The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[jray21]

I think the reason why SFMM 'can' be worse is that SFMM it is much easier for the employees to 'hide' from management. For example, Revolution is pretty hidden and unless you walk up there, you can't really see what the ops are doing. A lot of the rides are pretty enclosed or raised, so just walking by, the management staff can't really see what's going on. SFDK is pretty open, so you can see all the employees from a distance (when I worked there we would use this to our advantage to catch the slacker employees). SFMM, along with most of the larger parks, have a hard time being able to keep their eyes on the employees and keep things running smoothly. I'm sure they walk around a lot and do check on the employees, but with a park that size it is pretty hard to keep things going smoothly all of the time especially with a very limited employee budget. Can they do better? Of course, and I'm sure if they knew about or saw the employees things would have been dealt with. I have had some incredibly horrible dispatches at SFMM, but there are a lot of worse parks out there *cough*Indiana Beach*Cough*Knotts(Perilous Plunge especially)*Cough*

[GLund]

I think the reason why SFMM 'can' be worse is that SFMM it is much easier for the employees to 'hide' from management. For example, Revolution is pretty hidden and unless you walk up there, you can't really see what the ops are doing.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with this. Whenever there is a supervisor around, operations change dramatically. However, even some supervisors aren't that great at being "friendly" to guests either. I don't know what it is about this park and the insistence on some of the employees to basically look down their nose at paying customers. I would like to know how Disneyland keeps their ride-ops in check, I'm guessing there's cameras making sure everyone is doing their job, something we all know SF just can't afford and won't ever do.

 

...are these isolated incidents or do they happen all the time to you? It just seems to me that when I visit, I do not run into any of these problems. I have no doubt that they DO occur, but I get the feeling that you guys are digging deeeep into your 'bash on sfmm' files and coming up with one situation out of 1000 successful ride interactions.

 

I go to the park about 4-5 times a year on very random occasions. It doesn't happen every time I visit, but I'd say every other trip there is a crew that has no regard for the guests waiting in line. Meaning, all the guests are sitting in line or in trains wondering why nothing is moving and its because the ride-ops are too busy standing at the dispatch booth talking to each other acting important because they know the rides not moving until they decide.

 

However, I really don't dig "deep" into my Magic Mountain files and come up with situations from the past---in fact, I don't specifically remember the ones from a year ago! But I DO know it has happened often enough to see a pattern at the park, and its usually with random crews on random rides. I don't let it ruin my day, it just becomes kind of a peeve of mine that a crew running a roller coaster could do it so poorly and have no regard for people, guests, that paid to come into the park. I'm certain that if anyone on this site was running a ride, it would NEVER have these types of problems. Unfortunately we can't have a TPR Crew running the rides at Magic Mountain!

 

But mostly I came on here after my trip to report my day, and if something on the trip happened like my Colossus story, I have no problem sharing it publicly, because maybe someday a higher up at the park will see it and things will change. I love Magic Mountain and will always visit and get a Season Pass because I love their rides, I just wish it was better run so it would be nicer, and overall maybe it would impress guests more and do better financially!

[Gmaster562]

Green Lantern is going to be great!

 

I can see Green Lantern REQUIRING a fast set of ride ops.

[PAL]

^I'm confident management will make sure the crew operating their sweet new ride is on the ball. See Terminator. Can't blame the ride ops for mandatory preshows.

[WFChris]

new ride is on the ball.

 

 

But its a ZacSpin, not a Ball Coaster!

 

 

 

I crack myself up.

[MagicMountainMan]

One positive note- I visited the park last Sunday and Tatsu's operations were actually pretty good! The thing that made it stick out in my mind though was the lead ride op or whoever the guy with the mic is was singing songs and saying stuff and getting the crowd to join in with him. It didn't come off as annoying, it actually came off as funny and enjoyable and it definitely stuck out in my mind. So that was definitely positive!

 

Riddler's needs its second train back though, it had the longest line I've seen for it in a long time!

