Six Flags Magic Mountain, 12/21/09, Another great December visit

Hours 10:30-6. Traffic was very light. I left at 8:20 at got to the park at 9:30. Very nice for the 65 mile drive thru L.A. on a weekday. Although I have always had good luck with light crowds every time I have visited SFMM in December, I was a little unsure of what to expect. I have never been there the first week of Christmas break before. All of my other December visits have been at the beginning of the month or the week of New Years. It could not have turned out better. I got on 31 total rides, which is the highest total I have ever had in December, just barely. I got on 29 rides on 12/2/07. This includes one visit in which the park was open 2 hours later than today.

This was also without a Q-bot. I didn't think I would need it since Dec is usually not crowded. I parked in the front row of the parking lot, only the 3rd time that has ever happened. At 10:30 there were not many people waiting at the entrance. I was near the back of the line around 10:00 when they told the crowd to spread out since they were going to open all entrances. Because of that I was able to get to the front of one of the lines, which allowed me to get into the park very fast and get on X2 within 10 mins of the park opening. The first time I have been able to do that too. I also had a few people compliment me on my X2 t-shirt and had good luck with some people letting me cut in front of them to keep their group together. At the end of the day a family in back of me in line for Tatsu also asked me to take their picture.

The paint job on Batman looks about half done. The entire Gotham City section of the park was closed. They appear to be doing some kind of massive project in there. There were workers all over that area, including painting Batman and also the Atom Smasher. I wonder if that whole area is being renovated.

Here is the day in order:

X2: once, 5 minutes, rode 2nd train of the day. Would have been on the 4th train, but 4 of the people in front of me let me skip ahead to ride with another single rider. The fastest I have ever got on X2 to start a visit. When I exited, the line was 1 hr and stayed that way the rest of the day.

Tatsu: twice, 5 mins then 15 mins.

Deja Vu: once, 10 mins. Would have gone again, but line was much longer when I got off.

Terminator Salvation: only once, 30 mins. Same reason as Deja Vu.

Gold Rusher: once, walk on.

Riddler's Revenge: 3 times, walk ons. Only switched seats.

Scream: 3 times, walk ons. Only switched seats. Front row on 2nd ride.

Canyon Blaster: once, walk on. Just for the heck of it. No one in line when I got there.

Revolution: twice, walk ons. Stayed in same seat.

Viper: 3 times, walk ons. Front row the 1st time then sat near the middle twice. A woman exited the train and her shoe fell off and fell below the track. Talk about bad luck.

Superman: once, 20 mins.

Ninja: once, 20 mins. First time I have rode it since August. Skipped purposely on SP night in Sept. Closed in Oct. Line was too long in Nov.

Tatsu: once, 20 mins.

Gold Rusher: once, walk onto front row. There were people in line, but they let me skip ahead to keep their group together. Skipped Deja Vu and Terminator on the way there. Lines were very long. The people who let me go ahead told me their son, who looked about 8 yrs old, was afraid to ride anything that went upside down and asked me which coasters he could go on.

Riddler's Revenge: twice, 10 mins each.

Scream: twice, 10 mins each. Teenager sitting next to me recorded the ride.

Viper: twice, walk ons. Stayed in same seat.

Tatsu: 3 times. 10 mins the first 2 times then stayed in same seat and rode again. Rode once and had 5:58 on my watch, but noticed that the line had not been closed off yet. Hurried down the exit and got in line again. After the 2nd ride ended at about 6:10, the ride ops told us that they were going to run the ride one more time and we could stay on if we wanted to. All but one person stayed on. While I was in line the first time, two people in back of me waited until they were two trains away from riding, then saw the seats pull back, and chickened out and left. One of them saw the seats pull back and said to the other "I don't think I can do this." The other one said "I can't either" and they walked back down the entrance and left.

31 total rides: X2-once, Revolution-2, Viper-5, Tatsu-6, Ninja-1, Superman-1, Deja Vu-1, Terminator Salvation-1, Gold Rusher-2, Riddler's Revenge-5, Scream-5, Canyon Blaster-1

3i rides ain't bad w/o a 'bot. Wish I could've been there!

Yes, it worked out great. Crowds in Dec are usually light, but this was even less than I expected. The 6 times on Tatsu is tied for the most I have rode it in one day.