Six Flags Magic Mountain Trip Report Sat Oct 8 2011 PART TWO

Apocalypse opened 2 years ago as Terminator Salvation. There was some line, and we were happy to have done the FP for this ride. We walked right in, zoomed past all the video monitors in the pre-board areas, and got right up to the boarding area. I love how the trains go whooshing through the station at a high rate of speed – incredible! We set our Tamagotchi to reserve Riddler’s Revenge next. With wooden coasters, I try to get the last car in order to get that additional feeling of being whipped over the hills at the end of the train. What a fast coaster! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Off to Riddler!

Every time I get into the boarding area of Riddler’s Revenge, I’m so disappointed because I remember how it used to be years ago – or maybe they do it at night only? The blacklights, neon, laser lights. The little mirror for the laser light show was still running, angling and rotating, but with no laser shining on it. Riddler’s Revenge doesn’t do much for me – it’s fun to go through some loops but there are no quick drops or bumps to give you that “whoah!” feeling – it’s just smooth and sort of ‘meh’.

We had checked into Goliath for our next ride. I definitely wanted to do Deja Vu at some point during the day – it’s one of my favourite rides at the park and it was going to be open for just one more week before being dismantled and moved to another park out east. But food was calling. We stopped for some food, and continued on our way.

Passing Green Lantern: First Flight, which was another must-do for the day, the wait time said 1 hr! What? Really!? Earlier we had heard from a park employee that 2-3 hr waits would be normal today for GL and X2. My gf and I decided to wait in line at GL, and gave the Tamagotchi (Flash Pass) to our friends so they could to Goliath.

Green Lantern: First Flight did take about an hour from start to finish, and we were pleasantly surprised by that! We had been watching the ride from the line, and actually weren’t too impressed. It has a car similar to X2, in that the car is in the middle and the seats are on the left & right of the car and can spin 360 degrees. The ride is very short, and sometimes you spin that 360 degrees and sometimes you don’t. It looks like it has to do with weight distribution and momentum. It was enjoyable, but not worth a long wait.

Gotham City, now DC Universe, looked great! The Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth naming & branding was very prominent, as was the Flash ride and the Teen Titans Pizza. I really liked what Six Flags had done with the area. There was even a Daily Planet mailbox and a phonebooth with “someone’s” suit & dress shoes locked inside.

After GL, we met up with our friends down in the far area where Colossus and Scream are. By this time it’s now about 4:30, and I wanted to go to X2 around 5ish, hoping people would be breaking for dinner and thus a shorter wait for the ride. The line for Scream was short, so we waited in line there, which was not long at all. Off to X2!

We waited in line just 1 hour for X2 – a fine achievement indeed! 5pm til 6pm. I LOVE X2 so much, it is the most insane roller coaster I’ve ever ridden. I just wish it was a little longer, it’s overwith so fast.

We had FP’d Revolution for the next ride. It was just getting dark as we made our way down the FP line. Once we arrived at the boarding area we quite sure where to go as FP-holders. The person running the booth across the track saw we had a FP and just motioned for us to get into line for one of the cars. Unfortunately someone had just been sick on the ride (really? Revolution?) and so they were running only every second car with people. What we then called the ‘Vomit Comet’ kept running by itself, empty, as they kept cleaning the front car every time.

As we pulled into the station upon the ride’s completion, my friend says “The station’s on fire!” It seems the fog machines were all starting for the Fright Night activities. We walked up the hill from Revolution through thick, dense fog. My gf clutches my hand tightly, expecting something to jump out.

We made our way to Deja Vu. The line looked long so at first we turned around. But, it was important to me to ride it one last time before it closes next week for good and moved to another park. We managed to wait just about 1 hour before boarding, which I was pleased with. My gf and I went in the #2 doors so that we would have nothing in front of us, and it was 3 trains sooner than if we waited for the #1 door. Boy, I love this coaster. The way it keeps pulling you back, back, back at the beginning, only the shoulder harness keeping you from falling out to your death hundreds of feet below. Looking straight down at the ground in this instance is SO scary and nerve-wracking. Then off you go, through the curves, over, under, WHOOSH, and then looking straight up at the stars – a pause – and back through the same trip, backwards. I am going to miss this coaster, definitely a favourite.

By now it was completely dark and we had used the FP to reserve Goliath, since my g/f and I did not get there on the 1st reservation and rode GL instead. I actually did not care for Goliath that much this time. We were in the 2nd car from the back, and I was really disappointed that the tunnel was all lit up. I recall the tunnel being complete darkness on previous visits. It was unfortunately one of my least favourite coaster rides of the day.

Lots of park guests were roaming around, now that the Halloween activities were starting. It seems there were a lot more people in general areas than there had been the rest of the day.

DC Universe world looked incredible, with laser lights cutting through the artificial fog and creating a green-beam ‘ceiling’ above us. Joker-type creatures roamed and tried to scare park visitors. We thought we’d try Batman, since I’ve had luck with short waits late at night on previous visits. It was now 9pm. It seems they’re doing some construction; there was a large construction wall on the right of the initial line, advising that Gotham City was getting a makeover. By the time we reached the switchbacks under cover, we saw there were plenty of people in line. People were turning around and passing us back towards the entrance as they realized the line was taking too long. We did the same, and did not get to ride Batman on this trip.

We were all tired but had a great day. We did a little shopping on the way out, returned the FP (which was a very easy process), and headed to the Season Pass processing area. There was no line whatsoever; we just walked in and were done within a minute. We even chatted with a couple of the employees talking about superheroes and Transformers.

SFMM did a good job of creating an eerie atmosphere, but we did not partake in any of the scary mazes. They were $10 per person for a wristband to grant you access; $8 for season pass holders. And these mazes were able to be selected on the Tamagotchi.

In summary, we were at the park from 11am-10pm. We rode 10 coasters once each, 3 of which were rides that FP was not available on. The Flash Pass was definitely worth it, and the Gold/Platinum levels would not have been worth the money in my opinion. With the FP you still had to wait at the boarding area – it’s not a front-of-the-line-pass – and typically our next reservation was ready by the time we were done each ride. With our newly-obtained season pass, I expect we’ll go back at least once next year, maybe twice. We’ll also check out Six Flags over Georgia, as we’re planning on being out there next year, and possibly will travel to new places, perhaps Chicago and Texas, to go to some other parks.