The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[laqueefa]

Awesome photos!!!

[topthrillmaverick]

 

YOLOcoaster/YOLOcoaster

 

 

Can't decide which name to use. Neither one has really caught on with me yet

[sfmman2000]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Incredible photos... you are a great photographer.

[_IntaMAN_]

How crowded was the park today? How long were waits? Going to go next Sunday...

[Angry_Gumball]

I feel like I was just there (Ok so I was, on the 18th). I also snapped a few photos of YOLOcoaster in memories of my trip. YOLO's looking really neat, loving how close the track gets to the Superman plaza!

 

Paint wise, a lot of the rides are looking pretty faded...Scream is 1 of them, Tatsu is another. Funny thing is that when you head up the path towards Tatsu from Apocalypse, you can see the 'farmer's tan' on Tatsu's supports, as in the shade of the trees help preserved some of the shininess and vibrance of the support color. I'm not sure if it's the SoCal sun or what it is but it really seems to 'bleach' the rides! When heading back down towards Apocalypse, I at first asked myself how I'm over by Colossus as the supports were nice and...white!

 

Now to process my photos (shot in RAW) for my SoCal trip report

[pdcon]

Does anyone know if that truck in apocanators que was purchased from Disney? Its the truck right before you enter the inner part of the que. the reason why I ask is because there is a perfect hidden mickey on the side where the exhaust is dented.

[cmullin]

Great photos, you are an amazing photographer! YOLOcoaster looks really nice. It does look awfully short.

[disney4me2001]

Does anyone know if that truck in apocanators que was purchased from Disney? Its the truck right before you enter the inner part of the que. the reason why I ask is because there is a perfect hidden mickey on the side where the exhaust is dented.

 

It was provided by Warner Bros. When it was Terminator Salvation: The Ride, there was a sign next to the truck stating that it was actually used in the film. Same story with the Jeeps located in the queue (the one outside the entrance and the one right before you get to the truck).

 

But yes, I too have noticed the hidden Mickey! Just pure coincidence though.

[Musketeer]

How crowded was the park today? How long were waits? Going to go next Sunday...

 

My friend and I went for a couple hours today. It wasn't too bad. X2 and Apocalypse were only running one train so we skipped those. Scream only had one train out but it was just about a two train wait. Everything else was pretty easy to get on with only 5-10 minute waits. Tatsu and Superman had about 30ish minute waits. Sundays are usually good days to go.

[Xmeister]

I went yesterday (the 20th) and had a great visit. For the most part the employees were friendly and most everything was at least a two train op.

 

As a ride operator myself, I do have to ask is it ok for the operators to congregate around the panel and hang out at this park? I saw this on several coasters. On Goliath, there were at least five employees standing around chatting. If I did that at Disney or Legoland, it would be a safety violation / reprimand. In my experience, the panel operator is supposed to have their eyes on the cameras, and/or station track. Not complaining here, I was just a little puzzled.

 

On a few positive notes , Colossus was running great, Superman is so much better backwards, I noticed very little train stacking, Viper was running smooth, and I love DC Universe way more than I ever liked Gotham City Backlot.

 

Oh and I'm never visiting a Six Flags park without at least Flashpass Gold again. This was my first time using any Flashpass or Q-Bot and it enabled my family to go on so many more rides than we would've without it. It was a wonderful tool for the visit.

 

Now that I've moved from Florida back to San Diego, I'm going to be coming here way more than I used to. If only we could land a coaster on the same caliber as El Toro, NTAG, or IRAT. But from the rumors it might not be that much longer!

[dippindotsguy8]

I went yesterday (the 20th) and had a great visit. For the most part the employees were friendly and most everything was at least a two train op.

 

As a ride operator myself, I do have to ask is it ok for the operators to congregate around the panel and hang out at this park? I saw this on several coasters. On Goliath, there were at least five employees standing around chatting. If I did that at Disney or Legoland, it would be a safety violation / reprimand. In my experience, the panel operator is supposed to have their eyes on the cameras, and/or station track. Not complaining here, I was just a little puzzled.

 

 

 

I too have noticed this almost every time I've been to the park. There's always at least 2 or 3, sometimes more employees on controls. At first I thought it was for training or something, but it doesn't seem that way. Again, not saying it's a problem, but it's odd.

[Jew]

There's no cameras to look at @ SFMM. Nor do they really do anything except be a glorified ride operator. I wouldn't run my park that way, but it's not really a huge deal. Most of the SFMM panels don't even have panel views for the ride operators...you just see a fault light go on and wait for the mechanics..

Edited April 22, 2013 by Jew

[Vonni]

Judging from what I read on here the employees at MM are extremely unprofessional

[Gnome]

What do you expect from the demographic who acquire a low level job at SFMM? Its kind of the nature of the beast.

[azza29]

What do you expect from the demographic who acquire a low level job at SFMM? Its kind of the nature of the beast.

 

True, but makes you wonder what happened to the "whatever your job is, do it as well as you can" idea.

 

Still, would the pay would be significantly different to that on offer at Knotts or Disneyland? Those parks don't seem to have a reputation for unprofessional staff. Company culture plays a huge role in employee behaviour.

[Vonni]

I just think SF corp doesnt really care

[Gnome]

What do you expect from the demographic who acquire a low level job at SFMM? Its kind of the nature of the beast.

 

True, but makes you wonder what happened to the "whatever your job is, do it as well as you can" idea.

