The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[Arthur_Seaton]

Just got five rides in on Crazanity since I’d imagine the lines will be nuts for the rest of summer. It’s very fast, intense, and the height is alarming — as is the feeling of inverting. It’s also unnervingly creaky when the motor kicks in! Anyone else notice that? The seats are at a strange angle and the restraints are super tight, but I suppose that’s to be expected given the design. I’m a huge fan of La Revolucion — and actually give that one the edge (it has more enjoyable floater air to me; the “pushes” feel more forced; and the interactivity of seeing others freak out is fun) — but this is a killer ride, more for the how intimidating the height of the swing is and how forceful the positive / negative-g combo is. To be honest (and this is going to sound ridiculous), I find it a bit too intense. The air in the upswings is more like ejector than floater, and the speed of the downswings make the blood rush from your head. What I love about the other giant swing rides I’ve been on is that they’re kind of relaxing and graceful; I can ride them over and over. Maybe it was the heat, but this, I think, is too intense for multiple re-rides. It’s also a long ride program, and after a couple of maximum arc-swings, I found myself wishing it would stop. I think others will love this aspect of it, though. It’s a great addition, but not something I’d ride over and over (like La Revolucion). Kudos to SFMM for pushing the limits.

 

The station design is going to be a problem as the exit ramp runs parallel to the switchbacks. There were already a lot of people jumping the fence rather than heading back around to the entrance. Non-season pass riders were also entering through the exit and jumping the fence (they were bragging about it loudly) as the exit’s not well marked. Loading / dispatch are somewhere around 5 -7 mins, and the ride is a solid 3.

 

EDIT: They’ve assigned two extra employees now, one at the exit and another by the fence-jump part. Way to be efficient with staff, SF!

 

EDIT: After my last ride, the young woman next to me said “Oh my god! It’s not going to backwards now, is it?” (I’m assuming her eyes were closed the whole time?) Then she puked on herself before the restraints released. There was another pile of (what looked like) puke visible once the floors retracted, so at least she wasn’t alone!

 

FWIW: The parking lot was full but the park was dead. I didn’t stay long because of the heat, but TC, FT, and Goliath were all walk-ons.

 

Edited July 10, 2018 by Arthur_Seaton

[CedarFlags]

^ Yeah, I've noticed that this park's operations on every ride except TC have been terrible this summer. It's definitely aggravating to stand in line and watch the ROs zone out.

 

Forgot to mention it (since I didn't ride), but TC was not doing great either. They were only running 2 trains, even with a line in the station. I waited for a little bit, then realized it was going to be about 30 minutes and decided to bail. I thought TC was always supposed to run 3 trains? Especially surprising on a weekend day during the summer.

[Arthur_Seaton]

^ Yeah, I've noticed that this park's operations on every ride except TC have been terrible this summer. It's definitely aggravating to stand in line and watch the ROs zone out.

 

Forgot to mention it (since I didn't ride), but TC was not doing great either. They were only running 2 trains, even with a line in the station. I waited for a little bit, then realized it was going to be about 30 minutes and decided to bail. I thought TC was always supposed to run 3 trains? Especially surprising on a weekend day during the summer.

 

It had three trains today and the ops were great. Got two races from one train on my first ride. There was really nobody in the station though, so no GP silliness.

[coasterlvr]

I thought TC was always supposed to run 3 trains? Especially surprising on a weekend day during the summer.

 

i gave up on that idea 2 years ago. lol

[SFMMGeek27]

I can tell you why they made you take the headset on Lex.

 

So usually they have wristbands they give you if you opt out of VR, but if we’re out of wristbands (the GP stretch and break them a lot) then we have to give you a headset even if you aren’t going to use it. The collector at the exit has to collect something from every guest exiting the ride to ensure none of the phone/headsets are stolen.

 

As for the paperwork, sometimes it is more urgent to have that filled out than it is to have fast dispatches, especially when there’s no/minimal line. We have logs and safety reminders that need to be done in a certain timeframe.

 

Almost everything that’s done is done for a reason, and the ops are aware of the situation. The operations have been slow so far this summer because we have a lot of new people all over the park and all it takes is one slow attendant.

 

As for Crazanity, I on the other hand found it very rerideable! I would stay on that thing all day! This might be my favorite flat ride ever.

