TR: Six Flags Magic Mountain 12-20-09

[rcdude]

Last Saturday was my brother's 17th birthday. In celebration, we decided to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain on Sunday, December 20th. In the past, when we have gone on the first weekend of winter break it has always been empty. This vist was no exception to that rule. According to the website, Batman the Ride was scheduled to be closed, and it was, as was the entire Gotham City area (more on that later). In addition, Goliath was closed even though it was supposed to have reopened by the time of our visit. However, the other two coasters scheduled to be closed (Canyon Blaster and Deja Vu) were both open all day during our visit.

 

Our touring group consisted of six people. My dad, my brother, his friend and I had been to the park several times before and been on pretty much everything. My sister had been a couple times, but hadn't been on anything more intense than Colossus during previous visits. After going to Cedar Point and riding everything there, she decided she wanted to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain and finally ride most of the rides. My sister brought along one of her friends who had never been to the park before, but she went on everything despite being scared initially.

 

We got to the park a little after ten and waited for the park to open at 10:30. Unlike previous visits, they didn't have any pre-opening entertainment, just Christmas music playing through the speakers. Once the park opened, everybody ran to X2. We, on the other hand, went to Tatsu, and found a grand total of five people in the station when we arrived (I think we got on the second train of the day).

 

Tatsu-This is my favorite roller coaster in the state of California, and is second overall only to Maverick. The ride is very fun, very smooth, and isn't too intense with the exception of the pretzel loop. In addition, the flying aspect really works with this ride's location as you soar around the mountaintop. I haven't yet had a chance to try Manta, but that looks like the only other flying coaster that might give Tatsu a run for its money. Since there wasn't much of a wait, we rode this twice during the day. On the second ride, after they had lifted the seats into a flying position, they lowered them and made us switch seats with the people in the row in front of us, then raised the seats and dispatched the train. I have no clue what that was about, but I assume it was probably some type of weight balance issue.

 

Ninja-While Tatsu is my favorite roller coaster in the park, this is probably my least favorite (not counting the kiddie coaster). It is too short and has an extremely anti-climactic ending. It's not a bad ride, and is definitely better than the other suspended coaster I've been on (Iron Dragon), but it just isn't worth more than a three train wait for me anymore.

 

After Ninja, we headed over to Superman but found out that it was broken down. On the way back to the path down the hill, I got my first look at the new color of Batman. I have to say that it looks good, but I don't think it will fit in with the dark look of Gotham City as well as gray does. I am very glad, however, that they didn't go with yellow for Batman as that would just look completely out of place. I'll have to see what the ride looks like next time I visit the park (probably for WCB in March) before I decide whether I like the old or new color better. Anyway, we headed down the hill and over to Terminator, the only ride most of us hadn't ridden before.

 

Terminator Salvation: The Ride-Terminator Salvation is the best wooden roller coaster I have been on anywhere. We rode this ride twice: once in the morning in the middle of the train and once at night in the back of the train. During the day, the ride is really good, and I would rank it fourth out of all fifteen of the park's coasters I've been on. However, at night, especially in the back, the ride is amazing. Based on my night ride, this is the best roller coaster I have ever been on. It is variable within a certain range, so I have to rank it based on the quality of most of my rides on the attraction (all others were during morning ERT on Termination Day). My brother said it is only better than Ghostrider when you ride at night in the back seat, and based on my most recent rides on Ghostrider I can see how it could be considered better if you are more into that type of coaster. However, everyone else in my group loved it, and my dad even said it was the best ride in the park. The only thing that I don't like about this ride is the mandatory seven-eight minute preshow.

 

Deja Vu-Since this ride was open, we decided to ride it. I've always been surprised at the hate this ride recieves, but I really think that the ride is one of the better shuttle coasters out there. It is fairly smooth and is a very interesting experience, especially on the first lift tower. Since there was nobody in line, they actually let us pick our own rows instead of assigning them, which led to my first front seat ride. It is very scary in the front, especially on the towers, but it is quite a fun experience. Unfortunately, the low capacity means that this ride rarely has a short line unless the park is completely empty (the normal dispatch interval is about four minutes).

 

Jetstream-This is a good log flume, but isn't one of my favorites and isn't as good as the other one at this park. The ride is too short and only features one significant drops (there are two drops but one is very small). It is still worth a ride, however, when the line is only about ten minutes or is non-existent (as was the case during our visit).

 

Gold Rusher-The park's original roller coaster is still a fun ride when there isn't a line (or there is a very short one). It is better than the other similar mine train I have been on (Cedar Creek Mine Ride) and makes good use of the mountain just like a few of the park's other coasters (Revolution, Ninja, Tatsu). Unfortunately, Gold Rusher usually seems to use one train so if you just miss it the train takes about three minutes to get back to the station. Still worth it unless the park is crowded or you are short on time.

