The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[scottiemon]

Really great pics DallasAlvey! I wasn't sure if I wanted to get a maze pass again but I for sure do now!

 

I'm looking forward to going on Friday! We only go once every year or 2. We got season passes last year because we knew we wanted to ride Twisted Colossus.

 

We plan on getting to the park at opening, hopefully we'll be in line early. Do most people go straight to Twisted Colossus? After we ride that should we do YOLOcoaster? After those two I'm open to riding whatever else as we get to it but I'm really hoping Superman is up. We have missed that ride due to breakdowns almost every visit. Last time we rode it was 2008!

 

Since you are going on Friday, right at opening, the crowds should be very light. I went last year on the first Friday in October, and everything was walk on or close to it, until about 2:30. However, TC was not open yet.

 

With light crowds, and based on what you said you wanted to do, I think you should follow my initial entry routine (I may be there myself, so if you see a middle aged tall skinny dude with an ACE tie dye, say hello!).

 

My routine is:

Ride Yolo first. It is very close to the entry gate, and you can often ride multiple times in a very short period of time.

Take the Orient Express up to the top. Since Superman is on your wish list, go there first. It is not uncommon to get to ride multiple times without getting off. My record is 7 times before there were people waiting and I had to get off.

Ride Ninja and Tatsu next.

Walk down the hill, and consider Apocolypse, Riddlers, and Batman. Gold Rusher too, if that interests you. I happen to enjoy the ride.

Then work your way over to TC, and Scream.

Fill in the rest of the day as you see fit.

Last year, when I did this, I had over 20 rides in, and a sit down lunch at the YOLO sports bar, by 12:30. But again, TC was not open, but I did ride Scream.

 

NOTE: There is a special event that day, and that might increase attendance a bit. They are starting at 8:30 with ERT on TC and Scream, so I would think all of those attendees would move on by parks opening.

 

Have a great time!!

[singemfrc]

I've never been to a Six Flags Fright Fest, but Magic Mountain's looks pretty good.

SFMM's is decent and definitely superior to SFDK's, but I would still say overall in California it's SFDK < CGA < SFMM < KBF < USH.

 

I like SFMM's scare zones, when the actors are good it's pretty entertaining. SFMM's landscape provides pretty good opportunuties in some places and there's a good pool of scare talent in the area. From what I've seen the mazes arent quite the quality of CF or Universal though.

I do like that one special thing they still do is turn off all track lightning on most coasters, so you get pitch black rides. Gold Rusher is especially and surprisingly good in the dark during Fright Fest.

[mich311e]

With light crowds, and based on what you said you wanted to do, I think you should follow my initial entry routine (I may be there myself, so if you see a middle aged tall skinny dude with an ACE tie dye, say hello!).

 

NOTE: There is a special event that day, and that might increase attendance a bit. They are starting at 8:30 with ERT on TC and Scream, so I would think all of those attendees would move on by parks opening.

 

Have a great time!!

 

 

Thank you Scottiemon for all your tips! I had no idea there was an ERT event there that morning. So it does make sense to avoid that area at opening and wait until later that day. It's been years, but, multiple rides on Superman are awesome!

 

Just curious, what is the special event that day? **Nevermind, I found it.

 

Thanks!

[scottiemon]

With light crowds, and based on what you said you wanted to do, I think you should follow my initial entry routine (I may be there myself, so if you see a middle aged tall skinny dude with an ACE tie dye, say hello!).

 

NOTE: There is a special event that day, and that might increase attendance a bit. They are starting at 8:30 with ERT on TC and Scream, so I would think all of those attendees would move on by parks opening.

 

Have a great time!!

 

 

Thank you Scottiemon for all your tips! I had no idea there was an ERT event there that morning. So it does make sense to avoid that area at opening and wait until later that day. It's been years, but, multiple rides on Superman are awesome!

 

Just curious, what is the special event that day? **Nevermind, I found it.

 

Thanks!