[bostonlva]

Apocalypse and Cyclone Bay are officially closed.

any different signage?

[Twistedtatsu805]

I wonder how soon they're gonna start actual construction in that area? Are they gonna move aftermath to a different place for fright fest?

[joelwee]

^ Yeah, I've noticed that this park's operations on every ride except TC have been terrible this summer. It's definitely aggravating to stand in line and watch the ROs zone out.

 

Forgot to mention it (since I didn't ride), but TC was not doing great either. They were only running 2 trains, even with a line in the station. I waited for a little bit, then realized it was going to be about 30 minutes and decided to bail. I thought TC was always supposed to run 3 trains? Especially surprising on a weekend day during the summer.

That's a bummer. They typically run 2 trains on weekdays during the winter, but other than that, I've always seen them run 3. If the park was dead that day, that's probably why they didn't run a third train.

[Twistedtatsu805]

Was the 3rd train on the storage tracks? Purple train has been gone for a while, they might be getting to switch out another train for refurbishing

[DJeXeL]

I can't recall, did they purchase 4 trains for TC?

[Twistedtatsu805]

I can't recall, did they purchase 4 trains for TC?

Yes, there's blue, orange, purple, and green. The purple one has been gone for about a year now.

[DJeXeL]

Interesting that purple has been gone for so long. I do know that their cycle shop is severely understaffed so it might be sitting back there still getting refurbished. With 4 trains, there should always be 3 in service but this is SF so yea, not surprised.

[SFMMGeek27]

It was running three yesterday and all the days before that, including part of the day on Sunday. I’m guessing there was an issue with one of the trains that caused them to drop down to two. They’re really trying to run all 3 as much as they can, but things happen. I might be getting trained at Twisted soon so you might see me over there from time to time.

[Arthur_Seaton]

It was running three yesterday and all the days before that, including part of the day on Sunday.

Yup, definitely running three trains when I was there yesterday as well as when I was there a couple of weeks ago. Ops were as great as ever, and even got two races on one ride yesterday.

[Ron101]

Twisted Colossus is running 3 trains today July 10th. The green train was on the storage tracks the last few days and it’s in a rough shape. On the green, Row 11 doesn’t work and some of the restraints make a squealing noise when pushed down and up. The refurbishment order went Orange, then Blue for what felt like a year, purple is getting refurbed now for what also feels like a year, and green should be next to go when purple returns. This is based off my observations of the attraction since it opened.

[singemfrc]

Twisted Colossus is running 3 trains today July 10th. The green train was on the storage tracks the last few days and it’s in a rough shape. On the green, Row 11 doesn’t work and some of the restraints make a squealing noise when pushed down and up. The refurbishment order went Orange, then Blue for what felt like a year, purple is getting refurbed now for what also feels like a year, and green should be next to go when purple returns. This is based off my observations of the attraction since it opened.

That sounds logical. I remember green was the last train to go into service so it sounds right that it would come last in the rotation. The one issue with RMC's I've noticed between the two I ride often is they seem to have a lot of issues with the sensors that tell when the restraints are closed. I see it all the time on both TC and Joker. SFDK often has to take one of their two trains out of service for a day or two when it keeps happening repeatedly on one of the trains. Perhaps once they take it out of service maintenance has a way of excluding that row from the computer so they can then put it back in service without using that row and the computer will allow it to dispatch.

[Ron101]

Remember that when Twisted Colossus opened we were promised 4 trains but only had 3 for awhile which were Blue, Orange, and Purple. As soon as we got the Green train the Blue got sent away. I have to give credit to the park for ordering 4 trains because 2 train ops on a busy day is a nightmare, it’s like running 1 train on that ride.

[coasterlvr]

Remember that when Twisted Colossus opened we were promised 4 trains but only had 3 for awhile which were Blue, Orange, and Purple. As soon as we got the Green train the Blue got sent away. I have to give credit to the park for ordering 4 trains because 2 train ops on a busy day is a nightmare, it’s like running 1 train on that ride.

 

they said they'd have 4, and always run 3 so one could be in refurb. that lasted i think a year. now i feel they just take parts from the other one. they need to do something with the seat cushions. i'm guessing rmc must have fixed those by now. they just don't hold up very long. so many just crumbling and totally faded to brown.

