Six Flags Magic Mountain

Visited: March 9, 2020

Attending: Just Brian

It was 10 years between my first visit to Magic Mountain and my second, but my third was just a few months after that. I had a conference in Pasadena, and I wasn’t about to miss a second chance to ride West Coast Racers, so I rented a car and drove up the day after the conference. It was a Monday in March, and school was in session, so the park was pretty quiet. Almost everything was a station wait, but almost everything was also running just one train, so even station waits took a little while. The coronavirus may have contributed a bit to the lack of guests in the park, but I didn’t see any special precautions, other than signs reminding people to wash their hands thoroughly and often, which I did, and observed others doing as well.

Apocalypse: The Ride

I made a coaster friend just outside the entrance, a man about my age who’d come with his sons -- they were wearing Koaster Kids tees, and he had an RMC tee on, so you could tell they were enthusiasts. I wouldn’t normally glom onto a family, but since we were all heading to West Coast Racers right from the gate, I accompanied them and we chatted on the way. Unfortunately, Racers was closed right at that moment, so we decided to ride Apocalypse, as it was right there. I think we had the second train of the day. I’d ridden Apocalypse in its first year, when it was Terminator: Salvation, but I didn’t ride it in November 2019, because it broke down while I was on the platform. I remember it as the first modern “twister” type coaster I’d ridden, and I was really impressed. I’m guessing the ride on this day was a bit slow, being so early in the morning. I was surprised that the first drop is...well, that there isn’t much of a first drop. It’s got plenty of twister action, which is great, but not a lot of airtime to be found. Afterwards, I hung around to take some photos and video, and let my new friends get on with their day.

West Coast Racers

After Magic Mountain failed to open their “new for 2019” coaster by late November when I visited, I was bound and determined to ride it on this trip. Fortunately, that wasn’t very tricky. Although it didn’t open for the day until around 11, there was no problem once it did open, and very little line. I got two rides total, one back row and one front row. I don’t think back row is really necessary on this ride, because the launches provide consistent acceleration, and there’s barely any airtime to speak of. The fun part of this ride, in my opinion, is the racing element, which really is great. The two helixes, especially, provide a great opportunity to see the other train and even interact with the other riders. The “high five” element that’s the first part of each track, and probably borrowed from Twisted Colossus, offers a nice pop of air that’s better in the back, but that’s the only air at any point on this coaster, so that’s not a good enough reason to sit in the back. The coaster guarantees a race every time by having the train that’s finished the first lap wait for the second train to be ready. I imagine that could get really drawn out, but I didn’t experience that. It does pretty much kill the momentum for that first train, though. It doesn’t feel like a single experience, but rather two separate rides on similar coasters. It’s not particularly extreme, and I don’t think it’s meant to be. It reminded me a lot of Copperhead Strike, in that it looks like it could be an extreme coaster, but it’s not really all that intense. I think it’ll appeal to families, which is most likely the intent. It was fun to ride a couple of times, but I didn’t really feel the need to come back to it later.

Superman: Escape from Krypton

Superman was my next priority, as the only coaster left in the park I hadn’t ridden. I didn’t get to it in 2009, when it probably had a longer line, and in 2019 it wasn’t running. I remember it making a huge splash when it opened, because it was the tallest coaster in the world, although the tower is 400 feet tall, but the cars themselves rarely make it up that high. So it was important to me to ride to say that I’d done it, not because I particularly relished the ride experience. I’m not a huge fan of intense launches. I’ll do them, but I don’t seek them out. I’m also not a fan of coasters that stop and change direction, like a boomerang. However, all the other coasters I’ve ridden that reverse like that, do the drop with riders facing backwards. Since 2011, Superman launches backwards and drops back down forward, and that seemed to make a difference. There was barely any line, for such a prominent coaster, and it was only running one of its two tracks. The launch was sharp, but not punishing like the Ka or Dragster launch, probably because of the longer launch track. Once the vertical part of the ride started, it seemed oddly gentle as it decelerated, and you can get a pretty good view if you look around. There’s just enough time to enjoy the feeling of weightlessness, and then you’re falling again. The speed on the return trip seems much more natural, but the whole ride is over pretty much before you know it. Even with no line, I didn’t much feel like riding again, but it’s a decent experience to have done. Not as intense as I anticipated. With Tower of Terror in Australia now closed, I can claim all the operating 400-foot coasters on my credits list, so that’s nice.

Scream

Having accomplished my two main goals for the day, I figured I’d hit the most fun coaster in the park next...but Twisted Colossus was temporarily closed. So I did what everybody does when Twisted Colossus is closed, and rode Scream. I think Scream is fine, and I cut it some slack for being a clone of Medusa, which I used to enjoy a lot (although not as much recently). Plus, it rarely has a line. So I got a back-row ride, which was pretty much what I expected. I managed to ride “properly,” so that I didn’t experience any head-banging. And that’s about it.

