West Coast Bash 2008 - The Official Thread!

[SharkTums]

Keep in mind that as I post this there is still 90 minutes of ERT left!

[costa425]

^ I'm in the process of getting mine up right now.

---Brent

Cool cant wait!!. Is it going to be posted here or in a new thread?

edit. Never mind saw the new thread.

[coasterjunkie91350]

Sucks i had to leave after Q&A but the buses only run till 7:25 at night but i did have a great time .

[sixflagsmagicmountain]

Yeah, I got some really good pics today. I'll post them later if I decide to not be lazy.

[Drew The Pirate]

Well guys it was very fun! I definitely will be going again next year as well as the other local events here.

 

And a thank you goes out to Jahan for an excellent tour!

[sixflagsmagicmountain]

I'll second that. Jahan did an excellent job today.

[Magic Alumni]

Thanks TPR and SFMM for a great event. I had a great time. SFMM is my old stomping grounds and it was cool to see it from a coaster enthusiast point of view.

 

We didn't stay for the late ERT as we were exhausted and needed to work the next day but I was shocked and thrilled to hear that SFMM was going to have EVERY coaster open for the late ERT. They never even did that for the employee patries but to do that for 300-400 coaster fans shows that SFMM is finally going into the right direction.

 

I'm thrilled to see the progress the park is making and to see the management excited about where the park is going.

 

Also, I'm sure I speak for everyone to say "Thank Goodness the wind died down" so we got to see the progress of the museum in the Sky Tower. It's looking great and will be a great addition to the park. I own a lot of cool old SFMM stuff that would fit great in the museum but hell if I'm going to give it up!

 

Lastly, about 2009. I was trying to see where I can find them slipping about what they're getting in 2009. This is what I pulled out of the different speeches. We all know it's going to be coaster ala LA Times. Jay said it won't be on Psyclone's old site which means it needs to very small footprint to fit anywhere else in the park. Lastly, when the S&S spokesperson went to talk about El Loco, he asked Tim if it's okay to talk about it and Tim said as long as it's about yours. Then at the end he said there is a El Loco planned for a park on the west coast. Hmmmm...maybe I'm reading into it too much.

 

Again, kudos to TPR and SFMM for putting on a great event. Here's to next year...

[sixflagsmagicmountain]

^That's interesting, I was kinda wondering the same thing...

I guess we'll find out.

[sfmmfreak101]

^^Wow, I didn't think about that, and that would explain why S&S was there.

 

Anyway, Great event, I will have my PTR up on Coasterforce soon. I have a lot of great pics to donate!

[Drew The Pirate]

I would have to say that Six Flags has dramatically changed! I knew it was doing better but didn’t expect it to be so dramatic! And yes coming from Disney little things such as leaves being swept up and fresh paint make all the difference!

 

I do agree that Six Flags is on the right track into becoming a great park again!

[randyinphoenix]

We had a great time at the West Coast Bash today. It was my first event with you guys! Sorry to have missed the last part of the ERT, had to catch a plane home.

 

Thanks again! Looking forward to other upcoming events!

 

Randy

[robbalvey]

Hey everyone!

 

We just got back home from West Coast Bash 2008.

 

Once again just want to send a big THANK YOU out to everyone that showed up today. We had about 320 people in attendance which marks the biggest event we have put on and the biggest West Coast Bash to date!

 

And another big THANK YOU goes out to Six Flags Magic Mountain and the amazing staff at the park. I said it during the presentations today, but I just want to go on record to say that while Elissa and I travel the world and visit about 200 different parks a year, we have never seen a park make such a dramatic improvement as Six Flags Magic Mountain in just 7 months...EVER!

 

To give you a little re-cap of the day, we started out with morning ERT on Tatsu, Viper, Revolution and Superman: The Escape.

 

At noon we were treated to a very nice chicken and beef lunch. (Rhonda the spread was great!)

 

Then we were off to various backstage tours that included:

 

- X2 where we checked out the new trains in the station, and then walked between the station and transfer area to watch it cycle a few time.

 

- Psyclone bone yard to see some old relics of Magic Mountain's and other Six Flags' parks past including an XLR-8 train from Astroworld, Shock Wave train from Great America, Flashback, Freefall and many others from SFMM.

 

- Then we were taken to the base of the Sky Tower Museum where we were told about what was up in the tower, but unfortunately due to wind, they were not able to run the elevators.

 

- A tour at the new Thomas Town construction area ended the backstage portion of the day and we made our way to Magic Moments Theater.

 

At the theater we had several presentations from Magic Mountain Management about so many changes going on at the park. The Q&A Session with Jay, Tim, and Neal I think put many people at ease about some concerns they had with the park and spoke very strongly about the changes and improvements that are in the parks future.

 

Then Guest Speaker Kevin Rohwer from S&S Worldwide, Inc took the stage and told us all about the new Indiana Beach coaster, gave us the inside scoop on the new "fastest coaster in the world" being built in Germany, and rounded off the presentation with some new product from S&S.

 

Then came the big ERT announcement.....

 

*ALL* COASTERS AT MAGIC MOUNTAIN WOULD BE OPEN FOR ERT!!!

 

That's right, everything that was operational (which was 12 coasters including Canyon Blaster!) were open for our group.

 

This meant you could go anywhere in the park, and literally ride as much as you wanted to without waiting for ANYTHING. I do think this may go down in coaster event history as the event with the most coasters open at any one time during ERT.

 

Can anyone think of another event where 12 coasters were open at once?

 

But it didn't stop there....

 

We also got.... *ROCKIN' SCREAM!*

 

That's right! The speakers were back, and I gotta say that, while the placement of the speakers this time around wasn't quite as thumping as a couple of weeks ago, this is a HUGE improvement to that area!