 

Hard to say on that. Regardless, I would anticipate getting on any ride with little to no wait until afternoon time. Even if the event brought 250-300 people, I would still predict light crowds until school hours are over. No guarantees, but that was my experience last year.

[cfc]

I've never been to a Six Flags Fright Fest, but Magic Mountain's looks pretty good.

SFMM's is decent and definitely superior to SFDK's, but I would still say overall in California it's SFDK < CGA < SFMM < KBF < USH.

 

I like SFMM's scare zones, when the actors are good it's pretty entertaining. SFMM's landscape provides pretty good opportunuties in some places and there's a good pool of scare talent in the area. From what I've seen the mazes arent quite the quality of CF or Universal though.

I do like that one special thing they still do is turn off all track lightning on most coasters, so you get pitch black rides. Gold Rusher is especially and surprisingly good in the dark during Fright Fest.

 

Magic Mountain does have some good terrain to work with for Fright Fest. Lots of vegetation to hide monsters and such.

[mich311e]

 

 

Hard to say on that. Regardless, I would anticipate getting on any ride with little to no wait until afternoon time. Even if the event brought 250-300 people, I would still predict light crowds until school hours are over. No guarantees, but that was my experience last year.

 

Nice, thanks. We usually do go in October but we don't always get there at opening on a Friday. I'm super stoked for that! It does start filling up in the evening but the days have been pleasant.

[MagicMountainMan]

Fridays during the day aren't bad as school is still in, but it definitely fills up at night. Not as bad as Saturdays though, Saturday nights are insane.

 

Scare Zones: The one by TC was decent (just lots of fog and lighting), populated by some cool stilt-walkers, but every other scare zone we walked through was very poor. Barely any fog, and maybe one or two monsters snorting at people and texting between snorts.

Sorry to hear that you had such a bad time... Although I have a really hard time believing that the monsters in the scare zones were on their phones. That's instant termination at Magic Mountain. I would agree though that the atmosphere really does change for the better when there are more people in the park. The catch 22 is that the lines are much longer.

 

In all honesty, opening weekend of Fright Fest is always like a big dress rehearsal. It's the first weekend of all the talent getting acclimated to scaring groups of people and not just one or two supervisors. It's the first weekend where the event personnel have to figure out how to manage the lines quickly and efficiently.

 

I'm in no way giving the park a pass, but I try to avoid all Halloween opening weekends for that exact reason. I don't know how much more the talent get to prepare at other parks, but it's a different ball game when you have thousands of guests to acclimate to.

 

I'd love to hear about how this weekend goes now that everyone has two full days under their belts.

[Double0Kevin]

I was driving back from the Bay Area to Las Vegas this past weekend and decided to break up the drive with a side trip to SFMM. I hadn't been to the park in over 6 years so there was a lot of new stuff for me to do. Here's a little rundown on my new experiences at the park:

 

Twisted Colossus - Amazing. I was expecting a great ride, but not THAT great of a ride. My only issue with it was the two lift hills. The second one realllllllly kills the pacing. I was fortunate enough to race on both sides my first ride, but only raced on the blue track for my second ride. The lack of a second train doesn't kill it exactly, but it does leave you slightly bummed out.

 

Green Lantern - Why? After all I heard, why did I do this to myself? It was bad enough that the ride is awful, but then the operators went and put me and my friend (both not tiny people) opposite one rather small guy. I knew I was in trouble when we went up the lift looking straight down. We ended up flipping about 6 to 8 times all together, and I'm now the proud recipient of bruises all over my body. Then to make matters worse, when we got back to the station we were so unbalanced the ride couldn't put our car upright and we proceeded to hang looking straight down for a few minutes until and operator came and pushed us back up. I hated this ride so much I'd rather marathon Manhattan Express than ever ride it again.

 

Superman: Escape from Krypton - New set up is much more fun and you can really tell that the ride is going much faster now. I doubt I'd wait long in line for it though.

