Six Flags Magic Mountain review and pics

[Reanimated35]

Today I review my new favourite park ever. Six Flags Magic Mountain. So the day didn't get off to the best start as on the way out the relatives decided it would be great to stop at targer. We have those in Aus for shits sake. Anyway we got to the park around midday for lunch. Now as I don't really remember what order we did what, I will write this review in order of the rides listed on the SFMM website. But first I must mention something my awesome wife did for me. We were in the line for Ninja (already waited 40min or so) and get this call from her telling me while we were in line she decided to go and buy me a platinum flash pass. YAY!!! Basically what that does is cut the queue times for all the rides from 2hr+ to 2-5 minutes. On to the review. Apocalypse - A nice wooden coaster, (used to be Terminator) still has nothing on Ghostrider though. It was still good fun it just lacked that pants-packing feeling of Ghostrider. Atom Smasher - Matterhorn ride. Can't say I actually remember seeing this one in the park. Batman The Ride - Looked pretty cool but was closed for the construction of Green Lantern (at least I think that was the reason) Buccaneer - Pirate ship. I was considering riding but then remembered the amount of coaster I was there to ride Canyon Blaster - Looney Tunes themed coaster which I didn't go on as I didn't actually wander through the kids area. Colossus - A nice fun dueling wooden coaster - surprised the track is still standing with the noise it makes, especially on the chain. We figured if it managed to stay in one piece to the top, we'd surely be deaf by the time we got there. Cyclone 500 - Go Kart upcharge. I think it was about $8 which wasn't too bad but I didn't go on. Deja-Vu - Wasn't available on the flashpass so we didn't bother waiting in the queue, I mean sure the ride looked cool but the queue-to-track-length ratio wasn't worth it for the time we had. Daffy's Adventure Tours - One of those school bus ride things for the kids. Dive Devil - Sky Swing upcharge thing. Was either $8 or $15 I think. Elmer's Weather Balloons - A not-too-well themed balloon ride for kids. Foghorn Leghorn's Barn and Railway - Kids train ride. Goldrusher - Another one not on the flashpass so it was passed up. Looked to be a junior coaster winding through some trees. Goliath - That was fun. ~137kph down a 26 storey drop into an underground tunnel. What's not to love? Pretty decent ride time on that one too as well as nice fast chain to get to the top of the 1.3km track. Loved it. Grand Carousel - Well it goes around and around and well....yea. Green Lantern - The track looks pretty cool because it's so different to a normal coaster, should be a good spin-and-spew coaster once it opens in a couple of days. Grinder Gearworks - Pretty sure this was also closed due to GL. Not really sure what type of ride it is. Looks like a gravatron in the open but you're strapped in? Jet Stream - Log flume in the cold? No thanks. Seems a lot of people felt that way too with a maybe 5 person deep queue. Log Jammer - Another flume.... wait, there was two? Merrie Melodies Carousel - Kid version of the main one. Ninja - You know, this ride was good as it was something different. Not really sure of the correct name for it, but I think rollercoaster tycoon always referred to them as a suspended swinging coaster or something. So yea that's basically what it does. You sit in the little car with not much needed for a restraint although they give you an over-the-shoulder harness. After riding, which I might add was maybe 40sec I really can't see what would have warranted the 50minute queue. Also, those poor bloody ride ops of that one. The guy would have been about 50+ and for each train he launched the speach was the same. "Welcome to Ninja! Hi-yaaa, hi-ya, hi-ya.... for EACH CARRIAGE that passed his booth. Not only that he was saying "Welcome back and thanks for riding Ninja, hi-yaaaaa!" Pepe Le Pew's Tea Party - Kids teacup ride. Reveloution - Wasn't sure if this one was running or not but somehow we never stumbled past the entrance. It's (I think) the world's first looping coaster. Road Runner Express - I think it might have been rethemed from something else, but yea it's a kids coaster. Roaring Rapids - Surprisingly for a rapids ride, didn't have a decent viewing area that I could find. Again there was no queue for a water ride. Sandblasters - Dodgems. Didn't even notice it really. Scrambler - One of those travelling type rides that always seemed to be called Sizzler. Scream - A floorless coaster. It was a great ride and I would do it again but the floorless part didn't really seem to add much to the ride. It just felt like a wide sitting coaster. I didn't even really notice my feet flying around at all. Sky Tower - Would have done it, but no real time. (Observation tower) Superman Escape from Krypton - Think a dual TOT2 but a bit faster and higher. Didn't bother as we have a close equilvilant here. Swashbuckler - Chair-o-plane I didn't know existed. Sylvester's Pounce and Bounce - A kids bounce tower thing. Tatsu - Mmmmmmm one hell of a ride. Coastergasam? This now tops my list as favourite coaster ever. Suprassing the title previously help by Ghostrider. I don't know where to start with this ride. It was amazing from start to finish. The only thing I didn't like about this was the amount of gum that was on the catwalk up the lift chain. Everything else was awesome. The initial feeling of being lifted into the lying down position was weird and that feeling of flight you get is unbelievable. Taz's Trucking Co. - A kids truck ride. Just like vintacge cars but trucks. The Looney Tunes Lodge - A kids play zone. The Riddler's Revenge - AKA The Ball Crusher - Don't ride this if you plan on having kids any time soon. Also don't make the mistake of jumping like the poor bastard did in front of me who had to stay in a lifted up position for the ride duration which is around 3 minutes of ball destroying madness. For anyone who doesn't know, it's the worlds tallest and fastest stand up coaster and it's an excellent ride. The first time we queue for this it got stuck on the chain and took about 30min - 45min to reset while the people had to sit there waiting. I liked the ride and it was actually really smooth. Tidal Wave - This wasn't closed, I don't think, but it never seemed to go anywhere and there seemed to be some people waiting at the station. There was a few curious people waiting to see if it did anything. Oh yea, while we were waiting a family of ducks wandered past. Tweety's Escape - Cage ride thing for kids. Viper - Managed to get front row with no wait thanks to the flashpass. It was also an excellent and exhillerating ride, even though up the top it was so damn cold I thought ice would form on the track As part of the rides 7 inversions, it boasts the world's tallest vertical loop standing at 14 stories and another two at 9 and 6 stories. X2 - I don't do spin-&-spew rides and this coaster was no exception. As well as that due to the wind it was being opened and closed throughout the day and was not on the flashpass. Yosemite Sam's Flight School - Kids up-and-down aeroplane ride. Overall: 10/10 Rides: 10/10 Food: 9/10 - I don't remember what we ate, but I know it was good. Theming: 8/10 There wasn't too much theming however they make excellent use of the trees and landscape to make up for it. I would love to live over there and work at the park. I'd say if I had the money and was single I would do so. And now for the pics.

