The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[arrowfanman]

No offense to all, really, but I still think the New Year's event is being overanalyzied.

 

The park is trying to offer another alternative on New Year's Eve. This is something they havn't done before (or at least in a while) and they're going to try out an event that will be free of the alcohol and congestion other parks and venues bring. Simple as that.

 

I don't know much about this event, but wouldn't rule out the possiblity of a "soft close". Of course, that would be "staffing permitting" (try and run Disneyland with as much unavoidable dependancy on minors as Magic has and tell me you can keep the park open until 2am).

 

 

 

 

And speaking on personal experience as a guest to Magic, I guarentee you that you will be "done" with the park by 10 and likely just reluctantly re-riding and waiting around for the New Year event so that you can go home. Simple as that.

 

 

Perhaps I'm just speaking as the non-party animal that I am.

 

-Jahan

[goatdan]

From what I have personally observed at the parks that I have been at for New Years Eve parties (a couple Disney ones), at about 11:00, everyone starts getting out of line so that they can hang out waiting for the count down. By about 15 to midnight, there is no lines for any rides. When midnight hits, there is a little partying and celebrating and whatnot, and then everyone does one ride on their way out so the lines perk back up for a few minutes. By 12:30, the park basically becomes walk on everything.

 

Closing the rides at midnight at Magic Mountain will probably work really quite well because of this. I too had been wondering how Six Flags would leverage the Dick Clark property, and I'm a little surprised they aren't doing the full night broadcast from New York, followed by Magic Mountain and put all their musical acts at Magic Mountain. It seems like one of those obvious synergy things that they could do with the property to both advertise their parks and make Magic Mountain *the* place to be on New Years Eve.

 

I guess that's why I don't work for Six Flags though

[DBJ]

I'm sure the event is budget constrained, and if this proves successful, it will grow over the years. But that's completely on point that the chain needs to work that synergy thing quite a bit more effectively.

 

One thing they could do though on the cheap is to at least carry the televised show in the park. Send it across the monitors, so guests in line could watch the show. If they had the resources, someday air the live broadcast on a rented screen/projector in the Batman action theater.

 

Although I'm not sure about the details/broadcast rights issues they would be faced with since it would be a "public" exhibition.

[alexinla]

The idea is good to have acts at Magic Mountain during new years eve, you just have to understand that you have to "grow" an event.

 

I work for nightclubs and special events, worked for Giant and Gridlock/Paramount for there new years events that got canceled because of rain(yeah, it can rain in december, even in L.A.) and lost a ton of money

 

Basically you can not just say, come to Magic Mountain, see Usher, Michael Jackson, Chris Brown and who not and it ends up raining just to have to cancel the event. You still have to pay the people, no matter if you make any

 

Smart way to do it is to offer it as an option, see how it works and let it grow from there over the years

[AllenA07]

Everybody seems so disappointed the rides close at midnight, but I'd actually be more shocked if they remained open. I think most people are going to want to get out of the park as soon as midnight comes. The park likely doesn't see any real profitability running beyond midnight.

 

Jahan hit on a good point as well. Figure a lot of people are going to spend the entire day in the park, they're going to be very ready to leave as soon as the fireworks go off. I've never been to a park on New Year's Eve, however I have been on the Las Vegas strip (which I'm going again this year) as well as in Time Square at midnight. Both times my ideas of going out and partying and having a good time afterwards were killed by the exhaustion. Most people at the park after 12 are going to be so tired that they are going to want to get home to bed as quickly as possible.

[WFChris]

...not to mention, roller coaster riding at midnight is going to be COLD in January, even if we are in SoCal. From experience, cold coaster riding will be even more exhausting.

 

If anybody recalls, it was pretty cold at night for WCB, and that was in March, and only till 10pm.

 

I dont think people will WANT to ride anything after midnight, they will surely be exhausted (except for the select few of course).

 

Cheers to SFMM for chosing to make a sober event out of New Years. I have absolutely no doubt that there will be plenty of teenagers on drugs though LOL.

 

Chris.

[robbalvey]

OMG! Quit your bitching!!! Seriously!!! The park is doing something new and people complain. WTF???

 

Here's an idea...how about NOT complaining and just going and having a good time?

 

--Robb

[WFChris]

^ Robb, I was agreeing with the fact that midnight was a perfect time to cut off the riding...im sure only the *Strong* will be able to at that point. I have no doubt that the event will be a success!

 

Chris.

[robbalvey]

^ No, I know you were...the comment wasn't directed at you. It's just like, look guys, I know you want to speak your opinions, etc, and we're totally ok with that here at TPR, but it just seems like every time SFMM tries to do something new, something different, everyone comes out and nit picks it to death.

 

Now, I'm not saying you guys all have to go around kissing the parks a$$ with everything they do, but c'mon, in this case, they haven't done anything like this that I can remember in a long, long time.

 

Give them the chance to do it once, learn from how the event goes, and then if they feel the need to open rides later NEXT year, they will, and if the event goes on just fine closing at 12 then even more kudos to them.

 

I have a feeling regardless of what time the rides closed, if anyone from TPR went to the event, they probably would have a really good time. And really, isn't THAT the whole point?

 

--Robb

[Xmeister]

Maybe... they're thinking that riding the rides isn't the important part of the night and that the countdown to midnight and the fireworks is the big finale.

[iZak]

Also, it's not like they can't change their mind after to reopen the rides AFTER 12am if they feel they can.

 

Besides, like Robb said, there's alway next year.

[ajinaz]

The "safe and sober" celebration will include music, dancing, a special countdown display on the park's infamous Sky Tower and much more.

