Finally....A Trip To Magic Mountain...
Associated parks:
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Hey gang, after much planning I finally made it to the L.A. area, and got to Magic Mountain. This was my first trip ever out there, and I was very excited to check out the park and the numerous coasters they had. Here goes...
We arrived at the park a few minutes before it opened, and the crowds did not seem to be that bad for a Saturday. We immediately went to X, but it down due to technical difficulties, so we hit the other rides. In order:
1) REVOLUTION: A terrible, slow, head-banger of a ride. Not exactly sure who made it, or how old it is, but Ii hope it has seen better days. I did like the loop, and how the ride travels through the woods, but I would not recommend it to anyone. Wait Time: 20 Minutes Ranking: 2 of 10 stars
2) SUPERMAN: THE ESCAPE: Only one side was working, due to yearly inspection (the sign said). The queue and theming for this ride is unbelieveable, and it reminds me a lot of the excellent theming down at Islands Of Adventure. While waiting in the queue, I read over the park guide, and it is interesting to note that the park guide (put out by Magic Mt themselves) describes Superman as "the tallest, fastest thrill ride on the planet." ( A little food for though with regards to the whole debate). We sat in the front seat and took off. The launch was not as powerful as I was expecting, but the airtime was sweet! What a thrill to be floating as you see Superman at the top of the tower. Way to go, Intamin! A great ride...(but not a coaster). Wait Time: 20 minutes, Ranking: 7 out of 10 stars
3) NINJA: The park's suspended coaster, Ninja kicks the butt out of Iron Dragon. Nothing but speed, drops, turn, and very fun through the trees. Only flaw was that at the very end of the ride, you have a final lift that takes you just back to the station. Wait Time: 10 minutes Ranking: 6 out of 10 stars
4) THE RIDDLER'S REVENGE: A true B/M classic! This three minute long beauty, is not even in the same class as Mantis. The tallest, fastest stand-up on the planet is a marvel, and there is not trims on the bottom of the first drop. Wait time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
5) BATMAN: While in the queue, Batman looked very small. Raptor at Cedar Point looks like Batman on steriods, and that's kind of how the ride went. There was no cobra roll, but she did have two vertical loops. I'll take RAPTOR any day. Wait time: 30 minutes, Rating: 5 out of 10 stars
6) X: INSANE! With out a doubt, the best ride I have ever been on, (and I have been to a good many parks in my 25 years here on Earth). The seats are so comfortable, they remind me of Lay-Z-Boys. Going up the lift backwards is sweet, and then the little drop that flips you over. The drop head first is so much fun. You flip numerous times, and you have no idea what is coming up next. Arrow and Six Flags have really raised the bar with this ride. However, CAPACITY is a night mare (that portion is below)... Wait Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes! Rating: 11 out of 10 stars!
7) GOLIATH: The four of used Fast Lane for this ride, and in my opinion, it was a waste. The drop into the tunnel is cool, but after the turnaround, the trims slow the train down way to much. I'd rather have Magnum or Millennium Force than this ride. A disappointment in my opinion. Wait Time: Fast Lane, 10 minutes Rating: 5 out of 10.
Overall Magic Mt Notes:
I found the park overall to be disappointing. It was dirty, messy, and reminded me of a fair setting, not of an amusement park. We all had headaches after Superman and went to First Aid to get some Tylenol. We were disappointed and shocked to see a sign that said Tylenol and Asprin was ONLY available to buy across the way. We got the Tylenol for $2.00, and then had to buy some ArrowHead water for $3.00. It cost us $5.00 to get some Tylenol. There were a few other instances like that, that really got to us, and we felt was BASIC Constumer Service policy. (I so enjoy getting free Tylenol while in Sandusky).
X is my new favorite coaster. Keep the drop on M.F. in Sandusky, the feeling of X is great. (It hurts me so to say such things, as I have been going to the PARK VOTED BEST ON THE PLANET for the past 15 years)... If X does not win the GOLDEN TICKET for best Coaster on the Planet, I think it's fixed. I seriously think the voting will be close. I'd love to see more 4th Dimension arrive on the planet.
Every 2 hours, the trains on X have to stop and be inspected for 30 minutes. This slowed Capacity WAY DOWN, along with the fact they were running only one train, which took about 10 minutes to load. I only saw two ride ops checking restraints, and I did get pi$$ed at how long it took. I was like, hello, Amusement Park 101: Guests in line are NOT out spending their money in the park...
