SFMM 5/11/07

Been a long time since I've been on here, old screenname was ucsigep for those that may remember me. Anyways, quick background, used to be a CP junkie, but I now live in Las Vegas. Raptor Jo, you will probably recognize the report. :)

So on to my first park trip report in about 4 years. This was my first trip ever to Magic Mountain, and I must say I was impressed. I'm not much at describing the coasters, and nobody wants to hear a description of a coaster they have already ridden.

Got up at 4:45 am, drove 5 hours to Magic Mountain, rode 13 coasters, left the park around 4:30 pm, went to a brew-pub to enjoy a hand crafted beer, then drove 5 hours to get home around 11:30 PM. Lol I can’t believe I did all that in one day, but it was worth it.

I gotta say, X is amazing. I’ve never ridden anything that even remotely compares to it.
Tatsu was really good, my first flying coaster. The feeling of flying is truely one of a kind. This was the first roller coaster I have ever lost change out of my pocket on in 20+ years of riding coasters. lol
Scream was my first floorless coaster, and I gotta say it really didn’t do much for me. It was a great ride, but the “floorless” part really didn’t seem to make a difference. I will agree with what I've read about how it basically being in the parking lot kinda takes away from the ride. But in my opinion it should stay in the park. It seems some think it just doesn't fit because of so many similar coasters in the park, but to me that's not a reason to remove a coaster. It has some nice elements to it, I just would like to see them go in and tear out the parking lot (including the light post footer) and put in some greenery.
Riddler’s Revenge is by far the best stand up coaster I’ve ever ridden. To me, they took some of the best elements of Mantis (TCFKAB), improved the flow of the ride, and added a few more elements. That was just my take on it, though. Mantis at CP always felt uncomfortable to me, it just seemed transitions from element to element were just too quick, not as smooth as they are on Riddler's Revenge.
Goliath, what a ride. Great airtime on the 3rd hill. This coaster goes right up to the top of the list of my favorites. It's just a classic hypercoaster with great airtime, good head-chopper into the tunnel, and great speed. Truely a wonderful ride.
Superman did absolutely zero for me. I will likely never ride it again, it was like riding a tamed down TTD, but you just free fall backwards. I'm sure if I hadn't ridden TTD so many times in Ohio before riding Superman, I may feel different. But with all the hype I heard about it for so many years, it just didn't live up to my expectations.
Batman was good, had some really interesting elements, lots of leg choppers and spots where it dips down in trenches in the ground. Raptor is still better IMO.
I also rode my first ACE landmark coaster. Revolution is a great ride. The trees around it have grown in so much that I literally thought it was a SBNO coaster until I heard it roar by. So I had to walk over and ride it. I love that you just go through holes in the trees, stay close to the ground, etc. Just awesome.
Viper was good, kinda felt like Vortex at King's Island. 7 inversions, decent speed, pretty fun.
Gold Rusher was a neat little ride.
Colossus was a great woodie, good air time.
Déjà Vu was like riding Face Off on steroids. It was interesting but didn’t do a lot for me, though.
Finally is Ninja, better than Iron Dragon, but I have yet to ride a suspended coaster that I really enjoyed. I need to get to Busch Gardens and ride Big Bad Wolf.

Longest lines I waited in was about 30 minutes for X, and about 20 minutes for Tatsu. This girl I met on Goliath said she lived around there and came to the park all the time and it was the emptiest she had ever seen the park. Too bad I didn’t get someone to watch my dog overnight and just get a hotel room there, I would have just kept riding and riding getting a bunch of rides in. Oh well, it was nice to be able to get that many rides in under 6 hours in the park. I even stopped to eat lunch and found a bench to take a 15 minute power nap. lol So take an hour out for that, 13 coaster rides in 5 hours. Pretty good for working on 3 hours of sleep and a slight hangover. HAHA

SFMM definitely ranks up there with CP as far as a park goes. I didn’t get to see any shows, though. The ride ops didn’t seem to enjoy their job like what you see at CP, but the park was very clean, and a non smoking park is so nice.

Did you have any problems with Revolutions "revolutionary" restraints?, I know me and my usual riding partners had the worst time on that.

I did not, actually. The only restraints that I started to have a problem with was on Riddler's Revenge, the op said "it can be done but it won't be comfortable." I said go for it, and he pushed it down and it went just fine. He even commented, "wow, misjudgement on my part." I had just finished drinking a liter of water to re-hydrate, so I was a little bloated at the moment.

Nice TR. Glad to hear you had a great time.

Shapiro must be doing something right. I mean, with a recent and bizarre influx of incredibly positive reviews of Magic Mountain...;)

My only complaints were the $15 for parking, and the cost of food. The $15 for parking didn't really bother me, it just was a bit of a shock as I think that's even more than parking is at Disney. If I remember right, Disney parking was only 10 or 11.

As for food, it seemed the best deal I found was the chicken fingers meal at Food, etc. $10 for 4 fingers, mashed potatoes & gravy, and a salad. There could be a better deal somewhere, I just am not familiar with the park yet. I'm still used to CP and going to TGI Friday's for the best deal. Well, that and always having a parking pass. lol

Did you play any of their games? You said that you liked Viper, Does that mean it was smooth? :)

Viper smooth? LOL!! Talk about an oxymoron. That ride practically split my head in half. It hurts just thinking about it.

^ How tall are you? I don't get any headbanging on Viper. It all depends on where you sit on the train and how tall you are.

As for Scream, floorlessness really makes a huge difference in the front row. If you get another chance, try riding it up front.

I'm 5'7". The problem on Viper for me wasn't side to side head banging. It was front to back. At the bottom of one of the loops, my head slammed so hard into the back of the seat, I got an instant headache. It took like an hour and a half for that to go away.

Nice TR.

The ride ops were in good spirits when I was there on May 6. I hope that your observations are not signalling the mood for the rest of the season.

I chuckled when I read your comments about the food because we had opposite experiences. On my last trip to CP, I left TGI Friday's disgusted with their lack of service. But I was satisfied (but not impressed) with my recent dining experience at Mooseburger at SFMM.

While CP definitely has better operations management, I think that MM is a great example of how trees can be incorporated to improve ride experiences. Tatsu, Revolution and Ninja are great models.

I'm 5'6", didn't really get banged around too bad, but I always tend to expect banging when it's a new coaster to me. I used to live in Cincinnati, so I've ridden Vortex at PKI many times, and it didn't bang around any more than that ride does, IMO. Of course, it's been 3+ years since I've been to PKI, and about 2 years since I've been to CP.

I rode in the front row on Scream, the floorless was definitely different, but to me personally, I just didn't feel it raised the thrill level. Not sure why that is, but I will be back again soon, since I took advantage of the season pass for the price of a 1 day admission they had going online earlier in the year. It might feel a little different next time. That was the ride where the hangover from the night before was most felt, so I was a little cautious about my ride.

I'm still a huge CP fan at heart, since I started going there when I was about 4 or 5 years old, but it's like most people say, trying to compare CP to SFMM is like apples to oranges. They both have their positives, their negatives, and they both are very unique.