Not so Magic Mountain

[kato382]

Today I went to Magic Mountain and have to say as an ex Disney pass holder I wa shocked to see what kind of disrepair the park was in. Amazing things one would never see at any of the Disney parks. It looks like the park is being ignored to be sold for McMansions.

The Park: Firstly it was presidents day weekend and it looked like a weekday in January, empty. Believe me I'm not complaining about being able to walk onto most of the rides but it made me wonder where everyone was.

Upkeep: As a Disneygoer the thing that kept jumping out at me was that all of the buildings, rides, curbs and structures looked as though they had not been painted in several years. The fact that the colors had faded on several of the rides was painfully obvious. What really got me was the graffiti. Over and over you see rails and building with names carved into them. Stickers in the queue lines that kids had put up and have stayed there. I rode X, a newer coaster, and was amazed to see a beam in one of the fences had rusted away. If you are lucky enough to see rust at Disneyland it's been Imagineered and put there on purpose. I also road a swing ride and saw cobwebs.

Collosus looked horribly old. The wood on the supports and in the line had peeled up and the paint was peeling off. It looks like an abandoned coney island ride.

A LOT of the plants were also dead or dying. I ate lunch next to a planter of palm trees that were dead and brown. The line for Goliath was nothing more than a fire hazzard.

The Staff: The staff members I interacted with seemed disenchanted and bitter. Deja Vu and Psyclone are being torn down. I asked one of the staff why, he gufawed and said the "official answer" is that they are being dismanteld for more parking. The foodservice was slow and uncaring and I did not see anyone smile.

Overall I kept thinking that It was good to get out and see the park before it shut down for good.

The good news is that if you like coasters this is the place to go. X and Tatsu are amazing coasters with relatively short lines. I walked onto Viper and Revolution.

[hidnmickey]

I don't belong to any gangs, so I can't go to Magic Mountain.

[kato382]

That's the other thing I wanted to comment on. Everyone had told me that the crowds were something out of a Tupac video, but I have to say it wasn't that bad. For the most part people were nice and the teenagers were not too obnoxious.

There is of course a LA County Sheriff station on the property.

[TacAlert]

Psyclone and Flashback are being removed. It will be interesting to see what happens next with the park. All indications are that it is not being sold right now.

The funny thing about the paint, is that Sherwin Williams used to be a sponsor. The park was never painted.

I live down the street from SFMM with a view of the park. I haven't been in over 4 years.

SFMM really needs to spend a year cleaning the park, removing rides that don't work or have a low ride capacity ("X") and work towards being more family friendly. When SFMM was recently bought, they didn't even send anything out to locals to try to get them into the park. They also said they would get rid of the "cheap entrance fee" (bring a can of Coke, get in free type of promotions), but they have already gone back to that. Plus, the buy a day, get the whole year free thing doesn't help either.

[FantasyWatersDude]

I too hate magic mountain, ever since Six Flags came in, the park has fallen into deep disrepair. Flashback for instance has been sitting there for years just rusting away ,and again like you said, the paint and the graffiti really gives off what the park is really like, crappy.

[TacAlert]

My further prediction is that "X" will be removed. Yeah, there was a recent article in the Daily News about how they are "going to re-design the cars", but if you look at the assesors maps for that area and the future expansion, "X" is in the way of the Magic Mountain PKWY expansion.

Plus, the entrance lanes to the tolls booths are not owned by SFMM. Newhall Land (or Lennar) owns that right of way and Lennar is the one doing the expansion out there.

[PirateMickey]

It's sad to say, but...Yep, it's a dive.

The gang-banger wanna-be's; watching two food service CM's use the restroom and then leave w/o washing; and the filthy restrooms w/o ANY paper products, was enough to convince us that we can live w/o the place.

[tim1724]

About a year ago a lot of things were pointing towards improvement. They were out painting many buildings, rides, railings, etc. But then they stopped (a bit before they announced that they were trying to sell it). Now that they've decided not to sell it, they really need to put some effort into it again.

The crowds are often small this time of year. It's a good time to go, assuming you don't have your heart set on riding all of the big rides.. some of them are likely to be closed. As for the people in the park.. I've never seen any sort of gang activity or any other real problem behavior.