[DJeXeL]

Twisted Colossus is running 3 trains today July 10th. The green train was on the storage tracks the last few days and it’s in a rough shape. On the green, Row 11 doesn’t work and some of the restraints make a squealing noise when pushed down and up. The refurbishment order went Orange, then Blue for what felt like a year, purple is getting refurbed now for what also feels like a year, and green should be next to go when purple returns. This is based off my observations of the attraction since it opened.

That sounds logical. I remember green was the last train to go into service so it sounds right that it would come last in the rotation. The one issue with RMC's I've noticed between the two I ride often is they seem to have a lot of issues with the sensors that tell when the restraints are closed. I see it all the time on both TC and Joker. SFDK often has to take one of their two trains out of service for a day or two when it keeps happening repeatedly on one of the trains. Perhaps once they take it out of service maintenance has a way of excluding that row from the computer so they can then put it back in service without using that row and the computer will allow it to dispatch.

 

Back of each car has a restraint bypass which makes it easy to take rows out of service which I think was a great idea.

[SFMMGeek27]

I’ve been on twisted colossus when it was only running one train. Wow that was awful. 6 minute dispatches were pretty good, considering the ride itself took 4 and a half minutes.

[singemfrc]

Back of each car has a restraint bypass which makes it easy to take rows out of service which I think was a great idea.

Yeah I figured it was possible since I've seen it done, I meant I don't know if that's something a rideop can do or is authorized to do, perhaps they have to pull the train to have someone else do it later.

[coasterlvr]

Twisted Colossus is running 3 trains today July 10th. The green train was on the storage tracks the last few days and it’s in a rough shape. On the green, Row 11 doesn’t work and some of the restraints make a squealing noise when pushed down and up. The refurbishment order went Orange, then Blue for what felt like a year, purple is getting refurbed now for what also feels like a year, and green should be next to go when purple returns. This is based off my observations of the attraction since it opened.

That sounds logical. I remember green was the last train to go into service so it sounds right that it would come last in the rotation. The one issue with RMC's I've noticed between the two I ride often is they seem to have a lot of issues with the sensors that tell when the restraints are closed. I see it all the time on both TC and Joker. SFDK often has to take one of their two trains out of service for a day or two when it keeps happening repeatedly on one of the trains. Perhaps once they take it out of service maintenance has a way of excluding that row from the computer so they can then put it back in service without using that row and the computer will allow it to dispatch.

 

Back of each car has a restraint bypass which makes it easy to take rows out of service which I think was a great idea.

 

too bad they didn't get the rmc trains with 4 lights to show if the restraint was in position or not. i think would be faster than calling numbers out far after the RO has left the car. i'm sure that's a more expensive option they didn't want to pay for.

[Arthur_Seaton]

i'm sure that's a more expensive option they didn't want to pay for.

Or it may not have been an option at the time, perhaps? RMC do seem to be the ones updating and tweaking their projects on the fly after issues emerge. Having said that, I've found the ops do a fantastic job of calling out the seat numbers and checking them super fast. The main issue in the station is with the riders, many of whom struggle with basic cognition and motor skills.

[coasterlvr]

i'm sure that's a more expensive option they didn't want to pay for.

Or it may not have been an option at the time, perhaps? RMC do seem to be the ones updating and tweaking their projects on the fly after issues emerge. Having said that, I've found the ops do a fantastic job of calling out the seat numbers and checking them super fast. The main issue in the station is with the riders, many of whom struggle with basic cognition and motor skills.

 

they are on Outlaw Run, and Lightning Rod. Outlaw Run was open in 2013.

 

i mostly see the attendants doubling and tripling back when they call out the numbers. it's far from efficient. the screen like some cedar fair rides have would be even better.

 

also, when they do seem to get the train out on time, the timing seems off. the trains will reach the top at seemingly the right time, then blue does that pause and has messed it up every time i've been riding.

[Arthur_Seaton]

it's far from efficient.

It may just come down to one's perspective, I suppose. I've found the ops to work extremely efficiently with what they have and don't seem to see these kinds of issues too much whenever I ride. The three-train operations were excellent yesterday — especially given the miserable weather.