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Friday we headed north to Six Flags Magic Mountain. I have heard SO MANY
negative comments about this park I actually expected something quite
different than what I found.
What I found was a park that is vastly and unfairly criticized simply because
the woodies are not world-class. I don't understand this logic. Cedar Point
also lacks a world-class woodie, yet it is the park of choice for many
enthusiasts.
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
SFMM has a great collection of world-class steel coasters. Five
of them - Superman (don't even start), Riddler's Revenge, Batman, Viper and
Ninja are incredible, world-class steelies. And even though Superman wasn't
running, Viper was a BIG surprise for me. The first time I rode it I was
completely blown away! I know some of you don't care about going upside
down, but I happen to like getting loopy, and Viper gets loopy in an incredibly
thrilling way. Okay, maybe it's not *the* greatest thrill ride as our ACE
"president" Ric Turner "claims" but it is definitely a major thrill ride done right,
and I can totally see why it is so popular with the general public. After my first
ride I had it No. 9 on my steel list but later revised it to my second ten tier.
Viper is good steel! |
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I was also blown away by Ninja. WOW!!! This thing is awesome! We got a
front row ride at night and oh my god, the sustained speed of this thing is
incredible! I also like the fact that there is only one lift hill so the ride is never
broken up. It's long, it's fast, it's swinging action is intense, it's GREAT. I
can't imagine enjoying Big Bad Wolf any better than this. |
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
Okay, the surprise of the park. Riddler's Revenge. AWESOME!!! It's smooth,
it's graceful.... wait, I thought this was supposed to be a bad thing! It's not.
Riddler is not intense like Iron Wolf, it doesn't try to be. It's flightful! If you put
your arms out it really does feel like you're soaring. And it's *full* of airtime!
There were two huge moments of airtime and several smaller ones. I also
loved the disco music playing in the station - Wes and I got down and boogied! |
Okay. Flashback, AS ADVERTISED, is the worst roller-coaster I've ever
ridden. I have never said I hated a roller-coaster before, but I hate this one. It
hurt me. It hurt me bad. It hurt my feelings.
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Now the woodies. Collossus had no airtime but it was still a fun ride. I was
amazed to see the double down still in place with a flat stretch of brake run
built right on top of it! Rub it in our faces, why doncha?! I can see why people
are frustated with this coaster, it has obviously been tamed into submission.
However it's still not a bad ride and I would have liked to ride it at night if we'd
only had more time.
Psyclone was exactly what I expected. The first drop was good, but I don't
like the banking on the turns. I remember one other moment of air, but that
was all. I would like to ride this at night also. Everyone said this coaster is
unpredictable. They also said our ride was one of the better ones, but it was
lacking in cyclone-esque forces. |
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
Okay, now for my impressions of the park. It is incredibly pretty, another
surprise for me, since I had heard it was ugly. The hills are unbelieveably
steep, and the walkways are just beautiful. There was one area that had the
most beautiful giant cactuses I've ever seen - these things are HUGE! I have
visited 6 Six Flags parks now and I would rank Magic Mountain third in
appearance, behind SFOG and SFOT and ahead of SFGAm, SFSL and
SFGAdv.
Our day at Magic Mountain was way better than I had expected. We had so
much fun and the company we kept was awesome! Robb, Sarah, Susan and I
were joined by Fred and fellow RRCers Ric Turner, Tim Howell, Wes Lagatolla
and Wes' friend Chris. I had never met any of these people before and we had
a fantastic time hanging out together. |
Ric assaulted the poor ride op manning
the observation tower. Little did he know that when he offered to answer any
questions we might have Ric would be sporting a Magic Mountain database
sheet with the most unusual questions imaginable! The ride op didnt seem to
appreciate it very much, but the result was a large crowd gathered around us
inside the tower wanting to know who we were. We were dubbed
"Professional Tourists" which I thought was a very clever and very accurate
moniker for what we do!
