SFMM TR Friday 10/10/08

[sfmman2000]

I will say first that off-season Fridays are a GREAT time to go to Magic Mountain to beat the crowds.

 

The first time I visited SFMM was in 2002, and I witnessed some bad operations throughout multiple departments. Visiting the park this Friday I can easily say things have almost completely turned around, and this is a park worth visiting! BUT, its operations are not without flaws, which I will get to.

 

This pro and con list may be helpful for someone who is going to SFMM in the near future.

 

Keep in mind I visited on a FRIDAY.

The park opened at 10:30pm and closed at 10:30pm.

 

Pros:

-ALL coasters open

-yes, even Colossus is running both sides

-ALL coasters (capable) are running two trains

-3 water rides open (all but Tidal Wave)

-most coaster lights turned off at night

-waiting in line for X2 watching break.com videos

-Colossus running left side backwards

-security and 'Event Staff' stationed at all major rides watching for line jumpers, keeping lines more peaceful

-most high capacity coasters have a 5 minute wait or less throughout the day

-all vending machines take credit cards

-employee cell phone usage is down but not out

 

Cons:

-Colossus not dueling (except by coincidence)

-individual coaster operations are somewhat same old, including stacking and poor employee training

-Sky Tower closed (disappointing)

-Yosemite Sam Falls closed (no big deal, just thought I would mention it)

-Jet Stream boats are very leaky

-$15 parking

-$3/4 vending machine soda

-up to $6 vending machine candy

-some employees have such a non-caring attitude that I have only witnessed at SFMM

 

 

Coaster Crew report (read: In My Opinion)

 

Great:

Goliath(fast bar checkers)

 

Good:

Goldrusher

Ninja (if they said "hi-YA" one more time this would have gone a category lower )

Revolution

Superman: The Escape

Viper

X²

 

OK:

Batman: The Ride

Colossus

The Riddler's Revenge

Scream!

 

Poor:

Déjà Vu (couldn't be any slower - rude, also)

Tatsu (5 minute stacking multiple times in a row)

 

Disclaimer: These rating may not be a representation of the crews throughout the entire day, and are just what I observed when I entered the station.

 

I'm interested to hear anyone's comments or questions about this trip and SFMM in general.

 

CONCLUSION:

Give SFMM your business on off-season Thursday/Fridays. You will not regret it! I walked out of the park saying "WOW" to myself about how much fun we had and more importantly the general improvements the park has made. If you are an SFMM employee, I want to thank you, and you should be proud of your park!

 

 

Scott

--

"Is everybody in?"

 

 

(I'm original, right?)

[SharkTums]

Totally understand the frustration with Sky Tower, but it has been insanely windy here the past few days, I can give them the benefit of the doubt on that one!

 

In fact, I know that they even had to move an employee party that was supposed to be up there Thursday night due to wind. So if they wouldn't even let employees up, yeah, us GP have no chance!

[southpuddle]

DejaVu has always had a God-aweful crew every time I visit. Eight-minute dispatches are mind-boggling to think about after three summers working at Cedar Point. Add the fact that you can't choose where you sit and the number of empty seats per train... it easily gets my vote for the consistently worst ride crew I've ever witnessed.

 

That said, I'm looking forward to my trip to the park (I'll be going after Fright Fest - I really don't like Halloween events at parks and prefer to visit during "normal" operation). Hopefully things are as good during my visit as you are reporting now.

[haiderodes]

^In all fairness, the combination of operational policy and cooperation of the general public seems have a negative impact on dispatch times for Deja Vu.

 

There's always someone who doesn't place their loose articles in the bin, pulls down the harness before they tell you to, gets lost on the short walk to their seat, etc. That stuff adds time, even with a full crew working their butts off.

[sfmman2000]

Thanks for the info about sky tower, Elissa.

It was quite windy when I visited the park, so that fits right in. Hopefully they keep the tower open when possible; the museum up there is a great idea.