Raptor Jo Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 I am sure I (like most) was prepared for a horrid experience being Magic Mountain is a SF park. I will admit that I never had a bad time when SF owned WOA (**sigh**) but a couple less than great trips to Great Adventure kind of prepared me for the worst. Boy was I proved wrong! The 1st thing you notice about MM is how it fits in beautifully with the mountains, the view from anywhere in the park is unlike anywhere I had ever seen. The park was way crowded, I couldn’t help but compare the crowd size to CP and can not recall Cps parking lots ever being that full during the week.. I wont go into play by play with each and every ride except to point out my personal favorites. X2 - I LOVED this ride!!! For anyone who has ridden it I am sure they will understand it when I say I got totally sick of hearing the automated “are you in yet?” But wow, what a freaking awesome ride, the music just made it that much better! Goliath - another coaster that I have to put in my top 5 steel-this thing kicked royal butt! I actually grayed out on it and I have NEVER EVER grayed out on a coaster before! Batman the Ride: Was expecting the same ride I had from BTR at GrtAdv but was quite surprised by the intensity of this BTR. It was almost like Raptor without the mid course “rest” we all agreed it was a great (although short) ride. Ninja - Yeah I know, just another Arrow suspended but no line so why not? The funniest thing about this ride was the op who would say “enjoy your ride on Ninja-hi yah” Hilarious!!! Superman - After TTD hard to be impressed but definitely liked the roll back. Riddler’s Revenge - Puts Mantis to shame---way fun! NO head banging for me! Terminator Salvation - TS definitely knocked Raven off my fav woodie list this ride was non stop and wow!! LOVED it! CP or KI SOOO needs something like this--doesn’t take a lot of land and doesn’t need it to knock your socks off. The coolest thing about this ride is when you’re in the station the trains go thru the station while you’re waiting!! Tatsu - Would expect nothing less from B&M except for a perfect lay down and they succeeded. X-FirehawkFlight doesn’t even come close-this ride was an absolute blast less the feeling like your legs were going to fall out! Pretty much rode everything else (except for Viper-looping Arrow-no thank you) Log Jammer, and Colossus. Here are some things I adored about the park. Scenery, beyond the beautiful LA mountains, the landscaping was breathtaking, the park was spotless and I especially liked the annoucements made through out the day reminding people about the designated smoking areas. MM had signs posted around the park with a list of “Guest codes of conduct” It stated, “No Smoking (except in designated areas)” “No line cutting” “No bathing suits (except in water park)” “No profanity (or offensive behavior)” and the bottom said guests violating any of these policies will be escorted from the park without refund. NO messing around there--right to the point. All the lines were covered in trees and or misting fans. The employees were all smiles (maybe that’s from the great California weather) and very friendly. I saw several security people. I actually took a picture with Mr Six! We were spared gangsta like guests which was quite refreshing. MM was a BM paradise for me! Unlike some I adore themes in parks and on rides. It gives you lots more to look at, lots more to take pictures of and stuff to do while you're waiting in line. Low points? I had one guess how much you weigh guy give me a hard time about my CP shirt. He said MM is 10x better than CP. I decided not to argue with the guy because at that point I was having so much fun it would have been hard for me to say anything derog about MM! There were also parts of the park that were up and down hills. Holy c-I thought Dorney was tough-HA! Was excited when I saw on the park map they had a Johnny Rockets! Much to my disappointment they weren’t Rockets like Cedar Points but just a stand with overpriced burgers and fries. I was especially disappointed since I adore their egg salad sandwiches and naturally they didn’t have those. The food prices?? Well its an amusement park-need I say more? The final low point was the park closing at 8pm-no night rides for us! All in all I LOVED SFMM--I was totally impressed!! I can always tell how much fun I had at a park by the amount of $ I spend on souvenirs. $120.00.…yea I was impressed! If we hadnt had plans of going to Universal the next day we so would have gone back to MM! btw.....I no longer want to move to Florida...want to move to California!