X is great, but unless they can do something about the capacity problems, it might be worth considering removing it. Deja vu, which is rarely open and (in my opinion) not a very good ride should definitely go. (It would free up more room in the Psyclone area for new stuff.)

[Darkbeer]

Lisa and I went to SFMM today and had a GREAT time...

Got there a bit after opening, a decent crowd on a rainy day.

Rode X first, about 1 hour wait, but it is so worth it, when we got off, it was closer to a 3 hour wait..

Saw that the Sky Tower was operating, so after about 30 years, got a chance to go up it again, and so glad I did, got some GREAT photos from the top!!!

Then Tatsu, an awesome ride with about an 1 hour wait, thank goodness we get free Flash Passes!

The staff at the park was very friendly and interacted with us all day!

We both had an awesome day and look forward to returning to SFMM in just a few weeks!

Then off to take some photos of Psyclone, nether coaster has started to be removed yet.

Rode many other coasters as we went in a clockwise pattern around the park, and then ended up at Tatsu for a second ride.

A lot of painting and cleaning was being done, Ninja is looking real good with its new paint job!

Also Six Flags is outdoing Disney with their new "My Six Flags Photos" system (run by Kodak), very similar to the PhotoPass system, but at Six Flags, you can get your on-ride photos added to your card, just by asking at the exit photo stands. They have scanners that can add your on-ride photo to the set of photos you have been taken all day.

more at...

www.mysixflagsphotos.com

[Mom2dzneboys]

We were also there today as well. The crowds were light. Flash passes do help with the lines to the more popular attractions ( X, Tatsu,) the park does look very run down its actually sad. I remember going when I was little and it was always crowded. Now it just seems that no one cares anymore.

[Talon]

If they are even thinking about removing X then there is something seriously wrong with my sources in the community. A friend of mine runs an amusement park/ride safety company and was suggesting the ride wouldn't be up for another couple months. Looks like they fixed the issue he was complaining about. As for Flashback, that thing is nothing more than a major neck injury waiting to happen and I will be glad to see it destroyed!

If SFMM wants to get itself back into the flow of making money it needs the following:
- UPKEEP! Paint something once in a while and hire security that can crack heads.
- Customer Service! Smile once in a while and be sure to actually know what you are speaking about in regards to that day's operations.
- Quality Control! You need food that isn't made of dust and grass clippings for flavor. $9.00 burgers that are the consistency of ground up wood chippings (taste as good too!) just don't cut it when there are 3 major burger joints just down the hill.
- Remove the $15.00 to park and bring the price back into the realm of only being a partial nerf-job instead of a COMPLETE nerfing.

[TDLFAN]

On my last visit, I was shocked to see how ghetto Magic Mountain has become. Not a place I am in a hurry to go back.

[Professortango]

I posted a trip report in December about how horrid the park was. Rides closed which were not listed as closed, shops and restraunts staying shut up till 12 or even all day, paint being faded and weathered away, complete lack of crowd, disgusting rest room blasting the AC in the middle of December. My friends and I walked on every ride, except Tatsu where we literally waited one train.

I also remember that a Micechatter told us that the park was being painted and fixed up and things were looking up. Well, three months later and the same trip report is being seen...

And if you want to see something really bad, just walk up the carousel. Green astro-turf like carpet on the attraction and ugly open unpainted interior. It makes me wonder when they can't even keep something as simple as a carousel looking nice.

[TacAlert]

What happened to the MCer that claimed to work for SFMM and could never post anything negative about the place? Claimed to be like best buddies with those in charge (or at least it seemed that way).

I am probably going to buy a season pass just so I can go in and take some pics and post them here just to prove the claims the place is run down.

[Peabody]

Originally Posted by hidnmickey

I don't belong to any gangs, so I can't go to Magic Mountain.

Dumpster-level operations and upkeep aside, clientele is a MAJOR issue. I was shocked at the level of clientelle on my visit last July. There were almost no traditional family units that we saw, and a high level of rather undesirable clientelle, in my opinion. Our attidute: Let's ride what we came to ride, and get the heck outof the park!