The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[Jew 81]

It could be anything. I've seen giant projects come to a screeching halt because of something like workers lacking certain required safety training. California has some very strict and specific laws when it comes to certain things.

 

Project managers job is to know the regulations and handle them accordingly. No excuse for any delay to be caused by regulations or permits unless the people running the project suck.

[FeelTheFORCE 4]

It could be anything. I've seen giant projects come to a screeching halt because of something like workers lacking certain required safety training. California has some very strict and specific laws when it comes to certain things.

 

Project managers job is to know the regulations and handle them accordingly. No excuse for any delay to be caused by regulations or permits unless the people running the project suck.

 

Things happen. Not everything runs perfectly all the time, regardless of the project manager's ability to properly manage their jobs. Construction, especially in California, can be a huge wildcard sometimes. I've personally been on major jobsites where a safety consultant comes in, does a jobsite inspection, and corporate shuts down the project until all action items are corrected. I've also been on jobsites where their only person on site trained in competent person trenching is needed on another project elsewhere in the country, so the project needs to shut down until someone else is trained or brought in that can perform those duties. It's also not uncommon for a construction company to be awarded a bid sometimes less than 2 weeks before they have to mobilize to the jobsite, causing a mass scramble of personnel. Who knows what the reason is, but things can happen on a whim.

[Jew 81]

It could be anything. I've seen giant projects come to a screeching halt because of something like workers lacking certain required safety training. California has some very strict and specific laws when it comes to certain things.

 

Project managers job is to know the regulations and handle them accordingly. No excuse for any delay to be caused by regulations or permits unless the people running the project suck.

 

Things happen. Not everything runs perfectly all the time, regardless of the project manager's ability to properly manage their jobs. Construction, especially in California, can be a huge wildcard sometimes. I've personally been on major jobsites where a safety consultant comes in, does a jobsite inspection, and corporate shuts down the project until all action items are corrected. I've also been on jobsites where their only person on site trained in competent person trenching is needed on another project elsewhere in the country, so the project needs to shut down until someone else is trained or brought in that can perform those duties. It's also not uncommon for a construction company to be awarded a bid sometimes less than 2 weeks before they have to mobilize to the jobsite, causing a mass scramble of personnel. Who knows what the reason is, but things can happen on a whim.

 

Again, almost everything you listed falls back on poor planning or hiring bad contractors.

 

As an example, somehow PCL has the resources to be the general contractor for Galaxies Edge at Disney AND Jurassic world/Nintendo/pets for Universal.

 

Unanticipated delays are things like whatever the story is behind the late track deliveries. Permitting issues are 100% poor planning. Especially when the excuse is always “permitting” for the parks delays.

[Superbatboy 7]

It could be anything. I've seen giant projects come to a screeching halt because of something like workers lacking certain required safety training. California has some very strict and specific laws when it comes to certain things.

 

Project managers job is to know the regulations and handle them accordingly. No excuse for any delay to be caused by regulations or permits unless the people running the project suck.

 

Things happen. Not everything runs perfectly all the time, regardless of the project manager's ability to properly manage their jobs. Construction, especially in California, can be a huge wildcard sometimes. I've personally been on major jobsites where a safety consultant comes in, does a jobsite inspection, and corporate shuts down the project until all action items are corrected. I've also been on jobsites where their only person on site trained in competent person trenching is needed on another project elsewhere in the country, so the project needs to shut down until someone else is trained or brought in that can perform those duties. It's also not uncommon for a construction company to be awarded a bid sometimes less than 2 weeks before they have to mobilize to the jobsite, causing a mass scramble of personnel. Who knows what the reason is, but things can happen on a whim.

I feel like MM gets contractors from the front of Home Depot at this point. They've gotten hilariously bad at ride construction the past decade or so. Only exception was Twisted Colossus, which RMC did themselves AFAIK.