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI Kevin Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 If I had to pick one park to go to based on rides, this would be it. Followed closely by Great Adventure. Just look at their lineup: -X2 -Tatsu -Goliath -Terminator -Riddler's Revenge -Revolution -Batman: The Ride Do those rides all not look awesome?! I may be going on a cruise out of LA next year so my mom said we could probably go to Magic Mountain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustbucket Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 Good trip report. I do think that the park gets a bad rep. Two thing I complained about the park are the line jumping and rather indifferent attitude by ride operators. KBF ride ops were so much more enthusiastic than SFMM ops. Still, I have been to other SF parks with much worse attitudes. I have been to SFMM 6 times in last 6 years and found it to be quite enjoyable. Only bad thing about the park is the crowd. It is a busy park (except once in 2004 when it was raining). X2 is, by far, my favorite in the park followed by Tatsu. I am not sure if you ever rode X, the inside seats are far smoother than outside ones. They tend to bang heads. I think X (2) is the only coaster that I still cannot figure out the layout by just riding the ride. This is my top 5 steel coaster. I agree with your review of Riddler's Revenge and Tatsu. Frankly, Riddler's Revenge is the only stand up coaster I like. Tatsu is my favorite flying coaster - over Firehawk. (I like Firehawk better than Superman rides at other SF parks.) Ninja was running much better this year than recent years when I was there in June. Scream! has gotten much rougher over the years. I always wanted Goliath to have better airtime along with series of lateral after the brake run. Otherwise, I love the drop into the tunnel. Terminator was very much like Renegade at Valleyfair with all the twisting drops. I am glad that you had good time. It is my must visit park when I am in southern California. BTW, you could have gotten 20% off with SF season pass on your souvenirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbt1981 Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 X2 is my absolute fav roller coaster and its a shame that there isn't that type of ride in the Ohio area (Although Firehawk comes close). I recommend any and all East Coast peeps to venture out there at some point and ride that ride! Also, Tatsu and Goliath are amazing, as well as Scream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTD Maverick Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 Good PTR but Great Adventure looks amazing IMO. How in the world is it bad? Elaborate please. They have: El Toro Batman the Ride Kingda Ka Superman Ultimate Flight Nitro Bizzaro I realllyyy want to visit. ELABORATE PLEASE!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gad198 Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Very nice report. SFMM is a great park, particularly for coaster lovers. Riddler's Revenge is by far the best standup, Tatsu is by far the best flyer, and X2 is one of the most unique rides ever. The ride operations at the park left a little to be desired but the scenery more than makes up for it while waiting in line. The park is truly beautiful. Goliath is a strange ride. You'd think a ride of that height would be more fun (and longer) than it is. Outside of the helix and lone airtime hill it didn't have any special characteristics, and even with the ride being a walk-on the day we were there once was enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptor Jo Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 Good PTR but Great Adventure looks amazing IMO. How in the world is it bad? Elaborate please. I realllyyy want to visit. ELABORATE PLEASE!!! It has nothing to do with the coasters--it has everything to do with park ops. Crews were slow and park was disgusting dirty. Plus tons of gangsta types hanging around. Rides were great but could have rode alot more of them multi times if crews had some motivation. But hey--its NJ-being from NY I can tolerate all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 And when was this Great Adventure experience? It hasn't been that way since Messrs Shapiro and Snyder appeared, in my opinion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maverick2007 Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Sounds like you had a great time. I really hope to get out there sometime... And if you thought Goliath was awesome you need to get to SFOT and ride Titan. It's the same except for one more of the awesome gray-out helixes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopThrill Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Yes nice trip report, I've only been to three SF parks, KK, St. Louis, Great American was my favorite. I remember St.Louis opening time was 10am, then rides opened at 10:30am, and the park closed before dark, this was in late July 2007. Haven't been to SFMM to ride Tatsu, but it does look like what a flying coaster should be. ThunderHead at Dollywood is like TS, with the station fly by. Great American opened at 10am, and closed at 10pm past dark for night rides. This was July 2006. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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