I wore my MF Hat and Limited Edition shirt, and was slammed a half dozen times by ride ops in the park. One even slammed me saying something to the extent that CP can say WT is a coaster because its at CP, but they won't recognize Superman, cause it's at Magic Mt. Who ever says CP and SFMM are in competition is totally wrong, in my opinion. After going, and experiencing it a few days ago, I can say that 99.5% of the employees there, and gues there have no idea what Cedar Pt is, or where it is located. Basically, they don't care..and why should they? It's 3,000 miles away...
The park is not as crowded as I expected. It's only 100 acres, so I expected it to be pretty crowded, but it was not. There are the coasters, water rides, and a very small batch of flat rides.
Overall, the some of the coasters were very nice, and I would love to see a few in Sandusky. The park itself is mis-managed in my opinion, and I got the feeling they were only interested in putting up coasters, and not giving a damn about Customer Service. X is a great ride, but I'm not sure I re-book a trip to SFMM anytime soon. Sandusky is the place to be, and am very glad it's my home park.
After going to SFMM, and other places, I really got a greater appreciation for how EXCELLENT CEDAR POINT is run, and how much CEDAR FAIR cares for their employees, and guests. It's no reason it's been number one for a long time, and Magic Mt is not even close for challenging it for that distinction...
Overall Magic Mt Rating: 4 out of 10 stars...(Park Ratings For Me: 1) Cedar Pt 2) King's Island 3) Islands Of Adventure 4) Disney World 5) Magic Mt...
-Mikey
*** This post was edited by olympic10086 on 6/5/2002. ***
Goliath NEEDS to be slowed down at the mid-course. The helix still causes grey outs and tunnel vision for some riders. Imigane if the train hit that element faster, not good. Big G has the mid-course block brake, it has no trim brakes.
Too bad you couldn't have done more rides on your day, you may have liked the park better.
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Nothing... NOTHING... can prepare you for... the Fourth Dimension!
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Im the #1 Canobie Lake Park Fan!!!These are my top 3 coasters:
1. S:RoS @ SFNE 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Cyclone
HA! That is the most hilarious spelling of Anton's name I've ever seen!
(notice I didn't attempt it)
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He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking; can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.
5) BATMAN: While in the queue, Batman looked very small. Raptor at Cedar Point looks like Batman on steriods, and that's kind of how the ride went. There was no cobra roll, but she did have two vertical loops. I'll take RAPTOR any day. Wait time: 30 minutes, Rating: 5 out of 10 stars
Opinions are opinions, but B:TR is hands down the most intense invert/roller coaster of them all. Sorry you had a bad time at SFMM. Don't give up on the park just yet.
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Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society-Chicago Chapter
Deja Vu was closed for the day, and I waited for X instead of Viper. Not enough time to ride the woodies. Batman was almost a waste for me, give me Raptor.
It was more of a disappointment than anything else. I expect the "flagship park" with the "most" coasters to be run better...but, oh well...
-mikey
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Proud CB club member
Ozzyhead said: "but B:TR is hands down the most intense invert/roller coaster of them all."
Please, show me in writing that B:TR is the most intense inverted coaster?
Anyways, nice TR, olympic10086. Sorry, you didnt have a GREAT time.
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Dayuum, Your HOT!
Not really surprised by the review, considering...
I find enchanting things at SFMM that others miss. Like Samurai Summit near Ninja and Superman and the entrance area where Revolution's loop stands. These areas look anything but "fair" like. The review wasn't really very in-depth in my opinion. But then again it sounds like you really didn't do very many rides. I'm starting to realize just how many rides SFMM actually has, hard to do them in one day.
But thanks for the TR, to bad you didn't do Knott's and Disneyland. These are the two parks that make So-Cal so great! :)
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Tuesday's Gone With The Wind.
Elijah Rock.
Is it written in the stars?
La Vie Boheme!!!
Originally, I was going to hit Knott's but passed because Xcelerator was not open yet. I did drive by and see it though, and it looks amazing. Did Disney World down in Orlando, so no real reason to hit the Land. Hope to go back to LA in August to make a Knott's trip this time, have got to ride Xcelerator...
Yeah I am thankful that I got the chance to go. If I did not make that point, I am sorry. It was a good time in that I got to hang out with my friends...I was just disappointed in the park...
