Thrill Glider at Magic Mountain

Just saw a POV for this and it looks great. For whatever reason, I had it in my head that this was going to be a family coaster, but maybe this is closer to the thrill of Hagrid's or Big Bear Mountain. I hope they commit to the theming they have in the video.

Thrill Glider POV

The coaster looks really good, and I was pleasantly surprised at the videos I've seen. Neat layout. If they pull that landscaping and theming off, it'll at least look cool.

The weird orientation kind of throws me off though. Is it a suspended motorcycle coaster? It's like the coaster manufacturers are running out of ideas.

Well, it is a new idea, so it looks like they haven't run out just yet.

Tron on a stick.

they will not have that level of green landscaping.

16 seats per train (capacity as bad as Full Throttle)

The death knell for Ninja

The weird orientation kind of throws me off though. Is it a suspended motorcycle coaster? It's like the coaster manufacturers are running out of ideas.

I think this improves the experience of a few other coaster models...to a certain extent. While not a flying coaster, it does mimic the positioning with riders leaning forward and the track above them. I think this could prove more comfortable than a B&M flyer, something I've never quite enjoyed.

This is more personal, but it looks like it could solve my issue with inverted coasters too. I love inverts, but if I ride anywhere but the front, your view is essentially blocked by the car in front of you (B&M has improved this with Banshee). Not only does that make for a crappy view, but it also makes me motion sick. This clears the view in a different way than a wing coaster.

It would be interesting to see a model where the cars swing. It'd be like an old school Arrow Suspended Coaster.

CreditWh0re:

16 seats per train (capacity as bad as Full Throttle)

I'm under the impression that this coaster was a legacy Six Flags purchase before the takeover by Cedar Fair. I really, really, really hope that we start seeing higher capacity rides being built at their bigger parks. Tormenta was a "new" Six Flags investment, right?

I don't really want to focus on the negative, but seeing that it will only have 2, 16-passenger trains does make me less enthusiastic about planning a trip to ride it. Even if the ride can't run 3 trains, surely having a third train as a spare would make sense for a year-round park like SFMM.

Dumb question time. Does it have a launch or a chain lift? The videos I've seen don't really make that clear.

Slightly loathed to ask this question, but if you have 17/18 coasters, does every single one need to shift 1,500 people an hour?

I may have missed it, but did they address in the POV what they are doing with the concrete stadium seating that has been left in situ?

Looks great, Vekoma haven't put a foot wrong in a decade - excited to see how this rides.

Rick_UK:

Slightly loathed to ask this question, but if you have 17/18 coasters, does every single one need to shift 1,500 people an hour?

well, they don't ALL need to (pointing to goldrusher, Apocalypse, X2, Wonder Woman, etc.). However, I would expect a brand new, highly promoted, medium to large sized thrill, placed near the front of the park, next to a notoriously crappy capacity and slow to load Full Throttle, at a park that, when it's busy it's brutal, to have better capacity than this. (when I say medium thrill I mean that it isn't so large as to naturally cause some folks to not try it).

I would've vastly preferred a real deal giga. This looks like Hagrid's meets Tatsu though, I'm sure it will be pretty cool.

Rick_UK:

Slightly loathed to ask this question, but if you have 17/18 coasters, does every single one need to shift 1,500 people an hour?

No, but when the reputation of the park is that even the ones that do have that kind of capacity don't even come close to hitting it due to operations, it's a concern.

Hopefully parks like Magic Mountain will continue to improve on things like operations post-merger.

Rick_UK:

Slightly loathed to ask this question, but if you have 17/18 coasters, does every single one need to shift 1,500 people an hour?

Not if they want to sell as many Fastlanes as possible.

Seriously though, if a park has the attendance that supports 18 roller coasters, than the coasters that the majority of folks seek out to ride (not kiddie coasters) should have as high of capacity as possible.

Which is better for guest satisfaction?

"Yeah, they have 18 coasters, but I only got to ride four of them because the lines were so long."

or,

"The park was packed, but I got on all ten thrill coasters and still had time for the drop tower and a show!"

That's just my opinion. I grew up in the era of a park should do everything to make sure guest satisfaction is the most important thing. That's because people didn't have a season pass to visit a park weekly. Repeat visits were something the park earned with guest satisfaction, not something the park sold up front for a yearly fee. It's very different these days.

I think Magic Mountain has famously been a park that doesn't have anywhere near enough attendance to support the number of coasters that it has.

I read a TR on Reddit earlier that said all coasters (bar Scream) were running multiple trains. That seems like a big step up for September vs. where we have known them to be.

I only asked the question because usually (but not always), vast throughputs usually require a larger number of staff, more vehicles requires more maintenance - it gets to a point where it's not sustainable to run it, let alone build it.

Plus, there are always going to be instances where you want to provide an experience to guests that you can't with 1,500pph capacity - shuttle coasters, a Wild Mouse, etc. It would perhaps be fair to say that this ride system isn't that ...

It's definitely an 'up front' problem whereby when it's new it's more noticeable, but over time, it's just another coaster in the line up. There was so much chatter about Siren's Curse 'only' having two 24-seater trains, unlike the capacity monsters of the past - it seems to have worked out OK.