Brawl closes SFMM on Saturday night

I forgot all about that rule! Can't say I mind it though... can you imagine how different Six Flags parks would be if they had that kind of rule?

I would never descibe SFMM as a inner city park. It is 40 minutes North of LA, Valencia hardly seems large enough to have its own police station. It is such a large park, and on most days it entertains one fifth the number of guests Ceder Point does. Large areas of this park feel empty at times, and unsupervised. 90% of the staff seem to be under 18. If somebody wanted to go to a park to misbehave, this would be the park providing the most opportunity to do so. Management is in a tough position because looking the attendance it does not require more security, yet if a batch of trouble makers come in they will want to send more security out as needed. My guess is the park will put in more security camara's and have more security ready to go out. I've been there about ten times and I never felt unsafe or that SFMM was over run with security issues. I have felt that at Knott's Berry Farm though.

Doesn't Valencia advertise that it is one of the safest neighborhoods in the L.A. area?

SFMM is in no way "inner city". It's on the foothills between Valencia and the desert mountains to the west of Valencia. They might have developped some suburban appartment complexes around SFMM though. *** Edited 5/23/2005 3:56:49 PM UTC by superman***

Raising season pass prices would help a lot. For the cost of going one day, these troublemakers are able to come cause trouble year round for the price of parking.

I know when I was in HS, there were only a few of us that bought a CP pass since the cost was high enough, even though the park was only 25 minutes away. That was 15-20 movies you're giving up for a season pass to CP. And unless you can still get your parents to pay for everything, that's not an investment most teens deem worthy.

I hear the LA arguement, but it is not an excuse for having this type of violence in your park. I don't hear about many "riots" breaking out at Disneyland.

There are many other parks that reside close to the city and have little to no problems. Of course, they don't sell season passes for $50 either!

This is one of the biggest reasons you cannot buy a season pass to Kennywood. If they sold them, the park would become a "babysitting" service for all the local kids. When the kids are spending all their time at the park with their friends, I doubt that they are learning valuable lessons from their parents and elders.

A little geography 101:

Anaheim to Downtown LA...26 miles
Buena Park to Downtown LA...21 miles
Gurnee, Il to DT Chicago...40 miles
SFOG to DT Atlanta...9 miles
Eureka, MO to St. Louis, MO...27 miles
Arlington, TX to DT Dallas...18 miles
Valencia, CA to Downtown LA...40 miles

I've never been to SFMM, but just a few responses to some of the other comments posted in this thread:

Perhaps the teens are only fighting each other and not attacking random families, but you don't need to be directly involved to be affected. Anyone who's in line waiting for a ride that gets shut down because of a brawl, or anyone who has to leave the park because it closes hours earlier than expected is affected. And who's to say that there won't be a few stray blows thrown, or that some jostling and wrestling won't send a railing or something flying into a bunch of innocent bystanders? Are "innocent" people expected to leave the line or whatever area because some rowdies want to show off how tough they are?

Intamin, I didn't feel at all uneasy at Dorney on Saturday. I didn't give all the bike patrollers a second thought, except the one who nearly collided with me. I figure they're there just to be a deterrent at this point, let the kids know they better think twice now about starting anything-- and tell your friends who are going to head here the rest of the summer. I didn't think the crowd was at all threatening either. I was just getting really annoyed at the sounds of thousands of thumping basketballs. Kudos to the one gal working Steel Force-- she just announced "bounce the basketballs on the platform again, and we take them and you're out of the line." They stopped.

Speaking about the over 18 or with a parent rule. . .

---

Rob Ascough said:
I forgot all about that rule! Can't say I mind it though... can you imagine how different Six Flags parks would be if they had that kind of rule?

---

They would go bankrupt.

The geography lesson is BS to me. LA is a big enough city that 40 miles from downtown is still part of the city. Disney land doesn't have this problem because it doesn't have 33 thrilling coasters. Magic Mountain appeals to teens.

I think if Magic Mountain wants to limit the number of teenagers being obnoxious and fighting one another, they will need to start building more family oriented attractions. Untill then, they will have to deal with the crowd they attract. If anyone feels unsafe by attending SFMM, perhaps they should go to Knotts, or Disney Land and enjoy the atmosphere. I think many of you have already made that decision and it is fine.

