The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[anonymouscactus]

If you don't have a pass/membership purchased yet, you'll have to do both at SFMM as it will be the first park you visit. If you already have an active SFA pass and want to add on dining, you will have a hell of a time getting it on your SFA pass at SFMM. All attempts to do this I have read in the past you either flat out couldn't do it, or it took hours at guest services to work something out. Things might have changed in the last year but since the passes are at different price points for each region they purposely make you activate at your home park so everyone doesn't just buy an SFA pass without going there. Unlike Cedar Fair which charges the same amount at all of the parks for their Platinum pass

[Too Fast For Comfort]

If you don't have a pass/membership purchased yet, you'll have to do both at SFMM as it will be the first park you visit. If you already have an active SFA pass and want to add on dining, you will have a hell of a time getting it on your SFA pass at SFMM. All attempts to do this I have read in the past you either flat out couldn't do it, or it took hours at guest services to work something out. Things might have changed in the last year but since the passes are at different price points for each region they purposely make you activate at your home park so everyone doesn't just buy an SFA pass without going there. Unlike Cedar Fair which charges the same amount at all of the parks for their Platinum pass

 

LOL at the unambitious GP who won't fly across the country just to scan in a pass for a cheaper rate.

[Too Fast For Comfort]

Duplicate Post

Edited February 8, 2019 by Too Fast For Comfort

[yodelo]

WOW FML

 

Six Flags America called me, and said the same thing. Because my season pass is already activated at Six Flags America, if I buy a premium dining pass, I won't be able to activate it or use it Six Flags Magic Mountain. The problem is, SFA doesn't open until April 6th, and I'm going to SFMM in February.

 

My plan is to buy a Premium Dining Pass and try to get it activated at SFMM. If they refuse to let me have it, I'll just activate when I get home at SFA anyway. UGH

[Too Fast For Comfort]

WOW FML

 

Six Flags America called me, and said the same thing. Because my season pass is already activated at Six Flags America, if I buy a premium dining pass, I won't be able to activate it or use it Six Flags Magic Mountain. The problem is, SFA doesn't open until April 6th, and I'm going to SFMM in February.

 

My plan is to buy a Premium Dining Pass and try to get it activated at SFMM. If they refuse to let me have it, I'll just activate when I get home at SFA anyway. UGH

 

Its all pretty silly to me. I could see making the prices dynamic for different park admissions (although to me, maybe that just means that they should do a better job of balancing out the attractions among their different parks), but that's crazy for the food part of it. And really, they should be celebrating guests who would take the time out of their schedule to travel to go to their different parks, not punishing them. If Six Flags wants to compete with the big boys, they'll have to learn how to get people to cross state lines just to go to their parks.

[jamesinclair]

If you don't have a pass/membership purchased yet, you'll have to do both at SFMM as it will be the first park you visit. If you already have an active SFA pass and want to add on dining, you will have a hell of a time getting it on your SFA pass at SFMM. All attempts to do this I have read in the past you either flat out couldn't do it, or it took hours at guest services to work something out. Things might have changed in the last year but since the passes are at different price points for each region they purposely make you activate at your home park so everyone doesn't just buy an SFA pass without going there. Unlike Cedar Fair which charges the same amount at all of the parks for their Platinum pass

 

LOL at the unambitious GP who won't fly across the country just to scan in a pass for a cheaper rate.

 

I used to spend Christmas in Mexico City. Wed buy our annual passes for the year at around 45% cheaper than what was charged at MM.

[Twistedtatsu805]

So, I heard that there's rebar for footers on the WCR site so, that's a good sign, right? Right??

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I love how we're worried about this five months before it's scheduled to open.

[southpuddle]

Nobody should plan or expect to ride this until October. Don’t psych yourself out and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised if you end up getting on it mid September.

[Twistedtatsu805]

Nobody should plan or expect to ride this until October. Don’t psych yourself out and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised if you end up getting on it mid September.

