The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

Late in posting, but I went down to the park last weekend, and it's been a long time since I've posted a photo TR.

I was driving down from NorCal to LA for a concert Saturday night and figured as long as I'm driving by it, I might as well stop at MM. Originally was just going to go on Sunday because as a rule I don't like going to parks on Saturdays, but then decided I might as well stop in and see what's what, since it's a February. I was pleasantly surprised..even on Saturday the crowds were minimal. Only a few rides had longish waits, but no biggie since I could hit those on Sunday.

Got in at about noon and unfortunately Orient Express was still down, so that meant no help getting up the hill, but I could use the exercise anyway. I headed up first to check out Tatsu, but it looked like about a 45 min wait and I was being picky so I figured I'd come back to it tomorrow.

Backtracked a bit to my first ride of the morning, Ninja, which after about a 10 min wait for the front row, decided to shut down ride when I stepped into the car. 20 mins or so later after a restart and a couple of test cycles, I was able to whizz through the places where trees used to be. Still love that ride though..its not tall or crazy but it's just fun.

Walked over to see what the wait was like for Superman and the line was out of the cave, so that was longer than I felt like waiting so I moved on and took a quick spin on Gold Rusher which was, as usual, a walk-on. From there walked over to DC and took my first spin on Justice League. It had a 2 hr wait last time I was there in the summer, so I skipped it, but today the wait was minimal. On my first of many rides, I spaced and totally forgot the glasses. It was actually kind of interesting without them.

Then went over to the rest of DC, walked by Green Lantern which was of course still closed, and went up the exit to the SRL on Riddler. Riddler had probably a 30 minute wait or so, but as usual the SRL got me directly onto the first train in the station.

Batman was a priority on this trip since I had skipped it on the last 2 or 3 trips to the Mountain, so I made my way there next. Ended up riding in the middle of a group of 3 other strangers since they were double-riding due to no one in queue in the station.

From there I went down to TC & Scream, TC's line was right at the entrance so I decided to try my luck later..I'd ridden it to death my last couple visits anyway. Surprisingly Scream had an even longer line, it was posted 1 hr, but I think realistically 30-45 mins..either way longer than I wanted to wait for Scream, so I headed back to the front of the park.

YOLO had only about a 5 minute wait, so I obliged. Always a fun ride especially for such a short layout. We laugh at it alot because of the marketing, but it really was a great design for what they had to work with.

Back at the front of the park I circled back over to Revolution which had 0 wait, so I walked on and had a nice VR-less ride. I wasn't about to consider riding Viper, so I ended my day with a sunset ride on X2 which was only about a 5 minute wait for the front row.

I came back Sunday morning with the intention of hitting all the stuff I missed on Saturday, but things did not go according to plan to say the least! Upon entering the park at 1030 I went straight to Tatsu figuring that would probably be the most consistent line of the day. As I walked up I noticed the train was stuck on the lift. I was the only person who wanted to wait for it to reopen, which I never understood. People will wait in lines for 2 hrs +, but wont wait for a ride to reopen for even 15 minutes. Sure enough it was back open in about 20 minutes or so, and I walked right up and onto the front row...but this is where my day got turned upside down.

I'm always really aware of what's in my front pockets and make sure that nothing is in danger of coming out during a ride, but I failed this day. That first ride on Tatsu just absolutely emptied my pockets. Fortunately I had tied my car keys to my pants and was physically holding my phone into my pocket, or I would have lost them. When I got off, my keys were hanging from their tether. Something about the forces on this ride were different than usual, I'd never experienced that on Tatsu before.

Unfortunately when I walked out of the exit I realized that my wallet had come out of my back pocket during the ride, and was now lost somewhere in the brown jungle beneath the pretzel loop. I always focus on what's in my front pockets, but didn't think about my back pocket since for literally every ride other than Tatsu, I'm sitting on it. Won't make that mistake again in the future. Needless to say I didn't really feel like riding any more coasters for the rest of the day, so for the most part I just wandered around the park, but I did play Justice League a half dozen or so more times since there was no line, just to see how high of a score I could get.

