How to enjoy your day at SFMM

[sir clinksalot]

There have been ALOT of questions regarding in what order you should go to the coasters at SFMM, do I need Fastlane, how does Fastlane work, where to eat, etc, etc, etc.

So I figured I would start a thread to hopefully answer most, if not all of those questions.

This plan is for "Coaster riders" and does not take into account children of non-riding height or age.

Getting into the park:

1. Purchase your tickets prior to going to the park either on-line at http://www.sixflags.com/parks/magicm...nfo/index.html this will not only save you $20 but it cuts one line out of your day
2. If at all possible avoid going to the park on a Saturday. If you can only go to the park on a weekend Sunday is the MUCH better day.
3. Eat Breakfast. This CANNOT be stressed enough. I know you will be riding high speed thrill rides and may not want to, but if you don't you will regret it.
4. Arrive at the park NO LATER than 9:30am (the park opens at 10:00am)
5. If at all possible try to avoid taking any bags inside the park (purses, backpacks, etc). This will help you getting through the metal detectors. There is also 'usually' a "Guests without bags" line that is much faster than the normal lines but there wasn't one last Sunday. Also the lines furthest away from the parking lot are usually the least crowded.
6. Once inside the metal detectors try and find the shortest line to get into the park. This can be tricky as the lines are not clearly defined. (again this is why you should get there EARLY so you can get towards the front of the line).
7. Look around at the coasters you can see. You will be able to see X, Viper, Tatsu and Goliath. Try to see if they are testing yet. This will be important once you are inside the park.

Once inside the park:

1. RUN (don't walk and don't stop anywhere else) to X. The ride is only running one train right now and can get waits up to 3+ hours. If the ride has not yet began testing (remember, you checked it while waiting to get to the park) skip step 1 and go straight to Step 3.
2. Ride X
3. Head straight for Tatsu. The line will probably be 30 - 45 minutes at this point (if you rode X). It's also at this point where you need to decide if you want to use Flashpass or not. If you choose to do so the Flashpass center is located at the front of the park near Revolution and the Lockers.
4. Ride Tatsu
5. Continue up to Samurai Summit. If Ninja is running take a ride.
6. After Ninja continue to Superman: The Escape. This is a nice air-conditioned queue and station. Ride Superman
7. Walk back down the steps from Superman passing Gold Rusher, take a left and pass Jet Stream. Head into Cyclone bay and go to Deja Vu. IF the ride is running use the Single Rider line. It moves VERY quickly and you should be able to get on the ride in about 15 - 20 minutes.
8. Ride Psyclone (if you must)
9. At this point it should be about 12:00 or 12:30. Take a break, grab a snack (I'd recommend something that is store bought, not hot food) have a Coke. Browse the shops in Cyclone Bay while taking a breather.
10. Head over and check the line for Jet Stream. If you are so inclined take a ride. You will get somewhat wet.
11. Across from Jet Stream take a ride on Gold Rusher and Spin Out if you like spin n' pukes.
12. Head across and check the line for Riddlers Revenge. If the line is too long this will be another point you may want to use Flashpass. If you did not get Flashpass before riding Tatsu there are a few stores in this area that also sell Flashpasses. You can also skip the ride for now and come back to it later.
13. After Riddlers (or not) you can ride Tidal Wave, Bumper Cars and play some Midway games on your way over to Gotham Backlot.
14. Once in Gotham take a ride on Batman The Ride. The ride loads pretty quickly and shouldn't be too bad.
15. Ride Atom Smasher or Grinder Gearworks in the area if you wish.
16. After Batman bypass Colossus and Scream (for now) and head for Goliath. I know the store under Superman sells Flashpasses so if you didn't get them before and you need them, you can get them here.
17. Ride Goliath.
18. By this time it should be between 3:00 and 4:00. You are probably getting pretty hungry.

Food:

Unfortunately I can't in good conscience recommend any eating establishments at Magic Mountain. I wish I could because it would make your day easier. If you don't feel like leaving the park the ONLY place is Mooseburger Lodge which is up by Log Jammer. The reason I am saying to wait until now to eat is because the lines for food shouldn't be as bad now.

If you take my advice (and I sure hope you do) you should leave the park to eat.

