The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

For anyone interested in knowing, in the Q1 Conference call with investors, it was noted that Metro will return to operation before the end of the year, but will NOT be themed to Thomas the Tank Engine.

So keep a look-out for any signs of work at any of Metro's platforms.

Also, there will NOT be a Wiggles World or Thomas Town going into the park in 2008.

Tony Hawk's Big Spin in Psyclone's former spot, anybody?

I want and AQUATRAX!!!

(Just Kidding )

Nah. I doubt it because Knotts is Putting in Sierra Sidewinder and i think SF wouldn't want to copy them, however, thats just my opinion. What i want the most is an Intamin woodie. (not necessarily an El Toro clone, but something really really fun) MM is really lacking in the area of good Intamin Rides. They have Superman but they could do so much better.

^*cough*Balderclone*cough*

But then again, that land's cursed. And doesn't SFMM not even own that land?

^Yeah, didn't someone say Psyclone's land belonged to Newhall Farm & Land?

Anyways, I think it's been said before in several incarnations:

1) Shapiro apparently said NO NEW COASTERS (if I remember right from another post) for a long time. That rules out Intamin and GCI woodies, Aquatrax (lol), spinning coasters, etc. The only things I see going in Psyclone's spot, assuming Newhall continues to lease SFMM the land, is either Flashback (if they decide to relocate it) or some unannounced as of yet project.

2) As said in the recent SF conference call thread, no Wiggles World or Thomas World either. I really think another kids world, unless Bugs Bunny World was toasted, would be weird, so this is a good move IMHO.

Oh, and how is the land cursed? I don't know what was back there a LONG time ago, but Shockwave was part of the stupid "ride rotation" program, so it died for a reason.

I hope they start work on Metro soon because if they're pushing for the end of the year, it's already May, and I haven't seen a lick of work at ANY of the stations. It will be nice to have another mode of transportation around the park though.

But one more thing... someone else mentioned Metro's equipment being obsolete, and the company that built it is out of business... so how are they going to refurb it? Rip out all the existing wiring, etc. and make a whole new system to pull the trains? Sounds expensive as heck...

Just a thought. I might go tomorrow so I'll let you guys know if I see anything weird.

-amanda

I can't believe people have the courage to take pictures of the employees with hot dogs in their hands I'd be too scared of getting jumped by SFMM employees (this is SFMM after all)

The land behind what was formerly Psyclone is the area in question.

Flashback could work in Psyclones old spot. They just have to overhaul and repaint the track, get new trains, and give a glimpse of a theme to it. Maybe even rename it as well.

If they really wanted to if they relocating it to somewhere else, is to fill the track with sand in the process to cut back on some noise. I don't think that's possible though.

B&M hyper trains would be sweet on that ride.

Good evening folks!

Welcome to another SFMM Update, brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Arrowfanman! My apologies for going so long without shooting an update!—especially at such an exciting time for the park! Magic Mountain is now almost fully prepared to storm through the summer season. The park is looking much fresher, with employees who (according to Shapiro) are “significantly better trained”, and with a new spirit than last year at this time. That’s not to say we have seen a revolution from within the park. I think that it’s fair to say that for every two to three steps forward, SFMM takes one step back. However, that’s still progress. Decent progress, as well!

It will be interesting to see if this change will survive at all through the dreaded hot summers (which is forecasted to be a heat-wave this summer), however I think I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’s just get onto the update!

Meet and Eats

For the first time in the history of my updating the park, the most exciting thing going on in the park is not some ride, management change, or an employee on a cell phone—but is Magic Mountain’s Food Department! The park currently has three fairly large “food” construction projects underway: the “Justice League Feast” at the former Chicken Plantation, a counter-service Johnny Rocket’s in place of the former Carousel Grill, and a Cold Stone Creamery in place of the former Buongusto Italian Eatery!

The “Justice League Feast” is all you can eat! Very ACEr friendly!

(…you saw that coming, didn’t you? That’s alright, it’s still good. )

The “Justice League Feast” is another union between a food service joint and a character meet-and-greet. The fact that the service is both all-you-can-eat and a character meeting area means that the restaurant is bound to be very popular, I’m sure! While it is nice to have new paint, I find the colors to be ugly, uncoordinated, and an unapologetic contrast to the more serene atmosphere of the rest of the park entrance plaza. And the metallic “industrial” entrances are very contradictory to the otherwise modest gazebo-like eating area.

