Yesterday I headed up to Six Flags Magic Mountain for their first day of daily operations in over a year. It was great to be back in the park, I saw some very encouraging things and overall had a really fun visit. 

In this update I'll share some of my thoughts on the park, covid protocols and what you can expect if you'll be visiting the park in the near future. 

I arrived about 10:10 for my 10:30 reservation. I wasn't hopeful when I saw this, but they opened parking about 10:15 and I was in the park by 10:30. 

I did a full walk around of the park and commentary on my day. Be sure to check it out on our YouTube channel. 

The queue for the temperature check and security. They ARE checking reservations. I saw somebody with a reservation for Sunday get turned away. So please, make sure you show up at your reserved time. 

Lots of signs around the park and even outside the park. I found the completely touch-less temperature check and security to be a breath of fresh air and I hope all of the parks go this route. Not only does it give people a great first impression, but it's so fast and easy. 

They currently have only 2 of the new security check devices, but you literally just walk through it. There was zero wait. 

We missed you too!! 

Lets head into the park

Absolutely zero wait at the gate. If you have a new pass they'll give you your pass card here. 

It felt great to walk through these gates. 

Lots of "rest" and food area's where you normally wouldn't see them. 

I headed for Revolution first, figured I needed to start on something "easy" after a year of no riding, plus I absolutely LOVE Revolution 

Social Distancing, cleaning and loading every-other row! 

About to ride my first coaster in over a year. Tell me you can't see a smile through a mask! 

It was a beautiful (and slightly warm) day

Heading over to Full Throttle. This was pretty much as empty as I saw the walkways all day. 

20 minutes after park opening, lots of cleaning already going on! 

A reminder, the stickers on the ground are there for a reason. Use them! 

Not even exaggerating, I must have seen 100 sanitizer bottles throughout the day. It's amazing to see. 

Social distancing FTW! 

After a nice back-seat ride on Full Throttle it was time to grab a bite to eat. 

I tried to do the mobile ordering at Wascals, but they were having some issues. No biggie, these are the kinds of things to expect after a year of the park not being open. 

I had to ride Road Runner Express because I was wearing a Vekoma hat. And it's the only Vekoma in the park. 

More seating locations where there aren't normally seating locations! 

DO THE SIX!! 

Batman was closed, it is apparently getting some new paint. 

All of the Green Lantern stuff is still here, will be shocked if the new coaster doesn't use this as the entry/station/queue. 

Don't see any panting yet 

Social distancing markers in the games area too! 

I know I sound like a broken record with all the dining area's, but seriously, it's impressive how prepared the park is. 

If rumors are true, Tidal Wave isn't going to be around much longer. 

I do think the park needs more than 2 water rides, so hopefully they'll get some kind of splash battle or something in the next couple of years. 

Some pics of Riddler's in action, because why not. Click to see larger views of each. 

Justice League was closed when I walked by, but apparently opened later in the day. 

More seating! 

Gold Rusher was also closed when I went by, but did open later. 

The Underground was definitely the most popular area when I was at the park. 

After a quick water/mask break I had to take a ride on West Coast Racers

From this angle I didn't think people were social distancing, but they actually were. So yay! 

The park has gone to 100% mobile/card payments, but you can actually convert cash to a card at kiosks around the park. Really great idea!! 

So overall I had a really great day at the park. There were some technical issues, but it's to be expected after the park has been closed over a year. I mean, you wouldn't try to start your car after a year and expect there to be no issues. Right? 

So just be prepared for ride down time and slower loading times due to cleaning and distancing. 

All that said, there are a few things I would like to see changed. Namely, more drink locations. Again, they are still re-staffing, but with the heat and masks it would have been nice to have more places to just get a drink vs having to wait in line. 

But that's small compared to all the good at the park. 

Kudos to Six Flags and the park staff for taking all the precautions they did. It's so great to have the park open and I can't wait to go back soon. 

Well ... that was quick. 

It just seems a couple of weeks ago our last Justice League Update just had some concrete and no walls and no roof and Riddlers Revenge was still open. Wait, it was. Well this week we have walls, well, the supports for walls and a roof, well, the supports for a roof. But they are moving at lightning speed now. Let's take a look! 

You can start to see the building from all the way back by Sandblasters (that's the Bumper Cars for those unfamiliar with the park) 

They've opened up more of the Metropolis area and something appears to be missing ... 

No more rock wall!! 

Here's a good look at the rides proximity to Riddlers Revenge 

And the backside of the building, you can see that the Gazebo has been moved (we think) to where the beer garden will be (we think). 

From the back you can see just how big the building is. Lots of room for what will probably be a part of the queue (we think). 

An aerial view of the entire area, looks like some flowers have been removed from the Riddlers entry area, but some trees (and the gas station) are still there. 

Just like with every other recent attraction at the park this also includes a complete re-do of the area around the ride. 

The last ride to not come with an area re-do was Terminator/Apocalypse, and that area of the park REALLY sticks out now. Let's hope that's next. 

♫ I got my hat ... on ♫

Of course this means that all of the food locations in the area are closed

Including JB's which will obviously be renamed 

These aren't the tables that were here, they look like the ones from the eatery closer to Gold Rusher. 

