The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[coastercoaster5]

2 hours ago, SharkTums said:

I think it's important to note a few things in the 'reopening' news...

- Parks CAN reopen April 1st if they're in the correct tier. This could change. And Orange County and LA county are sometimes not the same tier.

- California residents only.

- Just because they CAN open doesn't mean they will, I could see them waiting a few weeks to make sure they are ready and numbers are still trending in the right direction. 

While you make some fair points, these parks are bugging to open up and I think they will do so immediately. The massive losses in revenue become a little less massive the day they open up. As a socal resident im confident Disney, Knott's, Universal, Seaworld, and Six Flags will all be open April 1. 

[Garet]

^Just because it opens doesn't mean the losses become less massive. There are a lot of operating and running costs, staff wages, getting the park ready to open etc involved and if the park isn't confident that an open park with only 15% of attendance is going to have a big impact they might hesitate.

Or they'll look at ways to run the park that are less costly. Everland is one of the world's top 20 visited parks and for years now they've run a split shift system in the park on weekdays.  One ride in each zone running all day, then each zone has one ride open for a morning shift (10-2), a one hour 'break' then the other ride will open for the evening shift (3-8).

[Jew]

1 hour ago, coastercoaster5 said:

While you make some fair points, these parks are bugging to open up and I think they will do so immediately. The massive losses in revenue become a little less massive the day they open up. As a socal resident im confident Disney, Knott's, Universal, Seaworld, and Six Flags will all be open April 1. 

I wouldn’t bet your life savings on that. 
 

Remember  what happened to SCBB when Santa Cruz was in the orange tier? They got one weekend of operation before the county moved back a tier.

OC, LA, and San Diego are not even in the red tier yet. The earliest possible date they can enter the red tier is March 23 IF they can cross below 7 cases per 100k this upcoming Tuesday. There will be weeks of training needed since every employee has been away for so long. It’s not as simple as “you remember how to do this right? Cool, take your test again and you’re gravy.”  I would guess OSHA will be very involved in inspecting all the parks ride reopening processes.

There’s not a chance in hell Disney or Universal with their unionized workforce will bring people back unless there is a HUGE margin for error to protect them from opening and then immediately being shut down if their counties go back into purple.

Millions of dollars in labor will be spent before the parks even open, so they are not going to think about opening unless it’s safe...

This is before even thinking about how to be profitable or even break even at 15% capacity. My guess would be that they will run “special events” that they can charge more for admission.  If the food festivals as “outdoor dining” can have a higher capacity, there’s no reason to stop doing those...

Sea World is probably the best bet, since they are basically half open already as a zoo.

[tndank]

Can't wait to get back to last day of Knotts Scary Farm and Six Flags during slow November.  Fingers crossed the Raptor is running.  (yeah, right)

 

[southpuddle]

I really don't think that any counties are going to slip back into more restrictive tiers at this point. Cases are and will only continue to drop from this point forward. Also, aside from Disney, no one will need "weeks" of training in order for the parks to reopen. If anything, the parks will reopen severely understaffed and train new employees as things get back up and running. They'll reopen as soon as they're given the go-ahead.

- My optimistic yet unscientific opinion

[coasterlvr]

2 hours ago, coastercoaster5 said:

While you make some fair points, these parks are bugging to open up and I think they will do so immediately. The massive losses in revenue become a little less massive the day they open up. As a socal resident im confident Disney, Knott's, Universal, Seaworld, and Six Flags will all be open April 1. 

i don't see the infrastructure ready for parks to reopen that fast.    the only thing i see happening for sure is they can start recalling employees, training, and making sure everything is in place. 

[Jew]

27 minutes ago, southpuddle said:

I really don't think that any counties are going to slip back into more restrictive tiers at this point. Cases are and will only continue to drop from this point forward. Also, aside from Disney, no one will need "weeks" of training in order for the parks to reopen. If anything, the parks will reopen severely understaffed and train new employees as things get back up and running. They'll reopen as soon as they're given the go-ahead.

- My optimistic yet unscientific opinion

LA county had its first marginal uptick this week (.2 cases per 100k) if the numbers on covidactnow.org are correct. Anything is possible with a virus we still really don’t know too much about. Is it likely for a county to move back from red to purple once the state updates the numbers to be less restrictive? No.  But if we reach April 1 and the threshold is still 7 cases per 100k, then it is much more likely.