 

I don't know about that. It's only February. I have a feeling once the track pieces arrive the whole thing will go up rather quickly. If they're starting to put in footers this week, that means supports and track is likely on the way.

[bert425]

did y'all see MM guest star on Hell's Kitchen on the finale Friday?

 

Ramsey "closed down the park" to allow the two finalists (and their families) to have the park to themselves and ride the 19 roller coasters!!! (LOL..but then the only one they showed was "viper").

 

Ariel and Mia - the two finalists - went on and on about how they love roller coasters, and are enthusiasts. . . and got "excited and scared" when they were told they would be the 1st two of the general public allowed to ride the brand new coaster "Full Throttle"

 

 

yeah.

 

 

wonder how long ago they filmed this? tho, it looked like the coaster had been open for a long while, so more likely Ariel and Mia like roller coasters, but just aren't enthusiasts, and had no idea how long the ride has been open.

 

no worries regardless, as they didn't get to ride, it turned out that once they went behind the "construction walls" it was a cooking challenge in the entrance plaza of the ride, as the coaster zoomed overhead.

 

 

so it was laughable, but I guess good exposure for SFMM

[Arthur_Seaton]

Clean the park a bit and make it a little nicer looking, like it was eons ago. Make it a more user-friendly park.

You'll be pleased to hear that that's exactly what they're doing! The area where the new ride is going is one of last dumpiest spots of the park, and it's getting a full cleanup and retheme with a new ride. I'm not sure it was that nice-looking eons ago though!

 

I don't know about that. It's only February. I have a feeling once the track pieces arrive the whole thing will go up rather quickly. If they're starting to put in footers this week, that means supports and track is likely on the way.

Agreed. I know that moaning about SFMM is de rigeur because reasons, but I can't imagine it'll take long to put this one together. This isn't a particularly big ride; it's really just a single oval structure with two low-to-the-ground tracks. I assume both tracks will take advantage of the same support structure, and the most knotted section (the helix over the go-karts) looks like it'll be one clump of track.

 

One concern I have about the go-kart section, though, is if coaster will linger amidst petrol fumes. The go-karts stink, and the renders make it look like the new ride is going to meander over the go-kart track for a good few seconds. Maybe the trains will be moving too fast? Maybe fume inhalation will be considered part of the "racing experience"?

[jamesinclair]

Electric gokarts are pretty common these days. Time to throw out the lawnmowers and join the 21st century

[Twistedtatsu805]

Lmao, it's not even raining (yet) and the park just posted on Twitter that it will be closed today. They should just give up on the whole 365 thing and go back to weekends only.

[coasterbill]

Lmao, it's not even raining (yet) and the park just posted on Twitter that it will be closed today. They should just give up on the whole 365 thing and go back to weekends only.

 

Knott's will probably close too (or at least close early). I feel like you're making quite the leap there.

 

Edit: Actually their forecast is marginally better so they may not. Still, they close for rain all the time. It's supposed to rain all day at Magic Mountain. I don't blame them at all.

[VegasBaby]

Lmao, it's not even raining (yet) and the park just posted on Twitter that it will be closed today. They should just give up on the whole 365 thing and go back to weekends only.

 

Valencia is supposed to get heavy rainfall today and tomorrow, so I don't fault the park at all for closing down. If anything, they should be commended for getting the notification out so early.

[SharkTums]

^&^^Yeah, but I think the joke is that even when the park was weekends only during the off season they would close ALL THE TIME due to some light sprinkles or cold weather. Having the park now open 365 with rides down and randomly closing all the time due to SoCal winter is a bit frustrating for people trying to visit.

 

I don't think anyone was begging for the park to be 365 and it seems like they did better (more rides open) when they weren't.

[Too Fast For Comfort]

^&^^Yeah, but I think the joke is that even when the park was weekends only during the off season they would close ALL THE TIME due to some light sprinkles or cold weather. Having the park now open 365 with rides down and randomly closing all the time due to SoCal winter is a bit frustrating for people trying to visit.