 

Riddler's Revenge-This ride is far superior to the other stand-up roller coasters I have been on and is fifth best in the park for me. The ride is also one of the few roller coasters where the second half is better than the first half, mainly because of variety. The first half of the ride is drop, giant loop, giant twisted loop (dive loop), another giant twisted loop, giant tilted loop (inclined loop), tiny hill, curve up to the brakes, while the second half of the ride is drop, corkscrew, turn, bunny hop, upward helix, drop, corkscrew, turn onto the brakes. Maybe it's because I don't like identical back to back elements (excluding corkscrews), but I just don't think the first half of the ride is too spectacular. Nevertheless, we rode twice during the day, both because it is an outstanding ride and because it has the best station music ever.

 

After Riddler's Revenge we decided to have lunch. My brother and his friend had pizza; my dad, my sister and I had chicken strips, and my sister's friend had a cheeseburger. As before, the food was okay, but nothing special. However, they gave us an extra order of chicken strips so we got a little more than we needed. After everyone was finished, we stopped at the bathroom then headed to Colossus only to find that it was broken down. Even though we had just eaten lunch, we decided to proceed to Scream since we were right next to it.

 

Scream-Back when I first rode this ride, it was my favorite roller coaster. However, it is now to me the Silver Bullet of Magic Mountain. Essentially, the ride is not one of the best out there, but is worth riding if you are at the park. Since Scream never has a line, it is always a good ride to go to, and it is good enough that many parks would consider it a headliner coaster. However, it is probably the worst of the four B&M coasters in the park (unless Batman is running really rough).

 

Yosemite Sam Sierra Falls-This is a fun little water ride, and is the only water slide I know of that is actually inside a dry park. It gets you moderately wet and has a couple small dips during the short ride, but it definitely isn't a must-ride attraction. Fun if you happen to be in this part of the park and the line isn't bad.

 

Canyon Blaster-This is as close to a credit whore coaster as I will ever come. I will ride any roller coaster that doesn't require that I be accompanied by a small child. However, I will never steal a kid. Anyway, for a kiddie coaster, this is actually a slightly decent ride, although it isn't worth it if there is any kind of wait. When we were there, the operator was letting people go around twice if they wanted to since the line was short enough to fit in one train. As my brother called it, the ride is nothing but an entertaining photo booth.

 

Log Jammer-This is the best of the park's five water rides, yet it is the one I ride the least often (out of visits it it open) because it usually has a bit of a wait. The ride has a couple decent drops and is about twice the length of the Jetstream, but isn't my favorite log flume (it's probably third with Knott's Log Ride 2nd and Splash Mountain 1st).

 

X2-"Is everybody in? Is everybody in? The ceremony is about to begin...after we sort out these technical difficulties." On our first ride on this, the wait was a half hour due to a problem with one of the two trains. I'm not sure what it was, but it may have been the audio since our train didn't have the soundtrack playing. On the second ride, the wait was a half hour because there were more people in line. This ride is worth whatever wait it has (usually 1+ hours unless you visit on a slow day), especially if you haven't been on it, since it is the only ride like it in the United States. It is my second favorite ride at the park, and is only in that spot because of roughness. This is minimized by sitting toward the front and/or in an inside seat, but it is still present at a couple points along the ride. Regardless, this is still a really fun ride and is a must ride. I also commend the operators of this ride for running it with two trains and not stacking once while I was there despite the ride having the longest loading interval of any coaster at the park.

 

Viper-This is the best Arrow custom looping coaster I have been on for three reasons: 1. It is the smoothest, 2. It is the most unique, 3. It is the only one that has hangtime. I like the feeling on this ride as it crawls through the batwing and the double corkscrew in the second half of the ride. The three loops at the beginning, however, are not really that thrilling to me. a good ride, but not worth more than a fifteen minute wait at any time.

 

Revolution-The first looping roller coaster is the most painful ride in this park. Due to the extremely uncomfortable shoulder harnesses, this ride boxes the ears of everyone, even people tall enough to avoid it on Viper. If the shoulder harnesses are removed from this ride, it will become a top 25 or at least a top 50 steel coaster, but until then it is a one ride per visit max for me. The biggest plus is that there is never any line except for the front or back car if they are running two trains.

 

Orient Express-A funicular up the side of the mountain. What more is there to say?

 

Sky Tower-You get a pretty good view from up here. The museum is also neat to look at. I hope they'll update it every so often with stuff for the park's more recent attractions. Maybe once the new roller coaster opens next year they'll put pictures of it at Six Flags New Orleans under floodwater up here. I doubt most people will know the history of the ride otherwise (not that they'll necessarily care). A good way to kill fifteen minutes.