 

Still, would the pay would be significantly different to that on offer at Knotts or Disneyland? Those parks don't seem to have a reputation for unprofessional staff. Company culture plays a huge role in employee behaviour.

Having worked for Disney and Knotts, I can say that Disney pays slightly better starting out and there is a greater potential to move up. There's also the hope of becoming full time which gives Disney employees benefits such as health and vacation time. Disney also provides a significant discount on vacation packages for its employees. Not to mention the perks of working for a company with a well respected and loved brand. People love disney, and if you work for Disney people will come up to you and tell you how cool they think that is. It helps to establish a sense of pride. If people care about what you're doing, you'll in return care. Not to say that there aren't people who are currently working for Disney that don't give a shit, but I feel in general most people do care and try to meet those high level of expectations.

 

Knott's on the other hand, I think they pull from a more enthusiastic bunch. The employees are still underpaid and it didn't seem like there was much hope to move up beyond shift lead. I personally didn't last more then 3 months at Knotts. I worked at Disney for over 2 years and would work there again under the right circumstances.

 

I agree with your idea about company culture though. I think my experiences reflect that. And its kind of one of those things where poisonous attitudes will continue to breed the same attitude among others and it seems like it would be nearly impossible to change. I think you'd see a huge difference between SFDK employees vs SFMM, but I feel that SFDK offers more to be proud of. It's not just a bunch of coasters spread out over a hill in the middle of the desert more or less.

[Tmcdllr]

It seems to be normal for several employees to hang out at Goliath, I have witnessed this every single time I have been there.

 

Besides any logical reasoning for this to the park guests it just looks bad.

[WFChris]

What do you expect from the demographic who acquire a low level job at SFMM? Its kind of the nature of the beast.

 

True, but makes you wonder what happened to the "whatever your job is, do it as well as you can" idea.

 

Still, would the pay would be significantly different to that on offer at Knotts or Disneyland? Those parks don't seem to have a reputation for unprofessional staff. Company culture plays a huge role in employee behaviour.

 

SFMM also goes down to Sylmar to recruit a good number of their employees. Sylmar is not known for being the best neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley (though it has its nice parts!). I think a big part of the 'gang' issue they had is because of this direct solicitation from a gang neighborhood...they would hire shady people, and then those shady peoples friends went to hang out at the park. While they have more or less taken care of that issue, the fact is that they still recruit from less-than-stellar high schools.

 

Anyway, I guess my point is that it's not like bad people are attracted to minimum wage jobs at sfmm, it's that sfmm goes TO the bad element and hires them! There are minimum wage workers out there that are pleasant and knowledable, so please don't blame the human being on the wage. I would imagine that it's a tough situation for sfmm to find good cheap labor considering the 'more' upper class neighborhood they are actually in where I would imagine a good number of teenagers leave for College.

[TyRush]

Do the flowers fade as quick as the coasters?

[johnnyknottsville]

To break up the NONSTOP!!! complaining in this thread Did anyone else get the Survey this morning???

 

I think 2014 could be a year of Family focus for SFMM and gasp maybe even a dark ride In both survey's I took it seams like they are pushing for a dark ride of some kind.

[donkeyman18]

I think 2014 could be a year of Family focus for SFMM and gasp maybe even a dark ride In both survey's I took it seams like they are pushing for a dark ride of some kind.

I think a lot of parks have sent out that survey while I agree SFMM needs family attractions I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[VCXfreak]

I think 2014 could be a year of Family focus for SFMM and gasp maybe even a dark ride In both survey's I took it seams like they are pushing for a dark ride of some kind.

I think a lot of parks have sent out that survey while I agree SFMM needs family attractions I wouldn't get my hopes up.

 

I got the survey and I agree with you, not getting my hopes up. If Six Flags Corp really wants to make the public happy. They should listen to us and start a revamp of Magic Mountain! Lay off the rollercoaster building for about 2 years or more. Get some strategy going and really think about this park. Look at Knott’s Berry Farm; they do well without adding a coaster every year (well they don’t have the space). I would really like to see more from this park then just coasters. Give me some damn flat rides.......

[Wes]

^ The problem is they DID try that and it failed! The park's image is now only tied to new roller coasters and extreme thrills...anything less and the market (the YOLO crowd) simply does not care. It's a catch-22 of management's own making. Six Flags scared off families a decade ago and they aren't going to come back. So be prepared for years more of YOLOcoasters.

[rcdude]

I don't know if it's the same survey, but I got one a couple days ago asking about new kids rides. I'm guessing it was a generic Six Flags survey, as although it asked you to pick your home park half of the attractions shown as being "under consideration" already exist at SFMM (a couple were even stock photos from the park's website). I hope that none of the attractions are seriously under consideration for the park as they'd all be a wasted investment.

 

The reality is that SFMM only has about three options for new attractions that won't be a total failure:

 

1. A thrill coaster

2. A non-coaster attraction that can be described using superlatives

3. A really cheap family/kids attraction that won't be a major loss when it gets minimal ridership

 

The park just has a reputation for being an extreme thrill park and attracts guests that want roller coasters and thrill rides. Yes, they could change this image, but it would require tons of investment in family attractions, general upkeep, and marketing, which I don't think Six Flags is willing to pay for, and if they aren't fully committed it will fail. Unless the park decides to completely change direction, I'd rather they spend money on keeping the park in an acceptable condition and/or installing attractions they can actually do better than Knott's and Disneyland.