Brawl closes Six Flags Magic Mountain

Finest First Post, I'd venture to say.

I think that SFI should consider raising prices, actually charging for Season Passes, and Only allow anyone under 18 a Season Pass if it is a Family Season Pass, and they must be accompanied by their family.

I think groups of teens should not be allowed at the park by themselves either. In fact, no teens without parents. The only people I've seen dispute this are teens. Sorry, I was a teen too, but I was never at a park as my babysitter, only there without my family on field trips.

Right, and how exactly would you enforce that? And would the parents have to stay with their teens at all times? And what exactly do you think the outcome would be? Who exactly would benefit? Would 12 year olds be allowed in the park with out parents, since they're not teens? Would 20 year olds? How about 19 year olds...I mean, they can drive. They can vote. But they shouldn't be able to be in an amusement park without parental supervision?

Um...yea! I'd probably allow 18 yo and older in without supervision. The rest would need a valid license to prove age or no admission without adult supervision. Seems reasonable given the situation. Again, let nobody pretend this is an isolated incident. Most people who have been to that park (at night) multiple times in the last 7-10 years or so have a story to tell.

Maybe the park has determined that the teen dollar is their bread and butter and there is no need to upset this cash source. If this is the case, then I suspect nothing will be done.

There is another issue. I can remember 3 or 4 years ago when Magic Mountain was sued because their security force was "Racist". Magic Mountain used to have a tough security force to keep issues like these from happening. When they strictly enforced rules and tried to stem the gang issue someone ( in typical California fashion) sued because Magic Mountain was being "mean " to them. Any Park can have these issues, Cedar Point included. The best way is to have a large force that is well trained. Many eyes and ears in the park can prevent problems before they escalate. This solution is not cheap- that is the problem. It is very difficult to run a safe Park on a shoestring budget. Add to the fact that the park is in California and you are very limited in what your response can be- it can be a very tough situation for any Park.

Charge the parents. If your kid is under 18 and gets arrested you are liable. Parents will start taking more responsibility towards parenting when their butt is also on the line.
Also, anyone under 18 needs a parent WITH them to get through the gate. After that, the parent is still responsible for their kids actions in the park but doesn't necessarily need to be right there the whole time.

Good point parkman...I remember that suit myself. Don't remember the outcome though. Maybe they need to move the park inland...Bakersfield...? :-)

The problem is all teens would suffer from the strict rules when it's primarily those in gangs that cause the problems. And if I recall correctly, wasn't the suit brought about because a teen was singled out because he was dressed like a gang member but was not part of a gang??

This issue isn't going to have any easy answers. Why some parks have more trouble with gangs than others is directly related to where these parks are located. Obviously parks cannot be picked up and moved.

Security in the park is the best bet, but even that isn't going to prevent incidents like this if there are large numbers of these gangs in the park at the same time. Making the parents responsible for their teens actions withlarge fines might help, but not entirely.

I recall similar issues on a much smaller scale at Edgewater Park and Boblo Island in their later years, which I'm sure added to the demise of these two parks.

I'm suprised this closed the park. Back when I worked at dorney park 98-2000 there was usaually some kind of fight everyday of the week, and dp deals with a tough crowd base. . Six Flags lacks the ability to contain and control a fight with minors and no weapons.Stuff like this happens at parks all the time, the incidents are usually kept quite though. Even at dorney we had incidents with weapons ,drug and anything else you can imagine and it never made press. The really is not anything you can do to prevent incidents like this,as long as you have arrogant people fights are bound to happen.

anytime you have a relaxed envrrioment and upwards of 15,000 people in a condensed area there will be some form of confrontation. As far age requirments and guardianship at a park, is just down right stupid, unenforcable and in bad taste and would never be adopted at any park.

There are plenty of teens that can go to a park and ride coasters without having any problems. In fact, the majority of kids between the ages of 13 and 18 can do this. I've been going to parks alone since the 7th grade, and I've never been in a fight. Does this mean that I should be charged a higher price? Seniors are generally charged a lower price because A)it's respectful and B)they're less likely to reap all the benefits within the park. Same thing with kid prices. But telling a group that because they're younger and some of the members of their demographic are troublesome they have to pay more is essentially like saying "You're hispanic, so you have to pay another $20 to get in here."

