Six Flags Magic Mountain Trip Report For 16 Aug 2012

It been just about a month since my last photo trip report from Six Flags Magic Mountain, so I figured it was about time to do another one. This one is from 16 Aug 2012, which also happens to be National Roller Coaster Day. The parking lot was fairly full just past noon, but the park didn’t seem exceptionally busy. I suspect a lot of the people were next door at Hurricane Harbor, trying to stay cool, because it was hot, hot, HOT!

The first thing I noticed as I passed through security was that the park has started to put up their 2012 Fright Fest displays. Since this is the main entrance to the park, I assume they are trying to get people into the Fright Fest mindset and build the hype:

I decided to do a clockwise loop of the park. X2 and Viper seemed to have decent crowds, but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year. By the time I got to Tatsu, they had the main entrance blocked off. The switchbacks were full and the line was being routed behind the Soda Springs building, but it wasn’t past the vending machines yet:

Across the way, Roaring Rapids was starting to get busy as people were ready to be cooled down. The switchbacks were empty but the line was wrapped around and backed up to the entrance, to where the girl in the blue shirt is standing:

As I dropped down the hill, I noticed this Freshers stand was not open for business. It was right around 105 degrees as I entered the park and people were lined up at all the beverage stands. I’m surprised they aren’t using this:

I couldn’t help but notice they weren’t using the Freshers stand behind the carousel the other day when I was there, and it was just as hot. I bet it wasn’t open today either. Are they no longer running any of the Freshers stands? It’s hot enough to open them up:

As I got to the backside, I noticed that all the advertising for Falling Skies had been removed from the Apocalypse fences:

The second water ride I came to, Jet Stream, was starting to get busy as well. The line was backed up over the bridge and out the main entrance, but the inside switchbacks were not being used. I can’t help but wonder why they don’t have employees monitoring the queue lines and corralling people into the switchbacks when it starts to get busy:

Here is a new sign since I was at the park last. Six Flags Magic Mountain likes to tout itself as the Thrill Capital of the World, especially now that it has more roller coasters than any other park on the planet. I’ve heard it mentioned during ride openings and the like, but I think this is the first time that I’ve ever seen anything inside the park promoting the slogan:

For those of you not familiar with the sign, it’s located at the southern entrance to the Action Theater, across the midway from Jet Stream. They stopped hosting BMX exhibitions in the theater and last year they started using it for a new Fright Fest scare maze. Here is what the sign looked like just last month when I was there:

Anyone else surprised they didn’t clean up the rust and give the frame a nice, shiny new coat of gloss black paint before putting the new sign on it?

They are still advertising the Nokia Lumia 900 throughout the park, including the giant Nokia kiosk in the front of the park. The only reason I mention this is because the screen shots are for the exclusive Six Flags smartphone app that you can only get on that phone. I really want that app for my iPhone. Their previous app, Fun Finder, was a great start. If this app builds on that, I bet it’s really good. They really need to release an iOS and Android version of it if they really want market penetration. If I’m not mistaken, I believe the park map they show is from Six Flags Discovery Kingdom up in Vallejo, CA:

The third and final water ride in the park, Tidal Wave, was also doing a brisk business. People were hot and this was a very quick way to cool down. Many people weren’t even bothering to go on the ride. They were just walking up to the exit bridge, getting soaked from the splashdown, and then continuing on through the park:

By the time I got close to the Magic Moments Theater, they were just getting ready to start a showing of My Generation. The park map bills it as “An exciting look at music videos spanning four decades complete with a laser light show that you won’t forget.” I’ll provide a detailed overview in another post, but suffice it to say that I wasn’t that impressed. The best part about it was that the theater was air conditioned:

I was a bit saddened when I walked by the Mooseburger Lodge and saw a hair gel ad plastered across the side of it. I’m used to seeing ads around the park. They couldn’t stay in business without them. I guess I’ve just always had a soft spot for the lodge because it has a certain character and charm, and the ad ruins that for me:

On a more positive note, they finally covered up the “Shakes Fries” sign that had been lingering around on the old Johnny Rockets location in the Six Flags Plaza, even long after it became What the Fried?/Loaded Dogs. Now my only question is: why yellow?

I’ve pretty much trained myself to ignore most of the ads you see around a typical theme park. However, this one caught my eye because of the colors. I looked up the movie it’s promoting on IMDB (here) and it has a huge, all-star cast voicing the characters, starring Adam Sandler. The plot is “Dracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count’s teen-aged daughter.” Sounds like it might be worth seeing:

That’s it for this visit. Did you go out and celebrate National Roller Coaster Day by riding a roller coaster? If so, tell us what you rode and how it went, where ever you are!