This one. ;) 

Some much needed improvements to this area

A look inside the Metropolis area

Some trees have been removed near the Scrambler (insert tree falling on Scrambler joke here) 

Also near Gold Rusher

Not sure if this has ANYTHING to do with Metropolis, but because CA has been in such a drought the past few years (even with all of our recent rain) a lot of trees have died. We had to cut down a few at our house as well sadly. 

No work done yet on the future entrance for Tidal Wave. Still say it would take less work to rename this to match the Metropolis theme than to move the entrance and keep the name. 

There are some things going on elsewhere in the park. 

A fence is now up around the Sky Tower. Don't expect this to be for anything related to the Sky Tower. 

It's most likely for work going on with Tatsu which is getting it's lift hill chain replaced. And it's no small job. Expect the ride to be down for at least a few weeks, if not a month. 

For some reason even though the ride is down for weeks they have a "Temporarily Closed" sign and an Employee out front. Which probably means people are coming by all day asking if it's going to open. Would be easier to just put a wall up and free that Employee to work on an open ride. 

The Revolution is running without VR (or in "Classic Style" whatever that is) for a limited time. How limited that time? Who knows. But the ride is still incredibly popular even without the VR. 

With VR this line would have easily been over an hour. Without VR, I was on in about 25 minutes. The employees working the ride seemed to actually enjoy working the ride. 

​Let's hope the VR moves to another ride and not back on Revolution. 

A few other random park notes ... 

All of the decorations are still up in Gleampunk District as well as the music. Guessing all of the recent rain has delayed the removal of props. But it's fine, it still looks awesome. 

Not sure if this is new, but I've certainly never noticed it before. Also could be that all of our visits for the previous 4 months were all Fright Fest/Holiday In The Park related. =) 

Batman is currently running 1 train as the other is being refurbed. 

My favorite spot to get Superman/Lex Luthor pics. 

And we'll leave you with a pic of me and Sad Batman ... he said he was always lonely. Poor guy. ;) 

One other random note, noticed Apocalypse was closed but forgot to investigate if it was just down or under refurb. 

We hope you enjoyed the update, it'll probably be a couple of weeks before our next SFMM update, lots of busy stuff coming up. 

At some point this week we will be having another Facebook Live Chat to discuss 2016 attractions and giving away some IAAPA stuff, so stay tuned to our social media for details about that. You won't want to miss it!! 

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Over the weekend we got to check out the first night of the amazing Holiday In The Park at Six Flags Magic Mountain. 
In just it's third year this event has easily turned into one of our favorite events of the year. Even if you don't care for the rides at Magic Mountain, experiencing the Holiday atmosphere in the park is worth the price of admission alone. 

Let's start off with a few daytime pictures because the park looks incredibly festive by day and night. 

On The New Revolution for the Holiday Season is "Santa's Wild Sleigh Ride". We got a chance to experience the ride and we all really did enjoy it. 

I hadn't personally ridden the VR Version of Revolution since Media Day earlier this year and while I'm still not a fan of VR on coasters and it's impact to capacity I have to say I did enjoy this more than the regular Revolution VR. And that pretty much was the consensus among everybody I talked to. So be sure you check it out. 

Also new this year is a new show in the Gearworks Theatre - Kwerkmas. 

It's a fun cirque type show with great acrobatics, dancers and a magician. We've put together a slideshow below to give you an idea of what the show is like. 

So one of the things that really put Holiday In The Park on the Map when it started two years ago was the food. This was definitely a departure from the normal "Burger and Fries" that Magic Mountain had been known for. 

The first year they started kind of traditional, with a ham feast, tamales and other traditional type holiday foods. Which was awesome. And yes, for those of us who live in Southern California, tamales are most definitely traditional holiday food. 

But last year they started "experimenting" with a few different things. Some things were removed and in it's place came the Holiday Turkey Dog (Turkey dog with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mayo) which from it's description you wouldn't think would work. But it DOES. 

Other favorites from last year included the Mac n Cheese Burger, Chocolate Covered Caramel Pretzel, Funnel Cakes and more. And all of your favorites are back with a few new treats to enjoy. 

And as we did last year, we'll be sharing our top 5 lists so you can be sure to know what to try when you visit. 

Aftermath of our first food stop of the night. Sorry, we ate too fast to get pictures. Plus we were having such a good time just enjoying the company. 

Towards the end of the night they had a nice reception set up for us near Katie's Kettle. SFMM sure does spoil us. 

Lots of amazing treats. 

We actually remembered to get a before pic ... kind of. ;) 

Top 5 food picks 

We had such an amazing time at Holiday In The Park. It truly is one of our favorite events each and every year, not just holiday events, but in general. The lights are fantastic, the atmosphere is phenomenal, everybody is just out to have a great time, it's stress free, no drama. Oh, and the food is amazing. 

Thanks again to Magic Mountain for the amazing night, we can't wait to get back and experience more of Holiday In The Park. And we WILL be back. 

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Six Flags Corporation announced their 2017 expansion plans for all of their parks today. Despite some leaks we are very excited for a few of the announcements, kind of perplexed by a few, but overall happy that some parks are choosing to not just focus on new rides but overall park improvements. 

