The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[vedved82491]

If Yolo's line is out to the entrance of the ride, and there are workers maintaining the amount of people the enter further into the queue (like the splitter on X2), the wait is usually no longer than 45 minutes. This was my experience during frightfest

 

Tatsu is similar. The lower queue can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes. Now that they tend to use two trains, two stations, a bit of the wait also comes after you climb the stairs into the station. It's basically like waiting in a whole new line. Now you're waiting for your train in your station to load passengers, complete the circuit, and unload them, all while sharing the track with another station doing the same thing. And anybody who's been on a B&M flyer, particularly Tatsu, know that whole process can be a bit lengthy.

 

My personal opinion would be to head to X2 first, and then up to Tatsu, or Full Throttle first and then Orient Express up the mountain and to Tatsu, before the line gets out of control.

 

Alternatively, hitting Full Throttle first, and then working your way counter-clockwise into the park is great since the GP all go for the big names first. Goliath, Batman, GL, Riddler, and Apocalypse should all be walk-ons or near walk-ons, assuming they're operating.

[steveinphoenix]

If you can change from tomorrow to Sunday, you will do a lot better. Saturday is always way more busy than Sunday.

 

I agree. Never never never never EVER go on Saturday, UNLESS you get the platinum pass. That is the ONLY way i will go on a Saturday. Foolish otherwise...unless you just really love to waste money and wait in likes to go on maybe 3 rides for your 60 bucks....

[singemfrc]

If you can change from tomorrow to Sunday, you will do a lot better. Saturday is always way more busy than Sunday.

 

I agree. Never never never never EVER go on Saturday, UNLESS you get the platinum pass. That is the ONLY way i will go on a Saturday. Foolish otherwise...unless you just really love to waste money and wait in likes to go on maybe 3 rides for your 60 bucks....

Gold is usually good enough. Platinum doesnt really give you much improvement in wait times, it just gives you double rides on some coasters and the ability to purchase YOLO FP rides.

[Tmcdllr]

This news will make a lot of you happy. I love seeing silly law suits fail.

 

Magic Mountain Beats Appeal Of Man Hit By Roller Coaster

By Y. Peter Kang

 

Law360, Los Angeles (February 02, 2015, 4:15 PM ET) -- A California appeals court upheld Friday a lower court's ruling in favor of the operator of Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park in a liability and negligence suit filed by a customer who was hit by a roller coaster while attempting to retrieve his lost hat.

Carlos Ibanez suffered traumatic brain injury at the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park in August 2008, when he was hit by a roller coaster called the “Ninja” as he was walking in a restricted area in which the ride was operating. Ibanez wanted to retrieve his lost Dodgers hat, which had been given to him by a deceased uncle.

 

Ibanez reportedly ignored employees’ verbal warnings to not attempt to find his hat because it was too dangerous and climbed two fences to enter a prohibited area where he was then hit in the head by the roller coaster. His claims against Magic Mountain LLC for negligence, premises liability, strict liability, common carrier liability and other claims were tried twice. The jury deadlocked in the first and the court declared a mistrial. In the second trial, the jury ruled in favor of Magic Mountain, finding it not liable.

 

“On appeal from the judgment, appellant challenges several evidentiary rulings of the trial court,” the appeals court wrote in the unpublished opinion. “Although we conclude that the trial court erred in certain evidentiary rulings, the errors were not prejudicial, and therefore we affirm the judgment.”

 

The intermediate appeals court ruled that expert testimony from Bryan Eckman, a safety inspector for the California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational Safety and Health, who testified that Magic Mountain had never received any citations, was inadmissible in accordance with state statutes.

 

In addition, the appeals court said the lower court erred when it excluded evidence regarding the height of perimeter fencing at other roller coasters at Magic Mountain, calling it “an abuse of discretion.”

 

However, given the errors made by the trial court, the appellate court concluded that it was not “reasonably probable” a different verdict would have been reached.

