The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[cal1br3tto]

^My guess would be that either they would rotate ads through, or they wanted to draw people's attention to the prices with something flashy so they'd notice deals beyond just what they were already planning to buy.

Then again I haven't seen them, so maybe my ideas are crazy. TV screens in businesses are definitely becoming increasingly common.

[gforce532]

I stopped and took a look at them, and I found it be annoying when you would be reading then it would suddenly change screens. So I don't think the GP would really like it.

[ericm95]

Hey, I'm going out to the mountain on July 9th, which is a Friday. And I was wondering how crowds would be? Are Fridays in July crowded? Would I have to get a Flash Pass? Because my fiends and I would like to ride every coaster that is open hopefully.

[gforce532]

^Pretty much every day in July is crowded. Expecially the weekends (fri, sat, sun). If you want to go on every ride you will need a Flashpass.

[Columbia]

If there not going to have it this year, why bother about it at all. I'd rather not wait for 2011 to ride a lame kiddie ride i can find at disneyland. i'm just upset that cedar point is going to beat them with 17 coasters

 

Really?

 

I could write a whole dissertation on this (and plan to soon) but...

 

Take both of these mega parks, (CP & SFMM) vying for an arbitrary number (essentially) with nothing but coasters - are they better in overall quality that say a Busch Gardens with less than half the coasters? IMHO, no. At a certain point, you have to sacrifice when it comes to that many coasters - and personally I think it's too much when other things, like mid level attractions, shows etc. have to suffer or get removed.

 

Locally, both (then) PGA and SFMW had a similar coaster war - you know who won?

 

No one.

 

Both had to sacrifice shows, classic attractions (Scenic Railway) and overall quality (7 Plazas vs. themed areas) to claim they had 1 more coaster than the other.

 

Coasters are not everything*, you must have your A-B-C-D ticket attractions (balance) too. Re: How long did Flashback just sit around? Metro? Rode Mean Streak recently?

 

Consider it a Panamax**...of theme park rides. There's simply not enough logical room in some parks for more! It's not about the size of your coaster count - it's about how you use the coasters you have to deliver a good experience on each one. (Get your minds out of the gutter!)

 

Okay then, off my soapbox.

 

*Absolutely Reliable had a great shirt: "I make up fully 0.0001% of your total park attendance - where's my new coaster?"

**Panamax - a ship specifically designed to be the largest possible while still fitting (barely) in the Panama Canal.

[WFChris]

^ Um, you are totally forgetting that SFMM is the XTREME PARK. Totally makes the coaster count legit.

[ericm95]

^Pretty much every day in July is crowded. Expecially the weekends (fri, sat, sun). If you want to go on every ride you will need a Flashpass.

Would a regular flash pass work?

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

"Six Flags Magic Mountain's new family coaster has been postponed to 2011."

 

Figures. They seem to get a lot of stuff postponed: Superman, X, etc.

[AWill961]

^Pretty much every day in July is crowded. Expecially the weekends (fri, sat, sun). If you want to go on every ride you will need a Flashpass.

 

Not true whatsoever.

 

I've been on Sundays and Fridays during July of last year. You do not need a flash pass to ride the 14 primary roller coasters (not including the two junior roller coasters).

 

 

"Six Flags Magic Mountain's new family coaster has been postponed to 2011."

 

Figures. They seem to get a lot of stuff postponed: Superman, X, etc.

 

 

X or Superman weren't postponed on the same basis as Mr. Six's. X had some malfunctions or problems I heard that prevented it from debuting as was anticipated.

[coasterking2981]

Seems like Terminator's audio won't be returning at all: http://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_magic_mountain.htm

 

Being that this is simply a rumor, can someone confirm with Jay Thomas if this is true or not?

 

I mean, its not like without the audio the ride completely sucks, but it is strange flying through the ride's course without "TAKE THE TUNNEL"

[atem122]

Fact: Terminator has no audio.

Fact: SFMM advertised the ride as having audio for at least a couple weeks after it stopped working.

Fact: This was a huge engineering fail.

Fact: SFMM LIED TO US!!!!! This is the biggest fail of the century! I used to go up and ride this every weekend since the audio track was so intense, but now I'm barely ever going to go back. IMO they ruined a top ten for California woodie.

 

 

Although to be honest, I think if we're not getting audio, we should get a back seat!

[coasterkyle]

^ Please tell me you using Sarcasm in your post. Because recently its been hard to tell who is and who isn't.

[atem122]

In short, yes. It was sarcastic.

[coasterking2981]

Fact: SFMM LIED TO US!!!!! This is the biggest fail of the century! I used to go up and ride this every weekend since the audio track was so intense, but now I'm barely ever going to go back. IMO they ruined a top ten for California woodie.

/quote]

 

Actually, that's not the biggest fail of the century.