Hopefully with the new rides will also come general park improvements around those rides. As always we'll start on the West Coast and work our way east. ​

Swinging higher and higher, while rotating counterclockwise are the hallmarks of this extreme, gigantic pendulum. Experience a sensation of weighlessness as you spin and swing simultaneously, reaching heights of up to 147 feet in the air.

​Six Flags Magic Mountain — in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products on behalf of DC Entertainment — today announced the newest innovation in immersive thrills, JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle for Metropolis — Ride. Play. Triumph. The next generation of the award-winning Six Flags ride will now feature a spectacular new finale, new game targets and the introduction of one of DC’s hottest SuperVillains, Harley Quinn.

An incredible 942-ft. long and 3-story tall water coaster. Guests will experience lightning-fast uphill speeds and adrenaline pumping drops.

​After being lifted straight up a 12-story, 90-degree hill, the freestyle-coaster will wreak havoc as riders flip head-over-heels at least six times along the weightless journey. Thrill seekers will experience exhilarating leaps and dives along a horizontal plane, along with unexpected drops as they tumble from one level to the next. The wing seats amp up the pandemonium since riders will experience all of this chaos with no track above or below─ just the sky, ground and plenty of sinister thrills.

Spinsanity brings a different thrill to the park as the massive disc rotates first one direction and then another while spinning from side to side. Forty guests sit on motorcycle-style seats facing outward as the disc flies along the 51-foot high half-pipe track all while whirling around at 14 revolutions per minute. ​

​After being lifted straight up a 12-story, 90-degree hill, the free-fly coaster will wreak havoc as riders flip head-over-heels at least six times along the weightless journey. Thrill seekers will experience exhilarating leaps and dives along a horizontal plane with unexpected drops as they tumble from one level to the next. The wing seats amp up the pandemonium since riders will experience this wild adventure with no track above or below ─ just the sky, ground and plenty of sinister thrills. 

​Engaging in a full-sensory journey on JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle for Metropolis, guests will tag alongside BATMAN™, SUPERMAN™, WONDER WOMAN, THE FLASH and GREEN LANTERN against Lex Luthor, The Joker and his henchmen

​Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth 

​NEW in 2017 WONDER WOMAN Lasso of Truth will join the amazing line up Super Hero rides. This new attraction is an extreme swing ride that spins guests in a 98-foot circle at speeds of 40 miles per hour atop a 24-story tower. With a capacity of thirty-two riders, guests will climb to the top of the tower while spinning round and round, offering an breathtaking view while soaring high above the beautiful Maryland and D.C. landscape.

Titan 

​Justice League: Battle For Metropolis 

​Click here for the full press release

You’ll blast out of the gate shoot down a crazy winding slope to create one epic splashing finish. These new body slides are the first of their kind at The Great Escape. Standing 30 feet in the air with only one goal: deliver endless adrenaline.

THE JOKER 4D Free Fly Coaster allows you to soar outside the confines of the track for an all-new coaster riding experience. Begin your journey by traveling straight up a 120-foot hill, before being released for your highly unusual journey. Face your fears as you flip head-over-heels from four to eight times along the weightless, tumbling journey.

So what do you think of these announcements? Be sure to let us know in the comments and vote in our poll. 

Also be sure to join our Facebook Live Chat tonight at 7:00pm Pacific as we discuss all of the 2017 additions. 

Below is our collection of Mountain Madness 2.0 pictures. We apologize in advance for the delay in these, so we hope you enjoy them. 

Before we get to the pictures we want to send a huge heartfelt thank you to everybody who attended. The day started out kind of rough (more on that below) but I think by the end of the day everybody had an amazing time and for that we are thankful. 

So quick story about the morning. We had set up reverse POV's on Revolution which actually turned out AWESOME (you can look at an example of that here) and then were starting our morning ERT. 

Everybody had the option of using the VR or going without it. Those of us on the first train went out and had an amazing ride. Once the 2nd train left we pulled into the station and promptly got stopped half way through the station. And anybody who knows Revolution knows what that means. 

Safe to say we weren't very happy as we pride ourselves on giving an amazing event and we were a bit disappointed that the ride went down. Luckily everybody in attendance took it in stride and ended up having a great time. Hopefully we were able to hide our disappoint. 

The park did great and offered us all one front of the line pass for The New Revolution and one other front of the line pass for any other ride in the park. Luckily it wasn't a very busy day so we're pretty sure everybody got to ride everything they wanted. 

Thanks again to everybody who showed up. ​

Below we're just going to share some pictures from the day, click on any of the pictures to see a larger version.  

First set is from "The Coaster Whisperer 

The rest are of course from our own awesome CoasterMatt 

Thanks again to all who attended. We've already been asked about future events and right now we don't have anything in the works, that could change but there likely won't be anything for the remainder of 2016. 

Next week we'll have an all new feature video "Coaster Reviews with Gregg" where we'll be talking about Twisted Colossus at Magic Mountain and The Joker at Discovery Kingdom and why it's not so easy to compare them. Stay tuned for that. =)