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The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

Page 2228 - Wonder Woman Flight of Courage REAL POV!

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^Yea, that store has been there for awhile. I've heard rumors that it maybe becoming a membership lounge.

 

the membership lounge is going to be the last building. the one you used to exit from apocalypse through. i forget if they said anything about that building being anything different than what it is now.

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X2 is back open by the way. Beware though, the seat rotations have become extremely jerky. Damn thing almost just knocked me the hell out!

 

Wait was it down? Hows it been in general? I'm going back to CA for the first time in 6 years if X2 is down again I will be piiiiised.

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X2 is back open by the way. Beware though, the seat rotations have become extremely jerky. Damn thing almost just knocked me the hell out!

 

Wait was it down? Hows it been in general? I'm going back to CA for the first time in 6 years if X2 is down again I will be piiiiised.

 

It was down for a little over 2 weeks. From what I heard, a part broke on it and they had to wait for a new one to come in

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I have a love/hate relationship with drop towers; the drops rarely bother me but the ascent / suspension on the tower can really freak me out. I often skip Lex Luther as I find the drop oddly tame, but also because I find the tower and ride system terrifying (even though I’ve ridden it a lot). I have an irrational fear of the track somehow peeling off the tower or the mechanism failing to release resulting in me getting stuck up there and in need of some dramatic rescue involving a massive ladder. I jumped on it today as I won’t be back to the park for a while and, what do you know, it got stuck at the top.

 

I’m sure this is common and plenty of folks here have experienced it, but I wonder if anyone knows the mechanics of what happened? Superman rocked the tower right as the mechanism released (after the recorded audio), but the car didn’t drop (it just did that little pre-drop bounce it does). We were stuck up there for about 15 minutes with the ride ops communicating through the speakers. Once the mechanics arrived, they were able to drop the car as normal after giving us a warning. The ops gave everyone a free skip-the-line pass (which I used on TC as the line was bad due to one of the train being in pieces). It was super windy and wobbly up there, and they thankfully stopped launching Superman. Needless to say, my anxiety was either cured or made much worse. My guess is that there’s more than one release on the lifting mechanism and the system stopped one from releasing (a magnet?) We could hear the pulley system start moving at one point, but it seemed like it was just resetting or something rather than working to release us. Never again! Well, until next time!

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X2 is back open by the way. Beware though, the seat rotations have become extremely jerky. Damn thing almost just knocked me the hell out!

Was it a ride later in the day? I find as the day goes on it gets rougher and rougher. I am also assuming you were riding back row like any good enthusiast that doesn't want to be thrashed around does.

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X2 is back open by the way. Beware though, the seat rotations have become extremely jerky. Damn thing almost just knocked me the hell out!

 

Wait was it down? Hows it been in general? I'm going back to CA for the first time in 6 years if X2 is down again I will be piiiiised.

 

It was down for a little over 2 weeks. From what I heard, a part broke on it and they had to wait for a new one to come in

Oh thats not too bad then. I was afraid maybe it was having multi month long issues.

Generally the ride has been running though?

 

Also I have decided I will go on a weekday. I hear 1 train ops may make it hard to marathon but the park will be so dead from all I hear...I'll take the risk and go with less crowds.

 

I loved Lex Luthor and the ascent is part of the thrill for me. It is fairly terrifying, esp when you hear and feel the rumble than start swaying (way more than it feels like you should). If it was just an up and drop it'd be more meh imo but that's scary as hell. Sorry that happened.

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X2 is back open by the way. Beware though, the seat rotations have become extremely jerky. Damn thing almost just knocked me the hell out!

Was it a ride later in the day? I find as the day goes on it gets rougher and rougher. I am also assuming you were riding back row like any good enthusiast that doesn't want to be thrashed around does.

 

That's good to know, early in the day recommended then? Never having ridden I have no idea...is back row best for X2?

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I loved Lex Luthor and the ascent is part of the thrill for me. It is fairly terrifying, esp when you hear and feel the rumble than start swaying (way more than it feels like you should). If it was just an up and drop it'd be more meh imo but that's scary as hell. Sorry that happened.

