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The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread


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After another budgeting meeting, Jokester's Hideout is official IN OPERATION for the entire run of Fright Fest.

 

This brings the list of Fright Fest offerings to:

Brutal Planet

Deadman's Bog

Jokester's Hideout

Willoughby's Mansion

 

Shows:

Batman Begins Stunt Show

A variety show starring Heckles and Twitch

Wheel of Fright

Coffin of Fear

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Hey everybody!

 

Alright, I know it’s been SUPER-long since the last update. And I admit, today’s update won’t be as satisfying as you might hope it to be. Why? Because nothing has changed STILL! But today I thought I’d talk about some updates that have been planned in the future. So I’ll shut my trap, stop delaying, and get to the actual update!

 

 

 

 

Summer officially ended for SFMM last weekend as the park now operates under a weekend-only schedule. Fridays the park closes at six, Saturdays at ten, and Sundays at eight. Why do you care? Because the four days during the week that guests aren’t flooding midways, several different projects are slated to take place. Minor refurbishments are beginning to happen everywhere—be it the painting of yellow safety zones, removal of grafitti, cleaning trash out of those hard-to-get places, and the power-washing what typically goes unclean for, well…since the last time the park was only open weekends!

 

But what is of utmost interest to you folks is the larger-scale projects.

 

Yup…it’s still there.

 

Flashback still stands. And with the Jokester’s Hideout maze approved, according to wrs28330, I honestly cant see the coaster (which has become nothing other than a bad display of “public art”) coming down anytime before November. I could always be wrong, since I don’t honestly know when it’s slated to get the axe! But I wouldn’t count on it. What I am sure of, is that the ride will come down. Of course, it isn’t the only ride slated to get the axe—Freefall most likely wont be returning in 2008. I know I told you this last year, but I think I really mean it this time! So get your last rides in on that.

 

Glad Jokester’s Hideout has been approved for the Fright Fest budget…looks like they’ll be using the approved funds for buying more duct tape!

 

Speaking of Fright Fest, I hate to go on a tangent, but there is a display advertising for it at the front of the park.

 

I think last year’s was better executed, but I suppose it’s all the same.

 

Nyaar…take heed.

 

 

Anyway…back to other things.

 

Yup…it’s still closed.

 

As the end of 2007 rushes closer and closer, it’s becoming more apparent that the Metro wont be in operation by the end of the year as Mr. Shapiro enthusiastically stated in a patched-together response for a stockholder earlier this year. It is my understanding that Six Flags did their research on opening the transport after the announcement was made and it ends up—it’s going to cost a hefty chunk of change! In fact, if it was never there to begin with, it would most-likely be cheaper to just buy a new one then reconstruct the one they already have. In that thought, it’s safe to say that the Metro has essentially been deemed “totaled”.

 

That doesn’t mean it has been knocked off of the “to-do list”. Just letting you know—it won’t be up by the end of the year. I think it’s safe to flip the “end of 2007” to an “end of 2008”.

 

The Fright Fest maze “The Asylum” is still in-tact beneath the station, but it wont be returning this year.

 

 

Though you wont be seeing any “Metro updates” at the end of this year, there will be updates for another LARGE project that will go underway at one of Magic Mountain’s largest rides—

 

 

Now, we all know that SFMM has been looking into purchasing new trains for X. First of all, it’s going to happen. The new trains are expected to roll in at the end of the year and have been designed to be 30% lighter than the originals. But that isn’t the only change X will be going through.

 

 

I’m assuming that these X-train parts have been decommissioned.

 

 

The arrival of the new trains will actually send the ride into a refurbishment. And a long one, from what I hear. The load-process is essentially going to be redesigned and the station reconfigured, to accommodate. Currently, the trains have separate load and unload stations…

 

…Loaded trains enter the “exit station”, stop, take a few seconds to rotate forward, a few more seconds to unlock restraints, and unload the guests. At that point, once the guests have been cleared, the seats take a few seconds to rotate back again…

 

…Where the fresh train then takes a few seconds moves forward into the “load station” and once again takes a few seconds to rotate forward. Air gates open and the guests then load onto the train. After harnesses have been checked, a few more seconds pass to rotate the seats back again, and the train is dispatched.

 

Do you get the theme here? The few seconds lost ‘here and there’ to seat rotations, advancing trains, etc—at the end of the day, really damages X’s capacity! From what I understand, the plan is to rework the station so that it loads/unloads from the same station! This would cut down on unnecessary seconds lost to the said operation, theoretically increasing capacity. Now I don’t know if this means that the ride will have one station. It could possibly have two separate load/unload stations. Think Maverick, or like Splash Mountain (DL). But most likely, with no block after the station, before the lift, the ride will have one station.

 

Either way, it’s all a welcomed change, in my opinion!

 

This massive refurbishment might encompass some other potentially drastic changes for X, but I’m not quite ready to talk about those. I’ll save them for the next update.

 

[/suspense]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A store near the front of the park has been changed to “Character Corner”, for character merchandise. In case anyone cared.