RatherGoodBear, I know there is a slight chance those things could happen, but get real. When was the last time an uninvolved person got injured from a fight at any amusement park? Some people have had to deal with ride closings because of fights and the such, but even that is rare. In reality, the people on this site (as well as people who are part of the general public that like a more family oriented atmostpher) are just annoyed by how loud and obnoxious teenagers are. That is just something that should be thought out before deciding to attend a park that has so many thrilling rides that are sure to be appealing to obnoxious teenagers. In your mind, if the cons outweigh the pros. . .Don't go. It is as simple as that.

Man. Is this "let's bash SFMM" week or something? ;-) The violence EVERYWHERE, not to mention kids (and I am talking a lot of them under 12) running around without the parents anywhere in sight. I see it just walking into the grocery store. :-/

-Tina

---

coasterqueenTRN said:
Man. Is this "let's bash SFMM" week or something? ;-) The violence EVERYWHERE, not to mention kids (and I am talking a lot of them under 12) running around without the parents anywhere in sight. I see it just walking into the grocery store. :-/

-Tina

---

Isn't it bash SFMM every week?

Far as Knotts/Dland not having these problems wrong, Knotts had a riot a few years back on cinco de mayo. Dland might not have riots to put your life in danger but their rides might. Everyone is always complaining about how bad SFMMs park and maintence is yet the park hasn't had one fatal accident due to shoody maintence unlike Dland. Also who and the hell wants to go to Dland it sucks, if your not a fag, child, or senior citizen. Not that i have any thing against those groups of people, i'm just stating that's the type of crowd Dland gets.

Also no one ever said SFMM was a inner city park, it's still less then 40 miles out of the major city. Like stated above a city as large as LA 40 miles out isn't really much. Valencia is a really nice place to live very upscale they have 1bedroom apts starting at 1500+ a month so you want find any ghetto, welfare, low class people in the Valencia area. All the trash comes outta the LA areas and these people cause a problem any where they go not just SFMM. Also Valencia does have it's own police station as does SFMM has a sub station, plus security guards. Just because you don't see the cameras doesn't mean there isn't any around, trust when i say you are being watched at SFMM. Just because the police and security didn't pop up fast enough in your IMO doesn't mean a thing, most people in emergency situations feel that emergency services don't respond fast enough. The people of ES is just that people and they can only move so fast, plus SFMM is huge. What did you want them to do bust through Colossus with a tank shooting the thugs down, send out fighter jets what. Imo it seams to me they handle the situation flawlessly because they were able to get everyone out of that massive park safely, arrest the people involved, and keep the media completly off the property so they couldn't blow everything outta porportion like they usually do.

To Mr.Rollergator i use to think you were a cool guy a mature sensible person,, smart, knowledgable, trustworthy person, now i see you jumping on the SFMM bashwagon like your one of Rob and Elissa Alvey obsessed fans. I have just been disgusted and let down, for you to say SFMM is a dirty, smelly, unsafe park is totally unexceptable IMO. Yes the lines may not move as fast as you want, or there may be some rides closed, but the park is not dirty and smelly that is complete BS. Out of 16 coasters you will never find over half closed maybe one or two, not counting flashback it has pretty much been SBNO for years now so why in the hell do people keep complaining about it. Anyways i just find it pathetic that the same people jumping on bash bandwagons are the same morons continuing to return to the park they bash. If the place was just so god aweful why in the hell would you keep going back, it's like you just go to find something to nagg about. The SFMM bashwagon has gotten really old and played out, you people need to grow up, get a life, and stop looking for things to whine and complain about because you'll never have fun that way, life will pass you by and you'll end up old mean and alone. *** Edited 5/24/2005 1:34:58 PM UTC by westcoaster man***

I wouldn't be NEARLY so hard on SFMM if not for the fact that the park really HAS the potential to rival any park ON THE PLANET...;)

Unsafe? I never said that. As much of a lunatic as I am, I'm safe anywhere.

But the facts are what they are...I *served* considerable time waiting for X in a 2-hour-plus line replete with smelly garbage and overflowing trash cans. I laughed with the employee who was telling people Ninja was down, and we had fun with it..."that's OK, I can ride Metro. No, how about the Skytower? Deja Vu? Sierra Twist? LogJammer? Flashback?" We laughed as I listed off about 10-12 rides that were closed/inoperable...

