thrillrider Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Of course such comparisons are problematic because other parks have higher capacity attractions compared with SFMM's coasters, have more staff who're paid better and more experienced, and a host of other problems. I'm just saying if you're going to make that comparison, at least compare crowds to crowds rather than what *feels* like a crowded day. Six flags is a "coaster" park.No matter how much crew or how fast they are, your only going to be able to pump a certain amount of people thru the turnstile. Disneys attractions were built to handle the masses. Look at rides like pirates, mansion, and buzz lightyear.How many block brakes do there coasters have? They are all built to handle large crowds like a Disney park is expected to have. Like you said, on a crazy busy day magic mountain may do 20,000 people, and Disney will do triple that. Could you imagine the lines at Disney if there rides had the same capacity as a coaster at magic mountain? I have been to Disney on busy days, and had to wait well over an hour for space mountain and splash mountain as well as long waits on several other attractions. It's just the nature of the game. If the ride can only handle x number of people an hour, that's what your going to get at best. Six flags could add more block brakes to the coasters so that they could add more trains, but is that what you really want? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dylanreich Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Along the same lines as ^, I'll also point out that Universal has a Tram Tour and Citywalk to disperse crowds. Imagine if they had to handle the crowds without those? The ride times can already get pretty long as it is IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTown661 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 If USH pulled 50,000 in a day, it would be pretty crowded but it would be manageable. That's the comparison you want to make if you're looking to compare wait times and such between parks. If USH ever had 50k there and i happened to be there please somebody shoot me. They only have sort of 6 rides and that is counting studio tour and about 6 other type shows so lets just break it up nice and even and say 4,000 people waiting at each attraction... holy dope city batman that would be epic waits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XYZ Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 It's just the nature of the game. If the ride can only handle x number of people an hour, that's what your going to get at best. Six flags could add more block brakes to the coasters so that they could add more trains, but is that what you really want? I don't think the problem is with the amount of trains SFMM can operate, I think they can raise the amount of trains they operate and add more staff to the coaster to increase capacity in a more simple manner. I've seen Goliath well-staffed one day and they pushed out a great amount of people causing the line to be shorter than usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollerCoasterAwesome Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Could you imagine the lines at Disney if there rides had the same capacity as a coaster at magic mountain? But most Disney attractions do have a very high capacity.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFMMGeek27 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I was just at DL today and it was dead. RSR was no longer than 45 minutes all day. But many rides were cutting capacity because it was such a light day. Soarin wasn't using a couple rows in both theaters. Also, Matterhorn was running at half capacity all day with only the Fantasyland side open. The line was wrapped over half way around the mountain and it was an hour wait! Unlike Disney to do. Since when does Matterhorn have a longer wait than RSR? And it wasn't just today. They've been doing this all week. So don't just blame Six Flags Magic Mountain for not using the max number of trains, Disney does it too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeromyL Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) I've been several times... While it's not the "best. park. eva.", I still have a good time I'll be there Sunday the 19th Speaking of, I might be heading that way next weekend, on Sun the 19th... how have the crowds been on the weekends in Jan? I know that Monday is a holiday, so we won't be going then, but curious as to how Sunday might be. Thanks! -=CoasterBP I'll be there on Sunday the 19th Edited January 10, 2014 by JeromyL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeromyL Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 HighFive Dylan!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dylanreich Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 HighFive Dylan!!! Lol high five! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I was just at DL today and it was dead. RSR was no longer than 45 minutes all day. But many rides were cutting capacity because it was such a light day. Soarin wasn't using a couple rows in both theaters. Also, Matterhorn was running at half capacity all day with only the Fantasyland side open. The line was wrapped over half way around the mountain and it was an hour wait! Unlike Disney to do. Since when does Matterhorn have a longer wait than RSR? And it wasn't just today. They've been doing this all week. So don't just blame Six Flags Magic Mountain for not using the max number of trains, Disney does it too... The difference is Disney will run at maximum capacity when it is busy. SFMM won't make the investment to ensure all their trains are available for those busy times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arby Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 We are back from our 6,000 mile journey to the west coast and back. I have numerous trip reports to share over the next few weeks but will start with SFMM. If you would like a quick pictorial version of our trip, you can check out the 196 photos I posted on our facebook travel page here. We arrived in southern California on Friday afternoon, 12/27. We had 3 1/2 days in SoCal so obviously I allocated 2 days to Disney and 1 day to KBF. That left a handful of hours for SFMM. Since we have 2013 SF gold passes it was a no brainer to head up there and get some coasters in. My wife wasn't interested in making the hour+ journey up to SFMM so just my daughter and I went. We arrived to lots of people, which we expected during the holidays, and especially since it was a Friday night. After scoping out the park and knowing we only had 4 1/2 hours, we opted for Platinum Flash passes with the $15 add-on for YOLOcoaster. Although I usually take 1-2 days at a park to make a full assessment of it, I didn't have that opportunity with SFMM. So trying to discount everything I have heard about it and give my own opinion, I found the park to be an average Six Flags park. It was exactly what I expect when I go to most Six Flags parks and as such I was not disappointed. What disappointed me was the park operations. It looked like they were running most of the trains on most of the coasters but they seem to have no urgency in dispatching trains. Since we shelled out over $110 each I expected to be able to get a majority of the credits in. Instead we often ended up waiting 15-30 minutes in line after showing up with our FP return time. That put a damper on our progress and limited us to 10 credits. You will note that we spent $55 each for a Fast Lane at KBF a few days later and picked up 8 credits there in less than 2 1/2 hours despite KBF being noticeably busier than SFMM. Despite me spending too much money at this park on the Platinum Fast Passes, we did have an enjoyable 4 hours or so at the park and look forward to our next visit to pick up the rest of the credits. On