First TR at Six Flags MM and Universal Studios Hollywood

[gardyloo!]

So went to LA last summer with my dad to catch up with some friends and family.

And in that week I went to Universal & Six Flags

This is my First TR ever, and when I took these photos I never knew that I was going to post them on the internet

so please don't criticize me too hard, critique for things to improve are always welcome

But anyway here are the pics.

 

Universal Studios Hollywood:

As soon as we got into the park we walked to the new (and best) ride of the park; Transformers: The Ride

It only had a 10 minute queue so we were lucky

as you can see the queue is pretty detailed and explained the story line (a bit)

Getting Close

at the exit we walked into one of the transformers

i wanted to ride the mummy next (since it was next to transformers) as you can see it was getting more crowded

Mummy had a 30 minute line already and i knew that it was only getting longer. it's a pretty good ride a pop of air time here an there, a good launch. My friend expected a really intense ride and was in the end disappointed. But there is one thing that bothered me and that was the ending of the ride…. it was too random, the mummy just died? 7.5/10

3D effects were good, + the overall atmosphere (with the staff yelling (in a kind of good way) and fog alarms etc.) is really good aswell.

we were too late for the soak zone…. and believe me those people got soaked ;P

Water World was the next thing we saw, well i never seen the movie it was a pretty good show with some great effects

Fun Fact: al the actors in the show were actors from some popular tv series. (most were from CSI)

after the mummy we took the escalator to the upper section of the park

lots of fire

after the show, the park was packed!!!! so we went to london

there was fire

to escape the crowd and the heat, we took a look at the back stage show, it was ok.

and some other european towns

we saw some sets

a tiny fake village

because it was sunday there was little to no shooting

the rebuilt the set from……. i believe the grinch

next was a less friendly set….. the infamous bates motel

as u can see phantom manor (disneyland paris) was based on bates mansion

there was even a little scene played as you drive along

nice car though

After the show it was about 1 pm……. which means its the hottest part of the day, well normally I love this time of the day but today it felt a little too hot, so we took an escalator down and queued up for the Tram Studio (it was about 40 min waiting which is ok I guess)

amazing location for a park

there was a whole disaster scene

as it was getting busier and busier we decided to queue up for the Simpsons (Jurrassic had 80 min Transformes had 90 min Mummy had 55 min)

luckily there were lots of funny clips of the Simspons to keep the wait bearable

but there was a lot of zig zag line to come

we were getting closer and closer

the longest line you mean

the ride was ok but after 70 min of waiting….most of your patience is gone

even Krustyland has more rides then univerdal studios hollywood

the tour took a good 45 minutes with some old and new effects (I couldn't fined any pics of king kong ;( )

Scooby Doo getting told to back off

the blues brothers

if you loved the movie or blues music, this show is for you!

there was a year round horror maze but with a 40 minute line, and with a lack of time (we needed to leave early) we skipped it

fun fact: during the shooting of frankenstein the actor who played frankenstein lost about 25 pounds from sweating! (the costume weighted idk about 80 pounds)

as you can see the park is still PACKED (but you can expect that on a sunday in july)

later in the day there was some street entertainment

we went to the lower section of the park for some re-rides

my friend and I took the single rider line but ended up sitting next to each other

still the best ride in the park!

love these things (the cool zone in the background )

in the end

 

Pros: great rides, one and only 'real' Tram Tour, great shows many cool zones , much street entertainment, good staff.

 

cons: not many rides, long lines (because there are few rides) high admission fee, gets crowded really crowded really fast

[coasterbill]

Great pictures! I've never been to this park but it seems like it has a completely screwy layout.

[boardwalkbullet91507]

Huh, I never knew they had an escalator. Thanks for sharing.

[gardyloo!]

Tomorrow I'll show the six flags part of the trip

[EastCoastKid]

When I visited LA last July, I 100% knew I had to visit SFMM, and debated on either Universal or Knott's for the other park. I chose Knott's and I'm glad I did! Universal just doesn't seem like my cup of tea.