I am so happy Tim Howell and Wes Lagatolla showed up! Tim had to leave
right before it got dark, but it was nice getting to know him. He is a very nice
boy who's been to an awful lot of parks! We talked for quite awhile about
some of the places he's been and we are both GAm Viper fans. He has very
good taste in coasters!
Wes Lagatolla is one cool kid. I admire his chutzpah in organizing the Knotts
Berry Farm deal for RRCers, especially since he isn't a member of ACE. I
also admire his entrepreneurial skills.
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Wes makes park and coaster stickers,
and now he is making t-shirts! He gave me a Steel Eel t-shirt, fresh off the
assembly line of the Steel Eel t-shirt processing plant (TR to come). The shirt
is hilarious - he took the Steel Force logo and in place of the black face he put
the protruding head of an eel! It's the funniest looking logo I've ever seen and I
LOVE it! He also gave me a section of CCI tarp and I gave him a Steel Force
pin, which is his favorite steel coaster. Wes is way cool.
Wes and Chris came with us to In-n-Out Burger for dinner after the park
closed. Robb insisted on treating me to a 4x4, animal style. A 4x4 is four
patties of beef and four slices of cheese, and the animal style is grilled onions,
chopped tomatoes, pickles and lettuce all grilled together in a mustard based
sauce. |
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
HEAVEN.
This is THE BEST hamburger I've ever had. Wes got his meal first and I got a
chuckle when I looked over and saw him giving a big "Ahhhhh." I think he got
a laugh at me, too, when Robb began photographing me with every bite. I
dread to think what I must have looked like, so if you see these photos on his
web site just remember, I'm a deprived Minnesotan so it's natural that I might
turn into a savage! Forget about hundred dollar prix fixe dinners, just gimme
an In-n-Out burger anyday. And make it animal style!!!
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
Our final day was spent with Robb and Sarah, Fred, Susan's best friend Betsy,
and Betsy's husband, Scott, at Knott's Berry Farm.
This is now my favorite theme park. Knott's Berry Farm is so original, so
natural, it's unlike any other park I've been to. |
The layout is so cleverly
designed, with the Chicken Dinner restaurant, bakery, gift shops and part of
the park open to the public without a fee. The way the layout is used is clever
also. They really make maximum use of their space, yet nothing feels
claustrophic and the park feels much bigger than it actually is. But the thing I
really appreciate about Knotts Berry Farm is that nothing feels canned or
commercial or designed purely for cynical marketing purposes. You get your
money's worth here and then some.
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The theming is so cool! Mexican and western themes are predominant, and
the rides are spaced comfortably apart so that no areas of congestion are
apparent. It's a perfect mix of food stands, flat rides and thrill rides. I guess
my one and only complaint would have been that they need a wooden coaster,
and that is being taken care of. |
Photo courtesy of Fred Biedermann |
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
We first rode Supreme Scream and what a ride! This is a 300 ft. tower with a
250 ft. turbo drop. WOW!! I think I like this better than the giant drops. The
ride lasts longer and I like the bounce. Maybe the freefall is a bit more
intense, but what does it matter when you're falling that fast. Supreme
Scream was the biggest surprise for me at Knotts. |
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Betsy agreed to try the Boomerang and thank God she liked it! This is only
our second Boomerang and I have to say I really, really like them. I know all
you Easterners are jaded about them but you have to realize there are not
many parks in the Midwest that have them. If Valleyfair! ever installed a
Boomerang it would go over big! Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder
why people complain about a park getting a Boomerang. WHO CARES if
you've ridden thirty of them - the rest of us haven't! So what if it's not original,
neither is a Flyer and I would kill to have one of them in my home park! Heck,
I'm looking forward to Valleyfair's Mad Mouse next year - we just don't have
those here in the Midwest. |
Photo courtesy of Fred Biedermann |
We rode the Tumbler. This is a GREAT GREAT flat ride! There's also a
Tumbler at KCS in Mall of America, but theirs doesn't throw you out of the seat
like KBF's does! This is easily one of the top five flat rides I've ridden. It gives
a whole new meaning to ejector air!!!
