Howdy!!!!
Yesterday i enjoyed the opportunity to visit magic mountain for the first time in 6 years with Oscar and Helo9797. The reason for this trip was obvious, Oscar and I wanted to see if the new "Twisted Collossus" lived up to what's been said about it already. Since that was the absolute highlight of this trip i'll spend some time going over it in detail later in this report, but first i'll give some general details about our day.
For me the day started here in san diego, just before the crack of dawn at 0500. i cranked up the ol' volvo, grabbed a cup of 7/11 coffee and started the first leg of my journey. My reason for leaving so early was to be ahead of any nasty morning L.A. traffic.. This ended up paying off BIG TIME. my intention was to reach oscar's house at 0830, but i had over estimated traffic and found myself in lynwood at 0730, 1 full hour before intended. One thing about fellow enthusiasts is that one can count on them to be , well, enthusiastic. . i informed Oscar of my early arrival and was pleased to find that he too wanted to be the early bird, and was already prepared to go. Rather than waiting any longer we erred on the side of caution and continued through the whole of los angeles, arriving in valencia at around 0910. after a quick fast food breakfast we decided it wouldn't hurt to just wait at the gates until the prescribed opening time of 1030.
This is where things paid off. we were parked and at the main gates at just before 0930. i jokingly suggested to Oscar "wouldnt it be funny if there was an early entry for some reason today? " Oscar walked to the man at the gate and asked, and the man at the gate said "yes , as a matter of fact there is, i just found out about it 5 minutes ago"!!!!!! we were let in, with about a dozen or so other guests, an hour early for surprise ERT on revolution and viper. the reason for this turned out to be the result of a promotion by Honda for honda owners. Niether myself or oscar own a Honda, but the staff member at the gate must have assumed that's why we were there . 2 rides on revolution, and two on viper later we decided to wait with the "crowd" of between 50 and 75 guests to get a 10 minute head start towards the queue for Twisted collossus. when the rope came down we headed over and queued up, all this before the park was officially open!!!!
Twisted collossus ended up not opening until about 1120, and somehow Helo9797 had beaten us to the queue and was one of the less than 100 people waiting ahead of us, some of whom got impatient and left the line , making it even shorter.
Once it was open our wait was less than 15 minutes and we politely (and maybe firmly) requested the back seats. (*note* while there IS a policy of assigned seating , a staff member CANNOT refuse a request for a specific seat unless they used the single rider line... yes .. you read that right .. SINGLE RIDER LINE!!!! ) the seats on these well themed trains were incredibly comfortable, and the leg/lap restraints are a brilliant game changer.
THIS RIDE IS FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the train leaves the station on the old "red " side into a series of bunny hills and trick track, as if rocky mountain knows what they've done and wanted to pay homage to the classic wooden coasters of the past.. the climb was quick, and in very "un- sixflags "fashion did NOT slow to a near stop at the top. i wont go into a play by play here.. you can see it in the many povs available on the net. look at those elements, imagine what they must be like, and multiply that by a large number and you might come close to understanding what this coaster is like in real life. UNBELIEVEABLE. those who've been on this site for awhile know full well what i think of the aesthetics of iron horse track, but as far as the ride experience goes.. it maintains the important aspects of wood track: one can tell that it's a steel rollercoaster, but not "glide-y" like tubular tracks. the forces and elements here are unbelieveable.. the illusion of being on a wooden rollercoaster coupled with these is a mind blowing experience.i was also lucky enough on two of our re rides to experience the dueling aspect, which multiplies the intensity many, many times. yes, thats right Jayman the wood snob LOVES THIS RIDE. 10 out of 10 , from me. nearly EVERY drop was as good or more intense as ghostriders mid course drop in its heyday. !!!!!!!
the rest of the day was spent checking out the rest of the park . as i'd not visited for some time i had alot of catching up to do , and who better to do it with than two fellow site members. one thing that i cannot say enough good about is the single rider line concept... it is an enthusiasts dream come true.
it wasnt a slow day by any means, and many rides were left un ridden, and sadly goliath was closed, but in spite of the crowds the park seemed very clean and orderly , and with the exception of a few glitches the rides were in good shape. it was my first time experiencing a zac spin, in the form of "green lantern , first flight" after a 10 minute or less wait as single riders oscar and myself were actually seated together for this ride.. it was all i expected it to be.. a much taller, less intense, simulation of a "zipper" , but fun none the less. it was aslo my first go at "lex luther, drop of doom" the psychological effect of this ride was not lost on me.. "too high .. too high.. ' was a message that the primal part of my brain could not stop sending.. absolutely great ride, and good use of the existing superman tower. batman and riddler's revenge were running great, and although i'm by no means a comic fan i will say that the theming in the super hero part of the park was spot on and immersive. sadly, due to crowds i decided not to ride full throttle.. it looks fun enough, but there was plenty else to do, and i'll come back on a slow day in fall to check it out .
well.. that's that. we left at 8 pm closing time and i arrived safe at home just before midnight (i took a detour through my home town of buena park just because). if you get the chance to visit magic mountain dont pass it up, it's been YEARS since i was this impressed with that place, and in my 42 years of visiting there i might suggest that it might be the most impressed i'd ever been. special thanks to oscar for having me as his guest and to Helo9797 for his knowledge of which rides had single rider lines, great day with great company
yours,
Jayman