Six Flags Magic Mountain

Visited: November 23, 2019

Attending: Just Brian

Brief history: I’d been to Magic Mountain once before, in 2009, but we only stayed part of the day, and rode maybe half of the coasters, before the long lines (two hours plus for X2!) chased us away. We planned to go again with Alex during a visit to Irvine in 2016, but that was in August, and the high temperatures in Valencia were over 100 degrees during our trip, so we passed. This time, I went to Valencia immediately after my Knott’s trip. I knew the weather would be great, although I wasn’t too sure about how the crowds would be. My main goal was to ride all the credits I’d missed the first time around (and anything that had been built since then). At the start of the day, I knew I needed eight credits to get to 150, so I hoped that I could ride Twisted Colossus for my landmark coaster.

Viper

I got to the park shortly before opening, and parked amazingly far away from the entrance, because Magic Mountain is like that. I still got to the gates before they opened, though. My plan for the day was to start off with X2, but it was closed right at opening. That’s pretty common, so I didn’t worry too much about it. Viper is right nearby, so I went for that next. I hadn’t ridden Viper before, but I had ridden its brother, the Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure, numerous times, so I had some nostalgia here. I was prepared for the funky Arrow trains with their lack of legroom, and the old-fashioned over-the-shoulder restraints. The height of the Scream Machine used to frighten me, but 180 feet isn’t much of anything anymore. If anything, I thought the loops looked kind of small, and artificially high up. The setting up on the hillside makes the ride more visually impressive than the Scream Machine, which was set on flat ground. Other than that, though, it’s an old Arrow looper, and like all the old Arrow loopers I’ve ridden in the past few years, it felt kind of slow, and the awkward transitions in the track were really apparent. The batwing element was fairly cool, as there aren’t many of those anymore. So I’m torn between transferred nostalgia for the Scream Machine, and acknowledging that there isn’t a whole lot of thrill in Viper anymore.

Tatsu

I stopped by X2 again (still closed), and headed up the hill. I didn’t want to get too far from X2, so I broke with my plan and rode Tatsu, because I really like Tatsu. My memory was that it was the best of the B&M flyers, but I’d ridden Manta, and a couple of Superman installations since then. Manta is really good, but Tatsu has the advantage of height. All the swooping and banked turns take place really far above the ground, which heightens the experience. The pretzel loop on this flyer is a monster, and I rode it from the back row, so it was fairly spine-crushing, but I was ready for it. On the whole, this ride is a rush.

New Revolution

Revolution was one that I missed in 2009, mostly because I just forgot about it. This time, I knew what I was looking for, and I was interested in the historic value of the coaster. I’d ridden the SooperDooperLooper, and I’m unlikely to ride Corkscrew at Silverwood, so this is the oldest looper I’m likely to see. I waited in line for about 20 minutes, which indicated that the crowds were starting to arrive, but also is a testament to the enduring quality of the coaster. I was impressed that the ride has some drops and turns other than just the loop, and I was surprised that the loop comes toward the end, not at the beginning where I expected it. And boy, does it let you know the loop is coming. The ride comes to a complete stop before the run up to the loop, to make sure you see the sign warning you to keep your head back. Then there’s a very long stretch of completely straight track, much shallower than I would have expected before a loop. The loop itself is almost anti-climactic once you get to it, but I imagine it used to be terrifying. Good for historical value, but that’s really about all.

Goliath

At this point, I’d given up on X2 opening any time soon, and having ridden an old loop, I decided to ride a much newer one, and headed over to Full Throttle...to find a line about an hour long. I think if I hadn’t had such luck with lines the day before, I might have been a little more tolerant of an hour wait, but I didn’t want to do it. I had a lot of credits to get, and I felt like I didn’t have a whole day in which to do it, so I decided to get a Flash Pass, which I rarely do, but I felt justified. After a quick detour to the Flash Pass office (I got the Gold version, which cuts wait times in half), I queued up Full Throttle and walked past to see what was beyond. I didn’t have a map, so I wasn’t really sure what I’d find first. It turned out to be Goliath, which according to my Flash Pass watch, had no wait at all. That wasn’t really true; it was more like 5-10 minutes, but certainly no big deal.

I remembered being intimidated by Goliath in 2009, but now it just seemed like another hyper. I’ve heard bad things about it, but I also know it’s a proto-B&M, and I like B&M hypers, so I resolved to keep an open mind as I took the back car. The first drop was pretty cool, especially because I’d forgotten about the tunnel. I enjoyed the second hill as well, even getting some airtime, and I started to think I’d had this ride all wrong...and then we hit the mid-course brakes. As usual, the ride stopped nearly dead, killing any momentum, and the rest of the course just kind of wanders around forcelessly, until you get to the helix, which is positively unpleasant. I wasn’t inclined to ride it again. I love the sign, though. It’s probably my favorite coaster sign in the world.

