch of rides would suddenly close for "scheduled close" due to maintenance work that never occurred but concluded at the start of the new fiscal year).

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One change they should have made was to get rid of Scream and make RR a sit down floorless. I'm sorry. I know I'm in the minority but Scream sucks Schweddy Balls and RR is just horrible as a stand-up. The layout is great but stand-ups are a fad that have run their course. RR could be really amazing as a sit down, but as it is the last few times I've visited those two plus Green Lantern have been the only rides I intentionally skipped completely.

 

I agree with you on riddler’s Revenge, that ride is just straight up trash, but Scream is probably my favorite floorless. I love the layout and I find it to be glass smooth. Riddler is just headbashing for the whole ride. No thanks.

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I absolutely love Riddler’s Revenge. I guess I wouldn’t mind it being converted into a Floorless, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.

 

I used to hate Scream, but the last few rides I’ve had on it (on the refurbished train) have actually been quite good, I must admit. I’ve still had more bad rides on it than good, but recently it’s been running well. They must be using the round wheels rather than the square ones.

 

But Viper is still better than both of them...

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One change they should have made was to get rid of Scream and make RR a sit down floorless. I'm sorry. I know I'm in the minority but Scream sucks Schweddy Balls and RR is just horrible as a stand-up. The layout is great but stand-ups are a fad that have run their course. RR could be really amazing as a sit down, but as it is the last few times I've visited those two plus Green Lantern have been the only rides I intentionally skipped completely.

 

I agree with you on riddler’s Revenge, that ride is just straight up trash, but Scream is probably my favorite floorless. I love the layout and I find it to be glass smooth. Riddler is just headbashing for the whole ride. No thanks.

To each his own, but Scream has always been the one that is trash IMO. Especially after riding Bizarro, SKC, and Dominator, those rides put Scream to shame like a hooker in church.

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I honestly am surprised that Scream was not relocated to another park by this point.

 

I'll admit that this is a busy week, but here are the posted wait times from Queue Times for the last few days.

 

12/26: 70 Minutes

12/27: 70 Minutes

12/28: 100 Minutes

12/29: 100 Minutes

12:30: 100 Minutes

12/31: 70 Minutes

1/1: 55 Minutes

 

... seems like it's a very popular ride with everyone besides whiny coaster enthusiasts.

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