[arby]

Thanks for the TR. We skipped Universal during our last trip to SoCal but hope to hit it up next time. There should be more that interests us by then.

[gardyloo!]

Here's part 2:

 

Six Flags Magic Mountain:

reviews:

 

Tatsu: awesome flying machine 9/10

X2: rough but it's a experience that you cannot miss! 8/10

viper: a great arrow 8/10

revolution: rough but a classic 7/10

Ninja: nice arrow, but a stupid and random ending 6.5/10

Superman Escape from Krypton: it's over before you know it, but boy those 10 seconds 8/10

Apocalypse: a great GCI, with fire 8.5/10

Riddler's revenge: there's no better stand up then riddler 8.5/10

green lantern: rode it twice, first time unbalanced (great) second time balanced (painful) it does have the best airtime in the park (something the park is missing) 7/10

Batman the ride: a forceful B&M still don't know if i liked it or not 7.5/10

Scream!: forceless B&M, but still a good coaster 8/10

Colossus: A woodie which had its good days 6.5/10

Goliath: mixed feelings about it….. but I prefer airtime over strong helixes 7.5/10

Full Throttle: great coaster, and YOLO 8/10

 

Pros: Great mix of coasters, nice staff, many places to rest your feet

Cons: not much to do for under 48", dirty restrooms, the food is terrible, some operations were pretty slow

 

In the end: for a Coaster freak a must do, if not it's better to skip this place and spend another day at disney.

Denying X2's is impossible as driving to the entrance

to your right, world class coasters to your left….. desert

the 'new' YOLO coaster

for a monday in july, the crowd wasn't too bad

as you're driving to Six flags Magic Mountain, you can see one thing stand out (literally)

Tatsu is truly photo unique

the parking lot.

1 pic 2 coasters

luckily the crowd spread across the park

revolution hurling trough the trees

unfortunately revolution was pretty rough

best part of the best ride at the park

welcome to samurai summit

tatsu was amazing

they used only one side of the dueling station (it only had a station wait)

incredible fast lift hill, but the best part is that it slows down at the top of the lift hill, to build the antic patience

great rollovers

sat front row which was awesome

the 2nd coaster we've ridden was X2

unfortunately it was extremely rough (i sat on the outer seat)

+ it had a 90 minute line, but we skipped that by paying an extra 15 bucks

but there is one element that is out of this world after the turn around (i believe it's called the flip) which you get the feeling that you could literally just take off and flay away

trying to get a 'alley' quality pic

trying to be artsy

the park entrance

the infamous parking lot coaster

after x2 we rode viper which was a nice surprise little head banging, intense loopings and some ejector air (in the front) great arrow!

the dive in the tunnel

I rode it twice in the back

in reverse was fun but didn't really ad anything except the ride time

but it is truly photogenic

after ninja we needed a more thrilling ride so it was superman's turn to show what this coaster can do and…… it was a good coaster great launch but going up/down the tower was much less scarier than it looked

as it was getting warmer and warmer (it was about 105 F) we needed to cool down and rode jet stream

a fairly good log fume with a nice final drop and chewing gum tunnel

after viper we rode ninja a SMOOTH arrow

perfect (six flags) family coaster

sky coaster which we didn't do

next up is one of my favourite wooden roller coasters: apocalypse

we took the back seat (my dad joined)

to my and my dad surprise, this coaster was much more intense than the other (and bigger) woodie in the park Collosus

a great GCI roller coaster

Next up was riddler which had I believe the 4th longest wait in the park (after X2, scream!, Goliath and Full Throtle)

A great stand up coaster with some nice forces

even with the 3 train operation it had a 40 minute line (it broke down on the lift hill once)

