Six Flags Magic Mountain - 2025/02/03

Well, it was a great race weekend at Disneyland in California. But we're not flying back to Florida until Tuesday. What should we do with our extra day here...? Well, we've got these Six Flags passes from the summer that are good at any Six Flags in the world. And I've been telling the kids how one of the best coaster parks that had some of my favorite coasters anywhere was out in California so...

Let's go to Magic Mountain! 

Driving from Los Angeles up to Valencia took over an hour in stop-and-go traffic. Despite being an experienced car traveler, Alli still gets sick in the car when it's jerky traffic and the car gets too hot. She said she wasn't feeling well as we got closer, and asked for a bag as we pulled up to the parking gate. 

As soon as we got through that, she puked up her breakfast. Well, maybe this day isn't going to go like I'd thought. 

Quick smiling picture in front of the entrance and then we all went inside. Not without just a little drama though. For some reason, Theresa's pass, which is supposed to be an automatic debit every month, didn't for the past few months and her card wouldn't let her in. She was able to get it cleared up at Membership Services, but still. Odd. 

Alli still wasn't feeling well, so while T got her card figured out, I went to sit with her in the shade. Ian was ready to start riding the big coasters though. I sent him ahead to ride Full Throttle, the tallest looping coaster in the world! 

I couldn't see him so well in the line, but when I saw those hands up in the back row, I knew it was him. 

Hands still up as the ride comes to a stop.

And he absolutely loved it! At the beginning on the big loop, it's so high that it feels like it's going to stall out while you're upside down. 

I left Alli with Theresa in the shade to try to get a nap, while I took Ian along to do more big coasters that this park is famous for. 

And the lines so far today are looking great! We waited for 1 train and then were the very first row on Goliath! Ian thought it was great, including the spiral as the bottom that pushes the blood in your head down and makes you feel like you might black out! 

Next we rode Twisted Colossus, a ride that is in my top 5 of roller coasters of all time. The station workers were on their A game with one even sprinting back into position in order to get the coaster launched in time. You see, one of the big appeals of this coaster is that if you get the timing right, you'll be racing another coaster around the track, going over inversions and barrel rolls at the same time (imagine you upside down looking at the people in another coaster racing underneath you). It's a lot of fun! 

Photos from the day are few and far between, but next, we rode SCREAM! which was a whole lot of fun. 

Next, we moved to the Super Hero area of the park where in 2022 a new coaster was built called Wonder Woman Flight of Courage. It looks really really familiar. Like, is this the same as the Jersey Devil in New Jersey? Either way, it was a lot of fun, and with no line, Ian and I were allowed to stay in our seats and ride again! 

Next we'd head over to Crazanity. It's exactly the same as Harley Quinn or Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth, but it's still super fun, plus you get high enough to see over the hills and to the city. 

Who is hungry? It's 1pm and it's lunchtime. There's lots of tasty looking places here in the park to eat, but we're near Food Etc and they have nachos for Ian and plain chicken, broccoli, and white rice for Alli. We went to pay, using our Dining Pass but discovered it wasn't valid. Hmm. We just bought it in July. Shouldn't it be good for 12 months? 

Nope! It was a season dining pass, so despite paying full price for it in July, we only got 6 months use out of it. Bummer. 

Theresa and I hopped onto the Six Flags app, clicked through our pass and purchased another "All Parks Dining Plan" since we knew we'd be using it again this year during all our travels. Except, after we bought it, it wouldn't scan... Hmm. We got food anyway, ate it, and then headed over to Membership Services again, for the 2nd time today. On a happier note, Alli was able to eat something and is looking and feeling better. 

The next hour at Membership Services was a bit ridiculous. So we had our passes and bought the meal plan through the official Six Flags app. 

Member Services Worker - Oh no, not the app. That doesn't ever work right. 

So we've discovered. 