Edited June 28, 2011 by reanimated35

[Reanimated35]

This one got no comments? LOL oh well.. I've still got Universal Studios, California Adventure, Legoland and Seaworld to go

[Gazza]

The Riddler's Revenge - AKA The Ball Crusher - Don't ride this if you plan on having kids any time soon. Also don't make the mistake of jumping like the poor bastard did in front of me who had to stay in a lifted up position for the ride duration which is around 3 minutes of ball destroying madness.

Haha, its unfortunate for lighter people because its difficult to fight the harness lifting. I had to put all my weight on it, but was rewarded with a ride where the bike seat was down and I wasn't actually sitting on it. 4gs onto your legs is a pretty mad experience. But....

X2 - I don't do spin-&-spew rides and this coaster was no exception. As well as that due to the wind it was being opened and closed throughout the day and was not on the flashpass.

OMG,you skipped X2? Its not like it randomly flips in a continuous manner, it just happens at a couple of controlled points...The headfirst first drop is some you have to experience. It's less flippy than wipeout even.

Goldrusher - Another one not on the flashpass so it was passed up. Looked to be a junior coaster winding through some trees.

Its actually pretty good. Admittedly, I skipped it first visit too, but its worth a go as I found out 2nd time round at the park. Bit of a bummer to hear you missed both B&M invert coasters on your trip though.

[Reanimated35]

Haha, its unfortunate for lighter people because its difficult to fight the harness lifting. I had to put all my weight on it, but was rewarded with a ride where the bike seat was down and I wasn't actually sitting on it. 4gs onto your legs is a pretty mad experience.

Yea I had hard time getting the harness to drop down too and had to actually jump and push it down before I stood there, and I'm 70kgs.

But.... OMG,you skipped X2? Its not like it randomly flips in a continuous manner, it just happens at a couple of controlled points...The headfirst first drop is some you have to experience. It's less flippy than wipeout even.

It wasn't that bad that I missed it really, to use it on the flashpass iirc you have to pay an extra fee (after already spending 150+ on the pass) and it turns out the ride was only open for around 3hrs in the morning, which was before I even got there. Overheard the photo attendants at Tatsu saying it was too windy to keep it open but the wind kept dropping and coming back and they just got sick of opening and closing it all the time.