-Mikey
*** This post was edited by olympic10086 on 6/5/2002. ***
I always tell people to hit Disney and Knott's first, then hit SFMM if you have an extra day. While I really like SFMM, it IS a SF park, which means you get some great coasters and little else. But, do people ever listen to me? ;)
Oh well, let me know when you return!
I'm hoping that they can do something to fix the capacity problems with X. Running 2 trains would help tremendously, but due to several things they just aren't able to do that at this point. So they had a choice of opening it with one train and some stops for inspection, or not running it at all. I don't know about you, but I think they made the right choice.
I'm at a loss though on how you can choose Raptor so far over Batman. In a lot of ways they are very similar, and could understand a close edging except for one thing- that head smashing turn and stop on the brake run that Raptor does. It hurt me so much I was actually afraid of it knocking me cold. That pretty much killed Raptor for me.
Oh, also, listen to the guy about why Goliath's midcourse brakes are on. Can you imagine what it would be like without them? And Goliath does have more air on that camelback than MF does on the whole ride. They are just different beasts- MF is all about speed and Goliath about G's. Some will prefer one, and others the other. But that's fair enough.
I'm always curious though about people saying SFMM is dirty compared to CP. I've never seen that in numerous visits to the park, and CP certainly didn't seem any cleaner on my visit. In fact it's beach looked quite dingy to me when I went by it. Dunno.
But sorry you didn't enjoy the park as much as you would have hoped. I have to agree on the assessment of the lack of flat rides, but am firmly convinced that SFMM has the better collection of coasters.
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Sometimes it's up. Sometimes it's down.
But with God, life is one thrill ride that you'll never regret being on.
Sir Willow said:
but am firmly convinced that SFMM has the better collection of coasters.
That's kinda odd. According to Mitch Hawker's Poll, enthusiasts think otherwise.
I really don't know why people don't say S:TE isn't a coaster just becuase it used a different train and track, people can't except it. I love the ride and glad you liked the theming I do to! You shouldn't bash Reveloution, if it wasn't for it, MF and all the other real good steal rides at CP and where ever wouldn't exhist. It showed parks a looper could be built and thus made parks tons of money.
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X-Flight World's Only flying coaster!
Batwing World's only flying coaster!
S:UF World's only flying coaster! Don't you love SF ?
I really don't know why people don't say S:TE isn't a coaster just becuase it used a different train and track, people can't except it. I love the ride and glad you liked the theming I do to! You shouldn't bash Reveloution, if it wasn't for it, MF and all the other real good steal rides at CP and where ever wouldn't exhist. It showed parks a looper could be built and thus made parks tons of money. Great assement though! Fun Read!
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X-Flight World's Only flying coaster!
Batwing World's only flying coaster!
S:UF World's only flying coaster! Don't you love SF ?
Batman's generally more intense than Raptor, though I would say Montu is an even more intense inverted - especially that batwing element that really flips you around.
Goliath/Titan with the hard brakes are barely fun anymore. I got to ride both of them when they were the most intense coasters on the planet, and it's kind of sad the way they operate now.
Riddler and the Mine Train are both pretty good at Magic Mountain, though I would agree that half of their coasters are pretty mediocre. In some cases, the crappy rides at Magic Mountain used to be really good ones (Revolution, Colossus, Goliath), but the park has neutered them over the years.
When I was there the place seemed clean by Six Flags standards. Most SF parks are far worse.
Anyway, I will agree on the fact that I like Raptor a lot better than Batman. Also, just my opinion.
In conclusion, I loved visiting both parks and would not actually put either one down. I've had a blast visiting both of them, and they are both really great parks! Then again, I've never met an amusement park that I hated.......
Honestly, you make like Raptor over Batman, and that is your perrogative. But I am CONVINCED that if you put an accelerometer to the two rides and calculated the average G forces throughout the duration of the ride, Batman would be the clear winner (though as someone mentioned Montu trumps them both :))
All I know is this, I've been riding B:TRs since 1992; covering 5 different incarnations of the ride, and I STILL get off dizzy every time. Batman backseat BABY-BABY!
lata,
jeremy
--"Catchin bullets? With yo teeth?!? N**** PLEASE!" Sho-Nuff Barry Gordie's The Last Dragon
Closed topic.
