What makes SFMM so terrible?

Raven-Phile said:
I'll take a litle place down the highway that has a rodent for a mascot.

Beagles are not rodents!

;)

Why does everybody always complain about Flashback not operating? I looked it up on RCDB and it doesn't look that exciting.

I'm not sure if "complain" is the right word. Its a coaster at a major park that hasn't run in a long time. Its certainly unusual in that respect, so of course its going to garner a fair amount of attention.

I always try to go right when the park opens, and I have always enjoyed the park. I just wish I could have ridden Revolution, back in the day, without the shoulder harness. I try to get there early every time and start in the back of the park. Go for the bigger rides first, and then you can slow down a little.

^ If Sooperdooperlooper and Tidal Waves/Greezed's don't have an OTSR system than why in the world does Revolution? And if Revolution has an OTSR then why in the hell does it need a lapbar?

These questions will escape me until the end of time.

SOB's biggest fanboy!

^ For whatever reason, there was something that forced the park to install those redundant safety parts on each car. No park is going to spend a good amount of their resources to retrofit a ride's safety system, unless it was deemed necessary or required by the state or something.

There has been a lot of talk regarding the explanation of why Revolution went from a lapbar only configuration to a lapbar AND horse-collar setup, but nobody knows the exact reason(s). I've heard it's because the park did it to reduce Insurance rates, which otherwise would have been much higher. I've also heard it's because a lot of guests that rode Revolution complained of whiplash, strains to their back and neck from being thrown side to side due to the unrestrictiveness of the lapbar restraint.

As most are well aware I have been quite the vocal critic of the park in the last few years citing many of the reasons others have mentioned [operations, staff, cleanliness, etc.]. But having visited the park this past Sunday I am happy to say I actually had a great time! Every coaster but Flashback was open and running multiple trains -- in many cases every single train available! Staff was friendsly, the park was clean. Seems to me Shapiro is moving this park in the right direction.

Perhaps our prayers have been answered!

Mamoosh said: Having visited the park this past Sunday I am happy to say I actually had a great time!

On second thought... let's not go to Camelot. Tis a silly place. ;)

The Flying Turns makes all the right people wet - Gonch

As with most things, it seems your mileage may vary.

In June 2004 we had a miserable time at the park. Overflowing trash cans around every corner, lousy food and employees that ranged from indifferent to dreadful certainly didn't help. But for a park that boasted 16 coasters, the collection was downright awful.

Two wood coasters that could best be described as horrendous. A steel Schwarzkopf that was painful as hell. An Arrow looper that was even worse. A bumpy Arrow suspended. Deja Vu was working but had a huge line. Superman and Flashback were both down.

The B&Ms were the highlight of the day, and two of those I could have ridden by staying in NJ. The two best steel coasters were Goliath and Goldrusher, and when you are forced to compare a 250+ foot hyper coaster to a slow Arrow mine train, you know something is wrong.

Now Knott's, on the other hand, was great, despite how people seem to hate the place. I didn't see any line jumping or poor operations, I saw a great little park with some immaculate theming and great coasters- and this was before Silver Bullet and while Xcelerator was down for restraint modifications.

All the CP fans should hate SFMM! For a long-time the coaster race has been CP vs. SFMM.

As per the park itself. Just think of what's around them: Disneyland and KBF. They are considered two of the friendliest parks in the country. In LA you have a very short supply of friendly people and Disney and KBF stole all away, so SFMM had the leftovers.

That's what Six Flags gets for skimming the budget on workers. That may work in Kentucky, but not in LA.

Coaster Maniac of Louisville

Huh? Since when are friendly LA people in short supply? I didn't find LA to be any less friendly than other areas of the country I've been to. It's the amount of people on the highways that drove me nuts.

SFMM has been a target of enthusiasts not because Disney and Knott's "stole" the friendly people, it's because the park was not managed well. And besides, SFMM is a good hour or so away from Disney and Knott's so I doubt there is much overlap in the areas they draw workers from.

It might be an hour away if you're driving at 3am, but if there's any traffic at all it'll take you a good three days from KBF and a week from Disney.

___________________
- John "I <3 The 5" Gilman

True. I think it took us about an hour and a half to make it from Costa Mesa (about 10 minutes from Anaheim) to SFMM and that was after morning rush hour. The one thing I learned about LA was not to expect to make it ANYWHERE in a certain amount of time. Heck, driving the few miles from Disney to Knott's could easily take almost an hour!

Only when 10 bazillion people are leaving Disney at one time...lol. You are right about getting anywhere within a time limit. When I was out west in 2003 we were staying at the Red Roof right by KBF. We left for The Price Is Right at 4:45 am and you would think we would have made it there in time...NOPE!

SOB's biggest fanboy!

People say NJ and DC traffic is horrible but after a few days in SoCal, my home state was lookin' pretty good.

We made it from KBF to SFMM in nothing flat Sunday post-Solace....caravaning with "Rita: Queen of Speed" didn't hurt none though...

Speed is all well and good, provided you have an open road in front of you. In ten days, I don't think I once saw an open road between Valencia and San Diego!

SFMM gets a bad rap for a number of reasons. First off, the more coasters the park seems to get, the worse the park seems to become. Which makes no sense, unless you think about the park cutting back on other attractions and entertainment in order to have enough money to build more coasters.

For this reason Magic Mountain has become a symbolic example of the flawed management with Six Flags' thinking coaster construction is all that parks need. The fact of the matter is, if you don't like coasters, you really don't feel like there is anything to do at the park.

Which leads into the next issue with SFMM, squandered potential. This park is in a great location, most coasters in the world, the topography as mentioned before is really cool, Magic Mountain is just missing family attractions, so the park performs as good as it looks on paper. At this time it has not performed to its potential.

The customer service issue is a problem at the park, but I think that can easily be addressed by Six Flags having more pride in their parks again. I don't know if the new management is more focused on window dressing type issues, or if they are interested in reinventing Magic Mountain. It would be tragic if they didn't.

coasterlover325 said:
Why is it such a bad park?

Actually, your question suggests already that it is a bad park.
Some people like it, some don't. I went there for the coasters, nothing else, maybe I was naive at the time, but I wasn't disappointed during my visits.
I think asking why SFMM is such a bad park is like asking "Why is Chardonnay such a bad wine?"
... is it bad, after all?

airtime for everyone

... or if they are interested in reinventing Magic Mountain. It would be tragic if they didn't.

And rename it Tragic Mountain. ;)

Yah, traffic can be bad in SoCal. My immediate family lives in the Bay Area and so to travel there from San Deigo, we have to get through SoCal first...and it usually takes half the trip to travel what amounts to a third or less of the total distance. No fun at all.

The traffic is bad depending on where you are going. My commute in San Diego isn't that bad...but I'm going the right way to avoid it.

Disney to KBF shouldn't take too long as long as you take surface streets. That 5 can be a mess. Just take Katella to Beach Blvd and swing a right. There might be a lot of lights, but better than tail lights.

Oh...SFMM so terrible? Their wooden coasters? ;)

"I go out at 3 o' clock for a quart of milk and come home to my son treating his body like an amusement park!" - Estelle Costanza