Six Flags Magic Mountain

[DaveStroem]

Saturday afternoon we left for the airport around 2 pm for my 3:15 flight to Vegas and then on to Burbank, California. I was flying Southwest for the first time and had a B22 boarding pass. The flight to Vegas was 100% full and I ended up in a middle seat in the 3rd row. The second leg of the flight was much less crowded with only 2 people per row. I arrived at Bob Hope airport shortly after 7 pm. After a short walk to the rental car check in followed by a shuttle ride and I was in my Dodge Caliber and heading to my hotel.

I drove up the 5 for about 30 miles and found my hotel without any issues. After checking in to the hotel I walked over to Denny's for dinner. From the parking lot I could see the lights on many of the coasters since the park was right across the freeway from my hotel. After dinner I crashed pretty hard as I was still on east coast time.

I awoke early Sunday morning to a beautiful view of X2 out my window. I could see them already testing many coasters. The skies were clear I knew I was going to have a great day. After a quick workout I grabbed some breakfast in the hotel lobby and headed for the park. It was 9:30 when I pulled up to the parking gate with only 10 cars in front of me. I parked in the first row and jumped on the tram to head to the front gate.

At the gate I was in the front of the line to go through the turnstile that was in front of me. The staff was extremely friendly and were handing out park maps and answering questions before the gates had opened.

I knew I wanted to go to X2 first as I have heard that it can get long waits on a normal day. I walked to the ride being passed by tons of people running like the rides were going to disappear if they didn't get there first. As I approached the attendant, they motioned me to go to the right and through the tunnel under the station. I walked to the top and to my surprise I had a seat on the first train of the day.

X2 was an interesting ride that felt very similar to Firehawk at Kings Island. I know they are extremely different rides, but the sensations were quite familiar. I enjoyed the ride but couldn't rank it anywhere in my top ten steel coasters. 8/10

Next up was Tatsu, I was told that this coaster could also see longer lines but when I got there it was a walk on with many rows empty. I have been on all of the Superman flyers and the Vekoma Flying Dutchmans, this coaster blows them all away. The way the ride blends into the landscape was amazing. When I got back into the station my row was empty so I took another lap and then a third before I moved on to something new. 9.5/10

I walked over the hill and down to Apocalypse (formerly Terminator Salvation) for some GCI goodness. The queue was well themed and the ops were all in camo which added greatly to the effect. I don't think I have seen specific ride uniforms anywhere outside of Disney. Again this coaster was a complete walk on so I grabbed the back row and was not disappointed. There are some nice pops of air and a really good head-chopper just after the first drop. When I got back to the station there were plenty of open rows so I moved up to the middle of the train and got a re-ride. At this time I have been in the park less than an hour and had 6 rides on 3 of the better coasters the park had to offer. 9/10

After getting off Apocalypse I took a quick lap on Gold Rusher. It was a typical Arrow mine train that was anything but memorable. At least it too was a walk on. If you haven't picked up on this by now, January is great time to go to SFMM. 5/10

Riddler's Revenge was next on the list and were I found the first crowd in the station. This B&M stand-up was only running one of its three trains. One was sent to Great Adventure for use on Chang/Green Lantern and the other was undergoing annual maintenance. The coaster was by far the best stand-up I have ever ridden, It seemed to go on forever and had many powerful elements. That being said, I had no desire for a re-ride. 9/10

Just around the corner was the Riddler's arch enemy Batman the Ride. This was pretty much like every other Batman clone I have been on, short ride with lots of tight powerful elements. The back row only had one other person waiting so I grabbed the right wing seat with him on the other side. I mentioned about loving an empty park when he told me that he his gold flash pass was a total waste of money. He was right. When we got back to the station there were only a handful of people in the station so we stayed on for yet another re-ride. I could have gone for more, but I still had a lot of park to see so I moved on. 8/10

