I was wondering what everyone thinks about SFMM

Yeah, sorry Krax, but I gotta agree with Moosh and say you've got the wrong enthusiast.

Like Moosh I've been visiting both SFMM and KBF for over 30 years now. In my youth, I would have picked SFMM over Knotts any day...Rev and Colossus in their day were both brilliant coasters, the park was clean and beautiful, it was run well, and they had lots of neat water rides and flats in addition to the coasters. When Six Flags took over the park so gradually fell into the dumpster that it took years for me to notice that I liked Knotts better. Of course, Knotts helped things along by adding some awesome rides in the late 90's-early 00's.

I really want to like SFMM every time I go there. I want to just accept that the Revolution and Colossus that I loved are gone, that the Magic Pagoda is gone, that El Bumpo and the Monorail and the Flying Eagles and the Sky Tower and the Enterprise and the Condor and the Bobsleds and Mountain Express are all gone. I want to ignore the empty buildings. I want to not care about one train ops, dirty stations, and operators turning their backs to rides so they can use their cell phones. I want to not see employees bumping ahead of customers in line for front seat rides. I want to ignore the closure of the Steak House, the sit-down pizza restaurant that's never open, and the "C" cleanliness rating hanging in the window of Mooseburger Lodge. I'd like to be able to ride X and Deja (two of my favorite steel coasters anywhere) without 2-3 hour waits due to being horribly designed capacity wise. I'd like to ride a good wooden coaster there.

Knotts isn't perfect. But it's a hell of a lot closer than SFMM. SFMM was the park of my youth (I've never lived more than 30 minutes away from it) and I'd the first to be a homer for it if there was something to be a homer about. Other than some good steel coasters and some beautiful areas, there's NOTHING good about the place. At Knotts, I can ride modern flats (Riptide is INCREDIBLE!), good wood, and a steelie (or two)that compares with MM's. Throw in two different train rides, a great log ride, some decent food and tons of atmosphere, and Knotts clearly comes out ahead.

I want to not see employees bumping ahead of customers in line for front seat rides.

I can vouch for that because I was with Bass and it has happened to us MORE than once. In fact on one occasion we took the ride ops' names and filed a complaint with customer service. But Bass does have his facts slightly wrong: it was for back-seat rides not front ;)

I can't say I thought a whole lot of it myself. My trip report from the time is here -

http://www.bannister.org/coasters/trips/2004/0622.htm

I can attest to John's (Micheal Darling) comment on SFMM. We MUST have caught it on a good day because I remember having a blast at the park. Go in with an open mind and have low expectations or don't have any and you should be well off at the park.

From what I've read from other TR's I was shocked to see Ninja and Flashback running. That seems to be a pretty rare occurence. BTW we visited the park the second week of March 2003 on a Saturday and Sunday.... err or what is Sunday and Monday? Someone from the Cali-four-nians help me out.

~Rob

I used to go into parks with low expectations but now that I've seen so many parks run properly, I have a low tolerance for bad park experiences. When spending serious money, no one should get that "we don't care" impression from the park.

I used to feel bad for SF because of all the criticism that they attracted but after experiencing parks like SFNE and SFMM, I feel it is entirely justified. But in the end, it's okay... for every day they continue to make mistakes, they are another day closer to having some serious investor come in there and turn everything upside down. And it seems like that day is rapidly approaching going by the news that was posted a couple months ago.

Call me when all 16 coasters are open on the same day....I'm still waiting for it to happen (I want to visit on that day!)

If all 16 + the sky trek tower are open then it must be the end of the world ;)

Wasn't the end of the world when I was there. Sky Trek Tower, Flashback and Superman were all down, as was the cool-looking monorail. Considering that SFGAdv almost always has two coasters down at the same time, it didn't seem to phase me.

I just got back from a weekend in Southern California. I had three days to go to any park in the area. I spent all three days at Knott's. Last year I did the Southern California tour and hit just about every single park in Southern California that has coasters. By far the worst experience was Magic Mountain.

The day started off bad when I did the running of the bulls with the entire crowd, heading off to X and still managed to get shuffled back to a two hour wait for the ride. What really yanked my shorts was the fact that the person behind me got on the first train of the day because they cut the line off behind me and moved everyone else to the other side.