 

Representatives for the parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

 

Ibanez is represented by Martin L. Stanley and Jeffrey R. Lamb of the Law Offices of Martin L. Stanley; Stuart B. Esner of Esner Chang & Boyer; and Shea S. Murphy of Law Office of Shea Murphy.

 

Six Flags is represented by Michael L. Amaro and Sanaz Cherazaie of Prindle Amaro Goetz Hillyard Barnes & Reinholtz LLP.

 

The case is Ibanez v. Magic Mountain LLC, case number B248863, in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District.

 

--Editing by John Quinn.

 

Link to Article

 

 

Good.... frikin idiot! Too bad about his injury but it's his own damn fault.

[rcdude]

If you can change from tomorrow to Sunday, you will do a lot better. Saturday is always way more busy than Sunday.

 

I agree. Never never never never EVER go on Saturday, UNLESS you get the platinum pass. That is the ONLY way i will go on a Saturday. Foolish otherwise...unless you just really love to waste money and wait in likes to go on maybe 3 rides for your 60 bucks....

 

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. Yes, it is true that Saturdays are usually significantly busier than Sundays, but on a regular off-season weekend it's still possible to do everything in a day without a Flash Pass (though you'll have no time for re-rides). I also would never recommend the Platinum Flash Pass at SFMM, as the price is not worth it for the slight wait time improvement and you will make a lot of enemies if you choose to do double rides.

 

In reply to your questions, NYTrojan...

 

What's the best way to start at the park now? Should I make a straight line for X2 or does X2 have reasonable lines in the afternoon now? Same thing with Tatsu?

 

I typically start with Full Throttle and go counter-clockwise around the park. Typically this allows me to get to Apocalypse before encountering any significant waits (15 minutes or more). X2 is mobbed at opening as roughly 70% of the crowd tends to go straight to that ride, but the line will drop to around 30 minutes mid-afternoon while Full Throttle doesn't tend to experience the same phenomenon. Note that you will definitely have a bit of a wait for Tatsu as the queue often fills about an hour after opening and doesn't really empty out, so you can alternatively go straight there after Full Throttle and go clockwise from there (though this can result in long lines for Riddler's Revenge and/or Goliath).

 

How long are the lines for YOLOcoaster usually? It wasn't in the park the last time I went (Was JUST starting construction)

 

On a moderately crowded day (likely what tomorrow will be), Full Throttle typically peaks around 45-60 minutes. On busy days or during one train operation, the line can get up to 90 minutes. As a general rule of thumb, if you don't do Full Throttle first thing in the morning plan to wait at least 45 minutes for it unless the park is dead.

 

How long are the lines for the Drop tower?

 

I think Lex Luthor is a bit too intimidating for the average SFMM visitor as I've rarely seen the line exceed 30 minutes. If you go here in the morning you might get right on, but note that this one often opens late. If the line is long enough, the park will open a single rider line and this often gets you on in 5-10 minutes.

 

For those that go regularly, are a lot of rides closed right now? I understand Colossus is gone, but are there other rehabs I should know about? I saw somewhere Scream is getting repainted. Is closed right now too?

 

Scream is closed, but the rest of the coasters should be open. Some flat rides and the three water rides may also be closed. Don't be surprised if some coasters are running one train, especially the ones that only have two.

 

How's the park doing now a days with general cleanliness and ride upkeep?

 

They've gotten better over the past couple years, though there is still room for improvement. It's no Disneyland, but it's not the SFMM of the early/mid 2000s either.

 

fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo: Are they still a big thing on all the rides? Should I bring a lot of $1s with me?

 

I believe X2 is the only coaster that still requires the use of a locker. Several other rides have them, but I'm pretty sure they all either have storage bins/racks or will allow riders to place items against the far wall of the station.