Next up was Scream, this B&M Floorless was in dire need of a paint job. The blue track and red supports were looking powdery and faded. As I got up to the station it was a bit fuller then most of the others, but since this is a 4 across seating I found a single couple to fill out their row. This could have been so much better of an experience if the park had done any landscaping. This is truly a parking lot coaster with the painted on lines still clearly evident. I was able to score a re-ride with some really cute girls. 8/10

I moved on to Goliath, this was the last of the major coasters on my list since Colossus, Déjà vu and Superman Escaper were closed for maintenance. This was my first Giovanola mega coaster and I had no idea what to expect. What I got was a fun ride with one of the most forceful helixes that I have ever been on. I had to fight to keep my arms up going through it. Again this was a walk-on and I did a total of 3 laps before leaving to go get some lunch. Yea that's right I got all of this in before lunch. 9/10

I had been checking a few places to eat while I was walking from ride to ride. It seemed that if you wanted to eat it was going to cost at least $10. As I was leaving Goliath I noticed that the burger place near Toontown was quite busy with almost all of their tables full. I stopped in and notice their sign stating that all their burgers were 100% sirloin so I decided to give it a shot. I got a DBL cheeseburger platter with fries for $10.99 and a couple of cups of water. This was one of the best burgers I have had a park. It was quite tasty and very large. It reminded me of the burgers that I would get at Max & Erma's. 9/10

After lunch I wanted to grab the rest of the coaster credits so I headed to Canyon blaster for my kiddie credit. This was your typical Miler kiddie coaster. 3/10

I walked toward the front of the park and was heading to Revolution when I spotted their 1912 carousel. When we are a new park, we always try to ride the carousel so I wanted to keep that tradition alive. This one while old didn't have much charm and the decorations seemed quite sparse for a ride of this era. I got on to my horse and was required to wear a seatbelt. This is such a load of wooden horse crap to make adults wear a seat belt on a carousel. What I didn't realize when I got on was that there was nobody else on the ride. Yes the park was that dead that I got a Zen ride on the carousel. 4/10

Revolution's entrance was right next door to the carousel so I took a quick lap on this head-banger. I had expected a lot more from this Schwarzkopf since I loved Mind Bender at SFoG. The big difference is that Revolution has over the shoulder restraints. It kills the ride IMO. I could have re-ridden in any seat other than the front row, but chose not to. 4/10

Just up the stairs was Viper. I was not looking forward to this after just getting off a head-banger but to my surprise this Arrow looper was decently smooth with just one ouch during the entire lap. Still I had had enough. 6/10

Since I was in the area I decided to go back to X2 for another lap. It was again a walk on with a half empty station. This time I waited for the front row (1 train wait) and it was well worth it. The views were much better and the forcers seemed stronger if not a little rougher. This lap I sat on the outer seat where on the first lap I sat next to the track. This raised its rank a bit, but still not cracking my top ten steel coasters. 9/10

Ninja was the only coaster that was open that I had not ridden. I intended to correct that. I climbed the stairs to the top of the "mountain" where I found my first significant line of the day. The station was full and the line was almost back to the entrance, but none of the switchbacks were open. I would guess about a 20 minute wait. As I got up to the loading area I noticed that the line for the front was the same length as all the others. With that being said, you know where I was headed. The ride was quite fun and would rank better than Iron Dragon, but not as good Big Bad Wolf. 7/10

It was now just after 3:00 pm and I had all the coaster credits. I wanted to go up in the Sky Tower but I guess it was closed. The queue was open but the elevator never came down. I waited for 1 minutes before giving up and taking the "Orient Express" down the hill. From here I started re-riding with 3 more laps on Apocalypse without leaving the station only changing seats. The lines had started to get a little longer because many of the coasters had been taken down to one train operations. The only other one that I wanted to ride again was Riddler's Revenge which is a real surprise since I normally dislike stand-up coasters. That is how good this one is. I walked around the park some more but I had my fill of riding so I decided to leave the park an hour before it closed and get to the airport a bit early.