The main entrance. Is it just me or does Wonder Woman look sunburnt?

However, this being Six Flags, I guess I am going a bit overboard to criticize the execution of an otherwise genius concept. I’m really glad to see this kind of an experience being offered in the park. While I cant say that I would personally take advantage of it, it’s nice to see the option there for, say, families.

The other entrance. If you note, the empty sign at the top is about the same dimensions as the sign in the first picture, so I assume it will be the same sign.

The “Justice League Feast” is actually scheduled at SFMM to begin operation tomorrow, May 12th. However, the progress doesn’t look entirely that promising. While the outside area looks practically complete, I was told there is still some serious kitchen work required on a kitchen that hasn’t been operational for years. The soda machines still aren’t working. So while it’s likely it wont open tomorrow as planned, it should but up soon.

How come you aren’t crying like you did about Maverick?

Carousel Grill’s “Johnny Rocket’s layover” is more exciting for me than Rockin’ Space Mountain!

Over on the backside of the park, Carousel Grill has been very much “Johnny Rocketized”. While it doesn’t appear to be complete, so much progress has been made since I was last in the park. While I am somewhat disappointed that the restaurant will only be a walk-up counter service and not a full-scale seated restaurant, I am very pleased with what they have been able to do with a circular, carousel-themed restaurant.

Several of the “carousel posts” have been covered up to become more appropriately “themed” columns.

All of the horses and whatnot have been painted over. Someone call the People for the Ethical Treatment of Painted Animals!

It would appear as if some kitchen equipment is just chilling out back as the kitchen is refurbed.

Take note of the very “Johnny Rocket’s-esque” metallic sheeting and counter beneath the ordering window.

A final shot of some light fixtures, which I believe are new. Could be mistaken though.

I did come to learn that it is “possible but unlikely” that this is merely a temporary “layover” to capitalize off of the Johnny Rocket’s name (Mark Shapiro did just announce that “Johnny Rockets the highest grossing restaurants in the [six Flags] chain.”). That after this season, Carousel Grill would be removed entirely and your more traditional, full-scale sit-down Johnny Rocket’s restaurant would take its place. Again, this idea has been mentioned. But it is very well possible that once the money starts rolling in and the joint becomes profitable, there will be little incentive to complete the conversion.

Oh, by the way! Johnny Rockets is scheduled to conclude construction and be open for business as early as Memorial Day weekend! That's 3-weeks from now, for those who dont know! Now, we all know how construction projects get drawn out a bit, but that's the plan.

So for now, I like to think of this as a “Johnny Rockets lite”. Another “lite” version of a name brand (that is a bit heavy on the cost) is the recent addition of a Cold Stone Creamery—which coincidentally opened just yesterday! (5/9)

Mike is all: “OMGLOLZ Coldstonze is OPEN!!!1!!1!”

I say “lite”, because unlike a traditional Cold Stones, you do not have the ability to customize your own ice cream however may only choose from one of six available flavors. Lame! But at least for me, the “Chocolate chocolate mint mint” ice cream is very much similar to what I would “customize” anyway, so I’m set!

A look at some of the selection and brutal pricing.

Your other three options.

The facility itself is simple, but nice and clean.

”Can you give me some of those sprinkle things?”

Mmm…..I wouldn’t mind a few licks of their “strawberry blonde”!

Too much? Ok, I’ll tone it down.

MUST….EAT…EXPENSIVE…ICE CREAM!

Seven dollars good?

I think I have made the point rather clear that this is some seriously expensive stuff. However, I will vouch for them and say that the joint was very clean, the service was speedy and friendly. And the ice cream. Oh…the ice cream. It was SOOOO good. Honestly. And a good portion, as well. So there you go. Do you want to foot a heavy bill for delicious treat on a hot day? You decide.

Onwards!

Thomas Tanks and the Return of the Metro

Not funny? Do I at least get an “A” for effort?

I’m baaaaaaaaack!

