The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[MagicMountainMan]

It's the employee preview party right now. I'll give my thoughts later

[chickenbowl]

ummm

 

https://twitter.com/search?q=twisted%20colossus&src=tyah

 

people are riding it right now?

 

Employee preview tonight,

[bostonlva]

It's the employee preview party right now. I'll give my thoughts later

 

 

Can’t wait!

[bostonlva]

Does anyone know what time Media day is on wednesday?

Edited May 18, 2015 by bostonlva

[coasterlvr]

Does anyone know what time Media day is on Friday?

media day is wed i believe.

[SFMMGeek27]

Almost went to the employee night tonight but it just didn't work out... Headed over there on Thursday then!

[cinepro]

Just got back from the employee night, so do I get to be the first review...?

 

Got to the park at 7:30, and there was already a pretty big line for the 8pm opening. The line was almost to the back of the station, and it took us 45 minutes to get to the loading platform. My son and I wanted to ride in the front row, so we stood in the long front row line which added another 45 minutes to the wait. They were running three trains, but they weren't loading the front row on the purple train, so that slowed down the front-row line considerably.

 

I kept track of the loading times, and until about 9pm, they were running 2- 5 minutes per train. But after 9pm, it started averaging 1.5 - 3 minutes per train.

 

We finally got to board (the orange train), and all I can say is wow! Six Flags really hit a home run with this ride. In short, the best coaster of this type that I've ridden is El Toro (7 years ago), and I wasn't sure I'd ever get anything like this on the west coast. But this ride put a smile on my face just like El Toro did. It's a really, really good time. I remember riding El Toro and going over the hills and thinking "If I didn't have this lap bar, I could probably fly 100 yards through the air". I had the same felling on TC. It's really good "ejector airtime".

 

The best part of the ride was the 2nd lap. We were about half way up hill when the blue train started up their lift, and our chain slowed down considerably. So for those who are wondering, they can apparently vary the speed of the hills to race the trains (maybe it's done automatically?) By the time we got to the top, the trains were neck and neck. The 2nd lap was one of the craziest roller coaster rides I've ever had. It's hard to describe how weird it is to be doing barrel rolls and look "up" and see the other train mirroring you. The trains weave in and out and it just really adds a layer of excitement to the ride.

 

Afterwards, we went and got the hot-dog dinner SF was serving, and by then the line was extended well out of the station and back into the park. I suspect they'll be running it past midnight if they can't get the load times down well below 2minutes. I watched several more trains go, and didn't see any others synced up, so I don't know how common it will be. Obviously they'll do it for the media shoots, so you guys that get to go on those are very lucky!

 

All in all, I would rate this up there with the best coasters at Magic Mountain (I tend to like the fast and fun coasters like Goliath and Apocalypse the most).

[Superbatboy]

Been reading through IG posts from Employee night and there is an overwhelming amount of positive feedback about TC. Making me excited to ride

[ioio]

cinepro, questions

 

(1) if the train coming out of the station isn't near the lift yet, does the other train come to a stop before the green lift? Or does the blue-green transition train go up the lift no matter if the other train is ready or not?

 

(2) how come they weren't running the front seats on the purple train?

 

(3) how did they light up TC at night? or is it dark?

 

(4) which parts gave you 'ejector' airtime? any floater airtime?

 

sounds like you had an amazing time!

[Gnome]

Been reading through IG posts from Employee night and there is an overwhelming amount of positive feedback about TC. Making me excited to ride

Woah. Many people are proclaiming it their new favorite and happy it replaced What Colossus was

[Dietcokevan]

Got to ride it tonight. The ride is easily the best at SFMM. The train once it makes the turn out of the station is "launched" into the funky hills, which were fun and provided with small pops of airtime. The "launch" took me by surprise.

 

The drops of the lifts are amazing, I rode it in the back and would compare it to El Toro's first drop due to you being out of your seat all the way down. But you get to do them twice, which is great and theyre followed by small pops on the little hills at the bottom of them.

 

The blue side enters the turnaround/highfive with some ejector air, it is not sustained for very long but its there. The highfive is great, but the headchoppers and the airtime that was provided after you come out of it was one of the highlights. When you head into the airtime hill under the stall, its a mix of Goliath's airtime hill, in terms of how long it lasts, and one of El Toro's first few hills in terms of strength. You get sustained ejector for a good couple of seconds. Its probably my favorite part of the blue side. The zero-G roll is intense and quick, probably comparable to Batman's in terms of how you're "whipped". The turnaround parts all provided airtime, I found the outside banking one to best of them though. They all had pops of ejector airtime.

