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The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread


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I know it's a little late, but I was in the park last week, and here is what I saw:

-X2 was usually not stacking

-Ninja and Apoc were both running two trains

-Batman was still running one train

 

However, I think the biggest news of the day was that Tatsu was actually using both stations! (But with only 2 trains). This meant that they could dispatch a set of trains on the course at once, followed by a 2.5 minute load time before the next set of trains could be sent out. Although this probably slightly increases the capacity over running two trains through one station, I think a much better system would be to run two trains through one station, but have 4-6 ride ops checking restraints in that one station. To run the ride through two stations takes a total crew of eight ride ops, so why not just send to four ride ops in the other station to the other station? Tatsu could be a really efficient ride with 4-6 ride ops.

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^Viper was running two trains. All rides were, except Batman. Not sure about Goldrusher.

 

Also, did I mention how awesome Colossus was running? I rode in the back, and that may have been the first time I got ejector airtime on the first drop.

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However, I think the biggest news of the day was that Tatsu was actually using both stations! (But with only 2 trains). This meant that they could dispatch a set of trains on the course at once, followed by a 2.5 minute load time before the next set of trains could be sent out. Although this probably slightly increases the capacity over running two trains through one station, I think a much better system would be to run two trains through one station, but have 4-6 ride ops checking restraints in that one station. To run the ride through two stations takes a total crew of eight ride ops, so why not just send to four ride ops in the other station to the other station? Tatsu could be a really efficient ride with 4-6 ride ops.

 

I still don't get why Tatsu can't seem to operate with 3 trains. I mean, if the park built a double station, why not use it when Tatsu is one of the most popular rides in the park? Other parks that have flyers with double loading stations don't seem to have a problem running both with 3 trains, like Air at Alton Towers or Manta at SWO...

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^ Because, for some weird reason, operations at SFMM is super mediocre and they just aren't as efficient as they should be. Tatsu seems to be their sore spot now that X2 has had most of the kinks ironed out.

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To run all three trains on Tatsu requires staffing and all three trains to be operational. Staffing costs money and having all the trains running does too. It could be that there is always one train in rehab because the maintenance staff is stretched out servicing the MANY other coasters and other things in the park so they do what they can with Tatsu in between everything else they have going on, or maybe it's just the way they have the maintenance schedule setup for this ride, can't fault them for that I'm sure they are quite busy. Now if management would allocate more money for maintenance and staffing (you would think so in a park this big with so many coasters) then MAYBE all three trains could run at once again, or maybe not. With this park I guess we should just be happy it has two running- can you imagine the nightmare it would be if Tatsu only ran one train?

 

Oooh, that thought just made me cringe!

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I actually know somebody who went last July, and said he saw all three trains running on Tatsu. Has anyone else actually seen this? Anyway, SFMM will always do the bare minimum they can to run two, rarely three, trains. The crews on X2 and Goliath do the best they can with two trains, but the Mountain really needs some better matinence staff.

 

Last week, I saw the third train on the transfer track, and it appeared to be almost ready for use. However, I do not know if they are just starting or ending rehab. Maybe they actually are planning on using the third train?

 

However, one ride that I really do not understand is Ghostrider at Knott's. Tatsu has three very complicated trains, while Ghostrider has three standard PTC trains. Yet Tatsu only needs to go down to one train for three weeks every few years, while Ghostrider goes down to one train for a few weeks every year. I still think SFMM actually does rehab slightly better than Knott's does, but neither of these parks are really where they should be.

 

A coaster train is a very complex piece of engineering, and every year-around park should either have one more train than the ride can run, or have a fairly large matinence crew. For a park with 17 coasters, neither of these should be difficult to pull off.

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^ It's ridiculous to me that they wouldn't allocate staffing and maintenance for one of the most popular rides there. But then again, we're talking about SFMM, so it's not surprising.

 

Yeah I agree, but maybe, somehow they just can't or worse, just don't want to.

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I actually know somebody who went last July, and said he saw all three trains running on Tatsu. Has anyone else actually seen this? Anyway, SFMM will always do the bare minimum they can to run two, rarely three, trains. The crews on X2 and Goliath do the best they can with two trains, but the Mountain really needs some better matinence staff.

I've seen Tatsu running three trains on two occasions: Opening summer and some random summer day a few years ago. Although I do try to avoid the park on peak summer days, there have been plenty of days I've been where three trains and both stations should've been in use.

