Tuesday, June 30, 2009

TPR Termination Day - Six Flags Magic Mountain

Sunday - June 28th

Today my sister Jenn, Sarah, and myself went to an event hosted by Theme Park Review at Six Flags Magic Mountain. TPR Termination Day was the perfect event to highlight the park's new rollercoaster Terminator Salvation: The Ride. The event started at 9 A.M. with an hour an a half of ERT on Terminator Salvation: The Ride. We went through the pre-show buildings because at the time we didn't know of an alternate route. We were able to skip the first part of the pre-show but were forced to wait for second and third. We were able to get 4 great rides in during the morning ERT. The ride was a bit more intense than I remembered it being in May. On a hot day like today (I'm not sure exactly how hot it was today, but I heard it was a little bit over 100 degrees) we were happy to find that the ride had mist in both tunnels and the station fly-through!





After 4 exciting rides on Terminator Salvation: The Ride we needed to rush over to X2 to beat the general public. We had to take the long way around the park because of some work being done on Tatsu.

The park was just opening as we got to X2 and the sun was burning us alive!

While we didn't beat much of the general public we did get on X2 in less than 45 minutes. Unfortunately the ride was pretty rough today and the worst I've had on it since it's transformation. We also rode in the front of the train which usually is the easiest ride to handle.



X2 left me feeling beat so luckily the West Pavilion was opened early! This event we knew better than to "TAKE THE CHICKEN!" Everything else we got was great, especially the patato salad!

It was my goal to eat as much food as possible because we still had a very long day to go! We headed over to Goliath which didn't have a long line and it moved fast, but the mist was off!

Goliath was perfect as usual! This was the first time my sister has ever started to see grey on Goliath's incredible helix. I made fun of Sarah for being a loser and riding Goliath by herself!

rawrtotheargh also thought Sarah was a loser so he stomped on her!

Ok, so he didn't actually stomp her down, he just took the seat next to her.

Still the best first drop ever... EVER!

Now we moved on to Colossus and Scream! Colossus was a great ride in the back with plenty of pull down ever single exciting drop! Colossus had to prove a point to my sister that just because the final hills are small, they are still powerful enough to blow her hat away!

Moving on to Scream! a attendant at the bottom of the station told us that we needed to store our Souvenir Bottles in a locker! This is the first time I've ever been asked to store my bottles before! We decided to hide them even though we were told it was "not safe." Scream! has been a big disappointment for us in many of my previous visits, but today it was totally awesome! There was a little virbration at the bottom of the first drop and one solid headbang (I was wearing sunglasses so double the pain) but the rest of the ride was pure exciting B&M butter!



We headed over to Batman The Ride where again they wanted us to store our souviner bottles in a locker. This time we actually did it and what a waste of my time and money. Six Flags has made many awesome changes in the park the past two years but this is bullcrap.

I understand that it might make the lines move a little faster if riders didn't have to cross the train to drop off personal belongings, and I know that personal belongings have been stolen when left off to the side of the station. What I don't understand is why the souvenir bottles? And why Batman The Ride and Scream!? Both rides have open platforms where riders can quickly set a souvenir bottle off to the side before boarding. I doubt there are a great amount of people that would steal a souvenir bottle that someone has been drinking out of all day! Maybe I'm missing the point, but I think it is lame and in some cases (souvenir bottles, hats, and sunglasses*) pointless to charge people a dollar for each locker at a ride.

*I've never been asked to store a hat or sunglasses in a locker before riding, and I hope that day never comes.

Batman The Ride had about a half an hour wait for front, but it was well worth it! The ride was just as smooth yet very aggressive as it's always been! It would have been a pleasant surprise if the mist returned to the low spots of the track... And when did the cop car disappear?



After that we headed over to Tidal Wave to catch the splash on the bridge! The water felt great on such a hot day like today!

We wanted to ride Riddler's Revenge but decided to watch a lucky group of people get their "evacuation credit."

We decided to check out the new show titled, "Matt Hoffman's Danger Defying Daredevils Stunt Show." See...

The show was okay, but I like the Batman Begins Stunt Show a lot more. There were some great danger defying stunts but you can't see all of the show from certain seats.



Still trying to beat the heat we got in line for Jet Stream. The line was a bit long but thanks to a million boats it moved very fast! Jet Stream was a lot of fun and I totally got soaked!