 

The greenside was probably my favorite of the two though. The first time the drop caught me by surprise, despite knowing it was coming. The quick transitions in and out of the highfive on the green side reminded me slightly of Maverick, maybe not as intense but easily smoother. I found the greenside highfive to be better. The double down was the highlight of the greenside, the first part is nice instance of ejector, then second you fall back down to your seat, you turn slightly to the right and then your back out of your seat again, this time only more intensely. The stall was fantastic the hangtime is incredible, you feel like you're never going to flip right-side-up again. The you hit the hill before the second turn around, which also gives airtime. Then you hit the greenside of the turnaround, again lots of pops but no really long sustained ejector airtime.

 

The ride overall was great, and its easily the best at SFMM. While it does not provide a lot of that long-term sustained ejector air, like say El Toro does. It does however it makes up for it by the quantity of airtime. There is lots of it throughout the ride, I look forward to seeing other reviews in the coming days.

 

For Scream, they still have Scream's old trains on the new colors and it still has that Scream rattle. Very minor changes to Scream aside from the paintjob.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Dietcokevan

[Dietcokevan]

*delete*

Edited May 18, 2015 by Dietcokevan

[MagicMountainMan]

Will post a more in depth review later, but this ride is a killer and everyone agrees! Also, definitely a back row ride.

[coasterlvr]

there's about 400 pictures of the i rode first button on instagram lol

 

come say hi to the bald asian guy with this shirt tomorrow or tuesday. i'll be holding up a wall somewhere in between rides.

[MagicMountainMan]

cinepro, questions

 

(1) if the train coming out of the station isn't near the lift yet, does the other train come to a stop before the green lift? Or does the blue-green transition train go up the lift no matter if the other train is ready or not?

 

(2) how come they weren't running the front seats on the purple train?

 

(3) how did they light up TC at night? or is it dark?

 

(4) which parts gave you 'ejector' airtime? any floater airtime?

 

sounds like you had an amazing time!

1) The brake run before the green lift always slows the train down, no matter what. No stopping though.

 

2) No idea.

 

3) The lights for the structure will be coming later this summer, I promise.

 

4) All of the larger hills gave ejector airtime. The small ones gave quick pops.

[cinepro]

cinepro, questions

 

(1) if the train coming out of the station isn't near the lift yet, does the other train come to a stop before the green lift? Or does the blue-green transition train go up the lift no matter if the other train is ready or not?

 

It goes up no matter what. I didn't see any effort to sync the trains, and the only time I saw them sync'd was on my run. Like I said, it was taking them a while to get the trains loaded at first, so I think sync'ing was the last thing on their mind. Maybe later in the evening they got that worked out.

 

(2) how come they weren't running the front seats on the purple train?

 

I'm not sure. They did run the purple train with people in the front row a few times at first, then around 8:30 they stopped. While I was waiting in the line for front row (with about 15 pairs of people in front of me), they did two purple train runs with the front row, then stopped again. When I got to the front gate, it was purple and they made me wait for the next one.

 

FYI, the blue train had the camera mount on it.

 

(3) how did they light up TC at night? or is it dark?

 

It was very dark. There are also speakers mounted on the lift hill, so there may be some sound there in the future, but nothing last night.

 

(4) which parts gave you 'ejector' airtime? any floater airtime?

 

Others probably have a better memory for the exact mechanics of the ride. It all went by pretty fast.

 

sounds like you had an amazing time!

 

I don't know if TC is a "world class coaster" (it isn't the tallest..., or longest..., or fastest..., or the most loops...), and it doesn't have the memorable design of X2 or Tatsu, but for those of us who like our coasters smooth, fast and fun, it's very, very good.

[MagicMountainMan]

My review: I got to ride Twisted Colossus last night in the front car, two of the middle cars, and in the back car. Let's just cut to the chase, this is a back row kind of ride. While everyone else is waiting for the front, I'll be waiting in the back! Being in the back made for some serious ejector moments of airtime that were actually sustained for a nice amount of time. Most of the hills were 'pops' that did bounce you out of your seat, but the two hills coming in and out of the Hi Five element were nice and sustained as well as the hill underneath the top gun stall.