Unfortunately this meant I wouldn't be able to leave early for the 7 hour drive home, I would have to wait until after the park closes to see if they found it on the after close track walk. More unfortunately for me, they didn't find it. I wasn't really surprised though, its a small black leather wallet in the brush in the dark, that would be extremely difficult to find. At least there was no cash in it, just credit cards and ID, and its easy to replace credit cards. DMV is a little bit more of a hassle to deal with, but not the end of the world. I'm just lucky my car keys and/or my phone didnt get lose too or it would have been a lot worse. Fortunate that my bank has cardless ATM, so I could use my phone to get cash to buy gas to drive home!

As I write this I've already got my credit cards replaced, my work ID badge replaced, and new drivers license should arrive within a week or so. I think in the future I may just leave my wallet in the car, I don't usually really need it in the park anyway. Also will probably fork over the $ for the lackers at Tatsu from now on too. Worrying about things in my pockets is no fun.

Obligatory TC photography from the parking lot.

Obligatory TC photography from the parking lot.

New signage.

Leg day.

One Loop Wonder

Ninja threw a tantrum.

Development in the hills.

Not very helpful.

More obligatory everyone-has-done-this-shot photos.

I like this one with the sun flare and the train through the trees.

Yolo!

Gold Rusher is always photogenic if nothing else.

Nice sunny day for a ride on GR.

I agree with others in that the paint job on Riddlers is really growing on me.

Justice League has a WHAT?? Cant believe I didnt hear about this before! Saved so much time in the single rider line!

I know MM may be just lazy enough to put up a random sign, but I think they could have just as easily not put a sign up at all, so perhaps it will actually reopen at some point, for the 3 of us that care.

Some Batman photography, since I'm here.

Amazing how well it's held up over the years.

Pretty good shot for just a cell phone.

Scream looked nice, but I wasn't going to stand in that line for it.

Nope.

That's much more like it.

So much fun.

Best part of the ride?

The right way. Somewhat surprised they actually put a "Classic" sign on the wall, maybe this will be long term.

Sunset ride on X2.

Sunset ride on X2.

Viper is look but don't touch for me from now on.

Still makes for great photos though.

Gotta love X2 at sunset.

End of day 1...

Glad I found one of these near my airbnb in studio city, I love this place!

Stuck on the lift.

No one else willing to wait.

Still not helpful.

Somewhere down there is my wallet...

Sucked on skittle in action.

Best score I could manage on JL. Not bad for first time.

Spent a few bucks on gas on this trip.

^ Holy Crap!!! What beautiful photos!! Thanks for sharing!!

Wow I second that. Fantastic photos!

Great photos! That’s too bad to hear about your wallet, but at least you’ll never make that mistake again.

On most coasters, I can keep my phone and wallet in zipped or button cargo pockets, but I think Tatsu is the only coaster where I completely empty my pockets every single ride. I’ve seen way too many wallets, keys, and phones fly out from other riders in the middle of the ride to take that chance.

Great photos! That’s too bad to hear about your wallet, but at least you’ll never make that mistake again.

 

On most coasters, I can keep my phone and wallet in zipped or button cargo pockets, but I think Tatsu is the only coaster where I completely empty my pockets every single ride. I’ve seen way too many wallets, keys, and phones fly out from other riders in the middle of the ride to take that chance.

Yeah I mean it wasnt the first time I rode Tatsu either, and nothing has ever come out of my photos before. This time it just turned me upside down and shook me. Still, lesson learned.

Great TR! That sucks about your wallet, but at least everything inside was easily replaceable. I've seen Tatsu steal items out of other riders' pockets, as well, but not on the pretzel loop. About a year ago, the person in front of me lost their phone on the last turn before the final brake run.

I need to get over to the park again soon. The new semester has kept me pretty busy, and so I've had about a month of coaster withdrawals.

Nice pics! Sorry about your wallet I wore incredibly unstylish cargo shorts on one of my visits, and then just left my phone and everything in my car on my other visit, because I'm absolutely terrified of losing stuff on rides. I have to concentrate on making sure everything is in my pockets at all times, and then the ride just becomes about that, and I'm not having fun. I'm going to have to invest in some shorts and pants that both look decent and have strong zipper pockets for this upcoming season.

I thought I'd share a couple pictures from my visit last week as well, including one incredibly adorable one, if I do say so myself.

Here's me as a much younger lad in March of 2002 in front of what I thought was the best coaster ever. Note the little baby palm tree in the background.