 

Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom - The ride up, unsettling. Sitting at the top with Superman running next to you and the tower swaying, down right terrifying. The drop, meh.

 

Full Throttle Sports Bar - So my expectation was low, I loved Mooseburger Lodge, and living in a town where you can't throw a rock without hitting a sports bar my expectations were low. To my surprise though, the food was great! The beer came out of the taps super cold, which I love, and the staff was a complete anomaly compared to the rest of the park. Our server was very friendly, she checked on us often, and her relief while she took her 15 minute break was equally as great. I have to say this was a huge highlight of the day for me. The look of the place was generic and I definitely preferred eating with singing moose's, but the service and improved food quality made up for that.

 

Full Throttle - I wanted to love it... I really did. The train had a significant rattle which was sad for such a new coaster. The reverse launch was pointless to me. And it was just WAY to short. They had all that room... it couldn't have done more? I'll take Superman at SFDK any day over this one.

 

Terminator... er, Apocalypse... er, Shadows of Evil: The Ride - How did they let it get this bad this quick? My reference point is Roar at SFDK... which after 16 years was NEVER as bad as this thing was. Even on sections that shouldn't be rough... it was. I was very disappointed in this one. And what is with one train operation when they just got a third train from SFDK and they are running a special FF theme on it?

 

Overall, SFMM is basically as a I remember it. The staff looked bored and moved slow (especially Goliath, but definitely not FT Sports Bar), the rides are deteriorating faster than they should, and it's exhausting to walk around (they really need transport rides to the top of the mountain on the back side). I've never been particularly fond of this park, and my visit (other than TC and FTSB) did nothing to change that. I doubt I'll be back for at least another six years.

[Garet]

 

Green Lantern - Why? After all I heard, why did I do this to myself? It was bad enough that the ride is awful, but then the operators went and put me and my friend (both not tiny people) opposite one rather small guy. I knew I was in trouble when we went up the lift looking straight down. We ended up flipping about 6 to 8 times all together, and I'm now the proud recipient of bruises all over my body. Then to make matters worse, when we got back to the station we were so unbalanced the ride couldn't put our car upright and we proceeded to hang looking straight down for a few minutes until and operator came and pushed us back up. I hated this ride so much I'd rather marathon Manhattan Express than ever ride it again.

 

Have they finally stopped balancing the ride on purpose to stop it from flipping? People talk about the other Zacspins with positive reviews when it's unbalanced, did SFMM do something different to theirs that is making the flipping uncomfortable?

[thrillseeker4552]

YOLOcoaster - I wanted to love it... I really did. The train had a significant rattle which was sad for such a new coaster. The reverse launch was pointless to me. And it was just WAY to short. They had all that room... it couldn't have done more? I'll take Superman at SFDK any day over this one.

 

Wow, really? I totally agree that it's a little short and leaves you wanting more, but Full Throttle is easily the smoothest coaster I've ever been on hands down. It's flawless in that aspect. Just goes to show how subjective coaster riding is.

[Manic Monte]

Yeah, I find Full Throttle vastly superior to Superman as Premier launchers go.

[cfc]

YOLOcoaster - I wanted to love it... I really did. The train had a significant rattle which was sad for such a new coaster. The reverse launch was pointless to me. And it was just WAY to short. They had all that room... it couldn't have done more? I'll take Superman at SFDK any day over this one.

 

Wow, really? I totally agree that it's a little short and leaves you wanting more, but YOLOcoaster is easily the smoothest coaster I've ever been on hands down. It's flawless in that aspect. Just goes to show how subjective coaster riding is.

 

I had no issues with YOLOcoaster, either. It's a good, smooth ride.

[scottiemon]

I think YOLO is fantastic as well, when in the back row. That is where the back launch is at its best, as well as cresting the top of the loop. If you are a gold pass holder, you can usually get about 3-4 rides in before the GP enters, many times not having to get out of your seat.