I've walked across the street to the hotel I stayed at once...the entire walk was FILLED with strewn garbage, etc. Del Holland is NO Will Koch, that's for certain!

Trust me, I have nothing *personal* against ANY park (they're not people, they're BUSINESSES). And the management at that park just doesn't get it, period. When I'm there, I'm busy having fun with my friends. But SFMM, as a business, they need to realize that in the HIGHLY-competitive SoCal market, they have to provide a place that people WANT to be, or they can keep doing what they're doing. Knott's and Disney are *perfectly content* to keep ALL the patrons who have money to spend, and leave SFMM with the rest...

Don't take MY word for it, look at where SF is putting all the hi-dollar goodies these days - SFGAdv and SFGAm...where a big inve$tment will pay big reward$....;)

P.S. I've NEVER been cool...just right. Read the sig! :)
*** Edited 5/24/2005 2:43:18 PM UTC by rollergator***

---

westcoaster man said:

Far as Knotts/Dland not having these problems wrong, Knotts had a riot a few years back on cinco de mayo. Dland might not have riots to put your life in danger but their rides might. Everyone is always complaining about how bad SFMMs park and maintence is yet the park hasn't had one fatal accident due to shoody maintence unlike Dland. Also who and the hell wants to go to Dland it sucks, if your not a fag, child, or senior citizen. Not that i have any thing against those groups of people, i'm just stating that's the type of crowd Dland gets.

---

I agree with you on that. It was our first time in California in 2003. When my family went to Disneyland, it was a complete joke. People that we knew warned us if you been to WDW then you will enjoy less of DLAND. We did go to WDW first and when we went to DLAND it was fun but not EXCITING like WDW. Cali Adventure park had excellent theming but nothing else really. Good thing about DLAND and Cali Adv; Indiana Jones, Cali Screamin, etc. Whatever Disney World didn't have just made it better. Other than that there ain't nothin to do.

SFMM is basically the coolest park in Cali. I live in Washington, DC area and people here know about that park. Even though we have a SF park here, I have friends say mann I want to go to that park really bad along with other SF parks. Also IMO they have a better coaster line up than CP.

We can all see that SF is being 100% commited to making our day GREAT!!!! Most of the parks got improvements especially SFGAdv which got the largest because they make more profit. Top 4 rankings on profitable SF parks IMO.

1. SFGAdv
2. SFGAm
3. SFM
4. SFMM

Bascially these parks basically almost all SF got something new, but SFMM is the only one that didn't get improved like the others (adding, removing, repainting, retrack, revamp, etc.). I'm pretty sure that 2006 they will get the biggest improvement like SFAdv. Remove Flashback and add a family coaster like Mr. Six or something, repaint rides, fix up rides and coasters, revamp, landscaping, retheming, more shows, redo parking lot if needed, etc.

After this happens SFMM attendance will skyrocket again along with them adding more rides to their smaller parks like they did this year. SFI is really doing a good job due to their First Quarter Performance. If they keep this up it will get them closer to getting out of debt also.

Rollergator what the heck are you talking about what freakin year was this in, i have been going to SFMM for atleast 15+ years and have not once saw trash all the way down the hill going towards the hotel. That's just ridiculous if it was that bad the city would even have to get involved, because that road that leads up the hill to SFMM is the cities.

I agree managment could be 1000X better but your over doing it with the trash thing. Far as standing in line for 2hours with a stinking trash can, well thats your fault if it is true. You stood there chating with an employee yet you didn't get down his throat and make him move the trash can, heck if it was that serious i would of moved the damn thing myself. Come on people who in the hell is that simple minded to stand there with a stinking trash can for 2 hours yet chit chat with an employee, you don't see a problem here.

Far as SFI giving the other parks the big coasters ummm duh its their time, even CP has taken off far as coasters. So you have no point when its well know that its SFMM year in 06 as well as CP.

You say you have nothing against the park yet almost every point you have made doesn't make any sense except for the managment point. Your bashing SFMM just like all the other haters out there, no of you can provide prof of these heaps of trash, every ride in the park inoperable etc etc your just talking outta your bootree like the rest of the haters.

westcoaster man, I should appreciate it if you would edit your last post on page one to make it less offensive. Thanks.