Full Throttle

Fortunately, my experience with Goliath allowed me to kill time until my watch told me that Full Throttle was ready. Even though it’s not on the hill, that loop is large enough to be impressive from every angle where it’s visible, and I thought I might be a little nervous riding it, especially with the launch. Once I sat down, though, I wasn’t nervous at all. I’ve done a lot of forceful launches lately, so I wasn’t really worried about this one. It was strong, but not painful, and gets the job done. As with a couple of other coasters I’ve experienced lately, the launch is calculated to slow you down at the top of the loop. I expected that, so I wasn’t really worried about a rollback, and I could appreciate the hangtime. The stop in the tunnel, and the backwards launch, startled a lot of the other riders on my train, but I knew they were there. Although I’ve noted lately that coasters are a bit more fun if you don’t know what’s coming, in this case I didn’t mind, as I’m not fond of direction reverses. I knew the route over the loop was fast, but not really air-filled, and while I’ve noted that I hate it when a ride brakes before you get off the hill, again, I knew it was coming, so I was just disappointed, not angry. As with Maxx Force, I wish there were more to this coaster, but if you know it’s a two-trick pony, you can accept it for what it is.

Batman: The Ride

After Full Throttle, I headed to the back side of the park. Between the watch and my Six Flags app, it became obvious that X2 and Superman weren’t going to open any time soon. That meant that I couldn’t get Twisted Colossus for credit #150, so I queued it up. I noted that Batman had no line, so I went to do that while I waited for Colossus. Batman is...well, it’s Batman. This is the fourth iteration I’ve done, and although I do like them, and Great Adventure’s was the first B&M I rode, there’s not a whole lot special about this version. It’s on mostly flat land, unusual for this park, and there’s nothing concealing it, like Great America’s version, so I just rode it and moved on. I did note that the “B&M roar” was unusually loud on this coaster. Normally it doesn’t register while you’re riding, but it really did this time.

Twisted Colossus

Twisted Colossus was probably the ride I was looking forward to most at this park, without any flavor of nervousness added. I’ve ridden enough RMCs now to know they’re just awesome fun, and I wasn’t disappointed. I really enjoyed the tiny hills and trick-track leading up to the first lift. When we got there, I noticed that the train on the green track was near the top of the hill, and I was surprised when we very nearly caught up to it; I didn’t realize the lifts run at different speeds. The green track was running just a bit ahead of us at the peak of the first drop, so we didn’t have a true duel. We missed out on the high-five, but it was above us for the top gun stall, which was pretty awesome. I realized that I’d been paying so much attention to the other train that I hadn’t really concentrated on what my train was doing, so I resolved to do better on the second lap. That was made easier because we were by ourselves for that run. I noted that although the initial drop is nearly straight down, it’s awfully short, but that’s the fault of original Colossus, not RMC. As a result, there’s not as much speed as on other RMCs, but the first turns and the high-five are a good distraction from that. The top gun stall is pretty awesome, a bit shorter than Goliath’s at Great America, but better when there’s another train there. Each individual lap is on the short side, and if it didn’t go around twice, I’d probably be disappointed, but it does, so it feels like an extra ride every time.

I enjoyed my ride so much that I queued up another right away, and hung around to wait for it. This time I chose the front row, and unlike other RMCs I’ve ridden, Colossus has a zero car, so it was interesting to watch it flex in front of me through the trick track. Then I completely forgot about it, because the other train was close enough to be a near-duel, on both rounds. I certainly enjoyed doing the top gun stall with another train below. I’m not sure I completely agree with the assertion that Twisted Colossus is only good when it’s dueling, but it certainly enhances the experience.

Scream!

As I noted in 2009, Scream is right near the exit to Colossus, and rarely has a line, so I queued up my Flash Pass and did that quickly. It’s a pale copy of Medusa/Bizarro, which is one of my favorites, but I did note that it was smooth, and I didn’t have any trouble with head-banging. I also noted that the dispatcher encouraged us to “enjoy the view of the parking lot,” which I thought was pretty funny. Maybe working on Scream isn’t the best assignment.

Riddler’s Revenge

Having just ridden one middling B&M that I’d ridden before, I thought I’d try for another, and went to Riddler’s Revenge. The Flash Pass was wholly unnecessary, but I used it anyway. I took a middle row, because it was the shortest line, and I didn’t really care where I rode it. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I did in 2009. The restraints seemed extra-awkward, and I didn’t succeed in avoiding all the head-banging. As a result, I was pretty grumpy when I got off. I also hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, and it was nearly 4:00 now, so I grabbed a chicken sandwich at Ace o’ Clubs, which is right nearby, and rested a bit before moving on.