to some pictures and commentary. Welcome to Six Flags Magic Mountain - my first time. Viper is photogenic but we passed on it initially hoping to pick it up on our way out. Wonder how that worked out... Flash Passes were a necessity on this day although a waste of money for Platinum. If I had it to do over again I'd go with Gold since we didn't save much time with Platinum due to operating procedures. Our first ride of the day was Tatsu. It was fun but didn't exceed Manta at SWO. All the stations were packed including Tatsu. They were running both sides which is something I haven't seen much during my travels to Six Flags parks. Apocalypse was an unexpected surprise. I loved the ride! After the fact I see that this is a CGI woodie - no wonder I loved it. I have no idea what this is. I was getting plenty of free oxygen just walking past. We chose to save this until last since we aren't fans of stand up coasters. We ran out of time so we will have to hit it next time. The hot topic for SFMM right now is Full Throttle, AKA YOLOCoaster. On to Colossus. We only rode the Red train and I was not impressed with this coaster at all. After getting a reservation time and *still* waiting 15 minutes, we were lucky and got front row seats. I thought the ride was great except for the length. I was shocked when we got to the station wondering where the second half to the ride was. Yet another Goliath which is a different coaster than any of the other Goliaths we rode. It was average for a hyper coaster. Some standard Six Flags false front buildings that is their classification of theming. They are in good repair making them fun to look at but not adding much. Green Lantern - need I say more. This was top on my daughter's list and it did not disappoint. We were lucky and got in a balanced car. I usually prefer floater air, but the ejector air I got on this was awesome! This is one of the top coasters in this park and I will return to SFMM just to ride this again. Great concept on the cars - no discomfort to me. Any control panel enthusiasts out there? Here's an op station shot for you. Semper Fi! We wanted to do this but ran out of time. Next time we will get it. The YOLO station looks good to me despite all the controversy over it. The young generation that this is aimed towards seemed to enjoy it and have a good time. It is certainly different than any other coaster station I've been in. SFMM was decked out for Christmas - at least around the front plaza trees. Good bye SFMM. Until next time. For the RV enthusiast in me, I really liked the RV parking with a canopy. That would certainly help to keep the heat down during the summer. I wish more parks did this - kudos to SFMM for this nice touch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Monte Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I'm surprised how much you liked Green Lantern. Because it is pretty universally bashed around here, mostly by male riders. I enjoy it too, and like you, have it in my top 3 rides at the park, along with Apocalypse and Full Throttle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I've ridden Insane at Grona Lund and was surprised at how good it was, but I've yet to ride Green Lantern (haven't been to Magic Mountain for a few years). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasternut Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 ^^ The "Grunt Lantern" is just too painful. I've ridden it twice, one forward and once backward and hated it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I can't even express in writing how much I hate Green Lantern. The ride is beyond horrible, and other than the Great Adventure Viper it's by far the worst ride I've ever ridden in my life. That last element simultaneously gave me a throbbing toothache and guaranteed that I'd never have kids. If I ever ride it again I'll wear a mouthguard and a cup like I'm in the NFL. I can't believe that a brand new ride is this bad. It seemed to be universally hated by everyone else getting off the ride too. I generally have a pretty decent tolerance for rough rides but this one sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arby Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I'm surprised how much you liked Green Lantern. Because it is pretty universally bashed around here, mostly by male riders. I enjoy it too, and like you, have it in my top 3 rides at the park, along with Apocalypse and YOLOcoaster. Yeah, I'm surprised how much I liked it, too, after seeing some comments on here about it. Coaster experiences are so subjective. I can see how some people may hate it if they get in an unbalanced car and hit some of that ejector air time when in an awkward position. I was lucky and stayed upright most of the ride. Anyway, I was putting it off but my daughter said she wanted to ride that more than anything else in the park so I made sure we got it in right before the park closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alilstronger Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I literally just thought Green Lantern was a boring ride when I got off of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Monte Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 ^^You know you bring up a great point. The position you're in when you hit those intense drops could cause a very uncomfortable ride. I get why people hate it. I've ridden it about 20 or so times since it opened, and have liked every one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I'm surprised how much you liked Green Lantern. Because it is pretty universally bashed around here, mostly by male riders. I enjoy it too, and like you, have it in my top 3 rides at the park, along with Apocalypse and YOLOcoaster.I was also glad to see this, I often think I'm the only one who loves it, every person I drag onto that ride comes off of it saying "NEVER AGAIN!" I also don't find it uncomfortable at all, I guess I'm just the right size for it or something. It's even more fun when you get an empty seat and/or a heavy person on your car to throw the balance off! If you're going to the park in March/April I need to go on the same day so I can ride GL with someone else who likes it for a change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Monte Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Green Lantern fans unite! All 10 of us. Haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeromyL Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I'm surprised how much you liked Green Lantern. Because it is pretty universally bashed around here, mostly by male riders. I enjoy it too, and like you, have it in my top 3 rides at the park, along with Apocalypse and YOLOcoaster. Lol. I love this ride except for one thing. Hanging upside down waiting to enter the station. I'm overweight and it hurts. (Only in the backward side). Front side is where I have to ride now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyboy13 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Green Lantern fan here! WOOHOO! Been on it about 5 or 6 times, in both balanced and unbalanced cars. Love it every time. One of the most forceful rides I've ever been on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I think its a decent, fun ride, but it's a shame that it's neutered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasternut Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 ^ It's not the ride that Neutered, it's the male riders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 For the RV enthusiast in me, I really liked the RV parking with a canopy. That would certainly help to keep the heat down during the summer. I wish more parks did this - kudos to SFMM for this nice touch. Fun fact: that was an actual gas station in the parks early years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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