My day at Six Flags Magic Mountain was one of the best park days I have had. I only wish I could have had my family with me on this trip.

[The Interpreter]

Gorgeous pictures! I'm glad you enjoyed Six Flags Magic Mountain. I am watching how Mr. Reid-Anderson and Mr. Weber run Six Flags with great interest. (Note, for instance, the odd park hours).

I always enjoy your incredible trip reports, and am very glad you posted this one!

[IndyGuy4KI]

Thanks for the PTR Dave! I definitely want to hit this park if I am every in LA again!

[Avatar]

Thanks Dave for taking the time to write such a great trip report so soon after you you got back home from a busy week. I enjoyed your report it was a nice Saturday morning read. I do understand how you have that feeling of wishing for your family to have been with you. I have been on several solo trips away from my family the past couple years and I always have that feeling of wishing they could be there too, but then again I do enjoy some times away from them to tour the parks as a coaster enthusiast. The best part of taking those solo trips from the family at a new park is that it gives me a great excuse to plan for another trip back to that park to do it with the family.

[Dvo]

Great report Dave. This one really hit home with me because if you recall I made pretty much the same trip last year. I went on a Sunday in January, and had essentially the same result. Extremely dead park with a lot of re-rides. It stinks that Colossus and S:TE were closed... they both had one side open when I went. For what it's worth, S:TE was really not impressive at all, but at the same time it's one of those rides where even though it may not be that great, you're still really proud of the credit haha.

I can't say I agree with you about Goliath though. I was not really a fan at all of that thing. It seemed way too short, and the MCBR was absolutely brutal when I rode it. And even with the MCBR almost completely stopping the train, the helix was really powerful. I can't imagine the end of that ride with the brake turned off. But hey, to each his own, right?

Either way this report really brought back some fantastic memories. Just like you, the trip I took was one of the best days in any park I've ever had. Now I'm really aching to go back haha. Thanks a lot!

-Dvo

[TombRaiderFTW]

Great report! It's nice to get an outsider's view on Magic Mountain--most of the MM regulars on various coaster sites seem to only find negatives about the Mountain in its "off-season". How would you say Viper compares to Vortex? Or Ninja to Flight Deck?

[CoastersRZ]

Nice trip report Dave. How would you compare Tatsu to Manta at Sea World Orlando? I fell in love with Manta when I was at Sea World in December. I really wish that KI had a flying coaster like that compared to a Vekoma Dutchman.

[TH13TEEN]

I don't think I have seen specific ride uniforms anywhere outside of Disney.

Knott's Berry Farm has uniforms for individual areas.

[CoastersRZ]

And let's not forget that back in the day, Kings Island had uniforms for individual rides and area. Remember the flight suits worn by the Top Gun crew? Or how about the military uniforms worn by the Flight of Fear crew. In my opinion, little thing like that make a big difference in overall atmosphere turning in a park. Ride specific uniforms can be a challenge operations wise though. What happens if Flight oFear was short people and had to pull peoe from another rude? They would not gave the specialized uniform. The same holds true if Flight of Fear is over staffed and they sent some if their crew to other rides that were understaffed. But of course, back in the day, most parks had a wardrobe department. They even used to wash all the uniforms!

[KIfan1980]

Dave - thanks for posting here with the pictures, it always adds to the story being told. I'll have to add a personal day onto my next business trip to SoCal.

[IndyGuy4KI]

And let's not forget that back in the day, Kings Island had uniforms for individual rides and area. Remember the flight suits worn by the Top Gun crew? Or how about the military uniforms worn by the Flight of Fear crew. In my opinion, little thing like that make a big difference in overall atmosphere turning in a park. Ride specific uniforms can be a challenge operations wise though. What happens if Flight oFear was short people and had to pull peoe from another rude? They would not gave the specialized uniform. The same holds true if Flight of Fear is over staffed and they sent some if their crew to other rides that were understaffed. But of course, back in the day, most parks had a wardrobe department. They even used to wash all the uniforms!