Anyway, in case you haven’t heard, at a recent telephone conference, Shapiro confirmed the return of the parks most complete form of transportation—the Metro. While the ride will not return with a “Thomas the Tank Engine” overlay as anticipated, Shapiro confidently affirmed that the ride will in fact return. To quote Mr. Sharpie:

With regard to the Thomas the Tank engine, we will not be putting Thomas the Tank engine into Magic Mountain this year. There is a train ride, more likely it’s better said it’s more like a monorail that exists at Magic Mountain and it’s been down for, you know, a countless number of years. It’s elevated. It’s called the Metro. It’s had a sign saying, pardon our obstruction here, for you know we’re trying to clean it up and fix it. But really, they were just hiding the fact that its going to be down and staying down for a long time. We’re going to fix that train this year and by the end of this season, that train, that monorail, that elevated train, the Metro, will be working, it will be in operation. And it’s a big ride because it goes to three different stops and takes you around the park. But it’s not going to be Thomas the Tank engine, because our partnership with our partnership with Hit Entertainment, they really want to keep Thomas on the ground, he's not an elevated train. Of course we want to respect their brand attribute, so we're not going to play with that.

So, as it is in my nature, I was checking out the Metro today to see if any progress has been made, to what degree, and how much was left. And I gotta say—nothing has happened.

In all honesty, I didn’t expect the ride to be doing test runs or anything, so I guess we shouldn’t expect to see work on it until much later. But I’m glad to hear of Shapiro’s sentiment. As for what condition the ride is in? Ooof. There’s quite a road ahead of ourselves.

We are closed, NOWWWW!

(If you know what that’s from, )

Uh, yeah. Looks like we could use a little work back here!

A close-up of the defunkedness.

Unfortunately, that’s all I can really update you on right now! The ride will basically need to be mechanically rebuilt and the stations deserve a massive refurbishment as well. I see this to be quite a project in the year ahead. So we’ll definitely be keeping a keen eye out for any progress on this interesting project.

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Do Your Part!

Even with the summer season approaching, SFMM is continuing to add some finishing touches to their refurbishment projects, which include even a few more large “projects” fitting in the last minute. However, they are further making it clear that they are only part responsible (in their belief) for “guest-friendliness”. The park is further making sure that guests are aware of the roll that they play in keeping the park guest friendly (ironic, I know). It started with the “MY FAMILY” t-shirts (a sentiment which has since moved to the trash cans themselves), the park now prominently posts rules and regulation outside of the park and along the security checkpoints, to ensure that no guest goes uninformed about the park policies.

Anyway, for all of you staring at me going “whaaa?”, I might as well jump right into the pictures…so here we go!

The park has cleaned up the aged look of the trams a bit with a friendly coat of new paint...

…shame they couldn’t update the suspension too. The trams feel more dangerous than Psyclone ever did!

Promptly after exiting the freshly-painted trams, guests are greeted with a list of rules regarding their day.

For those who care, here are the two signs that can be found at this ticket plaza:

I’m also interested in how they note that “city ordinance” prohibits smoking as well. Almost as if they’re now going to allow the sheriff to have some jurisdiction of the enforcement of anti-smoking rules now, too.

Just in case you still haven’t “gotten” it yet, they’re even kind enough to outline the rules on your way in through security.

While a part of me find this odd, awkward, and a tad bit drastic, I do believe that it is good and necessary. At least from the standpoint that the park now appears to be safer and there is NO reason why someone could say they didn’t understand the policy. It opens the door for better security enforcement. Now they just need to follow through within the park.

As far as cleanliness is concerned, SFMM is trying harder than in past years to keep their half of the show clean.

Flowers were really booming and prospering everywhere throughout the park!

The smoking areas now utilize new blue benches. As stated earlier, this is to more clearly define designated smoking areas and allow for easier direction-giving to them.

The Colossus handrail repaints is slowing, but continuing.

On this particular section of track, you can see a good before/after on the right/left sides, respectively.

Horrible photo, but as Mark Shapiro mentioned, they now have most, if not all, park TV’s up and running.

In one last little tidbit, the waterfront has received some new umbrellas for the tables. Trust me…they’re going to need them.

Bucket o’ Random Crap!

As always, this is the time of the update where I just go into the random crap that we encountered throughout our visit! It’s mostly informative, IMO. So read on!

Though the park was not open on this particular day, much of Hurricane Harbor was circulating water in a pre-opening fashion.

Man! I’m just REALLY bad at taking pictures of people with Sylvester!

Though they don’t have advertisements yet and I don’t look very happy, I found the new mister-advertisements to be quite enjoyable.

This is SO just like Roller Coaster Tycoon.

I like to believe I have strong opinions, but I have never felt passionately enough about something to stick it to the back of my car!