[VegasBaby]

I think YOLO is fantastic as well, when in the back row. That is where the back launch is at its best, as well as cresting the top of the loop. If you are a gold pass holder, you can usually get about 3-4 rides in before the GP enters, many times not having to get out of your seat.

 

I've found this to be the case as well, I always head straight to Yolo during the Gold early entry. I've done as many as 4 rides without having to get off and it's a great way to start the day!

[singemfrc]

 

Green Lantern - Why? After all I heard, why did I do this to myself? It was bad enough that the ride is awful, but then the operators went and put me and my friend (both not tiny people) opposite one rather small guy. I knew I was in trouble when we went up the lift looking straight down. We ended up flipping about 6 to 8 times all together, and I'm now the proud recipient of bruises all over my body. Then to make matters worse, when we got back to the station we were so unbalanced the ride couldn't put our car upright and we proceeded to hang looking straight down for a few minutes until and operator came and pushed us back up. I hated this ride so much I'd rather marathon Manhattan Express than ever ride it again.

 

Have they finally stopped balancing the ride on purpose to stop it from flipping? People talk about the other Zacspins with positive reviews when it's unbalanced, did SFMM do something different to theirs that is making the flipping uncomfortable?

I've heard that SFMM has put balances of some kind on the cars to try to minimize flipping, but recently theyre at least not making as much effort to balance the weight of the riders. I got a ride just like the one he described at WCB and loved it. I think part of the problem is people's expectations going in, also the ride can vary so greatly people might ride once and get a bad ride and never realize that you can also get a much better one. Of course for some people they're all bad. I rode three times at WCB and got all three basic types - my first ride was your basic garden variety totally balanced "SFMM" style ride with no flips and no discomfort. The second ride was the one like Kevin described - completely unbalanced with at least a half dozen flips and we ended up up-side down in the station. Totally awesome. My third ride was the bad kind - just a little unbalanced resulting in those "almost-flips" where you tip forward and then violently backwards so fast it rips your face off. Those hurt.

 

On average though GL shouldn't be any more uncomfortable than Insane or any other ZacSpin, they're all the same other than the layout and the balance. The reason they can be so rough is the way the center of gravity is and where the spin point is at. If you watch the interview with Alan Schilke at IAAPA last year talking about the new S&S Free Spin design, he explains the differences and why the new S&S won't have that same issue.

[Arthur_Seaton]

Sorry to hear that you had such a bad time... Although I have a really hard time believing that the monsters in the scare zones were on their phones. That's instant termination at Magic Mountain. I would agree though that the atmosphere really does change for the better when there are more people in the park. The catch 22 is that the lines are much longer.

Oh, it wasn't bad — it was fun to be able to walk through the mazes with no lines and really check them out. And I don't blame the employees at all — the lack of energy was felt park-wide as it was just too quiet. We'll go back in a few weeks once the season has picked up a little more and the actors are more comfortable with their roles.

[Arthur_Seaton]

Green Lantern - Why? After all I heard, why did I do this to myself? It was bad enough that the ride is awful, but then the operators went and put me and my friend (both not tiny people) opposite one rather small guy. I knew I was in trouble when we went up the lift looking straight down. We ended up flipping about 6 to 8 times all together, and I'm now the proud recipient of bruises all over my body. Then to make matters worse, when we got back to the station we were so unbalanced the ride couldn't put our car upright and we proceeded to hang looking straight down for a few minutes until and operator came and pushed us back up. I hated this ride so much I'd rather marathon Manhattan Express than ever ride it again.

 

Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom - The ride up, unsettling. Sitting at the top with Superman running next to you and the tower swaying, down right terrifying. The drop, meh.

 

YOLOcoaster - I wanted to love it... I really did. The train had a significant rattle which was sad for such a new coaster. The reverse launch was pointless to me. And it was just WAY to short. They had all that room... it couldn't have done more? I'll take Superman at SFDK any day over this one.