And here's me from 2 weeks ago.

RR is quite photogenic.

I see we both went for this shot, sing. It's a good one.

True story: I walked onto Viper with literally a completely empty station. I was the only person on the ride when I rode it. The ride op started with his whole spiel "Welcome riders...." and then just said "ah forget it, it doesn't matter." Cracked me up.

I lost my wallet on X2 of all rides. I felt it, like, float up behind me. And somehow they found it!

I just take a backpack with me anymore.

Yikes. Riddler’s new paint is starting peel off. Hopefully this is just a localized issue and not something that could occur across the entire coaster.

Yikes. Riddler’s new paint is starting peel off. Hopefully this is just a localized issue and not something that could occur across the entire coaster.

Naw, I bet they planned it to do that.

Yikes. Riddler’s new paint is starting peel off. Hopefully this is just a localized issue and not something that could occur across the entire coaster.

Oh it's nothing, just the ride rejecting such a fugly paint scheme

Yikes. Riddler’s new paint is starting peel off. Hopefully this is just a localized issue and not something that could occur across the entire coaster.

doesn't surprise me at all. you just need to look over at batman. what's kind of interesting to me is, baynum painting has done a lot of their coasters. some, like X2 still great 10 years later. but then batman is flaking. i wonder how many different types of prep and paint you can choose from? i see where they just look like they pressure wash the ride. to me, there's no way doing just that will last that long. especially if a ride is spewing grease and what not from the trains over a long period of time.

anyway, i'd hope there's some guarantee there for riddler. that's far too fast imo to be flaking no matter what. 8-10 years, i can understand more.

Riddler's prep was a power wash. The color you're seeing now is the underlying primer they painted everything before the final coat. It is indeed surprising to see Ridddler's peeling like it is. The corkscrew out of the MCBR has had a spot that started peeling mere weeks after they finished the repaint.

Revolution got the same treatment and I don't think it's peeling anywhere, so maybe it is the type of paint they use, I'm not sure. Surprising indeed...

Yikes. Riddler’s new paint is starting peel off. Hopefully this is just a localized issue and not something that could occur across the entire coaster.

Oh it's nothing, just the ride rejecting such a fugly paint scheme

Smart ride.

Multiple people working on Green Lantern today, adding trims all over the coaster. I mean, I don’t think there’s a 30 foot section of track on that thing without a trim now. It’ll be interesting to see how it rides...

I’m one of the few who’ve always loved Green Lantern. (And yes, I do love rides that make me feel like I’m going to die.)

Oh! And I got this cool shot of Viper at sunset.

Multiple people working on Green Lantern today, adding trims all over the coaster. I mean, I don’t think there’s a 30 foot section of track on that thing without a trim now. It’ll be interesting to see how it rides...

I think we can get a pretty good idea of how it's going to ride...

[youtu_be]

Oh! And I got this cool shot of Viper at sunset.

That IS very cool! Love the silhouette.

Honestly, Viper at Magic Mountain is a very underrated ride and while hated on by most people young and old because of how "rough" it definitely is, to me it is a HUGE symbol in how much the roller coaster industries at the time were pushing the boundaries of taller and faster rides. From Arrow, nonetheless. The biggest problem with Viper is it was basically a Goldrusher technology ride with much bigger, faster, loopier proportions. I don't care what anyone says, a backseat ride on Viper will pretty much tell you exactly what was going on in the early 90's with roller coasters, and the first half is violent and intense, but my gawd so much fun. The last half is just pretty much jerky "let's see how much we can turn you upside down" but still to me that pic of the double corkscrew looking North is iconic.

It is also probably the most photogenic coaster the park has ever had. The rides name fits the coaster tracks angles, and it was in "Baja Ridge" with a dessert theme with CACTI (man those Six Flags guys really knew how to theme rides and areas of a park back then, I miss that!). My very favorite photo of Viper.

https://rcdb.com/25.htm#p=77

Multiple people working on Green Lantern today, adding trims all over the coaster. I mean, I don’t think there’s a 30 foot section of track on that thing without a trim now. It’ll be interesting to see how it rides...

 

I’m one of the few who’ve always loved Green Lantern. (And yes, I do love rides that make me feel like I’m going to die.)

 

Oh! And I got this cool shot of Viper at sunset.