[Kylis 0]

I feel like MM gets contractors from the front of Home Depot at this point. They've gotten hilariously bad at ride construction the past decade or so. Only exception was Twisted Colossus, which RMC did themselves AFAIK.

 

What rides have they constructed badly?

[Guru20 0]

It could be anything. I've seen giant projects come to a screeching halt because of something like workers lacking certain required safety training. California has some very strict and specific laws when it comes to certain things.

 

Project managers job is to know the regulations and handle them accordingly. No excuse for any delay to be caused by regulations or permits unless the people running the project suck.

 

Things happen. Not everything runs perfectly all the time, regardless of the project manager's ability to properly manage their jobs. Construction, especially in California, can be a huge wildcard sometimes. I've personally been on major jobsites where a safety consultant comes in, does a jobsite inspection, and corporate shuts down the project until all action items are corrected. I've also been on jobsites where their only person on site trained in competent person trenching is needed on another project elsewhere in the country, so the project needs to shut down until someone else is trained or brought in that can perform those duties. It's also not uncommon for a construction company to be awarded a bid sometimes less than 2 weeks before they have to mobilize to the jobsite, causing a mass scramble of personnel. Who knows what the reason is, but things can happen on a whim.

I feel like MM gets contractors from the front of Home Depot at this point. They've gotten hilariously bad at ride construction the past decade or so. Only exception was Twisted Colossus, which RMC did themselves AFAIK.

 

The problem with MM is the same with many SF parks which is they are so concerned about something leaking before their grand announcement day that they don't start pre planning and getting permits. If you go back and look at Crazanity and thir Justice league both which didn't open till Mid July, they didn;t file permits till Decemeber or January. Late permits and then CA being strict for various reasons,including earthquake risk means slow permit approval. Knott's filed permits for Hangtime early, CGA filed the1st permits for their water park expansion last september and the entire project was known by January 2019 b/c all the permits were public record. Filing early does mean people who are permit hunters can reveal the project early. That's a potential "price to pay" to get stuff open on time, rather than mid July..2017, 2018 SFMM and 2019 not even open yet.

[IdahoKat 0]

What ever happened to the massive parking lot solar panel project planned for SFMM that was announced back in February 2018?

 

Six Flags plans North America's largest solar carport at Magic Mountain

 

Been wondering this myself. It's like they've totally forgotten.

In some classic Six Flags Magic Mountain irony, the project is supposedly being held up by permitting issues.

 

I don't know why the park can't seem to figure out permits, but Justice League, Crazanity, and WCR (the station) have all been held up by permitting issues. Even the Aftermath 2 maze in the back of the park was held up for the same reason and was never actually seen to completion.

 

I don't think it is so much the park as it is the bureaucratic nightmare building anything in CA is.

 

Does any of the bureaucratic nightmare of building in California have to do with earthquake standards, or completely unrelated?

 

Somehow, construction across CA and in theme parks is still booming.

 

If it's permitting, I suspect it is 100% a money thing---not hiring competent people to get the job done going with the lowest bidders.

[VegasBaby 15]

So what do we think is a realistic opening date for WCR? I was thinking about visiting the park in mid-November, but I probably won't make the trip unless WCR is open.

[Coastard69 0]

So what do we think is a realistic opening date for WCR? I was thinking about visiting the park in mid-November, but I probably won't make the trip unless WCR is open.

 

I was thinking of trying to do a trip either Nov or Dec, but WCR would help sway my decision quite a bit.

 

My prediction: April 2020

[southpuddle 35]

I’m honestly not convinced it’ll open in 2019 at all.

[tndank 95]

I'm in LA end of Oct. We've been joking around all summer that WCR wont be open. It's not so funny the last couple of weeks now. Not sure when I'll be back and wanted to at least get the credit.

[southpuddle 35]

It 100% won’t be open by the end of October. There is still no station track.

[moviemansig 0]

Do they still have a Gold Pass early entry in 2019? Also, if you have a Gold Season Pass, do you get a discount on a flash pass if you buy in person? Lastly, if buying in person and you have a group of four, is it possible to buy multiple flash passes so one person doesn’t have to pay for everyone? Thanks.