OH MY F**KING GOD! Riddler’s has a single rider queue now?!?!

It would appear that they are now dedicating half of the exitway to a single-rider line.

While this seems nice, and I’m sorta glad for it, I personally do not believe that single-rider queues work without a grouper or seat-assigner. The crew’s policy was to merely let us wait at the top of the station and look to see if any available seats open up! That’s ridiculous! Not only do you open yourself up to potential line-cutters, but it horrendously slows down operation on a ride that already has enough factors disallowing quick dispatches!

*sigh* But perhaps that’s just me.

They were also adding a single-rider queue to Ninja! Why they chose this ride for one, I do not know. But it should be interesting to see!

You can now purchase ice cream or Dip N’ Dots in these “souvenir bowls”…its at a pricy 10 bucks, but frankly, that’s 3 times the Dip N’ Dots you’d normally get. So if you’re about splitting, it’s a good deal!

LOLz at Tatsu being broken again!

Many merchandise locations now seem to utilize a “package drop off system”. Should be good, if it works, as it would facilitate the purchases of larger, more expensive items that guests don’t want to carry throughout the park.

Many trash cans throughout the park now reiterate the sentiment on the employee t-shirts. Although, unless we're talking about "PUSH", I dont understand how trashcans have families!

I found this! First of all, a Nancy Drew movie?! Really? Second of all, why is she hot? I never remember Nancy Drew being that hot!

That’s the Nancy Drew I remember! Not that I mind having a hot Nancy Drew!

Alright, and last, but certainly not least…

If I need to explain this, you deserve to be hit with a box of Triscuits or something.

Work is still underway on the new after-show Meet and Greet area. Should be interesting!

Technical people fine-tuning the stunt show…THROUGH THE TREES!

Anyway folks, I know this was somewhat of a long update for not covering that much (trust me…I wrote it!), but I hope you were still able to enjoy it! I plan and hope on getting around to more updates. Thanks for reading!

-Jahan (arrowfanman@yahoo.com)

Nice update... sounds SFMM is moving forward with good intentions. AM headed to the mountain today so i'll see how it goes!

arrowfanman, do you have a photo of the coldstone souvenir "Coastercar icecream cup" by any chance

Third item down for $8.49, thats the picture i would like to see!

It seems like if i had waited for the all the pics to open i would have found what i was looking for!

Great update, as always!! The park is looking the best I have ever seen it. I hope that the single rider line shows up at X and Tatsu, that would make a day at SFMM sooo much easier! Also is it me, or are those trams ugly in green.

Ah, next time I get to a SF, at least I can have a chocolate devotion. I swear, that concoction of ice cream came from heaven itself!

Great update Jahan!

Great TR, of course. Anything going on with Flashback yet?

Those Metro trains are ugly looking. So, when did it close?

I think it closed some time in the early 00's, 2001 I think? Well, its been closed for the past few years because of upkeep costs.

^ that and the company who built the metro went out of business and it was very difficult to get parts that could fix the trains.

A couple things from my POV:

1. The trains actually look very nice in my opinion and that paint was desperately needed.

2. The whole coaster car idea thing is cool but what exactly is it? does it give you a discount on the price of ice cream @ dippin' dots or Cold Stone in the Future? I fully take advantage of their One dollar souvenir cup refills but is the Coaster car thing anything like that?

3. Single Rider lines help alot and can really do alot for the park. Looks like they finally learned from Deja Vu what kind of impact that a single rider line can have. (if its open) Looks like we'll be seeing alot more full trains from now on.

4. Johnny Rockets looks like it could be very good looking if they continue at the pace they are going.

5. Metro commin back!!! its about time MM got some better transportation rides around the park. They really need them. (maybe ACE will make it an honoryary landmark just because it can haul themselves around!)

6. I dont care what goes in behind Deja as long as its not

- Wiggles world

- Thomas the tank engine land

7. I would like to see Flashback moved there and redone. (New paint, B&M trains, etc

All in all, the park looks alot better. Any problems with X lately? and why is Tatsu breaking down so much?

^ that and the company who built the metro went out of business and it was very difficult to get parts that could fix the trains.

 

A couple things from my POV:

 

1. The trains actually look very nice in my opinion and that paint was desperately needed.

 

2. The whole coaster car idea thing is cool but what exactly is it? does it give you a discount on the price of ice cream @ dippin' dots or Cold Stone in the Future? I fully take advantage of their One dollar souvenir cup refills but is the Coaster car thing anything like that?