I’m not sure if you are aware, but rides are regulated in CA. Since every ride operator has been away from their rides for more than a year, the training required WILL be similar to the training they received as a new hire  (if not exactly the same).  It will not be done in one week, as no park trains their ride operators in large groups in order to ensure the training they receive is extensive. Plus, typically it is line employees who are the trainers. I would guess that many rides managers aren’t even fully trained on their rides to begin with, and now they’ll have to be the ones doing the training (remember the Columbia accident at Disneyland?!?)

I know we all want to be optimistic and are excited theres finally at least some reasonable guidelines out there...but Elissa is 100% correct in saying that just because a park can open as early as April 1 doesn’t mean they will. It will cost a park millions just to prepare to open and they will have to try and make a profit on 15% capacity.  

 

[southpuddle]

I think given the news that broke today with *possible* April 1 openings, many employees at Disney, Knotts, Six Flags and Universal are getting notices to report next week for whatever recertifications are necessary to receive guests a few weeks later. How many employees? Likely the exact number required to open the parks at 15/20/25% capacity that’ll be allowed on April 1. 

[Jew]

2 minutes ago, southpuddle said:

I think given the news that broke today with *possible* April 1 openings, many employees at Disney, Knotts, Six Flags and Universal are getting notices to report next week for whatever recertifications are necessary to receive guests a few weeks later. How many employees? Likely the exact number required to open the parks at 15/20/25% capacity that’ll be allowed on April 1. 

You would be wrong about that.  That I can say with 100% certainty.  I happen to be very connected with so cal theme parks.

Again, I know everyone wants to be optimistic, but please do not assume anything.

Remember when Disney actually announced an opening date?  How’d that work out for them?

I will say it again in caps this time...THE PROCESS IS EXTREMELY FLUID, COMPLICATED, AND EXPENSIVE. The odds are very much against it happening on April 1 for all parks. The state doesn’t even have the guidelines for indoor rides yet except to say “15% with time restrictions”, so Universal and Disney cant even move forward yet until that is clarified.  LA and OC can also put in place their own county guidelines as well. And that assumes LA and OC progress into the red tier to begin with.  Lots of things have to happen and lots of questions still have to be answered.  

Be excited the state finally released reasonable guidelines.  Do not expect all parks to open April 1.  The April 1 change was meant primarily for baseball, since teams have their opening days.  Theme parks were just lumped into that (IMO, the governor had no choice to do theme parks too if he was going to allow 11,000 fans per game to attend a baseball game...)

The only one I think would even have a chance of pulling it off is Sea World, since they are already open as a zoo and don’t have too many rides to begin with.

[ryder]

I'm with you that I worry about 1)  that we won't get to/stay in red tier, especially with new variants going around, 2)  that LA/OC may put in their own guidance that will supersede the state and make things tougher, and that 3) the situation is very fluid.  I'm not necessarily expecting parks to be open right away on April 1 either.

That said, I've always felt that SFMM will have an easier time in regards to Covid rules, because nearly all their rides and queues are outdoors to begin with (except JL, of course).  Knott's is also in the same boat.  It's really Disney and Universal that are left more in a lurch, as many more of their attractions are indoors.

I can also imagine that once parks do open, it doesn't necessarily mean all their attractions will be open.  I can especially see SFMM doing a ride rotation operation to safe on staffing costs... and sadly, I wouldn't be able to blame them.

[Jew]

8 hours ago, ryder said:

I'm with you that I worry about 1)  that we won't get to/stay in red tier, especially with new variants going around, 2)  that LA/OC may put in their own guidance that will supersede the state and make things tougher, and that 3) the situation is very fluid.  I'm not necessarily expecting parks to be open right away on April 1 either.

That said, I've always felt that SFMM will have an easier time in regards to Covid rules, because nearly all their rides and queues are outdoors to begin with (except JL, of course).  Knott's is also in the same boat.  It's really Disney and Universal that are left more in a lurch, as many more of their attractions are indoors.

I can also imagine that once parks do open, it doesn't necessarily mean all their attractions will be open.  I can especially see SFMM doing a ride rotation operation to safe on staffing costs... and sadly, I wouldn't be able to blame them.

The question is that is it really worth it at 15% capacity?  A weekly covid testing program alone is going to be insanely expensive. 24hr PCR tests run at least $100/test. Rapid test kits are cheaper (can get them as low as $10 if you buy a ton in bulk), but are also much less accurate (the FDA rushed to approve  them, so the trial sample sizes on the test kits are all much smaller than what would normally be required) and will lead to false positives and false negatives. LA county recently changed film set guidelines to require a PCR test prior to your first day on set (previously a rapid was OK), so I imagine they won’t accept rapid tests for theme park employees.