 

Why is the Sky Tower infamous? Did it kill someone? Is it because it is often closed due to winds? Have people died after making the long walk up the hill to see it?

 

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^ I thought the same thing. "Infamous" almost always has a negative connotation to it. "iconic", "legendary", "historic", or plain ol' "nostalgic" would have sounded better. It's odd wording, but not horrible.

[AllenA07]

The more I think about this the more I really like the idea of SFMM doing something for New Years. As a teenager who grew up in Santa Clarita most of the time I sat at home and watched the ball drop on TV. This gives a great option for people who don't want to leave the valley, plus the lack of alcohol (in the park) should be appealing for parents of local teens.

 

I'm hoping somebody on here goes and checks it out, I'd love to see pictures of how they pull this event off!

 

And I agree about poor wording on the website, infamous isn't the best word to use to describe something in the park. However that is more a slightly amusing use of words then anything else.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^That's true, I don't think we should take the wording out of context. I'm sure this will be a pretty cool event. As many have previously said, I'm looking at this event for it's potential and what can become of it 1, 5 or even 10 years down the road. Not everything in it's innagural season is a hit. I might check this thing out if my car isn't acting up then.

[ebl]

I'm taking the word "infamous" in this context more or less tongue in cheek. "Famous" might have been a better word, but whatever.

 

Sounds like a fun event, but I won't be able to attend due to a previous commitment.

 

And, yes, anyone still riding at midnight will truly be "chillin'"

 

Eric

[Jhcbiinoc]

I'm thinking of going-being someone who does not partake of alcohol, yet who wants to celebrate New Year's Eve doing something fun, I think it's a great idea. However, even though I would be safe to drive, I would get a hotel as I don't like being put on the road between 9pm-4am New Year's Eve.

 

As far as the rides closing at midnight-I see no issue with that-while it would be great if they kept them open a while longer, you have to remember that those who were in line before midnight still have to be cycled through, and also-the celebration on New Year's Eve traditionally has more to do with the lead up to midnight anyway.

[alexinla]

Yeah. i see no issue either. Enjoy that the park is doing something different. I was there on 12/31 before, the place is packed! Six Flags used to shut down at 6pm that day/night. Now we get an additional 6 hours free of charge and people bitch about it?!?!?! Makes no sense...

[MagicMountainMan]

Yesterday I went to Magic Mountain and it was quite nice. The front plaza looks really good!

 

A few observations:

 

We were waiting for Ninja and I think someone puked on the train and they told everyone to get out, cycled it around once, and then sprinkled something on the car that had the barf or whatever. I think Jahan could fill us in.

 

Tatsu has gotten really rattly! I rode it like 2 months ago and I don't remember that much vibration going through the flat spin. The pretzel is getting bad, too.

 

Went on X2 twice and noticed that train 1 seems to have had something done to the chain dogs and it's now much much quieter going up the lift. Train 3 is still just as loud, train 2 was in the maintenance bay.

 

Also, does anyone know what triggers the fire effect to turn on and off? It was going earlier in the day but while I was waiting for X the first time there was a gust of wind for maybe 5 minutes and I'm sure that's what triggered it off but it never turned on again for the rest of the night and there wasn't any wind at all.

 

I didn't notice it this time but last time I went on X there seemed to be a quieter train (in terms of audio playing) and a louder train. Has anyone else noticed that? I don't think I've gotten a single ride on X where every speaker on my car has worked...

 

Goliath crew, as always, the best in the park. X2's crew was really good also.

 

Overall though it was a good day and the front looked wonderful!

[Guest]

We were waiting for Ninja and I think someone puked on the train and they told everyone to get out, cycled it around once, and then sprinkled something on the car that had the barf or whatever. I think Jahan could fill us in.

Someone puked, and they cleaned it.

 

There your "filled in" without me being there and without the help of Jahan =P

 

(They cycle the train empty to get the people on the other train off)

[awclark]

^^ That's funny because I was also there when someone yarfed on the Ninja train.

 

I had one of my best rides on Tatsu ever yesterday. Smooth as butter. Maybe a different train?

 

I was here 2 weeks ago and noticed the X2 chain dog silence then. I actually hope that whatever they did, they do it to the others. Possibly why train 2 was on the transfer?

 

Overall, I had a great day too. Longest I waited for anything was 45 mins for X2 later in the afternoon, but luckliy my sister and I had our iPods. Everything else for me was no longer than 15 mins. I felt like every coaster was dispatching faster than a few weeks ago. Especially Tatsu. They were doing great compared to their usual reputation of 5 min dispatches. They were probably around 2-3 mins from when I was waiting in line.

[snowboard83]

Has anyone been able to figure out if Deja Vu is down for the entire construction of Terminator, or if it is just rehab and will be up soon. I guess it would make sense if it were down for vertical construction of Terminator. Although I feel GCI is a bit more capable of building a successful structure that won't collapse than a certain company that built SOB *COUGH RCCA COUGH*... But I see how close that the coaster appears to go to Deja's q-line so I guess there could be a big enough threat for it to collapse onto the line to warrant it staying closed. Too bad.

[thrillseaker92]

Although I feel GCI is a bit more capable of building a successful structure that won't collapse than a certain company that built SOB *COUGH RCCA COUGH*

 

If you remember Troy's lift collapsed during construction, even though that was due to weather it is still possible.

[snowboard83]

^^^ Ah yes. That is correct. I forgot about Troy. Good catch. SOB's lift collapsed as well, and I am not positive but I do believe that was due to wind as well. After the collapse I remember them saying that the lift structure should have about 30% more wood though.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

Still can't wait to see if there will be a campout for this.