TR: Six Flags Magic Mountain

[Twister II]

I went to Magic Mountain on Saturday, the 14th. Probably the worst experience I've had at the park.

 

Got there at 11am - find out its Key Club day. If you ejoy 70 buses of middle school kids wearing bunny ears and shouting, "I FEEL GOOD, OH I FEEL GOOD" while spinning around slapping their butts - you would of really loved it. Happened about ever 10 steps.

 

EDIT: Something I forgot, the bathrooms. It was great to see the bathrooms were getting redone, but the bathrooms by the entrace: closed. In Bugs Bunny World: Closed. Man, if you had to pee, you really gotta have a strong bladder! And the ones we did find open were just disgusting. TP across a few stalls, water across the counters and behind toilets, gross.

 

With the kids, it pretty much forced us to get a flash pass. This helped us get onto 4 rides. When in line we talked with a family that came all the way from Phoenix for the day and only got on 2 rides - because they didn't have one. After showing them how it worked, I believe they actually went and got one. Flash pass processing was probably the more enjoyable experience of the day. The employees working there were friendly, smiling, asking how our day was. It's just a disappointment when you spend $70 on a pass and see only 1/2 the rides on the board are closed.

 

Out of our selection of 5 rides to choose from, we started with Scream. Same here as my last visit. There were 10+ employees in the station, but only 4 were doing something. Is this like the break room?

 

Decided to hit up Ninja next. Flashpassed it, so it was a walk on. There we ran into several key club kids who jumped over the fence right out of Ninja's exit and decided it was cool to try and pull out as much bamboo as possible. Thankfully, I said something, and they all jumped back over. This is where I was wondering - because that is a pretty steep slope right down into the log flume, if something happened, whose responsibility would it be?

 

On Ninja, I saw a ride op that has always been friendly every time I visit. I doubt he recognizes me, but is always willing to talk. He is a fairly heavier set man, 40’s, and just really nice all around.

 

Then over to Terminator. Got our ‘ride pass’, but do these really work? While in line the TV’s were great. It really helped the time go by fast – except for all the country music videos. It was great to see Six Flags really promoting everything including food. Yet, while I was standing in line, I was thinking it would be really awesome for them to play the Terminator movie and to have commercial breaks or the scrolling banners on bottom promoting things too. I believe this would set the mood more towards the ride.

 

Here a few effects were working; the cameras in the queue and the mist. But the ride was running great. The music was loud and clear….up until the first drop. After that it seemed muted out. I’ve never seen all 3 pre-shows, so it was nice to finally see it all. Here is actually similar to the Scream situation – but now all the management (whoever wears ties and has the prongs). About 5 people or so in the station, each talking to different employees.

 

While in line for Terminator, we queued up for Tatsu. Today was the first visit I’ve see the duel stations working – and the crew wad kicking butt! Trains were flying out of the station (pun intended).

 

After, went to Riddler’s. After about 10 mins in line, broke down. But no one behind us could actually hear the announcement because the music was so blaring loud. Maybe it’s just me, but I really don’t like B&M Stand Ups. Not that they aren’t fun, but it’s just a nightmare with loading and maintenance.

 

It was getting late, so decided a ride on Colossus. It was the longest line I’ve ever seen for it! Good 45+ min wait. Flashpassed and was on in 5. But didn’t actually get off the ride til 25 mins later. Ops here were just talking with each other, on cell phones, really not paying attention at all. My partner, who knows NOTHING about operations or amusement parks, even noticed. Thankfully, that didn’t happen on the tram back to the car.

 

Overall, it was just not a good day. I felt like the employees decided it was alright to just slack off because it wasn’t summer anymore. I believe that is where work places can hurt the most for profits. With a previous job of mine, summer was our big seller – but in the winter, no one cared, and I believe the patrons noticed enough not to come back until another summer. However, the park was looking great. It was a lot cleaner than previous trips and notice it HAS changed within two years, but still has a long way to go.

[Brad]

I went to Magic Mountain on Saturday, the 14th. Probably the worst experience I've had at the park.

 

Got there at 11am - find out its Key Club day. If you ejoy 70 buses of middle school kids wearing bunny ears and shouting, "I FEEL GOOD, OH I FEEL GOOD" while spinning around slapping their butts - you would of really loved it. Happened about ever 10 steps.

 

SFMM posts all of their larger group events on the website: Calendar of Events. If crowds are that big of an issue (or if you are annoyed by energetic kids that are 3 years younger than you), check before you plan your trip.

 

I'm sure Sunday would have been a much better choice.

 

As for the operations, that is always something that SFMM can work on... but as for attractions being closed, this is their off-season, correct?

[Twister II]

^ Yeah, this was my b-day present. I didn't know anything about actually going until a few miles away. Even still, the calendar doesn't have anything about KeyClub Kid Fest.

 

Weither off season or not, it was that we spend $70 to get on 5 rides, when we were easily told it was 10+. $7 per ride. Man, that system has really got to be a cash cow for any park.

 

 

 

by energetic kids that are 3 years younger than you

Middle school, not high school

[Brad]

^ Yeah, this was my b-day present. I didn't know anything about actually going until a few miles away. Even still, the calendar doesn't have anything about KeyClub Kid Fest.

 

The calendar doesn't have past events listed... but you will notice events like chorus groups and cheer/dance events that are coming up.

 

Weither off season or not, it was that we spend $70 to get on 5 rides, when we were easily told it was 10+. $7 per ride. Man, that system has really got to be a cash cow for any park.

Again, were the rides that were not available listed before you purchased the Flash Pass?

 

I'm not saying that it's OK to charge full price is only half the rides are available, but complaining that you only were able to ride 5 things when you knew that before you purchased the Flash Pass seems silly.

