Magic Mountain Under Fire!?!

IS MM open now?? And wow, were those fires close!!

The park is only open on weekends and school holidays right now. So, no, it's not currently open.

And could we let go of the "The Roof is On Fire" jokes... They were old after 1.

CNN is reporting Sea World is closed now.

So is SKytower the command center.

From the photos and video I've seen today, the fires very incredibly close to the park. Like a stone's throw. Will smoke, soot, ash and residue from the fire retardant they are dropping around the park, I'd say the clean-up is going to be a very big deal.

CNN footage of Magic Mountain surrounded by clouds of smoke:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/ireports/2007/10/23/ireport.smoke.clouds.ireport

Seeing as I plan to be at Magic Mountain on Friday, I called the park about 10 minutes ago (11:30pm) to see what the recording said. To my surprise an actual person answered and told me the park was completly unaffected by the fires and was good to go. So as long as no new fires break out between me and the park in the next couple of days, the family and I will be there.

Hope all goes well with your visit.

The stronger than usual Santa Ana winds are doing quite a number over at the park as of late.

A trip report from a few days ago (this past Friday or Saturday) noted that Tatsu, Batman The Ride, Sky Tower, Scream!, X, Deja Vu, Viper, and a number of the park's many water flumes were closed due to windy conditions. And Goliath then went down due to mechanical problems that same day.

Good luck!

^So, an average day at MM. ;)

It's been quite a crazy couple of days here in San Diego. Hard to believe we are going through this again so soon after the last firestorm (and eerily, three started in the the same vicinity as the last big three). Then again, it has been incredibly dry for the past couple of years and the winds on Sunday and Monday were fierce and hot. It was kind of strange having to decide what to throw into the car and what to leave.

I used to live in Rancho Bernardo and until recently, used to work there. Although I'm used to seeing houses near canyons or on mountains going up in fires, it was pretty incredible to see a large neighborhood like that go up.

Anyway, we're all pretty lucky that the loss of life hasn't been greater. The local govenment must have learned their lesson from the last fires. There was plenty of food, water, and shelter for the folks who evacuated.

Well, back to smoking five packs of cigarettes a day. Not sure when we'll get around to cleaning our house. It's like someone tracked an old campfire through the house. But at least we still have a house to clean.

-e

Good luck Eric, to you and all those affected by these fires. We had some fires here recently too, but our situation is SO much different East of the Mississippi - just a matter of time until we got rains...

Janfrederick, I had flames within a mile and a half of me, coming off Mt San Miguel. It's a feeling that you don't every want to experience.The smoke is thick and ash is covering everything. Yes all goverment enitites have done their home work out here and have learned from not only the Cedar Fires, but from the mistakes made with Katrina.My spouse and I haven't been to work since Monday when we were sent home early. I'm not supposed to report back to the Fleet untill Monday, Belmont Babe may have to go into the office tomorrow, but that's iffy.

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janfrederick said:

Well, back to smoking five packs of cigarettes a day.

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Just watch where you toss those butts. :)

Hope everybody makes it through this safe and sound.

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kRaXLeRidAh said:
Hope all goes well with your visit.

The stronger than usual Santa Ana winds are doing quite a number over at the park as of late.

A trip report from a few days ago (this past Friday or Saturday) noted that Tatsu, Batman The Ride, Sky Tower, Scream!, X, Deja Vu, Viper, and a number of the park's many water flumes were closed due to windy conditions. And Goliath then went down due to mechanical problems that same day.

Good luck!

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I was there this past Sunday. X broke down by 10:30, and by 2pm - Deja Vu, Riddler, Batman, Scream, Collosuss (forwards & backwards), Tatsu, all were down, along with seasonally closed rides Tidal Wave (coverted into walk through for FF), and Roaring Rapids. Didn't stay around much longer after that!

They should have let people know who were buying tickets to get in that the park basically shuts down in high wind. Now that I know that, I don't think I would ever risk a visit to SFMM when the forecast calls for high winds.

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janfrederick said:Well, back to smoking five packs of cigarettes a day. Not sure when we'll get around to cleaning our house. It's like someone tracked an old campfire through the house. But at least we still have a house to clean.

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Eric,

I'm so glad to hear you still have a home. I've been thinking a lot about you over the past few days with the fires. My prayers are for you and your family, absolutely.

Take care, and PM me if you need anything.

Rob

Hey thanks Rob. I appreciate that. Happen to have any breathing apparatus lying around? ;)

We're fine, except for my son's cold which went from minor nuissance to Dr. Appointment over night. Then again, I think everyone is sick now.

Wow Dutchman, you guys had a more exciting time than we did. Half a mile is way too close for comfort. I'm sure you're happy about the onshore flow returning.

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DBJ said:

I was there this past Sunday. X broke down by 10:30, and by 2pm - Deja Vu, Riddler, Batman, Scream, Collosuss (forwards & backwards), Tatsu, all were down, along with seasonally closed rides Tidal Wave (coverted into walk through for FF), and Roaring Rapids. Didn't stay around much longer after that!

They should have let people know who were buying tickets to get in that the park basically shuts down in high wind. Now that I know that, I don't think I would ever risk a visit to SFMM when the forecast calls for high winds.

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Was the fire starting at this time? Those are all perimeter rides if you haven't noticed except for Tatsu. It's kind of dangerous for those rides to be open if the fire is going to come and hit the park. I don't live there, and I don't how bad the wind was, but it could be because of safety, and they don't want to scare people into not coming to the park saying about the fire.

The time I went there last year, I barely seen Viper make it through the loop, and it was open. It was going to slow. Why wasn't that shut down compared to Batman, or Scream? Deja Vu, I completely understand though.

I just saw some sattelite images on the news a few minutes ago. The wind seems to be blowing everything West out to sea. The images are crazy.

That is basically what Santa Ana winds do. A high, which rotates clockwise, parks over Nevada. The winds blow from the desert towards the coast. That's why they are really hot. And since they have to go through mountain passes, they get funneled and the speed increases. I couldn't imagine how strong they were in the mountains, but down by the coast, it was gale force.

Most of the time we have a nice sea breeze from the west. We could sure use one now. It will probably be smokey for several days now.

Apparently the park has been swamped with phone calls and e-mails about the fire. Look at the homepage for the park:

www.sixflags.com/magicmountain