Eating establishments in the area:

1. Wendy's. Right down the hill next to the freeway entrance., it can get busy.
2. Del Taco, Tommies, Jimmy Deans, Starbucks, Jack in the Box. Go down the hill, make a Left on the Old Road. You will cross a bridge and 1 signal. They are all on your right hand side.
3. There is a mall about 2 miles from the park. Just keep going on Magic Mountain Parkway and you can't miss it. It will be on your right.
4. On the way to the mall there is a shopping center with an Elephant Bar, McD's, Cold Stone and a few other places to eat.
5. There are a few other places that are not as close. In N' Out is on the Lyons Exit (heading south on the 5 from the park) as well as a Denny's, Carls Jr, etc. There is also a GREAT all you can eat Chinese Food/Mongolian BBQ place at this exit. If you wish to try it post it on here and I will get you directions. It can be tricky.

The other reason I recommend eating outside the park (aside from the prices) is the portions. A Cheeseburger meal at the park is $11.99. We went to the Chinese Place on Sunday and for 4 of us it was $30. Plus it was enough for Lunch and Dinner. Which is also why I say eat late. You don't want to take the time to have 2 sit-down meals. Have snacks throughout the day, 1 BIG meal and snacks in the evening. Then if your hungry when you leave, go through a drive-thru.

After Lunch/Dinner:

1. If you ate in the park it should be about 4:00 by now, if you ate outside it may be about 5:00.
2. Once back in the park you won't want to go on anything to fast or intense at first. I recommend Revolution. It's in the front of the park, not too fast and loads pretty quickly.
3. After Revolution head over and take a ride on Viper.
4. After Viper head back down past the entry plaza. Take a look at the Goliath line. If it's not too bad and you want another spin, go for it.
5. After Goliath head back towards Gotham but take a right and head down for Colossus and Scream. Both rides load pretty quickly and you should be able to get on both with no problems.
6. If you did not ride Riddlers Revenge earlier then take a ride.

By this point if everything was running you should have ridden all of the coasters in the park. Walk around and ride anything you wish to ride again or anything that has short looking lines. Rides that load the fastest are Scream, Batman, Tatsu, Goliath, Ninja and Gold Rusher.

If X wasn't open at park open plan:

1. If the park closes at 10:00 they may close the line to X at about 8:00. If you want to make sure you get to ride I would say get here by AT LEAST that time.
2. Be prepared ... you are about to wait in a very long, slow moving ride. Buy a couple of cokes, some chips and make sure you use the potty before getting in line.

As for rides that are better after dark I have to recommend Superman and Gold Rusher.

Flashpass (edited to add comments from Trintara):

1. Flashpass Costs $15 for 4 tickets ($20 on Saturdays)
2. Rides that are available differ from day to day. Rides NOT included are X, Superman and Deja Vu.
3. At each ride there is a seperate entrance for Flashpass mostly near the exits. Some of the Flashpass entrances are a little tricky, if you have trouble find an employee and ask for directions.
4. Each person needs a Flashpass ticket to ride. So if you have 4 people in your party it will be $15 for each ride you use Flashpass on. Example: 1 person = 4 rides, 2 people = 2 rides, 4 people = 1 ride.
5. The rides I recommend you use Flashpass on are Tatsu and Riddlers Revenge. Most other rides either don't offer the Flashpass or load pretty quickly therefore eliminating the need for them. So if there is 2 of you paying an additional $15 to bypass the lines on Tatsu and Riddlers is worth it IMO.
6. There is no set time for Flashpass tickets. Just simply go through the Flashpass line and give the operator your ticket.
7. They say the rides vary from day to day but in reality, they just alter the order on the little paper they hand out with it day to day. Goliath was recently taken off. For more info on this, mosey to the thread titled "Does SFMM offer a type of 'fastpass'?

Loose articles (Thanks again Trintara):

DO NOT CARRY ANYTHING ON RIDES LIKE TATSU OR X! ANYTHING! NOT EVEN IN VELCRO POCKETS! NOTHING! Part of working at guest relations means running the lost and found. The most common thing to lose is a cellphone on Tatsu and while we do find a lot of them they don't come back looking pretty. People also lose their keys and end up hanging out with us for two hours after the park closes hoping they will be found. Do not chance being one of these people. Bring a roll of quarters and USE the lockers at the entrance to these rides, even if all you're sticking in there is your cellphone and keys. Please. I beg of you.