It certainly is freakier than other drop rides. Supreme Scream, for example, has none of that same effect on me because it feels like a more robust structure and the gondolas hug the track. Lex Luther is way more wobbly and creaky and open. So, yeah, this experience was less than pleasant. It could have been worse, I suppose, and we could have been stuck up there longer with a more serious issue.

 

Ops were solid today with two trains on pretty much everything. Only Scream and TC were struggling it seemed (I've never seen a line for Scream, but there's been one the last two times I've visited). Oddly, Goliath maintained about a 3-train wait for much of the afternoon, even when other rides were seeing hefty lines. I watched a rider in front of me pass out and flop around, not on the helix but on the first drop and throughout the ride. She was pretty anxious while boarding, asking ops to check her restraint multiple times.

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I went yesterday too and had a great time. Aside from Scream and Twisted Colossus running on reduced capacity, everything else was running multiple trains and had minimal waits. Probably the best Sunday I've ever had at the park. I rode every major coaster in the park plus Lex Luthor and CraZanity (before it closed later in the day).

 

I won't be back until November at the earliest, so I'm hoping my next ride there will be West Coast Racers. Speaking of which, aside from the dueling zero-g rolls and a small section after that, the track is basically complete.

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Apologies if in the wrong place - we are planning to visit SFMM on the 27th August from the UK.

Should we look to buy the Fastpass for this day in advance? Getting conflicting websites saying it’ll be empty to it could be rammed (as if a quiet day they reduce all the capacity on coasters)

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Apologies if in the wrong place - we are planning to visit SFMM on the 27th August from the UK.

Should we look to buy the Fastpass for this day in advance? Getting conflicting websites saying it’ll be empty to it could be rammed (as if a quiet day they reduce all the capacity on coasters)

 

Tuesdays are pretty light, you should be fine without one.

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I also just want to mention that I had an awesome front row ride on Riddler last Sunday. It still runs remarkably well and is one of my favorite B&M loopers out there, if not my favorite.

I'm not a fan of stand-ups at all and I'm not particularly into B&M loopers — especially when it feels like a ride is just a catalog of stock elements. I rode it in the front on Sunday as well and it was indeed good. The last few times I've ridden it, it's boxed my ears in pretty bad, but not this time.

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I just hope that while they're waiting on the part, they take the time to give the trains the refurbishment they need, buuut, I don't have my hopes too high on that one.

 

You gotta understand, it's A LOT of work for the already overworked mechanics at the park to take a train apart like X2, haul it to the complete other corner of the park (where the refurb shed is), have the entire train refurbished, then hauled all the way back to the other side of the park to be placed back on the track. This isn't Disney efficiency we're talking about, it's a tough job! And they're dealing with very heavy cars that they have to be extremely careful with!

 

One thing about Magic Mountain (Six Flags) most people don't get, is they keep adding coasters and rides that need daily maintenance, but they DON'T increase the number of mechanics needed to operate all the coasters proportionately. So, they do what they can with what they have, and the spaces they have to work backstage with are literally the same they've been for decades.

 

When a ride like X2 goes down for parts, or Apocalypse goes down due to a new ride addition, the mechanics take a sigh of relief as that is a LITERAL break from having to inspect/upkeep the ride for a couple weeks/months/years.

 

This is not a Magic Mountain specific issue, this really is corporate decisions squeezing everything they can out of the personnel who IMO really are already underpaid and work their butts off.

 

As shared NUMEROUS times in this thread over countless years, the park/Six Flags needs to drop this coaster/ride addition crap like 10 years ago, and really focus on what they have and maintaining THAT up to quality standards. The park/corporate refuses to do so and therefore things fall behind, get delayed and half assed, and you see the same issues repeating themselves and snowballing into a lot of what we see at the park today.

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I also just want to mention that I had an awesome front row ride on Riddler last Sunday. It still runs remarkably well and is one of my favorite B&M loopers out there, if not my favorite.

I'm not a fan of stand-ups at all and I'm not particularly into B&M loopers — especially when it feels like a ride is just a catalog of stock elements. I rode it in the front on Sunday as well and it was indeed good. The last few times I've ridden it, it's boxed my ears in pretty bad, but not this time.

 

The center seats (like any 4 across coaster) are fairly smooth while the edge seats are a bit whippy. guessing you more than likely sat on edge seats before but center seats recently.