[NYTrojan]

Thanks everybody. I appreciate all the info. It's also good to know that I shouldn't rely on February to protect me from the lines as much as it used to. Think I'll head to Throttle for starters and see how it goes.

 

Question re Flash Pass: Do I have to get gold? I can get the plain old regular one and ride rides while it pseudo-waits in line for me yes?

[singemfrc]

Thanks everybody. I appreciate all the info. It's also good to know that I shouldn't rely on February to protect me from the lines as much as it used to. Think I'll head to Throttle for starters and see how it goes.

 

Question re Flash Pass: Do I have to get gold? I can get the plain old regular one and ride rides while it pseudo-waits in line for me yes?

Yes you can. The difference is in wait time. The regular flash pass will have you pseudo wait as long as the regular line while the gold will have much shorter waits. In my experience gold will get you 5-15 min waits for anything (except Fright Fest mazes and for some reason water rides) even on the busiest of days. I always get the gold when I get the flash pass, because generally if the lines are short enough for me to use a regular, then I dont bother with a flash pass at all.

 

The best strategy is as soon as you check in to a ride with your flash pass, while youre waiting in the station reserve your next ride and more often than not, your next ride will be ready when you get off of the current ride. This way you can go ride to ride with virtually no waiting other than the station waits.

[willthegolfer]

Post deleted by user

[rba13]

[Mater]

It's like if candy and sex had a baby........

[Nrthwnd]

Well, that's pretty.....trippy.

 

And on blue and green tracks...interesting.

[COASTERelic]

That is one cool looking lead car. Love the detail.

[laqueefa]

 

[Nrthwnd]

Definitely want the front row of this....confection.

[TM3988]

I love it.

[StuckInSD]

Not even Scream!'s faded fugliness can derail this beauty. The orange frame actually looks good!

[Superbatboy]

[SimiGeek]

Thanks everybody. I appreciate all the info. It's also good to know that I shouldn't rely on February to protect me from the lines as much as it used to. Think I'll head to Throttle for starters and see how it goes.

 

Question re Flash Pass: Do I have to get gold? I can get the plain old regular one and ride rides while it pseudo-waits in line for me yes?

Yes you can. The difference is in wait time. The regular flash pass will have you pseudo wait as long as the regular line while the gold will have much shorter waits. In my experience gold will get you 5-15 min waits for anything (except Fright Fest mazes and for some reason water rides) even on the busiest of days. I always get the gold when I get the flash pass, because generally if the lines are short enough for me to use a regular, then I dont bother with a flash pass at all.

 

The best strategy is as soon as you check in to a ride with your flash pass, while youre waiting in the station reserve your next ride and more often than not, your next ride will be ready when you get off of the current ride. This way you can go ride to ride with virtually no waiting other than the station waits.

 

Last year MM had an express lane for Fright Fest and the longest I wanted was 4 min for mazes. The Flash pass was a separate add-on.

[SimiGeek]

 

 

Anyone else see MM Facebook post that the ride is "coming this year". Is there any new delays that they will miss summer.

[VCXfreak]

Damn........... That's a sexy car!

[IdahoKat]

I cannot wait until the next time I am in California and get to ride Twisted Colossus!! I rode the original Colossus countless time, and it was a blast.

I rode Revolution before it had shoulder restraints (and it was better IMO at that time without them). I had ridden minutes before the one ride op was killed years ago - and I am glad I was not sitting front car when that incident happened.

Yes, the time will come when there are new memories to made at SFMM

[JeromyL]

Ok Maggiekat and I are in the park. Let's hope it doesn't start raining lol. It's not looking promising. Will need to marathon as many rides before it does

[JeromyL]

Yay. Maggiekat and I got 20 superman rides in. Yay for no lines

[JeromyL]

Uh-oh. Maggiekat just informed me she wants to try Green Lantern. Ouch. Ok. I'll do it once more for you lol.

[coastercoaster5]

You guys DO realize that is NOT the same car as the one at IAAPA right?