 

Blue side: All about the airtime.

Green side: Absolutely twisted. With a good helping of airtime.

 

Sadly, I never once actually saw the ride duel. Granted this was their first night operating it with a big crowd, but it was weird because they kept having to recheck seats and unlock cars and relock them again. It was a constant struggle all night. I also saw A LOT of people take the walk of shame which really sucks... It's also really hard to get the lap bar back up once they release it as they don't just pop up, I'm not sure if that is typical for RMC trains or not. There is also a single rider line which is great! There has to be a grouper for it to work though so there might be days where they don't use it (like last night).

 

There will only ever be 3 trains on the course at once. The 4th train will be arriving late summer and will be put on the track once another train is cycled off for refurbishment. Also, the structure will be lit up with a lot of color changing LED washes but those have yet to be shipped to the park, much less be installed.

 

Not sure how accurate this is, but apparently in order for the trains to properly duel, they need to dispatch around every minute. Once they get the kinks out, maybe it will be possible? Hopefully? It's still a killer ride non the less.

 

The Screampunk District actually looks pretty nice, they have a lot of interesting props sprinkled around the area. Scream even got a 2.5D sign (not quite 3D as it is just a painted flat). Scream also got new banners around the station that make it look more "steampunk" but it still has the weird 2000s graphics mixed in as well. Scream's trains also do not have any of the new, freshly painted parts that make it match the rest of the new colors which is odd, maybe those come later.

 

Now for the part that really matters: The general opinion of the ride. Everyone LOVED it. The general thought was that the blue side was the appetizer for the green side, and I agree. The green side is much more twisted. Overall, IMO the best ride in the park and one of the best coasters I've ever ridden.

[dippindotsguy8]

Very sad to hear that those of us skeptical about the park actually racing/dueling the trains were probably right. That said, I'm thrilled to hear that the track-work is as good as it looks, and I can't wait to finally have an airtime machine out here in CA. Super excited to ride on Thursday!

[coasterlvr]

i'm on my way there. i'm sure they'll figure out how to duel for the commercial/media shoot. i'm going to assume everyone won't be messing around getting in and leaving stuff etc. so it will pretty much happen most of the time.

[singemfrc]

I wonder if there's some kind of electronic toggle switch to tell the system whether to hold the green train to wait for the blue train or not (im referring to track color not train color) and when it's busier they can say "dont hold" in order to keep the line moving. If this wasn't at a Six Flags park I could ask IOE as they normally do RMC's controls, but not for SF.

[DJeXeL]

If this wasn't at a Six Flags park I could ask IOE as they normally do RMC's controls, but not for SF.

 

I wonder why that is. Cost perhaps?

[brneff99]

Trying to plan a visit this weekend...and brave the crowds for this experience...anyone think there is a chance this could soft open on Friday??

[cinepro]

Very sad to hear that those of us skeptical about the park actually racing/dueling the trains were probably right.

 

So, I'm not sure if I'm thinking about this correctly, but with three trains running would a "hold" on the green lift to sync it with the blue lift actually impact ride capacity at all?

 

The bottleneck is the loading platform, so you load the third train (3) while the other two (1, 2) are going. The green track (2) makes it to the station, and the next train goes (3) while the other one (1) waits on the green lift and syncs up. You unload and load (2) while (1) and (3) go.

 

Depending on the length of the green side, and how long it takes to load and unload, it could work. The ride has seat belts, and based on the increased load times for Goliath after they added seat belts, I doubt they'll get the load time for TC low enough to regularly "beat the track".

 

It wouldn't be hard to program the green lift to wait if there is a "blue" train on the way. If the load time is delayed, then the third train is going to be queued at the platform anyway.

[coasterfreak101]

^I just doubt you would want to strand a train of riders on that lift for however long it's going to take to sync them with the blue side. Even if they went that route, you're going to have a lot of people assuming that (and probably talking about how) the ride broke down while they were on it and they got 'stuck'. That's not something you want to have spreading.

[MagicMountainMan]

Yeah they aren't going to have trains sit on the lift.

 

The main problem I saw loading was that they kept having to recheck seats over and over for some reason. If that and the fact the lap bars are really hard to get up are fixed then they could actually get it dueling.