 

Superman The Escape-This is the ride that many people look at coming into the park and think, "that looks incredibly scary." After riding, most people are like, "that was it?" The ride is fun when there isn't much of a wait, but if there is a line it isn't worth it. We waited fifteen minutes, which is about the max I would ever wait for this ride. At least it has a fast moving line for a shuttle coaster (I think they were able to dispatch it once every minute or so).

 

After Superman, we went down the hill and went to the Coldstone in Cyclone Bay. Everyone expect me got ice cream (I'm not much of an ice cream fan, especially in the winter) then we headed around the mountain to the one operating coaster we hadn't had a chance to ride yet.

 

Colossus-I'm sure that this was a classic when it first opened, but now it isn't really that great of a ride. It's still fun, but is a little rough at the bottom of hills and doesn't really have much airtime. I wouldn't wait for more than fifteen minutes to ride it, but when there is a two or three train wait it is worth a ride.

 

After Colossus, we headed back around the park, stopping at Riddler's Revenge, Terminator Salvation: The Ride, Tatsu, and X2. Once we got back to the entrance, the park was closed. We stopped at the gift store since my sister and her friend wanted to buy souvenirs. By the time we got back to the car it was 7:00, a whole hour after the park closed. We left the park and stopped at the Wendy's right outside for dinner before heading home.

 

Now for a few random comments:

 

1. I wonder if the park is updating the entire Gotham City Backlot to match the new colors of Batman the Ride. They had a fence blockin off the entire area (although I think you could still access Grinder Gearworks) and several bushes were covered as if to protect them from painting. I think it would be a great idea for the park to redo Gotham City and make it based on the new Batman movies (Batman Begins and the Dark Knight), even if the change is purely cosmetic. If they wanted to go all out, I could see them renaming everything in the area and adding new effects to Batman the Ride (an on-board soundtrack would be cool, but fire would be totally unnecessary). I just hope they don't decide to neglect the area, as it is currently the most well-themed part of the park.

 

2. I really think the park needs a better system for the Terminator Salvation preshow. It is okay to make viewing mandatory, but it is not okay to do so if trains are going out empty. I can understand a couple empty seats per train, but an entire empty train is bad. It's probably a bit too expensive for Six Flags, but I'm sure they could come up with a system where the preshow is entirely automated and is linked to the ride. If each room holds about two trains worth, they just have it set up so that the last room lets people begin climbing the stairs when the train they'll be on reaches the storage shed, then the door into that room opens a few seconds later, etc. The ride dispatches a train approximately once every 90 seconds and none of the videos are longer than three minutes, so it doesn't seem like it should be too hard to keep the line moving and avoid empty trains. When there isn't really a line, it doesn't bother me too much, but I would be pretty ticked off if I was standing in an hour line and each train had four or more empty rows.

 

3. It seems like the park is really trying to operate rides as efficiently as they can. With the exception of Tatsu (where I'm guessing the stacking was due to one station being used), I saw very little stacking during my visit with two train operation on everything that could operate multiple trains except Gold Rusher and Ninja. The operator at Ninja even apologized when we got there just after the train left because they were only running one train and the station was mostly full (it was back in about two minutes). If the park can keep this up, lines will hopefully rarely be too much of a problem. If they can ever operate everything with three trains and no stacking, I think this park would probably have the highest capacity of any park not owned by Disney.

 

4. Can someone please bring in a sandblaster (not the bumper car ride) and remove the parking lines under Scream? I don't mind the pavement but the lines look ugly.

 

5. Finally, if you actually read this entire trip report, congratulations. This will (hopefully) be my final text-only trip report as I asked for a digital camera for Christmas. Overall, given that two really good coasters were closed, I had a pretty good day at the park.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

[scream!]it is now to me the Silver Bullet of Magic Mountain

Agreed!

[StealthFan]

(an on-board soundtrack would be cool, but fire would be totally NECESSARY!)

 

Fixed that bit for you!

 

-Craig

[rcdude]

^Ha ha ha! I'm not completely opposed to fire, but I think it would be better to see something different since the park already has fire on two other roller coasters. Also, the ride is extremely compact so it would be difficult to find a good place for the flamethrowers. If they ever add fire, then cool, but if they don't, it doesn't really matter to me. I just really hope that if the ride ever gets a soundtrack it will actually be music from the Dark Knight (some of it would fit perfectly with the ride).

[austinlee]

Glad you had a great visit. I was also at Magic Mountain two weeks ago. The park was very empty when I was there too. I was disappointed that Goliath was closed, since it was scheduled to reopen on 12/19, but otherwise it was a great day. When I was there Colossus was closed, but it is not one of my favorites anymore so that's not that big of a deal. I was wondering the same things you were about the Gotham City Backlot. It appeared that a lot of work was being done in that area, other than just Batman being painted.