In my opinion the best stand up coaster

the waterpark

scream! was ok, it's a typical modern B&M, aka forceless , but that doesn't mean its not a good coaster

an ok floorless coaster

but it had only one train running, so there was about 60 minute wait ( but my Q-bot only gave me a 5 minute wait which is strange because it reduces the queue for 50% not for 90%)

next up was colossus which we all rode together

it was ok, bit rough no airtime…. yeah colossus is definatly ready for its RMC update

after batman and green lantern it was time to ride goliath, my dad loves roller coasters ass long as he can see the track (and prefers not to go upside down) goliath was intense really intense, but I rather have a hyper coaster with airtime then 3g helixes.

a closer look at superman tower

riding viper is… YOLO

and now the one and only…. YOLO coaster; Full Throtle

the final drop was the best part

mooseburger lodge

the loop and al its glory

tatsu

again tatsu's final helix

most people were leaving at this time (as were we)

you can never have enough photos of tats

faunton

x2

black snake river falls…… looks steep… looks

and because it's TPR, the last pic is a true nerd pic

Edited February 28, 2014 by gardyloo!

[gardyloo!]

part 3+ coaster reviews will be uploaded later this day

thank you for viewing

(sorry for this broken part, my computer is having some technical difficulties)

[rosscoe]

Any trip report with Scooby Doo gets a seal of approval

[gardyloo!]

SF MM Tr finished^

what are you're thought?

[singemfrc]

I liked that artsy photo of X2 through Viper's loop.

[bert425]

I could be wrong, as I haven't been there (or on the tour), but I *think* the "disaster scene" from the Universal tour is actually a set from Tom Cruise's version of "War of the Worlds"

 

the destroyed plane in the street looks like it's from that film.

[gardyloo!]

I liked that artsy photo of X2 through Viper's loop.

thanks

 

I could be wrong, as I haven't been there (or on the tour), but I *think* the "disaster scene" from the Universal tour is actually a set from Tom Cruise's version of "War of the Worlds"

 

the destroyed plane in the street looks like it's from that film.

I have no idea but, What they told us on the tour was that the plane was a actual Boeing 747, and that they demolished it just for this set. But you could be right.

[disney4me2001]

I liked that artsy photo of X2 through Viper's loop.

 

I second that! Awesome shot!

[disney4me2001]

I could be wrong, as I haven't been there (or on the tour), but I *think* the "disaster scene" from the Universal tour is actually a set from Tom Cruise's version of "War of the Worlds"

 

the destroyed plane in the street looks like it's from that film.

I have no idea but, What they told us on the tour was that the plane was a actual Boeing 747, and that they demolished it just for this set. But you could be right.

 

You're both right- it is the set from "War of the Worlds," and the plane was destroyed for the film. In fact, because it was so big, they had to break it down into sections just to get it placed on set (since it had to be brought to the backlot via flatbed trucks)!

[gardyloo!]

I could be wrong, as I haven't been there (or on the tour), but I *think* the "disaster scene" from the Universal tour is actually a set from Tom Cruise's version of "War of the Worlds"

 

the destroyed plane in the street looks like it's from that film.

I have no idea but, What they told us on the tour was that the plane was a actual Boeing 747, and that they demolished it just for this set. But you could be right.

 

You're both right- it is the set from "War of the Worlds," and the plane was destroyed for the film. In fact, because it was so big, they had to break it down into sections just to get it placed on set (since it had to be brought to the backlot via flatbed trucks)!

 

I think you're right about that, but they never told us that on the Studio tour (which was weird because they should tell the guests which set from which movie is)

[Eaanderson10]

did your dad go with you to the Parks? wish I could get one of my parents to come with me haha

[gardyloo!]

did your dad go with you to the Parks? wish I could get one of my parents to come with me haha

 

Well to be honest, I was just lucky. Because we didn't plan to go to universal, but we drove past the entrance and asked if we could see the city walk *cough and universal studios cough*

[gardyloo!]

did your dad go with you to the Parks? wish I could get one of my parents to come with me haha

 

Well to be honest, I was just lucky. Because we didn't plan to go to universal, but we drove past the entrance and asked if we could see the city walk *cough and universal studios cough*