The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[RCFreak]

^ Real dragons breathing fire toward people would have been a good start.

[alexinla]

^ As if you could see those heads while on the ride/ No point to theme the dragons, plus they really have nothing to do with the rest of X2

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Um, I'm going to stand by the side (in line) for about 2 hours or so, then ride...

 

Kind of a dumb question to ask me after I walked up a bridge that leads only to the X2 entrance...

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

Me and my girlfriend went to the park today. Seemed fairly crowded as we had to park past the cobra roll of Scream. However lines were not excessively long. As we walked into the park I noticed that Tatsu had a train that was idle in block brake. No surprise there as Flyers really have brought down B&M's reliability record. No big loss there because I knew it'd be open at some point. We hopped on Ninja. No line what so ever, and who's ever had a bad ride on Ninja? We headed to Superman, which was also down due to a drive trip. No surprise there either. We headed down the hill to Riddler's and enjoyed ourselves. After that we rode Batman. I don't what it is, but something about that ride is causing it to be more forceful than normal, and I love it-so much I came to blacking out in the first vertical loop. After that we rode Scream. Always a short wait so I always hit it up. Next was the Batman stunt show. I personally don't care for it my my girlfriend seems to like it, and judging the applause Batman got everytime he swung in, no one else shared my opinion. So be it. everything isn't for everybody, so If they like it, let them have it. We stopped to get drinks. I got a large Cherry Coke, and drank it as we walked to Deja Vu. We rode, and loved every gut wrenching second we were twisting, turning, dropping and flipping through the blue and green steel beast. Afterwards we dropped by at Viper. I knew my friend was up there because she always sounds like she's happy to be there. There was no wait for Viper so we rode twice. The lady wanted to ride Jet Stream, so we walked back that way, but rode Tatsu along the way. Not that long of a wait, but it would have been nice to see a two station operation today. The third train is still disassembled under the transfer shed. Jet Stream was fun, but I'm not really fond of water rides. The boats could use some padding on the sides to keep us taller gentlemen from banging our knees. We rode Gold Rusher as it was dark by then and had a blast. It's no Roadrunner Express (SFFT) but it's a classic. Goliath was the last ride had time for, so we made an effort to sit in the front. The park was alot cleaner than the last time I visited, and people were somewhat nicer. I didn't particularly like the girl who sold me my Cherry Coke (If I pay 4 bucks and some change for a drink, I want it the way I Ask for it-NO ICE!) but no bad blood, I know how repetitivness can get to you. It was not the best visit I've had to the park, but there have been far worse encounters and I enjoyed myself and Of course I will visit again soon. As long as the park continues to move in the direction they're going, They'll continue to make me happy, and attract the audience they're gunning for.

 

Thanks for reading!!

[cooksta77]

I love the X2 Sign! It just makes you wonder if they r gonna add more stuff because they added the sign after the ride opened!

[Scarlet Spider 23]

I went to the park on July tenth and it was incredible. Good operations, staff, cleanliness, everything! There are new TVs at gold Rusher and Viper.

[Rollerman87]

After that we rode Batman. I don't what it is, but something about that ride is causing it to be more forceful than normal, and I love it-so much I came to blacking out in the first vertical loop.

 

Next was the Batman stunt show. I personally don't care for it my my girlfriend seems to like it, and judging the applause Batman got everytime he swung in, no one else shared my opinion. So be it. everything isn't for everybody, so If they like it, let them have it.

 

I've noticed that Batman seems different as well. When last I rode it (about a month ago), I noticed you could heard the wheels jolting a little bit. It was kinda creepy as you're sitting there going "please don't derail, please don't derail."

