Magic Mountain: Help! Planning a trip in May.

[SteveR]

We are planning “Coaster Tour ‘06” May 15- 19 with my 9-year-old son who is obsessed with roller coasters and intent on collecting credits. Well, okay, so am I.

 

Coming from San Francisco, we are planning two days at Magic Mountain and two days at Knotts Berry Farm.

 

Questions: HELP! Can we realistically ride most of the coasters at SFMM in two days? And the bigger question, what is the best way to attack SFMM? We are interested in riding as many coasters as possible. What are the best, and what is a good order to approach them? I know the current strategy is to race to “X” when the park opens. What next? Which coasters have the longest queue lines? Give me an agenda to follow with military precision.

 

Our trip is during a school week: on Monday and Tuesday, before Summer Vacation (the joys of homeschooling) so it should be somewhat quiet at the park. Is MM still crazy in an off week? Suggestions??

 

Also, what about Knott’s? Never been there. What’s the best plan of attack? COASTER CREDITS! COASTER CREDITS!

 

Thank you much!

 

Steve

[dougr]

You've got a brave 9 year old! When we drove to SoCal two years ago, my 9 year old had never been on a roller coaster. We spent most of our time at Disneyland-and once I pointed out the Matterhorn is a roller coaster (after she rode it, of course) I did talk her into Gadget's Go Coaster. No coasters for her at Knott's, though-and I didn't even try to get to Magic Mountain although it did look SWEET from the freeway

 

This past year, she decided to try the woodie at the PNE and later that summer, she went on the corkscrew and all the coasters at Silverwood

 

I know with some 9 year olds, you have to worry about minimum heights. And even the bravest kids (including the big ones) can be afraid on some of the extreme rides. I know I'm glad the restraints are so secure on Xcelerator-it made ME panic and scream like Ned Flanders all the way through the launch (she got to watch from the entrance).

 

So we are going to SoCal again this year (she's now 11) and here's what we are going to do- first Knott's- warm up on Ghostrider (roughly the size of big woodie at Silverwood). then Montezuma's revenge (55 mph launch, 1x2 inversions) then Boomerang, then Silver Bullet, then eventually Xcelerator.

I think once a kid can handle all those coasters, Magic Mountain is just a matter of degrees.

 

I know that's a lot of post without too much real info, but I hope it helps some

[rollermonkey]

If you are credit whoring, and it sounds like you are, it is concievable that you could ride all of the OPEN coasters at 6FMM in one day. Deja Vu is currently in rehab, but should be open by the dates of your trip. Revolution is down due to the construction of Tatsu. This should also be done by the time you get there. Flashback is SBNO (standing but not operating) and has been for a few years. There are rumors that it may reopen this year. If all 17 coasters are up, running and the park isn't crowded, you could get on all of them in a single day. I think that you are planning a 2-day stop there is wise, as it makes it more likely that you can get all the credits and allows you to do other things like breathe, eat and possibly get on some of the few flat rides or reride a coaster or two.

 

I can't believe that after all these years, 6FMM is becoming a 2 day park!

(Hopefully it isn't because of loading times!)

[SteveR]

You've got a brave 9 year old! When we drove to SoCal two years ago, my 9 year old had never been on a roller coaster.

 

Ha! Yeah, Wyatt loves coasters. (See his own web site at www.worldofwyatt.com ) In fact, "love" doesn't begin to describe his feelings toward them.

 

Funny that you mentioned height requirements: my kid is all too aware of them; previously a source of frustration. Last year he was a half-inch under 52", the requirement for many coasters. So I wrapped Ace bandages around his feet before putting on his shoes! It gave him just enough boost and he dubbed them his "trick shoes". Ahh...nothing like having a kid willing to beat the system.

 

Thanks for your thoughts on SFMM. I guess to follow up, my question is, what are the highest-traffic coasters? Which ones should we sprint to? Are there any that have consistantly light queues?

 

And yes, we are credit whoring. (I love that term!)

 

Steve

[SharkTums]

Elissa's Patented Get all the Coasters at SFMM Plan!

 

- Be at the parking booths by 9:15 if you already have tickets, 9am, if you do not.

- Get to the front of the gate and be ready for opening.

- RUN to X

- Run to Deja Vu (if open)

- Riddlers

- Batman

- Goliath

- Food or Rest

- Hit rest of coasters

 

Never wait more than 25 minutes for a ride. If the line looks longer, skip it and come back later. If the park is really busy, get FastLanes or call up Robb/Elissa and have them bring you theirs!

[rollermonkey]

The throughput losers are X and Deja Vu. Those are the first two to hit if they are open. (They also have reliability issues.) Superman's next, and the rest are pretty good, as long as multiple trains are being operated, which supposedly is the norm again. The park is a big circle, and after Tatsu opens, there should be ways through the middle again. The typical recommended route is X, Deja Vu, then continue to circle the park. Viper, Superman and now Tatsu will all be in the middle, and you could do them after Deja Vu.

Once Tatsu opens though, these guidelines might all go away, as no one knows how well 6FMM will be able to operate the B&M Flying train loading procedures yet.

[ebl]

^ I would think that by May, SFMM would have the flyer procedure down. Running three trains with a dual loading station shouldn't be a problem.

 

Eric

[Meteornotes]

Deja Vu is currently in rehab

 

Grrrr, guess I'll miss this again. This is one tough credit to get!

 

dt

[BarryH]

I did SFMM in one day in early May. I was able to do all the coasters in a day, but I only re-rode only 2 coasters. When I saw Deja vu running, I ran to it first! I would have ran to X, but it wasn't open until around 11 am. I was stuck in the Viper line at around 10:45 am and I saw X trains running! I ended up waiting for X for 1 hour and 15 minutes, which was 1 hour too much!

 

I assume the kids and hoodlums will still be in CA school in May, so you can ride all the SFMM coasters in one day. You might not have time to do flats or take in a show, but I don't remember any flats running that day.

 

Also, I met the almightly Elissa that day too! Perhaps you can have the SFMM expert tag along with you.

[shepp]

Two major variables are school groups and the weather, neither of which you can do anything about. I was there midweek in an early June, and two days were plenty to do it all, multiple times. (Except X, which didn't open til our third morning there.) But the first day was very overcast and there were few groups, the second sunny and packed with end-of-shool-year field trip hordes and the queues a LOT longer. I don't think the school groups should be that big a factor in mid-May, though.

[s2pids2]

^ You'll definitely get school groups in May and maybe even the month before...but it wont be comparable to the groups you'll find in the summer. Plus, the school groups will actually be working...probably a few physics classes or something.