 

Terminator... er, Apocalypse... er, Shadows of Evil: The Ride - How did they let it get this bad this quick? My reference point is Roar at SFDK... which after 16 years was NEVER as bad as this thing was. Even on sections that shouldn't be rough... it was. I was very disappointed in this one. And what is with one train operation when they just got a third train from SFDK and they are running a special FF theme on it?

 

I've only ridden GL once when it first opened and it flipped like crazy, but the ride was so unpleasant and violent that I don't have plans to ever get on it again. Utter garbage.

 

Fully agree with your take on Lex Luthor and Apocalypse. Lex still gets my nerves (and I've ridden it a lot), but the drop is nothing. They could raise you up to the top of the tower and lower you down again slowly and the effect produced would be similar. I like it and I'm glad it's there, though. Apocalypse is a misery now. I still love the layout and do ride it often, but it's an absolute mess these days.

 

Full Thröttle, though, is my favorite ride in the park (even better than TC in my opinion). It is short, and if they'd added a few camel backs and a helix before returning to the station, it would have been fantastic, but I think the pacing, concept, elements, and general smoothness of the ride are so well thought out. It's not overly intense and it hits the right balance between thrilling and fun. I get zero rattle from it though — totally smooth and quiet every time I've ridden it.

[singemfrc]

^ What would make Lex awesome (and I realize this is impossible given how the ride is built) is if it were a random series of drops and rises similar to Tower Of Terror, instead of just a drop.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

I think part of the problem is people's expectations going in, also the ride can vary so greatly people might ride once and get a bad ride and never realize that you can also get a much better one. Of course for some people they're all bad.

Yeah I've had rides where I was like "OMFG AWESOME!" and some like "OH GAWD, NO MORE!!" So I usually try to give it a chance, but I'm like that with a lot of rides. I'll still give them a chance of there's the possibility of it being good or if someone pressures me into it. I can still understand why people don't like it though.

 

I still find Lex pretty thrilling when it holds you up there for a few seconds and especially if Superman launches when you're up there.... yeah, the anticipation is more thrilling than the drop, but it's still one of my favorite drop towers (okay okay, I like them all).

 

Has anyone ridden Zumanjaro and had the same opinion of the drop as people have with Lex?

[Superbatboy]

I've never felt even a slight rattle on FuII Throttle, all of the current generation Premier rides I've ridden (FT, Superman, and Tempesto) were all butter smooth. Perhaps it was bad wheel or something

[Coaster Hero]

^^I've been on Zumanjaro and although most people say the drop is ok, I find it to be above average. It's really intense for the first second or 2, but calms down after that and it's a good balance of fun and intensity.

[coasternut]

^^^ I've ridden Zu too. Lex is my favorite by far. KK won't launch if Zu is up, unlike Superman and Lex. No fake stops / slow downs on the ascent with Zu. I also enjoy the Lex speech at the top. For me it's Lex by far!

[RollerManic]

^^I've been on Zumanjaro and although most people say the drop is ok, I find it to be above average. It's really intense for the first second or 2, but calms down after that and it's a good balance of fun and intensity.

TBH, it is the opposite. It felt completely indifferent as to S:TOP @ SFStL (my home park, and the drop tower I'm most used to), until 2/3 of the way down, where it suddenly accelerated to the max speed. That really caught me off guard and intensified me! My father had these same remarks.

[Paradox]

^^I've been on Zumanjaro and although most people say the drop is ok, I find it to be above average. It's really intense for the first second or 2, but calms down after that and it's a good balance of fun and intensity.

It's the same for pretty much all of Intamin's drop towers. They don't really focus on freefall as much as they do on speed. I'd take an S&S tower any day over an Intamin as you actually feel the freefall and get airtime with the drop. LL is great, but I liked Knott's tower much better.

[singemfrc]

Perhaps it's a bit mean but I did chuckle that the event going on today at SFMM meant to compete with WCB fizzled. They had to eliminate most of their events and ERT because they sold less than 50 tickets.

 

So glad I chose TPR and WCB!