 

When all is said and done though, I really think that Magic Mountain is going through a new transitional phase. The next two or three years will definitely be interesting...

[ebl]

Speaking of ride ops talking on the mic, I'm getting tired of that "Whoot Whoot!" over and over. Maybe that's popular right now, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

 

As for Green Lantern puns, I had to laugh at the joke. It was ex-Zac-tly what I needed right now.

 

Eric

[atem122]

Lets not make flippant puns about Zac Spins, okay?

[Hayzle]

My brain is spinning from all these jokes. I hope an admin doesnt flip on us

[cooksta77]

If I don't get a spin on some of these jokes I'm going to go flipping crazy!

-Cookie

[ebl]

Strange, I posted a reply and it disappeared.

 

Now that we've put a new spin on this thread, I just wanted to spin it back to seriousness and ask a few questions about a Zac-Spin. Never having ridden one, I'm curious as to whether the cars load and unload at the same point or if they unload, move to Load, then are dispatched. With each car holding up to eight riders, it can give the ride a feel of decent capacity if cars are dispatched regularly.

 

Eric

[John Knotts]

^ Wow, I was wondering the same thing. Whether Green Lantern will load like X2, or more like Freefall, where each car is in a different state of "load", until you reach the lift.

[coasternut]

I've got a new 6 Flags question. I discovered it while at Magic Mountain, so I'll post it here. I've had a season pass with parking for many years now and loved it. I renewed my pass with SFOG (Atlanta) and included parking like usual. This year on the back of my pass it says parking if purchased is good only at the park listed on the other side. Is this true and will they enforce it in 2011???

 

I just came back from 4 days at "the Mountain" and didn't have a problem getting in for free. If they're going to enforce this change in policy, has there been any talk about a "system wide" parking pass?? This is really going to put a crimp in the coastering next season....

[atem122]

^I know it's always said "good only at these parks," but "these parks" happen to be every SF park.

[coasternut]

^I know it's always said "good only at these parks," but "these parks" happen to be every SF park.

 

That statement you made is regarding the park entry. The sentence and I'm quoting now: "A regular season parking pass (if purchased) is only valid at the park shown on the reverse side." In my case that's 6 Flags over Georgia. I no longer have my 2010 pass to see if it says that on the back. I hope it always said than and I'm worried about nothing. I really don't think that is the case.

[GLund]

The back of my 2010 Xtreme Pass says this:

 

"Season parking passes may be used at other parks."

 

This is NOT what your 2011 pass says, so it looks to me like they changed the parking pass policy for the Six Flags chain in 2011. Expect to pay for parking if you're not at the SF Park you bought your pass at. For example, I'm from LA and will be getting a Magic Mountain Xtreme Pass. I will be paying for parking after I drive 12 hours to go to Six Flags over Texas to ride Texas Giant this summer.

 

There's the increase in fees that some of you SF Fanboys were encouraging because they "give away the gate." Celebrate your success.

[ginzo]

^A business trying to get back into the black. The horror!

[ebl]

I haven't gotten my 2011 pass renewed yet, but if I have to pay to park at, say, SFDK (if I ever get back up there), that's not so bad. Since I don't get to many parks anyway, it's not a big deal for me. And because I got all of my Funatics awards this year, I get 20% off of next year's pass, so I've already saved $25.

 

In my opinion, one problem with cheap season passes is that it's too easy to go too often. At one time, a visit to SFMM was a special treat; now it's too easy to head out there if I get bored or just want something to do. I'll probably go fewer times next year and enjoy each visit more.

 

Eric

[Fire2box]

In my opinion, one problem with cheap season passes is that it's too easy to go too often. At one time, a visit to SFMM was a special treat; now it's too easy to head out there if I get bored or just want something to do. I'll probably go fewer times next year and enjoy each visit more.