 

And yeah, the normal GP love the Batman stunt shows, but I've found them to be super cheesy. Although, I must say, when I saw the Batman Begins stunt show, they had a pretty close look alike for the part where he's going to Ra Al Ghul. For a sec, I actually thought it was Christian Bale

[PURE]

I was at the park Wednesday and noticed how well the rides were running too. Batman is running like a champ right now, its such a good ride. Scream front seat is great except for the little jolt at the bottom of the first drop that will always be there. Although the ride on Revolution is pretty much the same, the newly rehabbed trains keep the head banging to a minimum. And I dunno what they did to the trains, but Viper is smooth and forceful whether you're in the newly rehabbed trains or not. Its great to see clean trains, and to get on some awesome rides!

 

My only complaint is how they're operating them. Tatsu has 2 trains but wasn't using the dual station--even on Fridays? Deja Vu had 5-6 minute dispatch times with all 4 ride ops more concerned about what was going on in the station phone than getting riders ready to ride. Its a good thing the single rider line was open cause it was really bad.

 

I got in line for X2 at 8:30, and we were at the soda machines. Park closed at 10, and at 10:30 we were still at the bottom of the stairs on the parking lot side (East) of the station. And the line was CRAWLING. I'm talking the patented Six Flags "wait for 5-10 minutes in the same spot, then move 5-10 feet." It felt like I was in line for the old X all over again--4 to 5 minute dispatches, etc. At 10:45 we were still waiting to even touch the stairs and said forget it. After 2 hours and 15 minutes of waiting, we didn't wanna get home at 1 AM, so we left the line.

 

The chick I was with said she didn't get it, "Wouldn't they want to move as fast as possible so they could get home earlier?" As with a bunch of other questions she asked about weird things going on that day that she noticed, the only explanation I could ever come up with was "Welcome to Magic Mountain."

 

Hey, atleast the rides are fun.

[ParkTrips]

As far as Tatsu only using one station with 2 trains, I imagine that has to do with keeping the ride up. They do the same thing here in Georgia. One (err.. two) less moving parts to worry about.

 

It would be fine so long as they don't stack the trains, because otherwise they are losing capacity.

 

Bummer that the Vu was moving slow. Its not such a bad ride if they can get the dispatches to 2 mins or less.

[ebl]

^ The ride cycle on Deja Vu is a minute-and-a-half, so I don't see how they could do two-minute dispatches.

 

As for X2, are the restraints still sticking? They were on June 1, which is why Jay said that dispatch times are still long. Even on that day, they were getting trains out every three minutes, which is quite an improvement over the old ones.

 

My last few rides on Batman have been pretty good, too, though the the thought of rattling wheels, er, rattles me. Remember that Train 2 is the new one from B&M, and it does run noticeably better.

 

Eric

[SharkTums]

^I'm pretty sure he means two minutes from the time the train pulls in, to the time it dispatches.

 

And I agree, that should be easy enough. But it will never happen.

[cooksta77]

I think it will happen!

[robbalvey]

We just got back from a quick lap around the park.

 

For the most part, the place looked great! Even for a busy Saturday night.

 

Flash Pass employee got us our Xtreme Pass flash passes quickly. Goliath was running three trains tonight. Employees in Bugs Bunny World were helpful and efficient. Revolution's new trains seemed really nice! (I can't tell if they actually ride better or I just know how to ride it so I don't get hurt, but it seemed to ride exactly the same.)

 

There was even a moment where we were pushing KidTums around in the stroller and this glow lady (looked the a supervisor) was carrying a new stock of glow necklaces to the vendor, saw Kristen, and gave her one!!!

 

I was in shock! It was probably one of the nicest things I've seen done at the park!

 

The only complaint about the whole night was the ride op on Thomas The Tank Engine who was doing the spiel. She was monotone and dull. Totally lifeless and just sounded terrible. I'm not sure if the automated spiel wasn't working but when you've got a perfectly good pre-recorded soundtrack and your ride op doesn't seem to care about adding any personality to the ride, use the recorded stuff!

 

Overall though it was nice to see the park thriving tonight. Lots of characters, the parade was going, lines were moving, etc, etc.

 

Glad we were able to sneak in a couple of hours in between TPR trips!