Ahh, yes, sux flags answer to all problems....trim breaks

Multiple people working on Green Lantern today, adding trims all over the coaster. I mean, I don’t think there’s a 30 foot section of track on that thing without a trim now. It’ll be interesting to see how it rides...

 

I’m one of the few who’ve always loved Green Lantern. (And yes, I do love rides that make me feel like I’m going to die.)

 

Oh! And I got this cool shot of Viper at sunset.

 

Ahh, yes, sux flags answer to all problems....trim breaks

Ya know, you are right to mock them.... I mean, you are on the internets, so you know all about coasters

Multiple people working on Green Lantern today, adding trims all over the coaster. I mean, I don’t think there’s a 30 foot section of track on that thing without a trim now. It’ll be interesting to see how it rides...

 

I’m one of the few who’ve always loved Green Lantern. (And yes, I do love rides that make me feel like I’m going to die.)

 

Oh! And I got this cool shot of Viper at sunset.

 

Ahh, yes, sux flags answer to all problems....trim breaks

How incredibly troll-y of you.

Riddler's prep was a power wash. The color you're seeing now is the underlying primer they painted everything before the final coat. It is indeed surprising to see Ridddler's peeling like it is. The corkscrew out of the MCBR has had a spot that started peeling mere weeks after they finished the repaint.

 

Revolution got the same treatment and I don't think it's peeling anywhere, so maybe it is the type of paint they use, I'm not sure. Surprising indeed...

Wouldn't surprise me if they didn't use actual primer on RR. You can't prime with normal paint. Other paint won't stick to it. Primer is not just an undercoat. It is a flat non-gloss paint that is specially designed to bond to what coat is laid over it. Looking at the photos of when they were painting it the "primer" appeared to be regular colored semi-gloss paint.

Multiple people working on Green Lantern today, adding trims all over the coaster. I mean, I don’t think there’s a 30 foot section of track on that thing without a trim now. It’ll be interesting to see how it rides...

 

I’m one of the few who’ve always loved Green Lantern. (And yes, I do love rides that make me feel like I’m going to die.)

 

Oh! And I got this cool shot of Viper at sunset.

 

Ahh, yes, sux flags answer to all problems....trim breaks

I'd rather have an open ride that is more comfortable than a SBNO ride...

What if those aren’t trims but actually magnets that encourage the cars to spin, a la the free spins?

Maybe they can use them to try to right the car as it enters the station so they don’t have the stuck upside down problem anymore.

Multiple people working on Green Lantern today, adding trims all over the coaster. I mean, I don’t think there’s a 30 foot section of track on that thing without a trim now. It’ll be interesting to see how it rides...

 

I’m one of the few who’ve always loved Green Lantern. (And yes, I do love rides that make me feel like I’m going to die.)

 

Oh! And I got this cool shot of Viper at sunset.

 

Ahh, yes, sux flags answer to all problems....trim breaks

or more the answer to poor designs.

Riddler's prep was a power wash. The color you're seeing now is the underlying primer they painted everything before the final coat. It is indeed surprising to see Ridddler's peeling like it is. The corkscrew out of the MCBR has had a spot that started peeling mere weeks after they finished the repaint.

 

Revolution got the same treatment and I don't think it's peeling anywhere, so maybe it is the type of paint they use, I'm not sure. Surprising indeed...

Wouldn't surprise me if they didn't use actual primer on RR. You can't prime with normal paint. Other paint won't stick to it. Primer is not just an undercoat. It is a flat non-gloss paint that is specially designed to bond to what coat is laid over it. Looking at the photos of when they were painting it the "primer" appeared to be regular colored semi-gloss paint.

I'm pretty sure the company that was contracted to paint the ride wasn't that stupid. There are most likely other factors involved.

What if those aren’t trims but actually magnets that encourage the cars to spin, a la the free spins?

 

Maybe they can use them to try to right the car as it enters the station so they don’t have the stuck upside down problem anymore.

No, they're just magnetic brakes. The spin on Green Lantern cannot be manipulated like the S&S models. The only thing they can do, besides slowing the ride down, to control the spin is to put a magnetic brake on the spin axis of the car itself. The reason that Green Lantern doesn't 'spin' as well as other Intamin counterparts is because of a stronger brake.