If you have any other questions or specific questions post them here. I'm sure if I can't answer them, somebody can.

[Trintara]

I shall add some things! Hooray!

Flash pass - They say the rides vary from day to day but in reality, they just alter the order on the little paper they hand out with it day to day. Goliath was recently taken off. For more info on this, mosey to the thread titled "Does SFMM offer a type of 'fastpass'?

X - Yes. Ride first. This is the scariest line of ever.

Tatsu - Either ride after X, or get flash pass and ride in the evening.

All other rides - I have been able to ride Scream, Tatsu, Collosus, Deja Vu, Riddlers, Roaring Rapids, Tidal Wave, and Gold Rusher all before 11:30am. That's in just one and a half hours. I rode Tatsu first with my sister, then we wandered around the back of the park. No one is back there in the morning since everyone is in line for Tatsu and X, so if you ride X first then get flash pass for Tatsu, you can take your time with all those rides in back.

Loose articles - DO NOT CARRY ANYTHING ON RIDES LIKE TATSU OR X! ANYTHING! NOT EVEN IN VELCRO POCKETS! NOTHING! Part of working at guest relations means running the lost and found. The most common thing to lose is a cellphone on Tatsu and while we do find a lot of them they don't come back looking pretty. People also lose their keys and end up hanging out with us for two hours after the park closes hoping they will be found. Do not chance being one of these people. Bring a roll of quarters and USE the lockers at the entrance to these rides, even if all you're sticking in there is your cellphone and keys. Please. I beg of you.

Meal plans - I actually like the buffet at Mooseburger, but if I wasn't going there I'd go to the Marie Calenders across the street. That cornbread is sooooo good. If you don't want to leave though, consider buying a meal deal at the Group Sales window next to ticket will call. They cost $7.50 and you don't have to have a group. For $7.50 you get a blue coupon that will get you a small drink, small fries, and then a choice of a burger, pizza, chicken fingers, or chicken sandwhich depending on where in the park you use it. This is VERY good if you're going with kids and want to make sure they eat instead of spending their food money on something random like glowing teeth.

[sir clinksalot]

^ Good points.

Might I also add that the times I gave on my scenario are if the park is VERY busy. Must times you can finish the first half of things I listed (before lunch) by 1:00 or 2:00 ... IF you plan right.

[sediment]

I think a good idea (we'll have darkbeer try it first) would be to ride the coasters from tamest to most untame. That way, each ride is better than the one before it.
Downside is that the queue lines get longer as the days go on for the less tame rides. I don't know if it's logistically possible to do on a busy (or a one-train) day.

I've always gotten a bit disappointed with subsequent rides after riding Viper (haven't been in six years), usually the first ride we'd make sure to ride.

[Peabody]

I was expecting the post to be "Turn South on I-5 and exit at Harbor Blvd."
That's my opinion after my SFMM visit 2 weeks ago

[sir clinksalot]

^ LOL!!!

^^ In theory that'd be a good thing to do. But ... not only would the lines for the most intense coaster get longer but you would be criss-crossing the park WAY too many times.

I think the rides from less intense to most intense would go like this:

2 kiddie coasters
Gold Rusher
Ninja
Colossus
Psyclone
Revolution
Superman
Scream
Viper
Tatsu
Goliath
Riddlers Revenge
Batman
Deja Vu
X

But from less intense to more intense doesn't necessarily equal worst to best.

[sediment]

You could probably rearrange them a little according to location. Might not be a continuously-increasing-intensity order, but close enough.

[JesterMn]

Great scenario overall! I pretty much agree. I find, from my own personal experience, that X usually does not end up opening with the park. However, it usually does open within 30-60 minutes of the park. An hour wait in the morning is still 2 hours less than any other time that day, so I generally recommend waiting even if X is not running at the moment.

But if it hasn't even tested within that first hour, you are probably wasting your time, and should move on. Also keep in mind that waiting may increase your wait for other rides, as noted above. So it is a calculated risk.