When leaving Jet Stream we heard a loud roar and new that Riddler's Revenge had reopened! It was just a couple minutes wait and the ride was perfect! And by perfect I mean no vibrations, no roughness, absolute perfection! I was 100% positive that Riddler's Revenge would be the best ride of the day.


After all that excitement I was ready to cool off again, but Tidal Wave's bridge was no longer an option! An employee wouldn't allow anyone on the bridge from the exit side... pretty lame with the weather being so hot! Sarah got a quick bite of Papa John's Cheese Sticks on we jumped on Gold Rusher.

While I usually love Gold Rusher's violent direction changes I found today's ride to be rather painful! We made our way up to Superman The Escape which had a long line that moved very slowly! We waited more than an hour for our ride but we didn't mind too much because it was freezing cold inside the building. While in line I overheard this lady say "I want to see Jesus, that's how fast I want this ride to go!" totally cracked me up!

Because of my height and another man's height the ride operators had to change our groups up a bit and one lady wasn't too happy about it... "Why you makin' me ride by myself?"

And who is trying to convert Superman? He doesn't believe in God... He is God!

We headed over to Ninja for an exciting yet exhausting ride in back row. This is my favorite seat because it has the most intensity and I like to watch the rest of the train swing the course. When we got off the ride I felt pretty disoriented so it was time to get something to eat.


We decided to take a trip up to the top of the Sky Tower before heading down the mountain.

Looking forward to riding these a little later! All Night Long!!!

We took the Orient Express down to the front of the park and headed towards the Moose Burger Lodge.

It was great to sit in the Moose Burger Lodge and get some much needed food and rest!


After a big meal we were ready to ride again and we headed to Revolution. To all of our surprise, Revolution was actually a great ride today! It only had one headbang wasn't near as rough as previous rides.

Our next ride wasn't so smooth but totally awesome! Viper was a little rough today but I always enjoy this coaster, escpecially when my souvenir bottle was pouring out on my sister behind us during the corkscrews.



We got in line for Tatsu and it was going great until they switched to one train operation. It took us about an hour for front row and the night ride was really good. (No Photo)

The park was only open for another hour so we headed over to Déjà Vu. Sarah decided she was done with looping coasters for the rest of the day and she left to go sit on a bench for a while. Jenn and I got on Déjà Vu in row 15 (almost 16... my favorite!) The ride was incredible but totally disorienting (Good thing Sarah passed) Jenn squeezed her sunglasses too tight while riding and they broke!

The park was almost closed and we got in line for Terminator Salvation: The Ride. I figured ERT would start soon so we might as well get a head start. We sat in line for almost half an hour while the line never moved an inch! ERT was already scheduled to begin. We keeped seeing trains go around with only a few riders on them. It turns out Kobe Bryant and friends were getting their own ERT on the ride. Our ERT was pushed back to a later time but that didn't stop everyone from having way too much fun! We got 6 amazing night rides in with the great people of Theme Park Review! The Bebe's group and Calicoasters' group got many rides in together! And when the audio was out on a train, we made our own!

CAUTION! Puke!

The "Machines" tried to ruin our ERT with a little puke on the train, but that only took a couple minutes away!

CAUTION! Puke!


^CAUTION! Puke!

A lot of coasters (if not all) are better at night, but Terminator Salvation: The Ride is by far the best! Yes, I said it! The BEST! This coaster is totally mind blowing at night! I wish the tunnel mist was still on, but that's because I'm 280 pounds and the only person after 10 o' clock still sweating!

Thank You Robb and Elissa Alvey, and Six Flags Magic Mountain for an awesome event! "TAKE THE TUNNEL!" over and over again! Thanks for reading and have fun!


Today's Ride/Show Rankings

18. Orient Express
17. Sky Tower
16. Matt Hoffman's Danger Defying Daredevils
15. Gold Rusher
14. Superman The Escape
13. Revoltuion
12. Jet Stream
11. Viper
10. Déjà Vu
09. Ninja
08. X2
07. Colossus
06. Scream!
05. Tatsu
04. Batman The Ride
03. Goliath
02. Riddler's Revenge
01. Terminator Salvation: The Ride

Found Coins: 2 Quaters, 1 Dime, and 22 Pennies

We've done a lot of riding this year but I think it is time for a little break! We don't have anything "scheduled" until August 22nd when Everclear performs live at Six Flags Magic Mountain.



^Photo taken by Mr. Bebe and stolen by me... Thank you by the way.