 

--Robb

[thrillgeek]

^Haha good for you Rob. Glad to here the park is running smoothly. Too bad it seems there are still alot of mono tone employees still operating rides.

[robbalvey]

Too bad it seems there are still alot of mono tone employees still operating rides.

That's not what I said. The Bugs Bunny World crew seemed really helpful, the Revolution crew was really energetic and overall the whole park seemed "active."

 

I said there was *one* ride op that was monotone that I experienced tonight.

 

--Robb

[Mr.Six]

The park was doing okay tonight, considering it was a busy saturday night I'd say they were doing well. Tatsu dropped to one train though, which was the only really bad thing I saw. The main gate workers were really great tonight though! I purchased and got my season pass fully processed in less than 10 minutes. So, hats off to the main gate and season pass processing workers.

 

Rode Revolution with the new trains -- and they were nice. You still hit your head a bunch of times, but all the awful constant vibrations were gone.

I also heard almost every employee say, "Have a Magic day!". Even though its not my favorite verbal slogan , to see the consistency hold up was impressive.

 

-Mike

[Ryan King]

I just got done reading through Jahan's latest update (Which is always amazing), and I scrolled through the pages of responses...

 

Honestly, I wasn't happy to hear what some of you were/ and are saying about Magic Mountain. For the record, I've been actively going to the park now for the past few years (When I say actively, I mean I've actually purchased a Season Pass an am going at least 2-3 times a rear), and have really seen the changes going on in and around Magic Mountain. For Example, the park Employees are really starting to shape up. The park has a much cleaner environment (Garbage Clean Up, Leaves, and New Trees/Bushes). The park is running in a much more efficient manner. But some of you still find room to complain...

 

And leading into that, how can some of you to say that "Thomas town is a waste of money"? You must be absolutely crazy. MM is ACTUALLY trying to do something geared towards making the park a more family friendly environment. It almost seems like some of you just get off to smashing and abusing Magic Mountain. It almost seems like, when The Park doesn't do anything to the park, they re wrong. And when Magic Mountain actually makes an improvement (Such as Thomas Town), most of you aren't happy. Honestly, get over it.

 

Joey really helped put into perspective how MM is actually trying to push themselves in the right direction. We all know the park sucked years ago. That was then, this is now.

 

The changes are happening. Rides are finally getting the attention they deserve. Old rides are being ripped out, and will eventually be replaced with new ones. Employees are becoming much more motivated. The park is by far cleaner then it was two years ago...and so on and so fourth.

 

Really, all I'm trying to say is that, get off Magic Mountain's back! They're honestly doing the best they can.

 

-Ryan "End Rant" King

[Rollerman87]

^I must say thank you. I honestly don't know whether I've done any bashing on the park (I sure hope I didn't), but I love that park. I love seeing the improvements and seeing a changed park. I just hope they can turn their rep around about the gang violence. Personally, I've only seen anything close to that once in my good 15 or so visits to SFMM (Mind you, I started going in 2002). No matter how much "Family Friendly" things they do, if they can't turn that rep around, we won't see an increase.

 

SFMM has come a long way, but they still have a very long way to go.

[Tmcdllr]

^^I agree. You can't always please everybody and there will always be someone who doesn't like something no matter how much it has improved something else. It's like some people just like to find anything to complain about, and they have every right to voice their opinion even if it is negative about something positive, they might even have a point. Some things are worth complaining about but it is kind of annoying sometimes especially when it's the same stuff over and over again. We've probably all been there, I know I have. Just let it go. The park will continue to improve no matter who complains about what and that's just fine with me. I am just happy it is still there and moving ahead so I can look forward to many more visits in the coming years.

[wrs28330]

The Batman Show finally had its first "4 show day" today! The excessive heat was an issue the last four weeks. Today was warm but great for shows.

 

I understand when people say that the show is "cheesy" for various reasons, but the show consistantly gets great rounds of appluase after each scene or large stunt. The theater has been filling up much more than it had the last 2 years, and to my surprise there are several people who come back to see every showing...who knew?!