I also remember the Italian Job uniforms!

[CoastersRZ]

I forgot that Italian Job had unique uniforms for its first season. i believe that they were black button up shirts with a yellow vertical stripe running down one side of the shirts.

[Creed Bratton]

I read this on your facebook! Sounds like a wonderful trip. I'm jealous that you got to ride X2, I think that's one coaster that I really would love to ride at least once.

The park sounds like a wonderful park. I know it wasn't extremely busy at all when you were there, wonder if you would have had the same positive experience had there been more people at the park, hoping that you would have a positive trip at any time.

Thanks for sharing!

[Pillsberry123]

Great TR! I would like to go out to California one day, but that's a distant trip in the future I'm afraid.

[gad198]

Great report Dave! I also want to thank you for posting this trip report, because now I don't have to post one of my own for this park!

Magic Mountain is probably my favorite "ride" park in the country. There are so many fun rides there, and they have just about everything under the sun. It's amazing to think that they'll be adding three more coasters to that park. Throw in the absolutely sensational views from around the park and I'd say that I probably enjoy a day of riding coasters here more than anywhere else in the country including Cedar Point.

X2 is a really hard coaster to rate. It's so unlike most every other coaster so I'm not sure that you can really compare it to anything else. I will say that the front row is WAY better than the other rows because the visuals really do accentuate the ride there more than in the other seats. I'm not really sure what it is with the outer seats, but they definitely aren't as smooth as those on the inside. An inside seat in the front row is absolutely sensational.

Tatsu is still my favorite flyer in the country. Manta and Tatsu are pretty comparable as far as just the ride itself, but the views that Tatsu offers and feeling like you're actually flying over the valley are both unmatched. The backseat on this ride delivers in spades and that pretzel loop is delicious. I'm glad to see that you enjoyed this ride as well.

Apocalypse was interesting. I'm not sure what you thought about the differences between the front of the train to the back but I thought it was much better in the back. I absolutely LOVED the first half of the ride, but the second half (after the station fly-through) was a little anti-climatic. It's a fun ride but I'm not sure it's in the Prowler or Thunderhead class.

An interesting tidbit for those of you who are thinking about heading out here and who have a Discover card. Like most Six Flags parks they have a dedicated entrance for Discover card holders. If you get to the park before opening and queue up in the Discover card entrance line they will let you in five minutes early. This will be a HUGE advantage to you because you will get to X2 before the general public is even let in, which will allow you to get on X2 and off quickly and beat the crowds for an hour or two. I'd imagine that this will be an even better deal when the Green Lantern opens later this year.

[74Gibson]

That made for great blizzard reading Dave. I've been on Titan at SFOT and it was the most intense helix I've been on. Just an awesome ride that seemed to go on forever.

Thanks for doing such a nice PTR!

[FOFreak]

That was a great trip report! You take amazing pictures!

But $10.99 for a burger and fries? You could get all of this for under $5 in a world of holidays.

[The Interpreter]

Yes, but in California near LA? Can you ride X at Koch World? Or Revolution?

Terpy, just wondering....

$10.99 in a California theme park for that burger and fries is comparable to, if not less than, the Kings Island price...and I bet the quality was far better...

[FOFreak]

Yes, in fact, I can ride Revolution at Holiday World.

[The Interpreter]

I was waiting for that, but the experiences are not comparable....then again, today's SFMM Revolution is also not what it once was....the restraints are very awkward and...painful, even.

[CoastersRZ]

I actually prefer the Super Round Up rides to the type of round up ride that Holiday World has. I know they are different manufacturers. It just feels like the Super Round Up rides (like the one Coney has, and Stricker`s Grove has), are more forceful than Revolution at Holiday World.

[DaveStroem]

BTW, that $10.99 was a double sirloin cheeseburger that was probably 1/2 lb of good tasting meat. Yes, HW burgers are cheaper, but this one was much better tasting. Of course either of these are a vast improvement on what CF calls a burger.