 

I don't think anyone was begging for the park to be 365 and it seems like they did better (more rides open) when they weren't.

 

I get the impression that when the Six Flags executives got together at their meetings a few years ago, there a big consensus and a big park to have their parks stay open for more days throughout the year. SFMM is going 365, and the northern parks are staying open into December now. They figure that the costs to operate the parks are relatively low, and the big costs are the fixed costs (the rides, real estate costs, financing costs, salaries, etc.). Same reason that movie theaters are open 365, and open in the morning when they're dead most of the time other than Friday nights and Saturdays. So even if a park is dead, its still probably making money, as most of the costs are fixed.

 

Personally, I think from a customer relations standpoint -- especially if a park expects tourists -- its nice to be able continuously from the opening to day to closing day as much as possible. Not everybody is great at checking the operating schedule, and if you're only open weekends, guests have no choice but to go on very busy days.

[bert425]

^ hourly employees (a large % of those working at the park during an operating day), don't get paid if the park is not open Mon-Fri. So that's certainly not a fixed cost that doesn't matter if the park if open or closed.

 

 

what a weird statement about not everyone checks operating schedule. I'd be shocked if anyone planned a trip to go to a park (even if just the local or home park) and didn't check to make sure they were open that day.

 

in this day and age, where everything is on line? there's no excuse not to check if a place is open before going.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Rides are not fixed costs either. Electricity, maintenance, depreciation all depend on how much they're run. Just like with your car (but substitute gas for electricity unless you're fancy).

[805Andrew]

M

Lmao, it's not even raining (yet) and the park just posted on Twitter that it will be closed today. They should just give up on the whole 365 thing and go back to weekends only.

Magic Mountain didn't need to be open 365, but it needed to be open more than Saturday and Sunday (Thurs-Sun at least) in the off season so I'm glad they are aiming for 365, even if it ends up being 355 this year. It's been raining much more than normal this year so far and a lot of it has been heavy rain and that's no fun for park goers as the only thing they would enjoy is Justice League. Disneyland and USH are a lot better parks to go to on rainy days since they have a lot of indoor rides but Magic Mountain is an outdoor rides park.

[joelwee]

^

I'd much rather have SFMM plan on being open 365 days and close when there's heavy rain, than have them only open on weekends rain or shine. It sucks for out-of-towners who can't visit the park because of rain, but that issue isn't exclusive to SFMM. Plenty of people have had weather-related closures put a damper on their coaster trips to other parks. And like Andrew said, there isn't much to do at SFMM that isn't outside, so when it's dumping rain outside, most people wouldn't go to this park. Closing the park for the day is a no-brainer.

[jamesinclair]

One of the reasons to go 365 was because you get better employees.

 

Temporary employees are a PITA. You are constantly hiring and training, and because they all know the job is temporary, the folks who are on a longer horizon are looking to get out quickly.

 

This is further complicated when you want to close in September, then open for Halloween, then close for November, then open for Holiday in the park.

 

If you can promise someone a full-time job, youre going to get better candidates and less turnover.

 

Of course, there are still some advantages for temporary jobs. You have a lot more labor available in the summer when the kids are out of school and need cash. But again, if you want to open during the school year, youre in trouble once your kids all quit on September 1st or whatever.

 

 

what a weird statement about not everyone checks operating schedule. I'd be shocked if anyone planned a trip to go to a park (even if just the local or home park) and didn't check to make sure they were open that day.

 

I think the point being made is that tourists might be in LA for a week, and then on Monday say "lets go to Six Flags Wednesday, itll be empty". They look up the hours and woops, its not open until Saturday when they cant make it anymore.

 

So people obviously check the hours, but are less likely to check the days they are open. I know as a tourist, Ive made the mistake where I planned to visit X attraction on a Tuesday, and when I check the website it turns out they dont open Tuesdays, but Ive already planned other stuff on Monday and Wednesday so Im out of luck.

[bostonlva]

 

 

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[coasterlvr]

 

 

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that's a nice image to finally see.