[Guardian21]

^that show was the best Batman show i've ever seen. the only other one i saw was Six Flags America about 5-6 years ago, and it was basically bikes and flipping around all the time.

 

SFMM, SFGA i've been to since the management change, and both parks have looked better, and the park's look livlier.

 

Only thing i can think of is, hating Six Flags, but Six Flags isn't the same one that we all remember and grew up with.

 

old habits die hard.

[cooksta77]

Honestly, I wasn't happy to hear what some of you were/ and are saying about Magic Mountain. For the record, I've been actively going to the park now for the past few years (When I say actively, I mean I've actually purchased a Season Pass an am going at least 2-3 times a rear), and have really seen the changes going on in and around Magic Mountain. For Example, the park Employees are really starting to shape up. The park has a much cleaner environment (Garbage Clean Up, Leaves, and New Trees/Bushes). The park is running in a much more efficient manner. But some of you still find room to complain...

 

Hey I agree I go to SFMM a bunch of times a year but as the park improves the comments stay the same and I don't agree with the people that sill find reasons to trash SFMM!

 

On another note has anyone heard of that new coater SFMM is supposed to build in 09?

[thrillgeek]

Here's what screamscape has said about the new coaster:

 

GCI Wooden Coaster - In Development - (6/25/08) Apparently Shapiro is said to have let the CGI coming to SFMM rumor slip out not along ago to an ACE dinner with one more important detail, which I had heard as a rumor long ago but thought they were crazy. Apparently the new WOODEN coaster may be themed to somehow tie into the next Terminator film coming out in 2009. Yes… a wooden coaster… themed to a Terminator movie. Start the head scratching now… because unless Terminator Salvation has gone back in time to the Wild West days like Back To The Future 3… I’m not sure I seen the connection here. This should be an interesting project to watch for sure.

[cooksta77]

Shouldn't the Terminator theme be at Universal Studios?

[SharkTums]

I had a slightly different experience than Robb last night.

 

The park was clean and nice, and definitely great for a busy Saturday night...BUT...again it comes down to employees, and I just got this feeling from nearly all of them that they were bothered and annoyed to be there doing their job.

 

In order of occurance:

 

- Parking Attendant - Friendly, smiled, said 'Have a Magic Day'.

- Security - Didn't say a word, then questioned me on my bottle of water in my diaper bag. Um powdered formula needs water.

- Main Gate - Didn't say a word, and looked annoyed to have to move out of the way for the stroller.

- Taz's Helper - With a big frown "I'll try to fit you in". Um, we were just standing looking at the characters, hence the reason we weren't in line. I tried explaining this but she didn't seem to care.

- Thomas Train Ops - One wearing an old blue shirt which seemed odd. Girl driving the train doing the spiel just had no enthusiasm or care at all.

- Goliath Ops - Ugh. Total clog at the exit/flashpass splitoff area. Something should have been done. There were kids trying to sneak seats, people just waiting in the way, it was really annoying. Flashpass guy without even looking up just says 'how many?' no smile, not engaging nothing. Ops checking trains...like Robb mentioned I was really impressed to see them running three trains, but it didn't matter with an op checking like he was going to a funeral. Slow, bored, frown on the face, just so not what you want to see at an amusement park.

- Carousel Op - Again, no smile, no engaging guests, did the spiel as fast and mumbled as possible...come on, you're working at an amusement park, you have to pretend to have fun and talk to guests!

- Random glow necklace lady - Freak incident of the night! Saw KT and ran over and gave her a necklace (she wore it the rest of the night till she fell asleep!) That was the kind of thing you may expect at Disney or a Universal park and it was such a nice surprise to see it happen at SFMM. She was obviously happy, in a good mood, and enjoying her job.

 

Again, the park is a million times better than in the past. But until they can get their front line employees to understand that they are the real 'face of the park' it will never be a top place to visit.