[Kylis 0]

I would realistically see it opening in Nov. They are already working on multiple buildings in the area. Including a cement based building near where the station would be (not sure if it is another building or the station itself). It also looks like rather than building anew they are re-purposing the main buildings in the center.

[FeelTheFORCE 4]

It could be anything. I've seen giant projects come to a screeching halt because of something like workers lacking certain required safety training. California has some very strict and specific laws when it comes to certain things.

 

Project managers job is to know the regulations and handle them accordingly. No excuse for any delay to be caused by regulations or permits unless the people running the project suck.

 

Things happen. Not everything runs perfectly all the time, regardless of the project manager's ability to properly manage their jobs. Construction, especially in California, can be a huge wildcard sometimes. I've personally been on major jobsites where a safety consultant comes in, does a jobsite inspection, and corporate shuts down the project until all action items are corrected. I've also been on jobsites where their only person on site trained in competent person trenching is needed on another project elsewhere in the country, so the project needs to shut down until someone else is trained or brought in that can perform those duties. It's also not uncommon for a construction company to be awarded a bid sometimes less than 2 weeks before they have to mobilize to the jobsite, causing a mass scramble of personnel. Who knows what the reason is, but things can happen on a whim.

 

Again, almost everything you listed falls back on poor planning or hiring bad contractors.

 

As an example, somehow PCL has the resources to be the general contractor for Galaxies Edge at Disney AND Jurassic world/Nintendo/pets for Universal.

 

Unanticipated delays are things like whatever the story is behind the late track deliveries. Permitting issues are 100% poor planning. Especially when the excuse is always “permitting” for the parks delays.

 

I respectfully disagree with them being 100% poor planning, because of all the other factors in play. But I'm with you on that if my project managers blatantly dropped the ball like that, they'd be reprimanded and possibly let go depending on the severity of the situation. That said, PCL is also a much larger contractor with over 4,000 salaried employees. Compared to Borrego Solar's (the company working on Six Flags' solar projects) roughly 300. PCL is vastly more equipped to handle projects from Disney and Universal than most construction contractors.

 

Again, I have no idea what the cause is, but many times a delay can have nothing to do with the actual project itself. Maybe I'm completely wrong, I'm just trying to provide an opinion from all angles.

[coasternut 10]

Do they still have a Gold Pass early entry in 2019? Also, if you have a Gold Season Pass, do you get a discount on a flash pass if you buy in person? Lastly, if buying in person and you have a group of four, is it possible to buy multiple flash passes so one person doesn’t have to pay for everyone? Thanks.

 

Membership only early entry. Sorry...

[Manic Monte 7]

I'd say there is enough blame to go around. I'm not sure you can blame a project manager for a flaw in the design that caused the entire middle section of the ride to have to be built off sight, as well as delays in track fabrication.

[Jew 81]

It could be anything. I've seen giant projects come to a screeching halt because of something like workers lacking certain required safety training. California has some very strict and specific laws when it comes to certain things.

 

Project managers job is to know the regulations and handle them accordingly. No excuse for any delay to be caused by regulations or permits unless the people running the project suck.

 

Things happen. Not everything runs perfectly all the time, regardless of the project manager's ability to properly manage their jobs. Construction, especially in California, can be a huge wildcard sometimes. I've personally been on major jobsites where a safety consultant comes in, does a jobsite inspection, and corporate shuts down the project until all action items are corrected. I've also been on jobsites where their only person on site trained in competent person trenching is needed on another project elsewhere in the country, so the project needs to shut down until someone else is trained or brought in that can perform those duties. It's also not uncommon for a construction company to be awarded a bid sometimes less than 2 weeks before they have to mobilize to the jobsite, causing a mass scramble of personnel. Who knows what the reason is, but things can happen on a whim.

 

Again, almost everything you listed falls back on poor planning or hiring bad contractors.