 

 

by energetic kids that are 3 years younger than you

Middle school, not high school

Key Club is a high-school organization (trust me, I have been to these rallies at SFMM before, and I know they are an energetic bunch...)

[Twister II]

^ The calendar still has the FLL competition from the 15th.

 

The rides posted outside the processing office were 10+ rides. Yet, when we got our Q-Bot, there were only 5 rides we could queue up for. The rest came up as, "???", "CLOSED", or "FULL".

 

Alright man, but these kids were wearing, "North Phoenix Middle School Key Club". Maybe reps?

[Brad]

^ The calendar still has the FLL competition from the 15th.

 

The rides posted outside the processing office were 10+ rides. Yet, when we got our Q-Bot, there were only 5 rides we could queue up for. The rest came up as, "???", "CLOSED", or "FULL".

 

That is strange... were most of the closed rides major attractions? You would think someone would walk outside and remove the signage for those rides.

[socalMAN123]

I'm sorry you didn't have a super great visit to the park. I'm a member of the 4East Division of Key Club and I was at the park that day, and I was actually presently surprised to find that most people were pretty well-behaved. As for the cheer, that's expected, it is Key Clubbers, we have tons of spirit and it's something that is actually promoted by the Kiwanis Club. Once again, sorry you had a bad experience at the Mountain.

---Brent

 

P.S. Key Club is a high school organization

[Homer]

Dissing Key Club.

 

Also, I'm a member of CKI (Key Club for college, but a lot more laid back). I'm sorry if this gives a negative viewpoint of Kiwanis/Key Club/whatever, but most everybody in these organizations are cool.

 

I was thinking it would be really awesome for them to play the Terminator movie and to have commercial breaks or the scrolling banners on bottom promoting things too. I believe this would set the mood more towards the ride.

 

Well, they can't play the whole movie or not even a TV-cut since parks are a family environment and most of the movies in the series are rated R. Maybe movie clips, but not the entire film.

[Twister II]

^ The calendar still has the FLL competition from the 15th.

 

The rides posted outside the processing office were 10+ rides. Yet, when we got our Q-Bot, there were only 5 rides we could queue up for. The rest came up as, "???", "CLOSED", or "FULL".

 

That is strange... were most of the closed rides major attractions? You would think someone would walk outside and remove the signage for those rides.

The rides said available, but weren't able to queue up for were Deja Vu, Batman, Riddlers (was down 3/4 day), a log flume, and the rapids.

 

Okay, understandable about the rated R movies, but what about the television series? Doesn't Six Flags and NBC have some type of partnership too?

[Darco]

I went that day too and I didn't think it was that crowded. The only long lines I had to wait in were Riddler (kept breaking down) and X2 (at the end of the day; always long anyway).

 

However, it was annoying when Key Clubbers started chanting and singing while I was waiting in line. Other than that, they weren't too bad from what I saw.

[the ghost]

^^ The show is from fox, and it is not exactly a family show either. It is not any worse than say 24, but it is not very kid oriented.

[rawrtotheargh]

I went that day as well. And it wasn't pleasant for me either. I drowned out the cheering pretty quickly. But what I couldn't stand was how rude some of the kids were. This one group behind us in line for Terminator kept bumping into us. It was rude and annoying. Especially since the line was like 45 minutes. I even asked them to stop but once some group started chanting to them they would get all rowdy. A little respect for the people around them would have been nice. That is my only problem that I had.

[ZeroG001]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I don't like the Key Club at my school very much, cause they're all annoying. I can see why they were rude and loud at the park, though. Speaking for my school, they were advertising that day in a way that made it seem like Key Club rented out the park. It said something like "We take over the park for a day of fun!" and all the kids were thinking that they can do whatever they want, and that they'd have the park to themselves. It was pretty ridiculous.

[Brad]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I don't like the Key Club at my school very much, cause they're all annoying. I can see why they were rude and loud at the park, though. Speaking for my school, they were advertising that day in a way that made it seem like Key Club rented out the park. It said something like "We take over the park for a day of fun!" and all the kids were thinking that they can do whatever they want, and that they'd have the park to themselves. It was pretty ridiculous.

 

With the numbers they pull in for this event, I am curious as to why the park is not rented out...

[Tmcdllr]

I know Riddler's can take forever to load but don't remember ever hearing it is a maintenance nightmare. In fact, I don't recall hearing any B&M standups being maintenance nightmares. That sucks you had a bad visit. Everytime I've gone little nuisance things have happened (line jumping, ops not paying attention or on their phones, some rides closed, rude idiots in line), but we didn't let these things ruin our visit. You just kind of expect some of it unfortunately because of the way things are.

[Swiminn6]

Just because it's "off-season" I don't think the ride ops should "slack-off." Anyways, I have nothing bad to say about this TR because I would've complained about the situation too. I have been to a park with a similar event just not as many people and it is so annoying. People would be screaming and line jumping. He said that some kids were picking bamboo, well I think that is ridiculous! Anyways, I hope you had a little bit of fun.

[ArizonaGuy]

I was there on the 14th and it wasn't that bad. We were able to ride Tatsu, Terminator, Riddler's Revenge, X2, and Viper. It seems like all the lines were moving very fast. I noticed the ride ops were moving pretty quick.

 

The park closed at 6 but then was kept open for the Key Club kids for a private event. We didn't know that and actually left the park at around 7:30.

 

Anyways...I guess the day is what you make of it.

[Tmcdllr]

The 2 things that annoyed me the most were line jumping and some ride ops. But like I said, I expected that and didn't let it ruin our visit. Things can't be perfect and if your expectations are too high you will be dissappointed, that's just how things are. If it were up to me, ops would not be lazy/on their phones and there would be no line jumping, but that is out of my control.

 

It does seem like Scream! is the breakroom ride.