 

 

Finally, I’m going to leave you all with an interesting rumor that has been brought to me. Before I delve into it, I want to put up a disclaimer—this is a rumor. I have found no construction markers, surveyors, conversation, etc, to suggest its truth. The only reason I’m even mentioning it is because in my personal opinion, it’s plausible.

 

 

 

The rumor is that SFMM will be getting…not a Wiggles World, not a Tony Hawk spinning wild mouse, but a Thomas Town (Remember, Shapiro has been somewhat persistent about getting Thomas the Tank Engine at SFMM, as seen with the whole Metro ordeal). But it wont go in any of the commonly talked-about places—

 

 

 

What? Anything is open-game in a rumor!

 

The rumor is that Granny Gran Prix and the Animal Farm will be removed and replaced with a Thomas Town. I laughed upon hearing this until I took a visit and realized exactly how massive this area exactly is!

 

For a sense of the area’s size, the end of the property is the trees behind the shack in the distance. And there’s still much land behind where the photo was taken, as well.

 

Essentially, it’s the area from Goliath Jr. to Goliath.

 

Now I’m sure you may be somewhat baffled by this, as I was when I first heard it. After all, removing family attractions for family attractions means you come out even and not ahead. And why would they place it next to their current “kiddy” area, Bugs Bunny World? Especially when they have a ripe (but cursed) plot of land right next to Dejavu ( ). But in retrospect—removing a painfully low capacity ride and rarely-visited petting zoo, for a collection of family attractions all under the Thomas brand isn’t necessarily a bad idea. It’s large, surrounded by trees, and strategically placed in a group of “family” attractions that stretches from Log Jammer to Swashbuckler (and a mere leap from Gotham City).

 

Just to grasp the potential size of this area, the current Bugs Bunny World is circled in red and the discussed property is circled in green.

 

…Yeah, I bet you didn’t realize how large that was! At least I didn’t!

 

I don’t know if they’re removing the aging bridge into Critter Country or if they’re merely refurbing it. But there is a good chunk of it missing!

 

 

 

Again, this is merely a rumor! But it’s definitely something to keep eyes on.

 

 

*Knows a bunch of people just read that and made a personal note to themselves to ‘not tell Jahan anything about Thomas Town’ *

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, that should do it for today. Again, I didn’t really cover so much of “what’s happening” as much as what is planned to happen. I’m sorry to say that since Midwest, I havn’t been walking the park as much as I usually do—with school back in session and Robb (my walking-buddy) away, I just havn’t gotten around to it! But with summer now over and more park-projects preparing to commence, including Fright Fest decorations (if they havn’t been cut from the budget ), I’d anticipate more frequent updates from this point on. Yay!

 

The park and staff sure took a beating, as they always do every summer. And as a result, I’m disappointed to say that the service has suffered, as it always does every summer (not as badly as last year though). Now begins the slow uphill climb to the impressive attitude the park was emitting in the spring. But I will say this—change is coming. I know what I’m saying may sound somewhat basic and cliché, but the winds of change are blowing. In case you didn’t hear, Six Flags California now has a new General Manager (Jay Thomas, the man who managed the team that really helped turn SFKK around). In essence, SFMM now has its own little “team” (which is likely to grow, in my opinion) who have recognized the park’s problems, have been set with the task of fixing them, and are working to do so. The changes are rooted far deeper than the typical approach of the past few years, which consisted of changing the guest-service motto or adding another baseless employee rewards system. They are reconstructing the fundamentals of the work environment—everything from how employees are trained to as far down to how they are scheduled is being redone to cater to improvement. I wish them all the best of luck in the implementation of these changes. In my opinion, the future looks both interesting and optimistic for SFMM. I think it’s a good time to be an “updater”. That being said......

 

 

 

Stay tuned…

 

 

 

 

 

-Jahan (arrowfanman@yahoo.com)

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If they start loading two trains at once on X, dose that mean they are going to speed up the lift, or split the lift into two segments (like Steel Dragon). Wouldn't it just be easier to dispatch the train from unload to load in the load position?

 

Great Update and thanks for the info on possible future projects.

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It's about time we saw another one of your Magic Mountain PTR's Jahan...was getting a little bit worried for a bit. It's always a pleasure reading them.

 

Reading about all these potential changes at the park really gets me amped up since nothing too major has really happened at the park since Ninja's repaint this Spring. Just the notion that Flashback will be finally be taken out quite soon is big excitement in itself. As for the possible removal of Freefall -- it's a bit disheartening as it's one of the last of its kind still in operation, but removing obsolete rides and attractions is a key part in Six Flags keeping up with the game...so I welcome that.

 

I'm all for Thomas Town replacing Granny Gran Prix and the Petting Zoo. From as far as I can tell, the petting zoo wasn't really that popular anyway and its rumored replacement will definitely be much more well received and patroned. As for the car-ride...low capacity! It's actually the perfect place to drop another kids area. Never realized how nobody suggested this possibility before.

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^wha?

 

^^It won't take 6 months. Beside new electronics, safety systems etc., the trains are similar to the ones on the track now.