Apocalypse -- FAIL

Apocalypse has an interesting history that mostly doesn’t involve me. I rode it in 2009 when it was Terminator: Salvation, and brand new, and I really enjoyed it. I hadn’t encountered many of GCI’s twister models before that, so it was a real lesson in what a modern wood coaster is like. I heard it got steadily rougher until its recent retracking a year or so ago, and was now running very smoothly again. Because of the West Coast Racers construction, it’s really hard to get to, though. I had my Flash Pass queued, but I never saw a staffer to scan my watch, and I just ended up in the regular queue with everybody else. Unfortunately, I got to the top of the stairs leading to the platform, and got stuck. I couldn’t quite see what was going on, but the train appeared to be stopped just short of the station. After several minutes, the ride operator suggested we all go ride something else. That wasn’t really audible down the staircase, so I got to turn around and repeat it for everybody, and to my surprise, they all immediately turned and left. It was the right call, because the ride never came back up, which was a disappointment, but a minor one.

Twisted Colossus again

By this point, night was falling, so I took an extended break to go out to my car, swap my sunglasses for my regular glasses, and get a jacket. That took quite a while, so I queued up another ride on Twisted Colossus to save some time. When I came back in, the “Holiday in the Park” event had started, which was pretty funny, given that it was still around 60 degrees out. The main plaza had some “snow” made of tiny soap bubbles, which looked nicely realistic, and the kids seemed to really like it. I think I inhaled some of them, though, which I didn’t really like.

Twisted Colossus was even more impressive at night, which I should have expected by now. The ride felt just a little faster, a little more out of control, and somehow the stall felt even longer, which makes no logical sense. I could have just kept riding it all night if the lines had been shorter, but with several major coasters down, it was still pretty busy. I knew that because the park is so large, I likely wouldn’t come back if I left, but I moved on anyway.

Ninja

I didn’t have a strong reason for riding Ninja, as I’d ridden it before, but I’d ridden most other rides that I’d done in 2009, so I figured I’d give it a shot in the dark. It was decent, with a swoopy helix, but that’s about all there is to say about it. It had longer lines than I expected, probably because the younger set was able to ride.

X2

At this point, it was around 7:30, and I thought I might get a night ride on Tatsu, which turned out to be down. If you’re counting, that’s four major coasters down and one not finished construction yet, so I was feeling pretty disappointed, and figured I’d just call it a day. The path from Tatsu to the exit goes by X2, so I glanced that way, and much to my surprise, it was open. The story I’d been told all day was that it was too windy to run X2, because of a risk of it valleying somewhere. I don’t know enough about the ride to tell if that’s realistic, but I know it’s notoriously finicky. Since the wind died down after dark, I guess it was safe to run.

Nobody seemed to realize that it was open, so there was no line to speak of (which is good, because I hadn’t checked my Flash Pass), and I was able to zip right to the platform. I’d been recommended to ride the last car, inside seat, which seems awfully specific, but it happened to work. For the only time that day, I queued right behind another single rider, Zac, who works as a parking attendant for the park, but came in after his shift to de-stress with a couple of rides. He thought it was fate that we met up, and was quite cheerful about letting me have the inside seat.

I admitted before I came to the park that X2 was one of the only rides left that I was nervous to ride, because I didn’t really know what to expect. Descriptions and PoVs can’t really prepare you for it, which means I can’t really describe it here. The sound system happened to be working on this train, which really added to the experience. It starts off out of the station with “It Had to Be You,” which then fuzzes out on the lift hill, to be replaced with “Enter Sandman,” which I thought was fairly awesome. I was worried about the initial face-first drop, but it happens so quickly that you barely register it. I think the part that had me worried most was being unable to anticipate the flipping, because I didn’t like that on the one 4D Free-Spin I’ve ridden, but this isn’t like that at all. The ride doesn’t keep you upside-down for very long. It just flips such that you’re frequently changing between facing in the direction of travel, and facing away. The final outside Raven Turn, as others have mentioned, is completely disorienting because you’re experiencing air while facing backwards...or something. And just like that, it was over. I found myself mostly wondering what had just happened. I’m pleased to have it as my 150th credit -- who’d want to be stuck at 149 through an entire off season?

Tatsu

I felt like I should re-ride X2 while the lines were short, but I also wasn’t sure if my brain could handle getting right back on, so I went back to Tatsu, which had reopened in the interim, and skipped past the line. I took a back-row ride with a younger couple who were quite nervous about the experience, especially the man. He really didn’t seem comfortable at any time, especially during the pretzel loop. I did note that the ride was more intense in the dark, but it may just have been my companions.

X2 again

I had queued up X2 on the Flash Pass while I was still at Tatsu, and the lines were short enough that I was able to hop right back on, again last car, inside seat, but I went for the right side of the train instead of the left. I can’t say the experience was all that different. With some better idea of what was happening, I was able to note some things about the ride that I hadn’t before. Specifically, the seat rotation isn’t as smooth as it could be. The flipping is controlled by a set of rails, and well, Arrow rails aren’t always the smoothest, so the motion was a little bit jerky. The second thing I noticed was that it’s a fairly short ride. It’s 3,600 feet, so not extremely short, but those flip elements take time to execute, so you only get a couple of them and then the ride is over. I definitely thought it could have gone on longer.

Although I enjoyed X2, I figured that riding it twice seemed appropriate, and it was starting to get late, so I called it a day and headed out.