Six Flags Magic Mountain - 2/27

After our somewhat miserable day at Knott's yesterday, we decided to head to SFMM today, especially since Dave hadn't been on X yet. Overall, our day at SFMM was better than our day at Knott's. Marginally better, though. I mean, both parks have plenty of issues, but our day at SFMM was much more 'hassle free' than our visit to Knott's.

We decided we'd get to the park EARLY, mainly because since everyone now gets a season pass when you buy a one day park ticket, we didn't know how insane the season pass line would be.

We got there around 9:15, and yeah....there were a LOT of people there. Now for the first shocker of the day - they actually had a couple of groupers in the area that were telling people that you did not HAVE to stand in the season pass line anymore, and you could use ANY entrance turnstile. That was really great that actually had someone out there managing the crowds! I mean, Knott's couldn't even bother to staff the season pass office with more than one person with a line out the door, and SFMM had groupers out in the crowd! Good for them!

We ended up having a good crowd. Our friends Gregg and Kristi and their kids joined us and we ran into some other friends outside the gate. So our initial group of 4 turned into a 10, sometimes 12!

So then the next shocker....the park actually opened EARLY!!! At 9:40 they opened the main gates, and it wasn't just to open them to let people in the plaza area, they actually had coasters open early too!!! WTF??! I am certainly NOT complaining, that's for sure!

So we ran up to the bridge leading to X, and the line for X wasn't quite open. It did, however open RIGHT at 10am, and, for the BIGGEST SHOCKER OF THE DAY...we managed to get on and off X by 10:15!!! They were running two trains and seemed to be doing the best job they could dispatching. The ride itself was just 'ok.' Not the worst ride I've taken on it, not the best. I don't know why, but I just don't really like the ride all that much. Other people LOVE it and I totally understand why, but for some reason it's just not 'my' kind of ride. Oh well....

Next we walked around to the closed Deja Vu so Dave could get his picture in front of it. He now has his photo in front of ALL THREE closed Deja Vu's! Awesome! =)

We then made the rounds going on Goldrusher, Riddler's, then Batman. Ahh, Batman! At least it was cool to ride a B&M invert with forces this weekend! =)

We made our way around to Scream! which was fine, I guess. It's Scream....close of Medusa over a parking lot...fun, but nothing special.

Colossus was down so we moved over to Goliath. Again, it was more like 'going through the motions' riding SFMM's coasters. They are all just 'ok.' Nothing really bad about most of them, but nothing that makes you really want to ride again.

We noticed that Superman was stuck near the bottom of the tower. Turns out they 'broke it' as it ran yesterday morning, and today the car was just sitting there. You'll see a photo of what I mean if you click on the update.

Then we see that Colossus was back open, but I don't think any of us cared to ride, so we let Josh & Amanda go ride some stuff in Bugs Bunny World, and then we headed out for lunch.

I mean, overall it was a really good visit to SFMM. It sucked that Deja Vu and Ninja were closed, but the fact that they opened up early, had coasters open early, and we rode X by 10:15 was pretty amazing! Everything else we did was totally "hassle free." There were no waits, nothing annoying like running coasters 'one train empty, one full' and most of the crews seemed to be doing an 'ok' job.

Anyway, that's my weekend report! We did post some photos from our SFMM visit HERE

--Robb

Nice TR..thanks for sharing.

They are giving away a season pass with a one day ticket? That's insane....as if they weren't already giving away the gate already!

Great TR. They weren't running one train empty one train full... they were just running one train ;)

Glad to hear things are improving... let's hope it's not a fluke.

Nice TR, Robb. I'll be at the park Saturday...after the miserable visits I've continued to have the last few years I'm hoping for the kind of day you had. Trip report to follow soon!

^ While I wouldn't bank on it...it's always a nice surprise! ;) I highly reccomend you getting there EARLY!

--Robb

*** Edited 3/1/2005 6:33:44 AM UTC by Robb Alvey***

Rob wouldn't have it any other way. He's jonsing for X in a bad way ;)

^ Well, hopefully you guys will have a good experience on it. I mean, you would not believe the *SHOCKED* looks on our faces when, not only did it open on time, but we got on and off it in 15 minutes!!!!!

You know that will never, EVER happen again! ;)

--Robb "It really was like the alternate universe SFMM!" Alvey

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Colossus was down so we moved over to Goliath. Again, it was more like 'going through the motions' riding SFMM's coasters. They are all just 'ok.' Nothing really bad about most of them, but nothing that makes you really want to ride again.

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Seriously? It seems to me like 5 or 6 of their coasters would be the number one draw at many parks throughout the country. Maybe I just care more about the actual rides than most people, but I don't think customer service and atmosphere are my main draws. I also loved the under-rated SFWoA.

^^Jonesing. Yes, I am. ;)

I just pray that X p0wns me!

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Robb Alvey said:Next we walked around to the closed Deja Vu so Dave could get his picture in front of it. He now has his photo in front of ALL THREE closed Deja Vu's! Awesome! =)

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I got a good laugh out of that one. :D

Me too. It's happened to me too, except I FINALLY got to ride the CHicago one. 6 trips to GA in the last 2 years (not for the park) and I checked every time to see if it was open. Not a once.

^ We're still 0 for 3 in getting the SFGAm one!

--Robb

Well I was "super lucky" ;) They ran it from 1-6 PM when I finally got it. And it only broke down a good half dozen times! (This was 2002 I think)

Funny...I got on SFMM's Vu on media day; I visited SFGAm only once [June 2004] since their Vu was built...it was open; with any luck I'll hit SFOG on one of the two days I'm there this June.

Color me lucky ;)

^ The day you get all three...buy a lotter ticket!!!

--robb

Similar luck, Moosh.

SFOG's open in October 2002 (and again in June 2003) and SFMM's running in February 2003. We'll see what SFGAm's holds this summer (hopefully)

The twist to my story is that I didn't actually ride either one.

Call me a 'line snob' if you must, but 1 hour plus just doesn't feel worth it. :)

SFMM's Deja Vu has always been open when I've been there, shame about the others though.

Deja Vu: SFMM 5/5
Deja Vu: SFGAm 1/2
Deja Vu: SFOG 0/2

I guess I am extraordinarily lucky then. I rode all three DejaVu's...in 2001.

I hit the one in SFoG in September and the one in SFMM in October, followed by the one at SFGAm two weeks later...

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1 hour plus just doesn't feel worth it

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I'm with you. Life is too short to spend it standing in line. I'm to the point where I won't wait more than 30 minutes for anything unless I'm hosting a first-time visitor on a busy day somewhere. I even managed to talk my four year old son out of Autopia at WDW/MK when the line was at 20 minutes with the 'we can ride cars all summer--let's go use this Buzz fastpass instead!' line of reasoning.

Eh, the Vus are a weird enough experience to garner a 1-hour wait from me still. I have only been to SFMM, but out of 4 days in one trip that I was there, 2 times Vu was open! But 1-hour is usually my tops anymore for lines. I actually left Cedar Point one day last summer because I couldn't find a major ride with a line less than an hour. I've turned into a park snob =)

Good trip report - I agree that SFMM's coasters aren't anything absolutely spectacular. I have a free "miles" ticket on USAirways right now and I'll probably use it to go back to Florida simply because I can't really find a reason to go to California again ... been there, done that, had a great and apparently very lucky time, not gonna push it ...