People a lot smarter than you and I are going to have a lot of tough decisions to make.

My personal opinion is that parks should run “special events” until capacity can increase.  Charge folks $100 (with a discount for passholders) to give them some food and ERT on selected rides.

[coasternut]

^ I hear what you're saying, but I want to ride!!! I really miss this park, and I'm excluded since I don't live in California (thank God). I've had both of my vaccine shots already. That should count for something right???

[KIEnthusiast]

I hope the California parks reopen April 1 

[Jew]

38 minutes ago, coasternut said:

^ I hear what you're saying, but I want to ride!!! I really miss this park, and I'm excluded since I don't live in California (thank God). I've had both of my vaccine shots already. That should count for something right???

Not yet. But likely soon. The CDC will supposedly be updating guidelines for vaccinated people in the upcoming weeks, which will likely ease some travel and quarantine restrictions. 
 

It is also entirely possible theme parks will continue to lobby the governor and get the restrictions changed to say “proof of vaccination or negative test within 48 hours” to allow a higher capacity.

 

As I said before, lots of variables at the moment. Which is why I predict parks will be conservative in their opening plans. Food events and perhaps limited rides as a ticketed higher price special event might be the best course of action until the orange tier (oddly enough, the parks can have a higher capacity for “outdoor dining” than they can for if they open with rides in the red tier...)

[CenturyFlyer]

Magic Mountain is planning to reopen April 1st!

Six Flags is the last to announce but the first one to open!

[tndank]

VERY NICE!

 

[Jew]

12 hours ago, CenturyFlyer said:

Magic Mountain is planning to reopen April 1st!

Six Flags is the last to announce but the first one to open!

Where did you see this? Not on their socials.

[tndank]

9 minutes ago, Jew said:

Where did you see this? Not on their socials.

It was posted briefly on their website yesterday.  ACE SoCal has a screenshot.  I think all previous leaks like this have panned out to be true.

I'd imagine they will make it official later this week.

 

[ryder]

FWIW, they've taken down all those references... though strangely, if you have a membership that includes parking, you can obtain a parking pass for April 3 onward.  But the rest of the site has taken down all the "April 1" reopening date and returned to "Spring 2021", and you are currently unable to reserve a park ticket.  Just membership parking.

[CedarFlags]

It kind of makes sense for Six Flags to open up first...

• The park's physical capacity is massive, so even with the capacity restriction, that could still be quite a few guests.
• This time of year is traditionally slow for the park anyways, so that 15% capacity isn't far off from a standard springtime weekday.
• The Six Flags business model has pretty consistently relied more on in-park spending vs admissions as a revenue source.  I'm sure that reduced ride capacities due to physical distancing will drive up FlashPass spending.
• Everything is outdoors and nobody goes to the park expecting anything but coasters.  Disney and Universal have to figure out indoor attractions plus characters / entertainment.

Also, just generic good news: LA County is just barely outside of qualifying for Orange Tier (4.1 case rate, needs to be 3.9).  So I expect we'll probably get there in a few weeks.

[MagicMountainMan]

Magic Mountain fumbled the reopening 'announcement' as that was an internal date and most employees hadn't even been notified yet, but April 1st is supposed to be the reopening date. As with most things, Magic Mountain couldn't execute an announcement correctly so it was retracted on social media; I'm glad to see nothing has changed there. 

[Manic Monte]

Six Flags Magic Mountain

@SFMagicMountain

THRILLS ARE BACK! Six Flags Magic Mountain will be reopening WITH RIDES on April 1&2 for Members/Passholders and daily April 3 to the general public! Tickets & reservations will be available online to California Residents only #TheThrillIsCalling #ThrillCapitaloftheWorld

6:13 AM · Mar 18, 2021

 

[ryder]

I've already got my tickets for opening weekend!  It'll be interesting to see if all the rides will be open, or if some will be shut down due to staffing issues or ride rotation programs.

[thrillseeker4552]

^I am curious about staffing as well. I am surprised they are opening so soon whereas parks like Disney and Knott's claimed they need time to re-hire and re-train.

But YAY! Great news! I'll be there in May!

[Jew]

Now it’s official. Glad I was partially wrong, though I too am very curious how this pans out.