 

As an example, somehow PCL has the resources to be the general contractor for Galaxies Edge at Disney AND Jurassic world/Nintendo/pets for Universal.

 

Unanticipated delays are things like whatever the story is behind the late track deliveries. Permitting issues are 100% poor planning. Especially when the excuse is always “permitting” for the parks delays.

 

I respectfully disagree with them being 100% poor planning, because of all the other factors in play. But I'm with you on that if my project managers blatantly dropped the ball like that, they'd be reprimanded and possibly let go depending on the severity of the situation. That said, PCL is also a much larger contractor with over 4,000 salaried employees. Compared to Borrego Solar's (the company working on Six Flags' solar projects) roughly 300. PCL is vastly more equipped to handle projects from Disney and Universal than most construction contractors.

 

Again, I have no idea what the cause is, but many times a delay can have nothing to do with the actual project itself. Maybe I'm completely wrong, I'm just trying to provide an opinion from all angles.

 

I'd say the odds are that SFMM chose the smaller contractor because they don't want to pay for someone with more resources who can get it right. If it wasn't a reoccurring issue that SFMM can't get rides open on time, I'd write this off as unusual circumstances. But it's clear something isn'r right on SFMM's end when their projects are behind on a regular basis....

[MagicMountainMan 3]

I'd say the odds are that SFMM chose the smaller contractor because they don't want to pay for someone with more resources who can get it right. If it wasn't a reoccurring issue that SFMM can't get rides open on time, I'd write this off as unusual circumstances. But it's clear something isn'r right on SFMM's end when their projects are behind on a regular basis....

100% this. If this was the first time that a project had been delayed than it could be excusable.

 

The station is usually one of the first things to be (at least partially) constructed on a roller coaster build. All of the roller coaster's electrical is usually run into the station (or somewhere close nearby). The PLC that controls the ride lives in the station. The fact that Magic Mountain is just now pouring the concrete pad for the station (after trenching it a while ago) is very telling. Premier caused the initial delay, Magic Mountain has exacerbated it.

 

 

In other news, Apocalypse should be opening this weekend. The preshow has been changed up by a small, dedicated, and incredibly underpaid team at the park so I'm interested to see what they've done. I still don't know how Apocalypse fits into "The Underground" and I don't think the preshow will answer that, but at least it's a slight update.

[DBJ 0]

Well that is somewhat of good news about Apocalypse!

[thrillseeker4552 75]

Maybe I haven't kept up enough, but is there a pathway to get to Apocalypse with all the WCR construction? Are there even restrooms or services back there yet?

[ryder 3]

Based on what I've seen on visits about a week ago, I think the only path open there will be via Roaring Rapids. I doubt the path from Jet Stream will be ready. I have no idea about the bathrooms, but I'd suspect no.

[zoda 0]

Do they still have a Gold Pass early entry in 2019? Also, if you have a Gold Pass, do you get a discount on a flash pass if you buy in person? Lastly, if buying in person and you have a group of four, is it possible to buy multiple flash passes so one person doesn’t have to pay for everyone? Thanks.

I have a Gold Season Pass. The flash pass discount is *drum roll* $5 off (in person). I’ve always gone alone, so I don’t know how group works, also I don’t really understand your last question.

[Kylis 0]

According to the comments here https://queue-times.com/parks/32/calendar/2019/10 WCR is looking to open Nov 8th. Take that with a grain of salt but it is some info.

 

[chschris1 0]

TBH this is kinda sad at this point...I mean a coaster this size should have opened by now. I wish Six Flags put as much effort into their parks as Cedar Fair did. I feel like they have the infrastructure to really have fantastic parks, but they choose to be cheap and it really shows.

 

Of course I will definitely go to Six Flags parks in the future but I believe they could really get a major return of investment by simply investing in the daily operations/look of their parks. It really is a shame to see bc we all know how much they could benefit from it and as guests we would benefit from it.