 

I can see your point there. I went to SFDK like at least 5 times and SFMM twice. Season passes are totally worth it, but the park can and will most likely get old if you go there twice a month or more. Though SFDK is like, 1/4th the size of SFMM. So it happens even faster there, but then again the animal shows do change theming for Halloween and Christmas. So that's always a reason to come back as well.

[deathbydinn]

After only two summers, Six Flags Magic Mountain will dump the Terminator name from its newest wooden roller coaster as part of a company-wide cost-cutting initiative.

 

The ride will be renamed Apocalypse beginning Jan. 8, officials said.

 

The debranding will remove the animated Terminator robots from the queue and force Magic Mountain to reshoot the post-apocalyptic backstory video featuring two stars from "Terminator: Salvation," the critically panned fourth installment of the science-fiction film franchise.

In the Terminator story line, riders waiting in the queue were encouraged with video clips featuring rapper/actor Common and model/actress Moon Bloodgood to "join the resistance" and help fight the Terminator robots. During the "training session," riders were warned that the "machines are coming" and to "go to the safe house" to await further instructions.

 

The new Apocalypse story line will follow a more traditional good guys-bad guys scenario, with riders implored by fellow survivors to "come with us" into a bunker to prepare for battle. The rechristened ride will retain the existing pyrotechnic and fog effects, but the exit queue store will shift focus from "Terminator" keepsakes to teen and tween items.

 

Six Flags is undoing several intellectual property licensing agreements established since 2007 for more than 60 amusement park rides and attractions, resulting in an extensive slate of name changes and thematic makeovers.

 

Debuting in 2009, the $11-million wooden coaster tied to the "Terminator: Salvation" movie was heralded by the amusement park chain as a new push toward more themed rides.

 

Magic Mountain spent $1 million adding the incongruous Terminator-factory-turned-safe-house theme to the wooden coaster, mostly in the pre-show queue areas. The coaster itself got only a few flourishes: a trio of fog-filled tunnels and fireball-spewing special effects. But by and large, the 55-mph coaster largely dropped the futuristic "Terminator" theme as soon as the train left the station. (On-board audio, a first for a wooden coaster, has long since been removed.)

 

Regardless of the theme, Terminator/Apocalypse has everything I like in a roller coaster -- a smooth ride, unrelenting speed and plenty of off-your-seat airtime. It perfectly threads the needle as a hybrid family-friendly thrill ride -- providing a healthy dose of terror-tingle for tweens and soccer moms while delivering just enough adrenaline for speed junkies and coaster freaks.

 

Enthusiasts apparently agreed, placing the ride in the top 25 of an unscientific yet comprehensive annual poll of wooden coasters in 2009.

 

The tightly twisting and turning Great Coasters International coaster with Millennium Flyer trains replaced Psyclone, a reviled wooden coaster mercifully removed from the Valencia amusement park in 2006.

 

http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/themeparks/la-trb-terminator-apocalypse-magic-mountain-20101203,0,889433.story?track=rss

[Calicoasters]

That's a pretty good name change. I'm happy with that.

 

I'm not excited for a reshoot of the pre-show though. If they couldn't make a Terminator related story seem interesting, I don't want to see how bad the new idea turns out.

[John Knotts]

Haha...who called it?

 

I can see why the park would want to preserve elements of the pre-show. A lot of extra money was spend to make this ride unique in the park's line up. However, I would hope they have read some of the things posted pro and con, and will make adjustments to keep the ride at full capacity. I like the name Apocalypse, a lot!

[Tmcdllr]

Thats just sad.

[GLund]

And because I got all of my Funatics awards this year, I get 20% off of next year's pass, so I've already saved $25.

 

How do you know if you got all your Funatics awards? I believe the last one I got was for the free soda--is that the last one they gave out?

 

Also, how do you let them know you get 20% off your pass for 2011? I didn't get an email on my last trip and I'm thinking I might have missed out.

[gforce532]

^After your 5th trip you should get it via emial. And it links you to the season pass page to renew it online. And it is only good for the regular pass, not the xtreme pass.