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The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread


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All of the other theme parks in SoCal are open year round, so hopefully this will work out for SFMM. For myself, I will be visiting a lot more in 2018 because I expect the park to be dead on school days. I love going to Knott's in the Spring and Fall when school is in, so now I'm going to have to include SFMM in my visits. The key for them will be publicizing the fact that they are open year round as visitors are not used to the park being open in the off-season.

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This is huge news! I was looking through their calendar and there are a few things to note:

 

- The park's hours will be 10:30 to 6:00 on most of those new operating days (sorry to all of you cheap asses locals that wanted to run over their with a dining pass and get free meals on weeknights after work ).

 

- During Fright Fest, the park will close at 6PM on weekdays which implies that the event will only run on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in addition to October 29th, 30th and 31st (Halloween)

 

- The same goes for Holiday in the Park. The event will begin on November 17th and park will close at 6PM midweek from November 26th to December 14th. This includes Fridays for now, but I sort of expect them to re-think that. The event seems to end on December 30th, I expect them to re-think that too.

 

- The park will be open on all major holidays.

 

I'm really interested to see if this works out for them. Obviously the other parks in the area have been open daily for years but Magic Mountain is a decent drive from the downtime LA / Anaheim area. The success of this will depend heavily on whether or not they can convince tourists to make the drive. In that regard this is actually a very similar situation to the one that Busch Gardens Tampa is in (though Tampa is much more of a tourist destination in it's own right than Valencia) and clearly this model works for them.

 

I'm interested to see how this plays out. Hopefully it works for them and now it's almost a guarantee that they can brag about dramatically increased attendance on their 2018 Q1, Q2 and Q4 conference calls.

 

The hours dont make much sense to me.

 

I feel like it would make more sense to stay closed on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and use those hours to stay open later on Fridays and Saturdays. Even museums do this (many close Mondays and stay open as late as 10pm on Thursdays).

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My first thought is that they can hire a ton more full-time positions! That may be able to quell some of the seasonal employee problems they had in spring and fall, right?

 

I know I'm all for having employees gaining more experience and staying employed for longer - That could only be better for operations, right?

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I see this as good news and bad news. Obviously, an awesome park like SFMM being open year-round is GREAT, and staffing may even be easier as others have mentioned. However, I hope their maintenance doesn't go downhill. The park BARELY keeps up on maintaining their plethora of rides during the off-season, so I hope they work like Disney or Knott's and establish a maintenance schedule and post it online rather than half-a$$ing everything and being hush-hush about ride closures.

 

I really hope this works out for them, but like others, I'm skeptical about a few logistics.

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I'm really hopeful this will work out for them. It's great news for me as now I can make weekday trips in the offseason when it's going to be even less crowded. I know the park's history of maintenance and operations but I imagine they've thought some of those things through so hopefully this really works for both the park and the customers.

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I see this as good news and bad news. Obviously, an awesome park like SFMM being open year-round is GREAT, and staffing may even be easier as others have mentioned. However, I hope their maintenance doesn't go downhill. The park BARELY keeps up on maintaining their plethora of rides during the off-season, so I hope they work like Disney or Knott's and establish a maintenance schedule and post it online rather than half-a$$ing everything and being hush-hush about ride closures.

 

I really hope this works out for them, but like others, I'm skeptical about a few logistics.

 

Agreed, let us see what will be closed in advance and be able to plan around it.

 

 

Which reminds me, Im going on Friday. Anything I should know? Any rides closed these days? Or running just one train?

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^Apocalypse is closed until Fright Fest.

 

As of now the park only staffs enough maintenance to do the everyday scheduled maintenance on the rides. The off-season was greatly beneficial... I sincerely hope that the park increases staffing to handle a much increased workload.

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^Apocalypse is closed until Fright Fest.

 

As of now the park only staffs enough maintenance to do the everyday scheduled maintenance on the rides. The off-season was greatly beneficial... I sincerely hope that the park increases staffing to handle a much increased workload.

 

Damnit, my second favorite ride in the park.

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^Apocalypse is closed until Fright Fest.

 

Again? They just closed it for like 8 months for some retracking... any idea what they're doing now?

 

They need to blow that ride up! Replace it with a new Big Dive Coaster to take up old Deja Vu and Apocalypse land.

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^Apocalypse is closed until Fright Fest.

 

Again? They just closed it for like 8 months for some retracking... any idea what they're doing now?

 

If I remember correctly, they always heavily re-theme Apocalypse in "Shadows of Evil" during FrightFest. Anyone else can confirm?

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^Apocalypse is closed until Fright Fest.

 

Again? They just closed it for like 8 months for some retracking... any idea what they're doing now?

 

They need to blow that ride up! Replace it with a new Big Dive Coaster to take up old Deja Vu and Apocalypse land.

Have you ridden it since the latest refurb? They actually made a difference this time, I dare say it's enjoyable now, though it will never been a smooth ride, it's at least down to just being rough as any old woodie. I used to say tear it down too, but now that it's been improved, I'd rather they keep it as long as they can keep it in this condition.

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^ More extreme dynamic pricing possibly? They could go for the same strategy that Seaworld is trying in Orlando by positioning themselves as the budget friendly park for people who don't want to shell out the cash and deal with the crowds of Disney and Universal. They are also the best thrill park which gives them a nice niche already. I know I am in the minority, but as a coaster enthusiast if I came with family to Southern California during the week in January I would likely choose to go to Magic Mountain before paying twice as much to be trampled on at Disney. To each their own though, that is why there are many options to choose from.

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i'm pretty interested to see how it plays out. even at Knott's i question if it's worth it. it's so dead there during the off season weekdays. one train operations and you can pretty much stay on the coasters without getting off. i'd really be interested to see the data on how much it costs to run the park compared to not, and the profit margins. anyway, i look forward to some marathon days. i'm not complaining.

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I'm in the camp of "I can't see how they're going to make this work, but let them try!"

 

Same.

 

I don't see how they're going to staff the park considering so much of their workforce is minors.

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