Bit of a bummer to hear you missed both B&M invert coasters on your trip though.

Which would they be sorry? Silverbullet and Batman? If so, only one of them was by somewhat of a choice.

[Gazza]

^Yup. Young padwan, B&M inverted coasters can be identified by the quad seating, and the boxy, square shaped track spine as seen on most B&M coasters: http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/GB/Chertsey/Thorpe_Park/813-Nemesis_Inferno/2,4,3493-Nemesis_Inferno.html I must've missed in the KBF report, what caused you to miss Silver Bullet?

Yea I had hard time getting the harness to drop down too and had to actually jump and push it down before I stood there, and I'm 70kgs.

I'm pretty much the same mass, and had to do exactly this.

[Reanimated35]

The rest of the rides there were either closed, too busy (Silver bullet had a wait of over an hour and a half or I would have done that) or water rides which it was too damn cold for.

- Just on the wait times, they are about what I was expecting, but with limited time you really don't notice how quick the day disappears. If I was to do the same trip again, I would have doubled my stay in all the parks. Now to just win the lotto.... It's a real shame we didn't realise the way to get the dodgy fastpasses for all the parks. ***TIP FOR ANYONE VISITING A US PARK AND WANTING TO SKIP ALL QUEUES BY BEING A DODGY BASTARD*** Go to guest services and tell them you have an anxiety disorder and freak out standing in lines. They will give you a medical pass which works like a fastpass but you can use it for any ride at any time and they usually add your whole group to the pass. Annual passholders do this all the time, especially at Disneyland Edited June 30, 2011 by reanimated35

[themeparkgc]

Atom Smasher - Matterhorn ride. Can't say I actually remember seeing this one in the park.

Grinder Gearworks - Pretty sure this was also closed due to GL. Not really sure what type of ride it is. Looks like a gravatron in the open but you're strapped in?

The area where these are is being rethemed into the DC Universe with Atom Smasher becoming "Flash: Speed Force" and Grinder Gearworks becoming "Wonder Woman: Lasso of Truth". Both are due to open with Green Lantern today.

Road Runner Express - I think it might have been rethemed from something else, but yea it's a kids coaster.

This was actually just installed this year. It came from It was one of only two rides to be rescued from the park (the other being a Batman: The Ride clone which went to another Six Flags park).

[Flea]

Completely agree with your comment on Scream with the whole floorless element being more of a gimmick than anything. With the park being so empty during my visit I walked straight onto the front row as I thought it would "enhance" the floorless experience but yeah, no. Did you find it rough at all? I thought it was one of the roughest coasters I've been on... maybe I was unlucky. Shame you missed out on X2, it's my favourite coaster by far.

Edited July 1, 2011 by Flea

[T-bone]

When I was there, I also found Scream to be a rather rough and "Meh" ride, despite everyone else giving it rave reviews. My views however may have been compounded due to the concussion X2 and Revolution gave me in the morning. The Ninja staff member you mention is a resident if I recall, with his "Hi-Ya" being something he chooses to do, not instructed.

[Flea]

The Ninja staff member you mention is a resident if I recall, with his "Hi-Ya" being something he chooses to do, not instructed.

The ops on Tatsu would do something similar, can't recall what exactly but it was something like "Tat-suuuooo!". On that note I thought operations at SFMM were fantastic, the ops at almost every ride would really get into their spiel.

[Gazza]

the ops at almost every ride would really get into their spiel.

"Enjoy your ride on Gold Rusher, the best ride evvvuuuurrrrrrr"

[Reanimated35]

The op on Tatsu actually started to sing, and he was damn good. The op on Ninja did the ninjaaaaaaa thing. The op on Goliath used his phone to convert the height of the drop into several different measurements. The rest of the ops were pretty normal. I found scream to be fairly smooth actually but it just didn't really do anything for me as a ride compared to a steel enclosed car coaster. Don't get me wrong it is an excellent ride, it's just a bit over-hyped. Now, who wants to pool $30m+ together and build a Tatsu clone over here?

[themeparkgc]

The B&M Flyer Tax? Tatsu was only US$21 million so if we get a gold coin donation from every Australian we'd easily get one.

[Reanimated35]

$21 USD to be custom made for the park. I would assume it would cost some more to ship to AUS, plus, lets say it's $25m to AUS, that's $5m on theming so we can show the actual parks how it's done

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

yes but our dollar is slightly higher at the moment....

[Gazza]

Plus it's more expensive to build stuff in Australia.