Flashback, Superman, Goldrusher, and Deja Vu were all not functioning that day. Revolution, Riddler's, Batman, Ninja, Colosus, Scream, and Viper were all running a single train. All this on a midsummer day when crowds were heavy.

I went to complain to Guest Services and they claimed that they couldn't find enough employees to staff the rides. Couldn't find enough employees when they were in the middle of elections to impeach their governor because the sad state of the state economy? Couldn't find employees when there are probably well over a half a million unemployed people in the greater Los Angeles area? Why did none of the other Southern California parks have a problem staffing their parks?

It seems to me that Magic Mountain's biggest problem is that it got too big, too quick. They spent all this time trying to break records for most coasters and most extreme coasters when they should have been focusing on making what they had a viable entertainment option in Southern California. Once they could get a solid base with good, solid employees, then start adding slowly, and growing at a normal pace.

As for a solution to their woes, I think the best thing Magic Mountain could do now is send a few of their coasters off to other parks and work on reestablishing their employee base and working with what they have. Once things are running smoother, start adding rides that will help bring people in their demographic back to the park. Maybe it means a new coaster, or maybe a new flat ride, or even likelier, a slew of kiddie rides.

Anyways, that's enough of my rant for now. Bottom line is this. If you are in So Cal, visit Knotts, because they rule and the Mountain drools :)

If they start shipping out coasters, I want Riddler's Revenge in NJ! They can take Kingda Ka AND Viper if they want.

Unlike many here, I generally have few problems with SFMM. It's the park I visit most frequently in the year. I like KBF and all but I had skipped going for a couple years and didn't feel like I missed much.

SFMM has more than its share of problems to say the least. I won't deny that. That said, I'm there to ride rides and little else. I just prefer X, Deja Vu, Goliath, Batman, Ninja and Riddlers to KBF's offerings. If I want to go out for a themed park experience, I'll hit Disneyland.

Honestly, I've never really "gotten" KBF. It's a nice park and I like the coasters but I never leave there feeling like I've got to go back much unless they're building a new coaster.

That's just my thoughts.

We already have a Viper...but thanks for trying, Rob ;)

Getting back on topic, I'll say this yet again: if you're travelling to Los Angeles and hjave never been to SFMM the park is worthy of a visit, regardless of how "bad" us locals think it is. Obviously some are having positive experiences based on what is being said in this topic.

dude...that would so rock of Riddler came to Gadv!!! ive heard good stuff about it...

im goin to Southern Cali the week preceding Solace in March....im hopin i have a somewhat positive experience, lol:)

but im definitely more stokeda bout Disney and Knotts...and hopefully Belmont :)

But Moosh, you don't have OUR Viper!

How about I throw in GASM too?

Throw in Rolling Thunder too so SFMM can claim "most worst wooden coasters". Wait... ;)

+Danny

From my experience at multiple Six Flags parks, I would go to SFMM with low expectations. And based on everything I have read about the park it seems I am in the majority.

I have never been there myself but I will tell you this.

You notice that most local people who went their often before, generally hate the park more( Mamoosh). Thats b/c they have been on most if not all rides. So if one of the coasters that is shut down is the one they want to ride their more upset. If I went there. I would want to ride all 16 coasters at MM or as many as I could. So If your going there for 1 day and 6 coasters are shut down. Who cares there is still 10 more open which is more than Knotts has, and more than enough for the whole day!

the last time i went, superman was down and x & goliath had not been built yet. i will tell you colossus is always the best coaster at the park every time i've been there. i rode revolution without the over the shoulder restraints in the early 90's and refuse to ride it again. viper was nothing great, psyclone was painful and ninja was a surprise. it's a nice looking park with lots of steep hills (not nessesarily a good thing). i have a good time when i've gone there ,but it's been during the winter and every ride except colossus was a walk on.

Danny, how would SFMM be able to beat PKI for that record with the same number of wooden coasters? They'd need to buy Mean Streak to grab the record in style ...

Shoulda snatched up Hercules while they had the chance. But I hear that Predator and PGA's Grizzly are pretty dreadful... perhaps one of them could relocate?

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GIGAFORCE01 said:
Who cares there is still 10 more open which is more than Knotts has, and more than enough for the whole day!

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Because the only indicator for how good a park is is how many coasters it has? Hmmm, gotta go re-arrange my top 10 parks list...