Two other thoughts: if you are willing to skip X altogether (or take your chances later that night--prepare for a long, slow wait as noted above), you can go immediately to the backside of the park, with Deja Vu, Psyclone, Riddler, Batman, Colossus, Scream, etc. and find it totally deserted. At 10:30, I saw no more than 10 people walking around. In fact, Deja Vu was waiting for people to fill up the que--I guess they don't run it unless a train is full.

Secondly, I just gotta say that my favorite place to grab lunch is at Pick Up Stix, off Lyons, near Noah's Bagels, Baskin Robbins, and Chilie's.

[mrcoaster]

Great recommendations and trip planning there! Jibes with most of my thoughts regarding a trip to SFMM. I'd echo JesterMn's thoughts on X: It's a calculated risk, but waiting for X to open is worth it if it is testing or looks like it's ready to test. Come back too much later and you may find a long line has already formed.

[ralfrick]

Originally Posted by mrcoaster

Great recommendations and trip planning there! Jibes with most of my thoughts regarding a trip to SFMM. I'd echo JesterMn's thoughts on X: It's a calculated risk, but waiting for X to open is worth it if it is testing or looks like it's ready to test. Come back too much later and you may find a long line has already formed.

Agreed. It was hard to stand and wait for it to open 45 minutes after the rest of the park a couple of years ago, but it was still the shortest the wait would've been for the rest of the day.

If Goliath has only one train like we encountered last year, I'd do it earlier since one ride cycle is pretty long (it takes time to get a train up a hill that big).

And, yes, the best advice for food is don't get hungry. But if you must, and it's a hot day, go for one of the burger combos with a re-fillable bottle; it only costs $3-4 more than the bottle alone.

Cheers.

[SoCal]

How early do they open the parking lot?

How ealry do they start selling tickets?

How early do they open the gates? I ask thins because for some reaosn I have a memory of being in the park at a roped off area waiting for them to 'open' and running for some ride... but this would have been like ~15 years ago.

Can I buy an all-day flashpass at ony of the locations that sell the flashpasses? What sort of ticket do you get with this? If they give you a wristband I can see myself with an odd looking tan line...

Is there some place I can view a map of the park online? I really have no idea how the park is laid out.

[Trintara]

The parking lot opens about an hour before the park does. Same with the ticket booths.

The gates open at 10am. The metal detectors before the gates open whenever security mosies over. They often have a little pre-opening thing where everyone is invited to do the one-step shuffle dance, then some characters come out and dance to celebrate, then some kid in the crowd will get to set off all the confetti at the countdown.

There is an all day flash pass. It is called the VIP pass and is $79 IN ADDITION to whatever you pay to get in. It is only for the rides on the flash pass list, and it also includes a free character photo, %25 off merchandise and some other stuff. You can buy this at the ticket booths and inside the park at the flash pass sales center. It prints out as a long ticket and you wear it around your neck in a little badge holder that you get with it.

About maps - I pmed you back about mailing one to you. As I said there, Guest Relations will happily send it to you in the mail. Go ahead and ask for the VIP information and a flash pass list while youre at it.

*edit - I just looked, and you can also see the map on their website, here - http://www.sixflags.com/parks/magicmountain/pdf/map.pdf

[lyd]

Best way to enjoy Magic Mountain is to find someone who works in the local aerospace business and when May rolls around attend their private party where only about 5k are in the park (the people in the park earlier are kicked out). My brother works for Northrup Grumman and before that Boeing and for the past few years this is the only time we go to Magic Mountain. It is by far the only way to enjoy all the coasters without the hour long lines and the dreaded heat.

[FantasyWatersDude]

I've pretty much given up on going to SFMM, it is not updated well and two hour waits to ride the rides, maybe ride a total of 6 rides. I think the best way for ME to enjoy my day there is to just not go.

[Zorro825]

Great tips!
As far as the "Lost and Found" thing, I used to work at Guest Relations at MM and I remember all the pagers and cellphones we would find as well. Some would be ok, but others would be badly damaged from their fall off the train of whatever ride they were lost on. Logging "Lost and Found" items was always interesting because you never knew what you were gonna get. I think the worst though was recieveing all the water damaged stuff from rides like "Roaring Rapids" and "Tidal Wave".

Also, a great time to visit Magic Mountain is during the offseason. November (Not including Veterans Day) is probably the quietest time of the year.