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The center seats (like any 4 across coaster) are fairly smooth while the edge seats are a bit whippy. guessing you more than likely sat on edge seats before but center seats recently.

Nah, it was the edge, but the front is always a little less brutal I find. I don't ride it often and I think the last time I rode it, it must have been just prior to a maintenance cycle. Scream can be similar: usually, it's smooth but it can get super rough and rattly too.

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I just hope that while they're waiting on the part, they take the time to give the trains the refurbishment they need, buuut, I don't have my hopes too high on that one.

 

You gotta understand, it's A LOT of work for the already overworked mechanics at the park to take a train apart like X2, haul it to the complete other corner of the park (where the refurb shed is), have the entire train refurbished, then hauled all the way back to the other side of the park to be placed back on the track. This isn't Disney efficiency we're talking about, it's a tough job! And they're dealing with very heavy cars that they have to be extremely careful with!

 

One thing about Magic Mountain (Six Flags) most people don't get, is they keep adding coasters and rides that need daily maintenance, but they DON'T increase the number of mechanics needed to operate all the coasters proportionately. So, they do what they can with what they have, and the spaces they have to work backstage with are literally the same they've been for decades.

 

When a ride like X2 goes down for parts, or Apocalypse goes down due to a new ride addition, the mechanics take a sigh of relief as that is a LITERAL break from having to inspect/upkeep the ride for a couple weeks/months/years.

 

This is not a Magic Mountain specific issue, this really is corporate decisions squeezing everything they can out of the personnel who IMO really are already underpaid and work their butts off.

 

As shared NUMEROUS times in this thread over countless years, the park/Six Flags needs to drop this coaster/ride addition crap like 10 years ago, and really focus on what they have and maintaining THAT up to quality standards. The park/corporate refuses to do so and therefore things fall behind, get delayed and half assed, and you see the same issues repeating themselves and snowballing into a lot of what we see at the park today.

To further clarify this, amusement parks allocate budgets differently according to the type of work that has to be done. So the typical daily/weekly/yearly preventative manufacturer specified maintenance always has some sort of budget since it's work that has to be done. Stuff that goes above and beyond typical preventative maintenance (like train refurbishments and the like) is also budgeted on a schedule, but at a much much lower priority. So if something unplanned happens, like now, there is no "extra" budget to throw at an accelerated train refurbishment just because the timing would be convenient. That's the unfortunate reality at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

 

Also, ride mechanics and electricians aren't necessarily ever grossly understaffed but sometimes they do struggle (these are the people responsible for the vast majority of the daily PMs), however Cycle Shop and the other shops on property are almost always perennially understaffed as those jobs don't pay nearly as well as a ride mechanic or ride electrician. This is why Magic Mountain is almost always behind on scheduled train refurbishments and when incidents like the Ninja accident from a few years back really screw with the park.

 

In somewhat related news, the entire park is on a corporate mandated 10% budget cut until the end of the year. The park is now looking at ways to save money in any way possible. Justice League has been opening at noon or later due to cuts. Staffing has decreased. Entertainment at the park (what is left of it) has been cut down to almost nothing. There will be no show in the Gearworks Theater until next summer and Fright Fest has gotten its budget cut as well. Every department is being affected

 

 

 

Personal opinion time: It seems as if Six Flags is headed down the same path that lead them to the 2005/2006 shareholder revolt and takeover and the subsequent bankruptcy. This time they are hedging with monthly flat fee memberships and in park advertising which takes away some of the volatility of guest visitation trends, however to me it's as if Six Flags is playing a type of business Jenga: keep pulling pieces out of the tower to see just how little of the tower is actually needed to be functional. Their debt is also as high as it has ever been. I know that their financials are good right now and it's a hot take, but seeing Six Flags slash budgets at a time when all the other theme park chains are pouring money into their parks leaves me skeptical. The regional theme park market is fickle, and if something big enough or bad enough were to happen at even a single park it could kneecap the entire chain.

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I still think for this years “new attraction” they are just going to re-announce West Coast Racers as “New For 2020!”

That would be the funniest thing ever and I hate that it sounds like an actual thing Six Flags would do.

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