 

Failing to get a 28ft tall kiddie ride up, with the right height requirement, and then postponing its opening for a year, is the biggest fail of the century

 

Although SFMM probably has a legit reason for it, at least.

[rcdude]

Seems like Terminator's audio won't be returning at all: http://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_magic_mountain.htm

 

I mean, its not like without the audio the ride completely sucks, but it is strange flying through the ride's course without "TAKE THE TUNNEL"

 

I never really thought the audio added much on Terminator. During the actual ride, I found it was usually difficult to hear for the most part and it was just annoying while sitting on the brake run because it was too loud. The only part of the ride where I actually liked it was the lifthill and the "TAKE THE TUNNEL!" part, which I somehow always heard once I discovered where in the ride it happened.

 

I've been skeptical about the audio ever since this ride opened because it just seemed like the system would get damaged on a wooden roller coaster. It also seemed like it would be hard to hear because a wooden coaster usually is louder than a steel coaster and the speakers aren't right by your ears on Terminator like they are on many other rides. I was right about the second one, and the first one may be why the audio won't be returning.

 

Even without the audio, Terminator is still one of my favorite coasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain (4th by day, 1st at night). Besides, if you look at roller coasters in general most of them don't have soundtracks. It may be awkward at first with the audio missing, but I'm sure the GP will forget it ever existed in a few years (if it even takes that long). I also think that we need a new WCB tradition: during Terminator ERT, everyone has to yell "TAKE THE TUNNEL!" to keep the only memorable part of the audio track alive.

[SharkTums]

I've been trying to tell you guys since WCB that there will be no more audio on Terminator. Really a big fail if you ask me.

Edited June 5, 2010 by robbalvey

[trcg721]

There's another rumor on Screamscapeabout Colossus getting a major rehab and possible new trains.

[gforce532]

^Thats good news, colossus has been way over due for it.

Edited June 5, 2010 by robbalvey

[CorkscrewFoley]

Maybe they'll bring back the double down (or is it up)...

[Calicoasters]

Maybe they'll bring back the double down (or is it up)...

 

I still need to try the double down (from KFC) but yes, it was down...

 

The audio on Terminator was a nice thought, but it really didn't enhance the ride experience when the ride is so much louder than the audio. It actually hurt the ride experience when the volume was way too loud. I'd rather see another passenger car added to the train.

[robbalvey]

Seems like Terminator's audio won't be returning at all: http://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_magic_mountain.htm

Like Elissa said, we have been saying this since WCB!!! Why do none of you listen to what we have to say???

 

Maybe we should just STOP reporting on what we might know all together.

[fatdaddy]

Ok, so didn't they add brakes to colossus to run more trains, because now that its kinda fallen outta favor, can they make it go faster and run less trains. The screamscape thing said something about maybe banking some of the turns and all that, but i would be happy if it just went faster. Sorry if that question is in any way retarded, I'm only a part time coaster nerd, my real hobby is spoon collecting.

[robbalvey]

Ok, so didn't they add brakes to colossus to run more trains, because now that its kinda fallen outta favor, can they make it go faster and run less trains. The screamscape thing said something about maybe banking some of the turns and all that, but i would be happy if it just went faster. Sorry if that question is in any way retarded, I'm only a part time coaster nerd, my real hobby is spoon collecting.

That's exactly right. The old block used to be skid brakes on the 2nd turn around (in fact, I think if you're in the front seat you can still see where those skid brakes used to be), but when they went to the Morgan trains with fin brakes, and you can't put a block on a curved section of track, they needed to create a straightaway section for the block. Which is why the current block area was installed.

 

This was done to be able to run three trains on each track, which I don't think I've seen happen since the early 90s.

 

If they give Colossus the "Texas Giant Treatment" I could see them possibly retro-profiling it to something much closer to it's original form, or even giving in some new elements and the ride would essentially be the "Gemini of the west coast."

 

I would be 100% totally fine with this!!!

Edited June 5, 2010 by robbalvey

[Pingu1651]

^ Ehh, making it steel would be pretty good, but it wouldn't have that woodie charm. You could regain a double down though, and maybe a KFC wrap to the train?

 

A Colossus refurb would be a good follow up the TG's steel track replacement, and it might finally convince CF to make Mean Streak and SoB steel. Scratch that, they should make Mean Streak steel and demolish SoB.

[robbalvey]

^ Ehh, making it steel would be pretty good, but it wouldn't have that woodie charm.

Well, it's a pretty crappy woodie now. I'd much rather have a GOOD wood/steel hybrid than a crappy woodie.

 

Of course, this assumes that the Texas Giant technology proves to be successful.

 

--Robb "Still, I'd rather have a clone of Gemini in it's current form than Colossus in it's current form...who wouldn't?" Alvey