No, its not like that at all coasterguy.
And Nick, it is very enforceable. If you are under 18 (remember, until you are 18 YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS) you must be accompanied by a parent or an adult over the age of 25. This means that if you want the PRIVILEGE of going to a park, mommy or daddy will be coming with you. If you do anything stupid, then mommy and/or daddy is responsible as are you. It's not unenforceable, it's not stupid, but it is providing safety to the rest of the population who shouldn't be having to put up with the antics of the teenagers.

Anybody think these parks don't make money on student days? Hmmmm?

I go to Magic Mountain all the time without my parents. my parents dont like to go with me because i ride, they dont ride anything. ive been doing this for years. they dont mind driving to drop me and my friends off. she trust me cause she knows im there to have fun and not to do stupid stuff like fight.

you all shouldn't think that ever teenager is the same. everything you say make me feel like were all part of the fight that happend. i wouldn't do anything like that.

You were raised right, and your parents should be congratulated in that respect. Unfortunately, not every kid is like you.

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That money can be better spent on ginger ale and marshmallows for the next gang meeting.

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I'm interested in your gang. Your ideas intrigue me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.

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If you are under 18 (remember, until you are 18 YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS...

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In theory yes and I even agree with this, but things have gotten a long way from that. Kids can 'divorce' their parents these days...

*** This post was edited by Lord Gonchar 5/26/2005 3:19:45 PM ***

Ahh yes, Fairlane mall. Just down the street from me.

As far age requirments and guardianship at a park, is just down right stupid, unenforcable and in bad taste and would never be adopted at any park.

No, it really isn't. In fact, I think it would be a good idea regardless. Not only does it cut down on kids actin a fool, but on kids getting harmed when they normally wouldn't if a parent was there.

As for unenforcable? You have to be 15 to drive with a learner's permit in WV. You have to have someone 25 in the car with you at all times. You have to b 16 to drive by yourself. You can't drive past a certain time at nite in WV until you are 18. How do they enforce it? They have police that check IDs. Wow, that sounds like something that SFMM could do to enforce it. Imagine that...

On May 31st., 1999, I went to Tragic Mountain for the last time. The park was closed 2 hours early because of gang problems. (Shots were fired inside the park prior to the park having metal detectors). The news media was tight lipped, and downplayed the entire incident. The same with Tragic Mountain Guest Relations.

Question: If you owned a TV station such as ABC channel 7 like Disney, would you broadcast incidents like the one above? The answer is no, and that's why you don't hear too much about incidents at theme parks on corporate owned TV news networks.

The truth is Tragic Mountain has had gang problems for years. It's not a place to take your kids.

The fight started when one black male stepped onto another black males white sneakers whial in line for a ride. You can fill in the rest from there. When there was the shooting incident at 6 flags it was all over the news it was not played low key at all. The shooting actually occured in the parking lot not "inside the park". Moving the park inland whould not do anything at all because the area of Valencia (where I live) and saugus have very low crime rates. Im in management for 6 flags where I have been wokring for 2 years now and have been inchage of areas when fights have occured. Most of the time it is black adults against hispanic adults. The area of homes around 6 flags is an oasis of white people. Most of the problems occur by people that come in from LA on the weekends. I still work at 6 flags and have worked the front gate and I could tell you that most people entering the park are minors. If they didn't allow minors to enter the park without an adult I dont think they would have enough business to operate. Keeping minors out would be difficult because most of the employees that work there are minors.

Funny how Tragic Mountain hires Management who can't spell or write past a 5th grade level. I was there that night, and I saw the news that night. What they said on the news was nothing like what I observed.

The night I went was May 31st., 1999. This was the night gang bangers fired shots inside of the park after the park was closed down early because of a gang fight. Everyone was trying to exit the one exit gate when the shots were fired. The gates suddenly opened and a stampede of 3000 came right at my daughter and I. Only one cop was on the hill, the other 5 cops were down at the freeway onramps trying to get everyone out of town fast. Then Operations Manager "Timothy Burkhart" called me a liar, and denied everything he could, when I wrote him a letter. He still refuses to talk to me to this day.

Since then, there have been other incidents. The reason why they occur is because from the beginning Magic Mountain refused to have sufficient security. It was after this incident that they added the metal detectors.

Burkhart, I'm still waiting for you to reimburse our motel stay that night! I hope they fire you very soon! It's your fault SFMM is falling apart.
*** This post was edited by the slug 11/15/2005 10:35:55 PM ***