 

3. Single Rider lines help alot and can really do alot for the park. Looks like they finally learned from Deja Vu what kind of impact that a single rider line can have. (if its open) Looks like we'll be seeing alot more full trains from now on.

 

4. Johnny Rockets looks like it could be very good looking if they continue at the pace they are going.

 

5. Metro commin back!!! its about time MM got some better transportation rides around the park. They really need them. (maybe ACE will make it an honoryary landmark just because it can haul themselves around!)

 

6. I dont care what goes in behind Deja as long as its not

- Wiggles world

- Thomas the tank engine land

 

7. I would like to see Flashback moved there and redone. (New paint, B&M trains, etc

 

All in all, the park looks alot better. Any problems with X lately? and why is Tatsu breaking down so much?

2) All it is is a souvineer bowl that your ice cream is served in. No, it does not provide you discounts on future ice cream purchases. Although if you have 3 people who want to split an ice cream, it's a good deal. Or if you just want that much ice cream, it's a good deal. But otherwise, I find it to be a bit pricey.

3) The difference between a single rider line at Dejavu and Riddler's, is Dejavu often has a grouper or seat-assigner. That way, he or she can assign seats and then take a single rider every time a seat comes available. This will speed up operation.

At Riddler's, it's sort of just up to the single rider to find a seat for himself from the exit side of the station. Not only does this lend itself to the risk of rerides, but it doesn't really speed up operation, but it slows it down. By the time the riders find empty seats, they usually have to crawl over other guests only to find that the seat is locked. So now you have to get a ride operator's attention to contact the panel operator and finally unlock the restraint. Takes SO much time!

Like I said--if there was a grouper, it would be genious. But this plan just sucks.

X: No problems as far as I'm aware. Crew is still better than it was before the ride went down.

Tatsu: So many reason--the crew, maintenence, and the heat are the only things I can think of.

-Jahan

Mike is all: “OMGLOLZ Coldstonze is OPEN!!!1!!1!”

I know I would be, too.

I had the opportunity to go there today, actually, but that's my fault for choosing Culver's instead. I've never had any of the ones on that menu, but given the chance to get one in a coaster cup, sign me up for some Chocolate Devotion!

Hey guys I am at SFMM, and I would like to tell you guys that X has a single rider line and it works great. The line is 2 1/2 hours long, but with single rider it is only 15mins!!! Thank you SFMM for the single rider line!!

Thanks for the update Jahan. Do you know if the Justice League Feast serves breakfast too, or is it only lunch (or do they serve the lunch and dinner foods for breakfast!?) Seeing the improvements throughout the park makes me almost want to go back, but my desk chair is just so comfy right now.

^And thanks for the info about the single rider line on X, I hope that stays around for a while!

Nooo! I was JUST about to do an update from yesterday, but Jahan beat me to it! At least you got a few pictures of things I forgot to: Coldstone, the trams, the mister thingie, etc.

Oh well... your pics are better than mine anyways. Thanks for the update!

PS: The Wii Hut rocks. Now I REALLY want one.

I think it closed some time in the early 00's, 2001 I think? Well, its been closed for the past few years because of upkeep costs.

It was staffing. Even running one train, Metro requires as many employees as RRv does with 2 trains. So if you're the Ops manager planning your budget, obviously RRv is going to get money first. And Maintenance certainly isn't going to have a problem taking it out of their budget if you tell them you have no intention of operating it (They actually did the preventative maintenance on the ride until 2003, when they finally decided to give up trying to get an operating budget for it)...

^ that and the company who built the metro went out of business and it was very difficult to get parts that could fix the trains.

Bombardier bought Universal Mobility's assets. Carowinds, Kings Island, the Calfironia state fairgrounds, and Kings Dominion have (or had?) monorails from the same company.

Justice League Feast serves breakfast too, or is it only lunch (or do they serve the lunch and dinner foods for breakfast!?)

 

It will only serve lunch.

 

Brunch with Bugs provides the breakfast buffet, in Mooseburger Lodge until 11:00am.

 

 

Excellent update as usual. The commentary and opinions towards park happenings are very fair, and eloquently expressed. Keep it up!

lapseofreason, we want to see your pics too!

yeah definitely.

Looks like some interesting steps on SFMM's part. I want that souvenir coaster cup dammit!