Twisted Colossus

Twisted Colossus was restored to working order fairly quickly, so I got on for a couple of rides. They were running two trains, which greatly reduces the odds of getting a duel; I think it can happen only every other loading cycle. In any event, on this ride we did the first lap alone, and the second lap with a pretty good duel. I tried to appreciate the first lap for the coaster alone, and I think I mostly succeeded. I noticed the double-down and the outward-banked turn, which I hadn’t really registered last time. But the second lap with the duel was such a better experience, it’s amazing. The second time around I sat in the front, which I think is a better experience for the initial drops, but not really needed for the rest of it. We didn’t quite get a duel that time, although it was close. I could probably ride Twisted Colossus all day, but I was hungry, so I decided to get some food.

Goliath

After getting a decent quesadilla at Food, Etc. (the most generically named food place I’ve ever seen), I figured I might as well ride Goliath, because it’s right there. Last time I rode this, I liked the first couple of hills, and didn’t care for anything after the mid-course. Another ride did little to change that opinion. The first drop is nice, typical for a hyper. The second hill has a bit of floater to it, and then...that’s it. The helix wasn’t particularly punishing this time, but the whole ride was a bit boring. I can see why Magic Mountain fans want a hyper or a giga, because this only technically meets the criteria.

Full Throttle

I’m not particularly in love with Full Throttle either, but I’ve only ridden it once, and there wasn’t any line, which I imagine is a rare occurrence, so I thought I should take a shot. I enjoyed it more than my ride in November, probably because I wasn’t nervous about the launch at all. I knew the extreme hang-time was coming, so I could enjoy it. I was sitting in the back, so the reverse launch took me very high up the track, and I even got a little airtime on the hill. That second drop was steeper than I remembered it, and it felt like the brakes didn’t kick in right away. On the whole, I enjoyed it more.

X2

After the new credits, X2 was probably the ride I wanted to re-evaluate the most. My two rides on it in November were near the end of the day, and I spent pretty much the whole ride trying to figure out what was going on. Last time, I rode the last row, inside seat, on both left and right sides. This time, I really wanted to see what that face-first drop is like from the front row, so I went there. As it happened, I was paired up with another solo rider, a teenage girl, who wanted the inside seat, so I took the outside. The first thing I noticed is that the view from the lift hill is absolutely amazing, which I didn’t notice at night. The face-first drop didn’t seem particularly dramatic to me. There’s no real feeling of free-fall, probably because of the restraints. By the time you register that you’re facing down, it’s over. Once again, I had a hard time following exactly what was going on, but I did notice that the flips were very janky in the outside seat. I found myself trying to ride defensively, which I couldn’t, because of the changes of direction. I got a really good whack to the head right after the second raven turn that significantly dampened my enjoyment. After that, I wanted to try the inside front row from the opposite side, but the ride op sent me to the left side, and didn’t acknowledge my request to swap, even though there was barely any line. So at least I was able to get the inside seat in the front car. It was noticeably less janky there, but far from smooth, and I still got whacked in the head even though I was ready for it. I thought about trying again to get the other side, but there’s only so much head-whacking I can take.

Viper

I took a quick ride on Viper next, not because I’m a huge fan of Viper, but because it’s right there, it had no line, and it’s the coaster most likely to be removed before I visit the park again. Plus, I have some nostalgia for the Great American Scream Machine from Great Adventure, and Viper is the last of the Arrow Mega-Loopers left standing. The restraints are still weird, and the transitions are still janky. It’s kinda slow, because of its age, and there’s no airtime to speak of. But the batwing element is pretty cool, and the vertical loops are smooth, so there’s that.

Tatsu

Because I visit so many parks solo, I can pay attention to the phenomenon that is the coaster headache. It starts by setting you up with fatigue from walking around the park all day, especially a steep one like Magic Mountain. Add in some stress on your body by riding extreme coasters with little down-time, and now you’re primed. Add in a good whack on the head like X2 had just given me, and you’ve got a coaster headache. So I was thinking it might be time to go, and the park wouldn’t be open much longer anyway, but I certainly wasn’t going to leave before riding Tatsu, so I went and did that. The wait was long enough that most of my headache dissipated, but it still wasn’t quite as enjoyable as Tatsu can be. I spent a lot of time trying to look straight down, instead of forward, which I don’t think I’ve done before. The views are pretty impressive. The pretzel loop felt a bit more violent than usual, so I decided to call it a day after that.