TR - Magic Mountain and Knotts Berry Farm

[edboxer]

I was in Pasadena for Drum Corps International World Championships, so I only had a few hours on Friday and Saturday Morning to hit the parks:

 

Friday, 8/10 - Magic Mountain - 10:30 - 1:00.

 

Initial Impressions - this place is in the middle of nowhere, everything is a hike, there are huge sections with no rides of any kind - nothing but food and souvies on the midways.

 

The coasters:

 

X - I got there at when the gates opened, but by the time I got to X it was an hour wait, I skipped it and went to.....

 

Tatsu - 8 - rode in the first row, outside seat. The best flying coaster I have ridden. Also the most comfortable restraints. Great layout, has some nice soaring sections. Love that the loop is the next to last inversion.

 

Goliath - 5 - rode in the first row and the second row. Way overrated - nice first drop, rough turnaround, nice air hill, then you swoop up into a brake the slows it way down before the helix/figure 8 into the brake. I was very disappointed. I'll take Magnum, SroS, MF and Steel Force over this thing any day.

 

Scream - 8 - ah, I forgot this was Medusa west. Without the grass under the ride.

 

Colossus - 3 - only one side was running, this thing looks and feels like it hasn't been greased since its first season.

 

Revolution - 7 - its a piece of history, lame by today's standards, with some serious head-banging.

 

That's all I was able to get in. But 6 rides in 2.5 hours wasn't too bad.

 

Saturday, 8/11 - Knotts Berry Farm - 10:00 - 1:00

 

Initial impression - this place is small. I also suffered the ridiculous wait for Customer Relations to validate my CedarFair pass. There is no excuse for making season pass holders wait in the complaint line to get admittance to the park. Their response - "Oh, sorry." CedarFair is getting a letter on this one.

 

Silver Bullet - 9 - rode twice in the front row, both outside seats. Excellent inverted with a great layout. Its like an extended version of Talon. Love that there is no midcourse break.

 

Ghostrider - 3 - car 2, row 1 - and I thought Hercules was rough, this thing gave me a headache. Some nice air and some nice turns, but it rides like a trash can down a staircase.

 

Accelerator - 7 - great for what it is. Prefer TTD by a long shot. The surprising thing about this one was the crew's ability to seat people of exceptional size. Two people could not get their fully extended seat belts to reach the buckle by 3-4 inches. The ride op said "Let me try, I know how to do this." He then grabbed the seat belt and pulled with all his might - I thought the one guy's eyes were going to pop out of head. But he got them both buckled. It was getting them unbuckled that was the problem! It was hysterical.

 

Also had Mrs. Knotts chicken dinner - 3 - tell me if I got a bad one, but the chicken was dry, the corn was mush and the potatoes watery.

 

Major line jumping problems at Knotts that, from what I have heard and read, I should have experienced at Magic Mountain (but didn't). The worst was when an employee let 2 people jump line to be with their friends (that were nonexistent). They just cut up to where they felt like cutting. The people around them gave the employee some nasty looks.

 

Wish I had had more time in both parks, but glad I got to ride what I did.

 

That said, this trip again confirmed - I hate LA! How you can live there is beyond reason for me. 2.5 hours to go 18 miles on Wednesday. 1.5 hours to go 11 miles on Thursday. 2.5 hours to go 26 miles on Saturday! Also got my rental car hit as I was parallel parking. I'm backing into the space, this woman hits my left front fender and tries to blame it on me!!

[Vffreak07]

1. It's Xcelerator.

2. I agree 100% about Ghostie. I hated it. It was so rough, and even though it had pops of air, that didn't overcome the roughness.

[laqueefa]

1. It's Xcelerator.

2. I agree 100% about Ghostie. I hated it. It was so rough, and even though it had pops of air, that didn't overcome the roughness.

 

Agreed. When I rode it a couple months ago it shook my spine so hard, I had a headache all day long.

[coasterguy4]

Welcome to L.A!

[Freefallbestrideever]

I agree with everything, our parks and city are overrated. Tatsu and Xcel are some of the best so at least you hit those.

[Rio]

Well, I would be glad if ever came there!! From Germany it's a bit far away ... but only a little bit. ^^

Has one of you ever been to Cedar Point? Hopefully, I'll get there next year!

[mindvirus]

I love Knotts Berry Farm & SFMM...Ghostrider is way bumpy but I love riding it..On MY OPINION....Boomerang is bumpier.