Windjammer's line was long all day and we had to leave for the airport in
mid-afternoon so our bones were spared.
The Jaguar was another great surprise. I was expecting another Ripsaw and
it's nothing like that. It's a very fast, fun ride. And the Egyptian pyramid
entrance is spectacular! Robb said there was alot of criticism when this
coaster debuted because Knotts marketed it as a major thrill ride when it is
obviously a family coaster. But all that aside, this is a VERY good family
coaster. There is a short but distinct pop of airtime in the ride, but mostly it's
just fast and fun. If I could I would ride Jaguar multiple times on every visit.
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
Now....... sound the trumpets.......MONTEZUMA'S REVENGE!!!!
What a ride! What a rush! It's amazing! Robb insisted we take the very
backseat for our first ride and WHOA!!! This baby is intense with a capital F!
Way way cool, even better than SFOG's Viper (sorry Jeffy). The launch is
extremely intense - I enjoyed it even better than Outer Limits. I loved the two
loops of lights that you launch through. I'm so mad!!! The Jaguar actually cuts
right through the loop and IT HAPPENED DURING OUR FIRST RIDE BUT I
WAS SO FREAKED OUT I MISSED IT!! How can you miss seeing a roller
coaster whiz by you that closely? I don't get! Robb, Fred and Scott all saw it,
but Betsy had her eyes closed and I guess Susan and I were just too stupid or
too busy screaming our lungs out to see it. In any event, Montezuma's
Revenge is *outstanding* - everyone loved it. It's the kind of coaster I could
ride over and over and over and over. I loved it, the greatest coaster of the trip
and definitely in my Top 10 steel list. |
Toward the end of our day Robb, Fred and I walked over to Buena Vista hotel
and took the elevator up to the eighth floor, walked out a side door and onto a
balcony. We got to watch testing for GhostRider. I am not exaagerating when
I say I think this will satisfy all the Shivering Timbers naysayers. This coaster
looks incredible, so much so that I am coming back to ride it Jan. 2!!! It looks
like it's chock full of airtime and with all the twisting and banking and swooping
it's going to have a great mix of forces. Plenty enough to go around for
everyone!!!
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I guess we were on the balcony a bit too long. Either that or Robb is just
totally predictable, because Susan and Sarah totally busted us. When we
walked back there they were waiting for us, and apparently we were the
victims of whistles and catcalls. I guess we were so busy talking or
hypnotized by the coaster that we didn't see the two cute chicks whistling at
us down below. |
Photo courtesy of Theme Park Review |
I *really* hated to leave Knotts Berry Farm. We had another great lunch that
day at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant, this time with Betsy and Scott, and Ric
Turner and his wife Mia. Fred was there as well. Fred actually ended up
spending the entire weekend with us! I'm so glad I got to know him - he is
HILARIOUS and very intense in his passion for his parks! He's like a doting
mother worried about her babies!! "Patience is virtue, vay-vee!"
Thank you Robb and Sarah for a perfect, perfect trip. It was the best Thanksgiving weekend I've ever had, and you two are wonderful hosts! If any of you missed a chance at meeting Robb and Sarah on their coaster honeymoon you really missed out on meeting a perfect couple. I was so impressed with Sarah, who cannot ride the coasters because she is pregnant. But rather than stay at home (which would've been understandable) or even wait outside the entrance to each ride, she actually queued with us and took advantage of the social opportunities. When it came time to board the ride she simply walked across the coaster and waited for us at exit ramp! Alot of people don't bother to consider the social opportunities if they can't ride or won't ride, but Sarah does. And Robb is just the funniest guy and the biggest liar I have ever seen. He's way cool, dude.
The parks in California are no different than anywhere else in this country. Why do they get such a bad rap? I had every bit as much fun at Magic Mountain as I did at Great America. Knotts Berry Farm is the best theme park I've ever been to, and Disneyland would be second. Santa Cruz and San Diego's Dippers sound great, and now LA's getting what will most likely be a Top 5 woodie on everyone's list. What more could you ask for?
Californians don't realize what a good thing they've got.
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