SFMM 6/17&18 Xtremely dissapointing

First let me say that I am a huge six flags fan. I think SFA is a great, underrated park, and my visits to SFGAdv have been outstanding. I was really looking forward to SFMM, and especially "X", especially since I heard commercials saying something like "Ride the new Scream, and old favorites like X and Goliath." I always defend six flags against the naysayers, but SFMM had all the terrible operations and closed rides that the detractors claimed. Plus, the park was really packed with people, far busier than weekends on the east coast.

Monday - Arrived 9:20
At opening, went straight to "X" only to find it closed on the bridge. There is no employee to tell anyone what is going on. I think I see someone working on the lift hill. It would not open all day despite the advertisements I had heard and the SFMM website which claims only Wednesday, once-per-week closing.

Went to Deja Vu, but it is not taking riders yet. Went to Riddler's Revenge, and after waiting for riders and having the seat fail to adjust twice, it finally adjusts and I'm off in the front row.

Riddler's Revenge - 9 - 10 min, later 1 hour
Fantastic ride, one of my new favorites. Very smooth, but with good forces through the loops and pullouts. Loved the threading of the loops also. A better second half than I was expecting, and a great ride. Later rode in the back, and the first drop was much better. Trains 2&3 were running, but one of them had to reset all of the seats before riders could board, and they all shot up in unison. Pretty wierd. At some points the line was almost an hour, and they really could have used the third train. Good theming, and a beautiful coaster.

Back to an operating...
Deja Vu - 9 - 20 min for row 15, later 2 hours.
Wow, the surprise of the trip. The pullup the first lift is more scary than I thought, and the drop was the best moment in the park. The first drop was definitely better than the second though, and while the trains rattled, the ride was plenty smooth. When we got off though, the line was at the entrance, about a 2 hour wait. No real theme, but decent landscaping.

Checked X, still closed.
Viper - 6 - Full queue house 40 min
Sorry, very overrated. Though not as bad as GASM at SFGAdv, still very rough, not anything like Loch Ness or even Anaconda, both far superior coasters. Did give a good view of X, which was not showing any signs of life.

Up to Ninja, closed.
Superman: TE - 6 - 30 min right side, later the line was at the entrance
Really gradual feeling acceleration (PKDs fault), but it was moving by the end of the launch, and got quite high. The airtime is overrated, and the coaster is the loudest thing ever created, even louder than what people describe. It made Goliath's wait intolerable. Good theming, AC much appreciated.

Batman: TR - 8 - 40 min - later 1+ hour
A whopping one train operation. The wheels looked new, and the ride was slightly more intense and smoother than SFGadvs. Really needed train2 - How can a park run 1 train on a B&M invert? Standard Batman theming.

Scream - 9 - 25-45 min all day
Solid two train operation, but not the stellar three that many had claimed. yes, it had the rattle, but seemed just as fast as Medusa East. Really great ride, and probably the most reliable SFMM has. While the theming was not good, at least it was an attempt. The parking spaces did look bad though, but did not ruin the ride in anyway.

At this point we note the Goliath, X, and Superman: TE are down, while the waits on the B&Ms are all aproaching 1+ hours. Did I mention that Gold Rusher was closed also? So we take lunch at McDonalds which is standard. Colossus' line is out of the station. So we jump inline for Goliath.

Goliath - 8 - 3 hour wait - 1.5 hours later
One train operation, no kidding. A full queue. After 2.5 hours, they finally decide to put the second train on. The third train was half under the transfer shed, half on the transfer track. You may ask why did we wait? Well, it was broken earlier, and as visitors wanted to make sure we got it while it was running.

Superman:TE helped make it the loudest wait of all time. The line was well themed, but the slow moving nature really took the fun out of it. Finally boarded row two. Good ride, but not necessarily better than any other hyper. The first and second drops were long, but not much airtime (it crawled over the top). The pullouts had good Gs, as did the airtime hill and helix, but it could have used something to make it longer and also steeper drops. Glass smooth though and a good coaster, but no better than SROS SFA, and not nearly worth a 3 hour wait.

X is still closed. We check Ninja, the line is almost to the entrance, and it looks like its easily 45 min. It is of course running one train. Back to Revolution.

Revolution - 6 - 10 min wait
Praise the lord, a two train operation besides Riddler or Scream! Sure, the restraint looks like its meant to break your ribs, but the ride is decent. The dives and turns through the woods were cool, and the loop was solid. Its a much longer ride than I thought, and a pleasant surprise after I was fearing for my ribcage. Definitely a winner with lap bars.

