Six Flags Magic Mountain to reclaim coaster crown in 2010

^ Here is a satellite image of Knott's: http://tinyurl.com/y9k4ygy

Closed in: http://tinyurl.com/yflredp

All the property owned by the park is highlighted in blue boxes. The largest box consists of the amusement park, the Resort hotel, Soak City USA, employee parking, backstage areas, and guest parking. Note in the main blue highlight box, Beach Boulevard (HWY 39) runs right down the center, splitting the Resort in half. This is a rather large highway. Both lots are connected via an underground street and walkway that passes beneath Beach Boulevard.

The smaller boxes outside the main box depict overflow guest lots/employee lots and storage for new attractions. Notice that these smaller lots are cut off from the main property via large public streets.

So you can see Knott's is locked in on all four sides by major streets in the city of Buena Park and urban sprawl immediately outside the park's perimeter fence. It's very similar to the situation California's Great America is facing in terms of expansion room.

---------------------------------------

Satellite image of Magic Mountain: http://tinyurl.com/yh7pt4y

Wide Open: http://tinyurl.com/yzxyvv2

The property is nestled in the rolling hills of Valencia and surrounded by acres and acres of undeveloped land. All the land owned by the park is approximated by the blue border.

Don't be mislead by all the undeveloped land adjacent to the park though...Six Flags does not own much of the land that immediately surrounds the park. The land is owned by Newhall Land Development. So though it may be possible for Magic Mountain to gain real estate if it's purchased from NHLD, it's highly unlikely due to the high value the land surrounding the park would fetch.

Thank you. I have been curious whether SF owned any additional land surrounding MM. I have tried to look this up before, but didn't have any luck finding it.

kRaXLeRidAh said:
^ Here is a satellite image of Knott's: http://tinyurl.com/y9k4ygy

Closed in: http://tinyurl.com/yflredp

All the property owned by the park is highlighted in blue boxes. The largest box consists of the amusement park, the Resort hotel, Soak City USA, employee parking, backstage areas, and guest parking. Note in the main blue highlight box, Beach Boulevard (HWY 39) runs right down the center, splitting the Resort in half. This is a rather large highway. Both lots are connected via an underground street and walkway that passes beneath Beach Boulevard.

The smaller boxes outside the main box depict overflow guest lots/employee lots and storage for new attractions. Notice that these smaller lots are cut off from the main property via large public streets.

So you can see Knott's is locked in on all four sides by major streets in the city of Buena Park and urban sprawl immediately outside the park's perimeter fence. It's very similar to the situation California's Great America is facing in terms of expansion room.

---------------------------------------

Satellite image of Magic Mountain: http://tinyurl.com/yh7pt4y

Wide Open: http://tinyurl.com/yzxyvv2

The property is nestled in the rolling hills of Valencia and surrounded by acres and acres of undeveloped land. All the land owned by the park is approximated by the blue border.

Don't be mislead by all the undeveloped land adjacent to the park though...Six Flags does not own much of the land that immediately surrounds the park. The land is owned by Newhall Land Development. So though it may be possible for Magic Mountain to gain real estate if it's purchased from NHLD, it's highly unlikely due to the high value the land surrounding the park would fetch.

Wow, thanks for all that information. It's sad Knotts can't expand much if they wanted to.

I wouldn't call that sad. Knotts, and DLR for that matter, certainly have issues with being urban parks but that's also part of the charm (sorry, had to go there) and there are benefits to be gained from being central to such a huge population. There are pros and cons.

And I think that parks like Indiana Beach, Blackpool, Hershey, and Cedar Point have proven that ride additions are not just a matter of what guests can easily observe as open space.

FYI, the new coaster is being built between Deja Vu and the bottom of Ninja's first drop. An old building that was originally a theatre and is now an employee break room is being demolished. Let's hope they utilize some of the hilly terrain in that location and keep some "charm" intact, lol.

One other MM note for today 11/7/09. Goliath is down for painting and refurbishment. I flew in from Florida today to ride and it's closed for the next few weeks. Scream is down for the weekend too according to guest relations. Not a good day for me there...

That sucks Ed. Kind of like me going to SFGad 3 days before Ka reopened.

Rumor is that this new "family coaster" is actually the current Roadrunner Express coaster at Six Flags New Orleans (a Vekoma Roller Skater coaster).

http://rcdb.com/591.htm

The ride is apparently already removed from the Louisiana park premises and is being sent off to Plainview, Texas to be refurbished and repainted before the parts are transported to California.

According to Screamscape this is a copy of Gadget's Go Coaster at Disneyland and according to URC, it is also a copy of Merlin's Revenge at Castle Park. I guess I will not have to plan a visit based on a ride opening this time.

^Yeah, I saw that over on Ultimaterollercoaster.

My question is, how are they able to use this coaster when a judge ordered SF to not remove anymore assets from SFNO? Was the coaster already removed before the judgement?

It was removed earlier this year, before the court order, and sent to Larson International for refurbishment.

Goliath Painting Update:

Out here for vacation this week. Now guest relations say Goliath will be open after Thanksgiving. I was here 2 weeks ago and maybe it's 50% done. They weren't even working on Sunday. I guess there's no rush. Bummer...

Termie is running great and lots of fun. With Goliath down it's my fav at the park now.

IMO, they could repaint Goliath without shutting the ride down. Now that the park is open weekends only, they could easily just paint Monday-Friday and run the ride on weekends. Thats what SFGAm did with Raging Bull when its paint wasn't done by opening day in 2008. My guess is that they're using the paint as an excuse that guests will understand, and taking the opportunity to do whatever annual rehab Goliath requires.

With Goliath down and Scream "temporarily closed" according to the parks website, I might just avoid that back corner of the park when I go this Wed. I wonder if Scream is being repaired. All of the other coasters which are closed now or will be next month have dates listed for when they will be closed and when they are scheduled to re-open. Scream is the only one which just says "temporarily closed" and does not have any dates listed.

Don't quote me on this, but I heard somewhere that Scream had opened again, might just be slow updating the site.

Good to know.. I'm planning my first trip ever to SFMM in January and I'm hoping to get on all of the major coasters.

It would be super nice to see Magic Mountain restore a lot of the old "Charm" to the park. I've never been there, so I have zero credibility on this, but it sounds like the park is just a bunch of rides plopped on a hill. It'd be really cool to see more terrain coasters like Revolution, Ninja, and Tatsu. Is there a chance of expanding further into the foothills?

Six Flags saves operating costs when rides are closed, and they sell more Q-bot too.

I rode Scream many times this past Saturday and Sunday. It was closed for the weekend several weeks ago when I was there. You're right with both of those rides closed, that part of the park was dead. I heard that they had a problem with the lift.

LostKause said:
Six Flags saves operating costs when rides are closed, and they sell more Q-bot too.

They sell more Q-bots when there's less rides available to use it for?

Wow, they should close all the rides but one.