 

I've always thought Goliath should run three trains much more. At WCB 2011 (the year of the one train wonders: Riddler's, Apocalypse, and Tatsu), we learned a bit about train rehab cycles. Next to Gold Rusher, Goliath's trains were apparantly the fastest and easiest to rehab with a three to four week cycle for each train. Why not run all three during the summer months? Even with SFMM ride ops, everyone still waits awhile in the station for the two trains to come back. Goliath certainly has the long lines to justify running train three.

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I went to the park today, and even with this drill competition going on, the lines were fairly minimal. I entered the park around 12pm and the drill competition was going on at the Golden Bear Theater. There seemed to be a large crowd that filled the theater and I realized this would probably be the best time to knock out some of the better rides. With that said I made my way to Goliath which had a three train wait. My guest insisted to ride again and that is what we did. Goliath had two trains running. After Goliath, we headed over to Scream! and that was a walk on and was operating two trains as well. We made our way back to DC Universe to ride Green Lantern with a 30 minute wait and Wonder Woman with a walk on. Took a stroll over to Goldrusher and walked on that as well. Apocalypse was next, with a decent 20 minute wait and two trains operating. Moving counter-clockwise in the park we took a flight on Tatsu with a 40 minute wait. At this time they had two trains and both loading zones operating. After Tatsu, we headed down to X2 which had a 45 minute wait with two trains operating. We continued our journey down to Revolution where they were operating two trains and at no surprise had a walk on. With that said we rode twice in a row to get our Schwarzkopf fix. We exited out to the left and made our way up to Ninja where they were operating two trains and again had a walk on, so we rode that twice. We then made our way down the infamous M&M's steps and rode Tatsu again. This time however they were only operating on the right loading station, yet still had two trains going and to my surprise the wait was shorter at only 30 minutes. We finished off the day with a ride on X2 at night and waited 45 minutes again for that. All in all a nice day at the park and the drill team competition seemed to have little impact on the typical Sunday crowds.

 

Daily Ride List:

 

Goliath x2

Scream!

Green Lantern

Wonder Woman: Lasso of Truth

Goldrusher

Apocalypse

Tatsu x2

X2 x2

Revolution x2

Ninja x2

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Went to the park today and had an amazing day. Got there at opening and stayed until 5:30, getting on every ride that we wanted. It was a really relaxed day. But it was weird, cause the park seemed really crowded based on how many people were walking around the park, but the rides didn't have long lines at all. They weren't long to my group, at least. We got on Goliath twice (both three train waits), two train waits on Batman and Riddler, 15 minutes for Apocalypse, 30 minutes for Tatsu, 45 minutes for X2, and walked onto Scream (twice), Colossus, Goldrusher, and Tidal Wave. We spent a lot of the day walking around, checking out shops and playing games and stuff, too.

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If any ride needs to run 3 trains it's Superman, and it's too bad they don't run three trains anymore like they did when it opened.

 

And by Superman do you mean...??? I may not be an expert on these matters, but last I checked 3 trains running on a dual track shuttle coaster is going to be a bit of a problem.

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I've always thought Goliath should run three trains much more. At WCB 2011 (the year of the one train wonders: Riddler's, Apocalypse, and Tatsu), we learned a bit about train rehab cycles. Next to Gold Rusher, Goliath's trains were apparantly the fastest and easiest to rehab with a three to four week cycle for each train. Why not run all three during the summer months? Even with SFMM ride ops, everyone still waits awhile in the station for the two trains to come back. Goliath certainly has the long lines to justify running train three.

Operating Costs.bmp

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Report from yesterday!

 

Got in at opening through the Discover line and ran to X2. Waited 30 minutes for them to finish testing and got a ride in on the second row of the first train of the day (no music on either train). Then after riding got back in line again and had about a 15 minute wait! It was so strange! X2 didn't back up in the morning! Then we headed up to Tatsu and waited about 20 minutes (both sides with 2 trains). The 3rd train did look comletely operational and hopefully they will be running all 3 soon. Headed to Apocalypse and got on in about 5 minutes in the station. Riddlers-- 2 train wait without single rider. Green Lantern-- 5 min. in SR line (30 minute regular wait). The cars seem a little more "spinny" now, with most of the cars getting at least 2 flips (some of the balanced ones got 2!). Batman--45 minutes with one train operation (Ugh!). Goliath-- 5 minutes (3 train wait). Goldrusher was back to 2 trains, as was Ninja, both walkons. Scream and Colossus were walkons too. Went to Viper and rode almost alone!! Then went back to X2 and wait 15 minutes (the end of the line was where they split us to the sides.

 

Good day at the park!

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