 

But wait... there is even more!

 

Just before the presentations in the Magic Moments Theater was over we got some of the best news of the night....the winds had died down (Joey stopped farting) and SKY TOWER WOULD BE OPEN!!!

 

I think for me, and for many others, oddly enough the highlight of the night wasn't actually a roller coaster!

 

It was the brand new Sky Tower Museum "Magic of the Mountain." The displays of memorabilia and the work that was put into this display just simply cannot be put into words.

 

It by far exceeded my expectations. And I actually that going up there at night for the first time with the backdrop of a fully illuminated park made the whole experience, well..."magical."

 

This was truly a night to remember. Around every corner I would point the camera and ask "How many coasters are open?" and the response was always in amazement "ALL OF THEM!"

 

Well, this was supposed to be my 'mini-report' and has turned into nearly the full blown thing! I will have a complete photo report later in the week, but for now, here is the group photo from today (the sun wasn't acting the best).

 

THANK YOU AGAIN to everyone!

 

--Robb

[c0sterfreek]

w00t I have the first post!

 

I just have to say that this was one hell of a day. My dad and My little sister left san jose at 3:00am to get to SFMM on time. This was my little 11yr old sisters first time here so she had a ball. We did some TATSU first which was amazing. The Tour we got to do was very VERY neat! I give two thumbs up for the new X2 Cars. unfortunately we had to head home half way through the presentaion because my little sister was running a fever. We just got back to San Jose so I thought i would post. Thanks to Robb for doing this and a big thanks to SFMM. You guys rock. Its now 12:01 am... And the bed is calling...

 

Talk to you guys later..

 

Chris

[sixflagsmagicmountain]

Yep, Hell of an event you guys put on this year, HUGE thanks to you guys, and of course all the good people at Magic Mountain. This was by far the best coaster event ever. Unfortunately I had to leave before the nighttime ERT even started, that really sucked, but oh well, I got to see the Sky Tower Museum, which was awesome! Can't wait till the next event.

[RIP Psyclone]

Nice group photo, and I'm sure you were pressed for time, but the tours were running late, and the blue group didn't make it there all the way to Magic Moments from X2 in time.

[robbalvey]

^ Yeah, we had to take it without the blue group. Sorry guys!

 

--Robb

[wrs28330]

I want to thank everyone for the great feedback. It is nice to see the end result of weeks of hard work from so many people! I thoroughly enjoyed talking with so many of you, and the wonderful exchange of park knowlegde. Never before have I ever felt a strong sense of community. Thank you to all!

 

My name is William,

and I am SIX FLAGS!

[WillMontu]

It really was a blast, especially all the ERT on everything, including Canyon Blaster! The Q/A sessions were also good, and we found out about some of the improvements being made to the park and others that were in store. The SkyTower Museum was also a nice suprise and could be really good when it is finished

 

Deja Vu (and X2) was closed, but there was ERT on Bench - The Ride to make up for it!

 

Thanks to Robb, Elissa, and everyone at SFMM for putting the event on.

[ebl]

^ Nice meeting up with you in the Sky Tower Museum. They really did a nice job with that, and everyone associated with it deserves eternal kudoes.

 

Eric

[PortugePunk]

this was the BEST trip to Magic Mountain I've ever had! I am so freakin' tired and exhausted, but it was SO MUCH FUN! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

[cosmic hearse]

Thanks for such an amazing day! This was my first event ever and it exceeded my expectations. My group had tons of fun as well! We can't wait to do it again! We were able to do all the rides multiple times and Sky Tower once. I have to say out of everything we did today Sky Tower scared the crap out of me! I've been up there multiple times and never freaked out, but for some reason today was BAD. I had to walk around looking at the ground or with my back to the windows, eventually I ended up sitting on the ground waiting for the elevator to come back up, but I had a blast!

 

At the end of the night the lockers weren't opening. I guess they don't open after hours so maintenance had to brake into one of them, which took about 30 minutes for that one locker. They were able to get a master key to bypass the system but that was about 45 min later. Everyone waiting was given a complimentary park entrance for the inconvenience.

 

Well I'm off to bed, got to be up for a drive to Vegas!

[cfc]

I'll definitely have to put West Coast Bash on my radar screen for next year. January's DVD party was my first visit to SFMM in 30 years, and I was pretty impressed with what the park did for our much smaller group. They really are on the right track.

[ShannonSomerville]

I talked to my boyfriend this morning,and he told me that he and both of his friends had a great time at your event. He told that they stayed on Goliath through ERT. Hopefully,I can make it next year.

[Wes]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but:

I had a genuinely great time at Magic Mountain.

[nursemelis374]

On the way home we were all commenting on what a great and unique event this was. Thank you so much for all the hard work put into it. I think the highlights for me were getting to see X2 and hearing all about the ways in which they design it and all the different factors that they must take into consideration when creating a coaster. I seriously thought it was some sort of a computer program that controlled the way the seats spin so it was neat to hear the system that did that. We were shocked at how expensive X was! Wow! How cool to have that caliber of a ride at our local park!

 

It was also very interesting to hear the various speakers at the presentation and have some questions answered. They really are working to change the culture of the park and you can see how their enthusiasm and love for their jobs has and will continue to trickle down to their front line staff. I have a meeting at my hospital today where we talk about patient satisfaction and I intend on bringing up some of things we heard yesterday, especially about empowering the people that work for you.

 

Finally, Robb noted how the park has improved so much just in the last 7 months. I completely agree. I stopped going to SFMM about 7 years ago because it was just a poorly run park and not really a quality experience anymore, not even worth the low 50 or 60 dollars a pass costs. However, after reading everything on TPR I decided to give it a shot again and am very glad I did!