 

And this "potentially drastic" refurb on X's station isn't anywhere near as "xtreme" as Jahan makes it out to be. The unload station now will just be stationary, and the load station will be doing the same thing its been doing since the ride opened. And most likely there will be new queue line rail configurations for the typical, un-educated "can't figure it out on their own" MM guest.

 

Unless the parks putting this all in the mechanics hands (which they very well could do) there shouldn't be more than a three month gap between closing the ride and testing the new trains.

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I'm not sure how they'll handle riders boarding and exiting X trains at the same place, being that, unlike traditional coasters, guests can't move away from boarding riders. I'm sure some sort of reconfiguration of the bars will take place.

 

Too bad they can't incorporate a dropping floor. That would speed things up even more.

 

And, yes, the petting zoo and Granny Gran Prix removal is a good idea, especially if what replaces it will be something fresh.

 

Thanks for your reports, Jahan. They're greatly appreciated, particularly from this 36-year Magic Mountain fan.

 

Eric

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I strongly agree about the Granny Grand Prix removal and the petting zoo. Many years ago I had actually heard rumors that there was a somewhat major expansion planned for that area. I can't recall the specific details, but I believe it had to do with a flyer being placed there. Now it is obvious that a flyer isn't going there, however just pointing this out to say that it is not the first time I have heard a rumor for the area. I used to work at Carrot Club, and recall it always being completely empty back there, most people are surprised to learn that the park even has a petting zoo.

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The Granny Gran Prix and the petting zoo area used to be really nice, and they used to have some really sweet animals there (nothing too major, but when you're a little kid you dig that kind of stuff). When I was younger I had a blast in that area, its too bad they haven't been keeping it up.

 

Although I'd love to see expansion in that area, in terms of family thrills, I think it'd be more advantageous to re-create the area for the little kids. If the parks willing to spend money, having a petting zoo and maybe getting something a little more recent than the electric cars they have there now would be nice. Something calm and refreshing to get away from the general coaster theme of the park. I think it'd be a hit with families and little kids.

 

But what it comes down to is how much the park is willing to go to upkeep an area of that complicity, and I'm sure right now a petting zoo is not the first thing on their minds.

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Great update!

 

I sincerely hope that the other potentially drastic change does not involve making X an upcharge attraction. I would wager that it involves either:

 

-A new paint scheme (I hope the blue and green isn't true)

-Ride being re themed and/or renamed

-Adding X to FlashPass again

-Dropping floor in the station

-Less cars per train than the ride currently uses, and three train operation

 

Whatever the case, this is great news about the X rehab. Hopefully, the newer trains will improve the ride experience even more (although I read that the rough rides are still to be had on Eejanaika, I wonder if the improved trains will do better on X, as X is not as tall and fast and has less "new" elements) and the station adjustments should improve capacity, especially if they were to do the dropping floor. I'm also kind of hoping that once they do all this, they will add a mural of X to the "Greatest Coasters Wall"-last time I was there I saw one space-the first space with just a park logo-that they could use for it.

 

I'm was never that big of a fan of Shapiro, but the fact that he is willing to spend this much time, money and effort to keep X up and running as well as maintain the other big thrill coasters at the park (Tatsu, Goliath, Scream, Riddler's, B:TR) shows me that he acknowledges thrill seekers as well as the family market.

 

Speaking of which, the proposed area for the new children's area is pretty good. I think they should keep the antique car ride, though, as very few parks still have them.

 

That's too bad about FreeFall, I thought it was going to be sticking around after all.

 

One thing I have been wondering about since the last time I was at SFMM a month or two ago: There was a ton of new merchandise, including a coffee cup I bought featuring "all" the coasters at the park; Flashback and Psyclone were not on any of these items, but neither was Deja Vu. I'm hoping it's not about to go as well; not that I am a huge fan of it, but they do need a coaster of some kind back in that corner of the park. Although, with SFI allegedly investing in some new wooden coasters at other parks this season, the rumors of Deja leaving, and the fact that they might be putting the new children's/family area in the front of the park, it makes me wonder if perhaps a really good wooden coaster might surface in that space in a few years.....

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Exactly what is X's name? Half the people I hear talk about call it "The Extreme." Of course, it doesn't matter to me since I will probably never ride it again. It's thrown me around and beaten me up too much.

 

All in all, it does look like the next few years at SFMM are going to be interesting. And I'm glad that there are other priorities than raising the coaster count.

 

Eric

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As many times as I've been there in the past, although this years avg. is way low, I've never actually seen the petting zoo. I had no idea they had that much space back there! I rode the Gran Prix years ago, and I was the only one on it despite the park being pretty busy. It's would be a great location of the new rumored Thomas attraction.

 

Not too concerned about the metro ever returning. Imo, they should just remove it completely and use the space gained for other attractions. I would rather see them do a gondola ride following the same route if they are really looking into adding a "transport" ride.

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Years ago when when I was running my website I was putting together a guide for every ride in the park, with just basic information and stuff. It was during that trip that I decided to go back and try out the water slide (I hate water slides!) that is in the back corner of the park... While back there I discovered the petting zoo, and was really stunned that it existed. I ran a website about Magic Mountain for almost a year and a half by the point, and then all of the sudden discover the petting zoo. Shows how visible it is to the public.

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