Six Flags magic Mountain Up-front Info
- Location: Valencia (about 30 miles north of Los Angeles), CA
- Phone: (661) 255-4100
- Reduced price tickets for children (under 48"). 2 and under are free. Discounted tickets are often available online. Season pass tickets include admission to all Six Flags parks.
- Save money and time. Buy discounted tickets online, direct from Six Flags.
- For an additional fee, the park offers the Flash Pass go-to-the-front-of-the-lines program. VIP tours available for an extra fee (which is quite high).
- Also includes Hurricane Harbor water park (separate admission).
- Hotel info: Compare rates for hotels near Six Flags Magic Mountain at About.com's booking partner, Kayak.
- Tatsu flying coaster
- Scream-Ride Out Loud floorless coaster
- Goliath hypercoaster
- X 4th dimension coaster- The world's first
- Superman: The Escape launched shuttle coaster (when it is open)
- The Riddler's Revenge stand-up coaster
- Six Flags Fright Fest Overview
New for 2009
Terminator: The Coaster wooden coasterIt's a bit curious to have a wooden coaster themed to the Terminator sci-fi film franchise. But the coaster ride itself, which is being designed and built by the acclaimed Great Coasters International, should be wonderful. Read more about Terminator: The Coaster.
New for 2008
X2 coaster makeover and Thomas the Tank Engine landX will get redesigned trains as well as a new tunnel that will deliver visual, aural, and sensory effects. Along with the new X2 name, Six Flags says the recast coaster will ply the "5th dimension."
For younger park-goers, the park will also introduce a new area themed to the popular Thomas children's TV and book series. There will be new rides and characters to meet.
Six Flags Magic Mountain Overview
Here's a bit of theme park trivia you can use to amaze and impress your friends: The SeaWorld folks, fresh from successfully developing their beautiful San Diego marine park, originally built Magic Mountain. But some Shamu-sized problems led them to sell the theme park soon after it opened. There are still cadences of the original whimsical themeing here and there, but when Six Flags banished the gnomes, it also sucked a lot of the fun out of the park. Today, like most Six Flags properties, Magic Mountain is really more an "iron park," an amusement park filled with a hodgepodge of rides, than a cohesive theme park. But what a collection of coasters.Magic Mountain's X, the world's first "fourth-dimension" coaster, has cars that sit alongside the track and independently spin 360 degrees forwards and backwards. Talk about disorienting! When it is open (and it's frequently closed), Superman: The Escape climbs a 415-foot tower, reaches 100 mph, and subjects its riders to 6.5 seconds of weightlessness (all world records when the ride debuted). Scream- Ride Out Loud, a floorless coaster, is one of the best of its kind. Goliath, on the other hand, is one of parkdom's worst hypercoasters in my estimation. Its intense positive G forces can induce harrowing grayouts. Stand-up, inverted, flying, kiddie, launched: Name the coaster, and chances are Six Flags Magic Mountain has it.
It is an enormous park, so be prepared for lots of walking. Magic Mountain has a confusing layout. Many of the paths lead to dead ends, and it can be bewildering to try and navigate from one section of the park to another. Oddly, many of Magic Mountain's signature roller coasters are set back from the midway and are partially, or nearly totally, hidden from view. I guess this helps create a sense of suspense, but most parks showcase their coasters for maximum visibility.
To reach the "Magic Mountain" at the park's center, you can take the Orient Express cable car or trudge up one of the steep paths. The Ninja suspended coaster at the top is a fun ride that uses the natural topography to send its pivoting cars careening down the hill. A small lift hill starts the coaster, while a larger lift hill delivers the train back up to the station at the ride's end. Also at the top of the hill is Samurai Summit, a Japanese garden with lovely flowers, a babbling brook, and some stunning panoramic views of the park and surrounding hills. Stressed-out parents take note: Amid Magic Mountain's hyper-adrenalized, scream-filled atmosphere, this is probably the park's lone peaceful spot.
Like most Six Flags parks (and most theme parks for that matter), food is not a strong point. It's the usual suspects of overpriced, bland fast food. Magic Mountain doesn't do a great job with crowd control either. The day I visited wasn't especially busy, but the queues for the major roller coasters quickly swelled. Many of the coasters were only operating one train, even though they were designed to accommodate as many as three. While X was running two trains, there were long delays between dispatches, and the wait was at least two hours all day.
Coaster fans generally rave about Riddler's Revenge, and rate it as perhaps the industry's best stand-up coaster. I can't confirm that. After waiting nearly 90 minutes as the line inched forward, I had to bail out of the totally disorganized, claustrophobic loading station building. Otherwise, I might have lost my mind amid the repetitive, cacophonous drone of the techno music blaring on the sound system. You can bypass some of the lines by purchasing Flash Pass passes. But Six Flags Magic Mountain only includes some of its popular coasters (Scream and Goliath, but not X or Riddler's Revenge) in the program. Also, the price is quite steep. In spring 2004, I paid $17 for four Fastlane passes--as in four rides--as in $4.25 per ride to bypass the line.