IIRC, the Knotts Cinco de Mayo riot was due to the park having to close as it had reached capacity.

-Jimvy!

---

Word said:

RatherGoodBear, I know there is a slight chance those things could happen, but get real. When was the last time an uninvolved person got injured from a fight at any amusement park?

---

Last summer, ValleyFair. Wayyyy out in the Boondocks of Minnesota.

Concern over the fight is hardly a bash...

-'Playa

*** Edited 5/24/2005 3:44:00 PM UTC by CoastaPlaya***

What part did you miss? Hate is NOT a park concept....disappointment is. They're a BUSINESS.

As far as the employee, I shoulda used a paragraph break there. He was standing next to Ninja to tell people it was not running (although, thankfully for my first-timer friends, it operated later on in the day). Never seen employees hanging out around the entrance to X, unless it was to tell people the ride wasn't open yet...the noon-opening thing.

I do NOT hate SFMM...or ANY park. I just believe that the park is run terribly, and could seriously use an infusion of management skill from a "better-run big park" in the chain. Let's see, that would include, but not necessarily be limited to: SFoT, SFGAm, SFoG, SFNE or even SFGAdv...

For me, it's all about maximizing potential.

SFMM may get a big cap-ex in '06, but with their management, it's still the baby and the bathwater situation IMO...

---

westcoaster man said:

You say you have nothing against the park yet almost every point you have made doesn't make any sense except for the managment point. Your bashing SFMM just like all the other haters out there, no of you can provide prof of these heaps of trash, every ride in the park inoperable etc etc your just talking outta your bootree like the rest of the haters.

---

Am I bashing SFMM, hmm... let me read what I posted. NO I'm not a hater. SFMM has went down. When I read the report from SFI First Quarter Performance SFMM wasn't even mentioned for attendance, which I was surprised. The only parks mentioned was SFGAdv, SFGAm, SFM should bring the SF chain up with significant growth.

So who said I was a hater. I love Six Flags Magic Mountain!!!! I did also mention IMO their coaster line up is better than CP. As far being said westcoaster man don't call me a hater of this park because it is truly loved by me. If I lived near this park I would be there once or twice a week.

P.S. Plus I care about the chain as a whole and I am loving them this year. Mr. Six is a good ad campaign even though some people think it's time for him to die. Rock on Mr. Six!!!!

FYI, this is nothing new. My uncle worked a concession at Magic Mountain in the late 70's and was robbed at gunpoint.

Fun stuff. ;)

---

westcoaster man said:

You stood there chating with an employee yet you didn't get down his throat and make him move the trash can, heck if it was that serious i would of moved the damn thing myself.

---

Why was he obligated to tell the employee how to do his/her job- shouldn't he/she done that without a customer telling them what to do? I know how to cook burgers and fill cups with drinks but I'm not going to offer to do that at a park when I feel the line is moving too slow.

---

westcoaster man said:

Valencia is a really nice place to live very upscale they have 1bedroom apts starting at 1500+ a month so you want find any ghetto, welfare, low class people in the Valencia area. All the trash comes outta the LA areas and these people cause a problem any where they go not just SFMM.

---

What a bunch of arrogant-elitist-condesending Bull$#!t you just spouted! By your reasoning, none of the 'rich-suburban kids' ever do anything bad. No, it's just 'those poor people'. You have absolutely *no* concept of the real world of teens today. If you did, you would understand that so-called 'rich kids' are just as likely, if not moreso to cause rancor and ruckus. Has little to do with economic status and more to do with home training/parental supervision.

Moreover, as I have said many times before, I do not think that there is *any* park in the country whose season pass prices are so cost prohibitive to be an effective deterrent to the so-called 'babysitting service theory'. If you've ever had to pay for child care/ supervised activities, you'd understand that even $200 FOR A WHOLE SUMMER is getting off cheap! And few, if any, parks charge that amount.

Fights happen just about everywere, with just about anybody. Inner-city, suburban, farm-hands, it doesnt matter.

lata, jeremy

--almost ashamed that his children will be "suburban-kids" and prays they dont somehow develop an 'inner-city' bias.