Psyclone - 2 - 5 min - 1 train
The worst wooden coaster I have ever ridden. Makes Rolling Thunder look new. I guess SFA has really spoiled me, but the terrible tracking and shuffling, along with the lack of excitement made this a terrible ride. Second least favorite coaster of all time.

Time to get all the woodens out of the way.
Colossus - 6 - 20 min 2 trains
Fearing for my safety after Psyclone, Colossus was actually pretty good. A long ride with some decent airtime. Call me crazy, but most rides at Magic Mountain lack airtime, and I would say that in total Colossus has the most. Better than I expected.

Reride Riddler, and then up to catch Ninja.
Ninja - 7 - 15 min front, 45+ min during the day
Looked bad with a really short lift, an ending lift, and again, one train operation. But the ride had lots of good dives, turns, and swings through the trees and over water. Almost as good as BBW, and a pleasant surprise. Definitely a night coaster though. Bonus points for the cool station.

Back down to Goliath for a night ride. With a two train op and a mostly filled queue, it was 1.5 hours. Good ride, maybe worth 1.5 hours for a night ride and only my second ride, but again not great.

Summary:
Rode Riddler and Goliath twice, and every other operating adult coaster once.

X, Gold Rusher, Flashback closed all day
Deja Vu, Goliath, Ninja, Viper, Superman: TE, and probably others had technical difficulties.

Deja Vu 1 train, Goliath 1 train 90% of the day, Ninja 1/3 trains, Viper 2/3 trains, Riddler 2/3 trains, Superman 1/2 trains, Batman 1/2 trains.

Coaster around or over 1 hour wait:
Deja Vu, Goliath, Riddler's Revenge, Batman:TR

Day made much worse by lack of trains on Ninja, Goliath, and Batman. Deja Vu was a surprise, but X was very dissapointing and the park was jam packed.

Tuesday - 9:20 arrival. There is a crane lifting parts up to X's lift hill and several maintanance workers working on it. I already posted this in the General Board, but again, it would not open and looked like it was having serious work being done.

Managed two Deja Vu rides early, definitely a better ride in the back. Operations were just as bad as Monday except that Goliath ran two trains. Too bad the wait was beyond the entrance and looked like 2 hours. First time I've left a park out of frustration from long lines and nonoperating coasters.

Summary:
Two very packed and Xless days at Magic Mountain. Definitely wished to visit Knotts the 2nd day, but hoped to ride X, only to find a crane working on it. The park is very good looking, has trees everywhere, and has good but tiring terrain. The misters and shade in line were great, and the ride collection was the best I have ever riden even without X, and it was still frustrating. Honestly far worse operations and lines than I have seen at PKD or SFA, and it was very very dissapointing. I mean, midday Deja Vu was 2.5 hours, I waited 3 hours for Goliath, Riddler and Batman were 1 hour, many rides were closed, the other rides were not that good (except Scream which we practically have on the east coast), and the most anticipated coaster was closed. Really poor showing by SFMM. I hope they send a 4D east so I won't have any inkling to go back there. This is coming from a six falgs supporter, it was that bad.

Jeez, I hope it is not like this when I go in August. One train op is quite possibly one of the most annoying practices any park can do. Why does it seem like CP is the only park constantly running all of their trains? Are some of the Texas/Eastern SF parks this bad also, or was this just an off day for SFMM?

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I play in a really awful garage band, but it's still fun.

Batman was running two trains not long ago, it seems to me that one of them must have broken. During the off season they had trains gone for refurb, I get the impression that one of them must have come back not quite right. Suffice to say, the lines are horrid for it.

Also, as noted in my TR, Goliath's third train seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

I'm sorry you didn't get to ride X. I know there are a few out there that call it overrated, but I still think it's one of the best on the planet, and definitely a very exciting and unique ride experience. Thanks for the TR!

Same thing happened to me when I visited the park on the 11th. No X, I HATED that! I came all the way from Texas just to ride that sucker and it's closed! For what it's worth, the other coasters all seemed to be running, except Gold Rusher. As for Psyclone, it really is bad, the only other wooden coaster that seemed that bad to me was Mean Streak at CP.

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TITAN RULES!

I noticed on the same day DAN-EL was there that Riddler's train 3 was not in the maintainance shed. Not sure what happened to that. All things considered, loading on standups takes so long (thanks to people who don't stand up on a standup) a 3 train operation almost always stacks.

Odd that Bats, Scream & Goliath had less than max trains, they were all there on the 15th. Also not sure what's up with Goldrusher.

I think you just hit it on a bad day.

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SCREAM with me... in 2003!