Six Flags Magic Mountain- Horrid Park Ops

I have wanted to visit Six Flags Magic Mountain forever (dating back to the coast war years between CP & SFMM) and I finally made that happened this week on a family vacation to California- and SFMM did have a pretty impressive coaster collection with several unique and fun coasters that I really enjoyed.

That said I just can’t see myself EVER visiting this park again!! Their park operations were HORRIBLE. Easily the worst I have ever experienced I have been to A LOT of different parks over the years!!

X2 and Riddlers Revenge were both closed the entire day. Ok fine. Things happen; rides break down. It is what it is.

Full Throttle, Ninja, Scream, Tatsu & the New Revolution all ran SINGLE trains the entire day!! Single trains on 5 separate roller coasters when all had 100+ minute waits throughout the day!! Why on earth would they all have single trains running?! Just patently absurd. The employees spend 5+ minutes standing around after ever dispatch just waiting for the train to return. Like I don’t even get what the benefit is for the park here. Does it really save payroll to run single trains?! It certainly makes the guest experience EXTREMELY poor that’s for sure!

I spent the money of 5 ultimate fast passes because I only had 1 day and wanted to get all the coasters in- which I managed to accomplish except for the 2 that were closed the full day- but even with fast passes and better my at the park from opening all the way to 30 minutes after closing we BARELY managed to ride everything! Because when all the rides have single trains running even a fast pass all the way to the station is still a 20+ minute wait when it’s ~5 minutes per cycle with one train running!!

Twisted Colossus was one of the very few coasters running 3 trains; and yet even with a LONG ride cycle including TWO full lift hills both times we rode all 3 trains were stacked in the station?! Like how on earth can you not get a single train dispatched when you have a ride time that is almost FOUR minutes!! What a disaster!

and then to top all of this off- I tried to use our all season drink passes only to be told we had only dining and now drinks. (I have the all season drink pass+.). So I had to traipse all the way from the back of the park up to guest relations to have them fix it. I spent almost 90 minutes on this between the crazy long wait and then them trying to figure out how to fix it. After 3 “supervisors” and then 1 “senior supervisor” just kept telling me they had to email corporate to get it fixed and they were working on it. Like how is this not something one of these people can fix when they can clearly see my passes include the drink plan it’s just not registering correctly when they scan it?! (They offered me a one time fast lane pass for my trouble that I didn’t need since I already bought fast lane passes!). And then finally after 90+ minutes of this they just gave me a complimentary drink bottle to use for the day! (For fountain drinks only- no icees even though my plan includes that). Apparently none of these supervisors or the senior supervisor is empowered to fix this obvious error- without waiting for someone at “corporate” to correct it.

Just an overall awful guest experience from start to finish- and really a darn shame because as I mentioned I did enjoy several of the unique and fun coasters they had to offer!!

If these HORRIBLE operations are going to spread from the Six Flags parks to the legacy Cedar Fair parks I will be cancelling my season passes so fast- and I have been a Cedar Point pass holder dating back to the hand written laminated passes!!

I sure hope Cedar Fair fixes this nonsense and bring Six Flags operations to a much better place before they take down the entire company!

What you describe is pretty much what going to Magic Mountain was from the time Six Flags acquired it. I recall that the only time that my late wife and I really got to enjoy the park was when we were participants in Discovery channel film shoots.

Sounds unfun. I’m the same I’ve wanted to visit out there for many years decades now, one chance I had it rained and they closed the park. As we say in NE Ohio, Maybe next year…

That's also the experience United Parks is currently offering at Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando. One train ops with awful dispatches, staff that aren't empowered to handle basic situations and closed rides.

I've been to SFMM on two separate occasions, but it's been several years since I've been to the park. In my two visits, I think the operations seemed fine. My biggest gripe was just the overall appearance of the park. There were numerous vacant sites of old rides, and general upkeep was really poor. But otherwise I'd say they were on par with what I'd expect at a regional park. I'm hoping your experience with single-train ops is an anomaly and they were just having issues that day, but as corporations continue to search for ways to save money, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing more of this, especially on lower-attendance days.

I wonder too as they continue to penny pinch if we ever get to a point where they have an operational schedule that actually limits some rides being open at all on any given day. I.E. everything is open Thursday-Sunday but M-T-W they actually close some attractions intentionally to limit costs.

I could see anything and everything eventually

Ive been to SFMM in early 2000s and early 2010s. It wasnt that bad operationally, but it was poorly maintained cosmetically and had a trashy vibe. Same thing for my visits to SFOT, SFOG, SFGAm. I cant remember my impression of SFNE nor Great Adventure because its been too long. The only SF park I ever really loved was Six Flags Atlantis.

I visited SFGA in NJ last week, and can pretty much echo what you just said. Rides were ok, but ops and general customer service was another story.