After 10 minutes we were finally able to figure out what had happened and why it wasn't working correctly. When we originally bought our Six Flags membership, we used it at Darien Lake New York. Despite being an All Parks Dining Plan, the app wanted it to be activated at Darien Lake New York, despite us scanning in to Magic Mountain California this morning. Remind me, when does Darien Lake open for us to scan and activate this Dining Plan. Oh, not until MAY! Yeah, that's not going to work. 

The next 45 minutes were spent trying to figure out how to get things cleared up. 

Can we refund and re-purchase them? Well, Darien Lake is the one who has your money right now. 

Can we call them? They don't open until May, so I don't know if anyone is there. 

Eventually it was handed off to a supervisor while we waited and waited. T and I had just spent $160 each on a dining plan and we certainly wanted to be able to use it before May and without having to take a trip to New York to activate it. 

After standing around for so long, and the kids just sitting on benches outside, we asked if we could come back later while the supervisors tried to work things out. Luckily, all that doing nothing seems to have been good for Alli. She has done a complete 180 and is feeling great! 

Alli - Let's go on some roller coasters! 

Really? You're feeling that good now? 

Alli, Ian, and I walked to Full Throttle (nearest the park entrance). I had a ziplock bag in my pocket just in case, but she did great! She loved it! I didn't tell her about the part where the coaster goes backwards to build up speed and she was surprised! 

Back over to Membership Services where the supervisors have done something in the background. They didn't say exactly what but they gave us paper passes for meals today, and said that it should work the next time we visit... Hmm. So I guess we're not really going to know if it'll work until the next time we visit a park and try it. I guess we'll cross our fingers and hope. 

Alli must be feeling really good because next, she requested to ride one of the wildest coasters I have ever ridden. X2. A coaster that not only moves you along a track, but your seat spins upside down too! Imagine you've reached the top of the lift hill and all of the sudden, you are rotated head first towards the ground as you fall! The experience is heightened even more if you're in the front seat, so despite only 1 train running today, we waited the 3 extra cycles to give the kids the full experience on their first time. 

And did they love it? Well maybe not as much as I did. It wasn't quite as smooth as I remember it, getting downright jerky at the end, but the thrill and spinning, and the giant fireball (yes, this is a coaster with fire) was still pretty amazing. 

Still, I think they liked X2 good enough. 

So, if our passes had problems buying them through the app, how should we have bought them? 

There's a kiosk in the park where you can add dining to any pass. Theresa took the kids passes there, paid the same $160 each, and sure enough, at the next restaurant we tried, they worked no problem. Crazy. 

The next coaster is definitely in my top 3. It's a flying superman type coaster called Tatsu. No, you're not saying it right. It's Tat-sUUUUUUUUU. Almost like a pig whistle. The kids didn't believe me at first, but once we reached the loading platform, the person on the microphone would say it like that every time (often repeated by those in line). 

One of Ian's favorite coasters before this one was a Dinosaur coaster in Japan which is similar in most respects. All three of us rode in the front row, which is awesome for the giant drop at the beginning. Ian has a new favorite coaster now. Or at least one that's in his top 3. Alli thought it was pretty awesome too. 

The park closes at a relatively early 6pm, so we don't have a lot more time to get all the big coasters in. The three of us rode Golida together, then Ian stayed with Theresa to ride Full Throttle a few more times, while I took Alli to do all the rides I went with Ian on earlier. 

We rode Twisted Colossus, Wonder Woman, and ended the night on Crazanity. Alli and I rode it at 5:58pm and when we exited, 2 of the guys who jumped and cut the line before, ended up puking! We did not feel sorry for them. Despite that, we rushed around to the entrance we were able to hop in at 5:59, just seconds before they chained off the line for the night. We waited while the workers poured water and squeegied the mess and got to ride 10 minutes after the park officially closed. While we were at the apex of one of the giant swings, all of the sudden all the external lights of the ride shut off! It was a little eerie! A short time later, the lights all came back on, but it was a lot of fun. 

Alli and I met back up with Theresa and Ian. With the new Dining Plan, you can get a meal every 4 hours (it was 3 last year), and since T didn't get the kids passes bought until 1:50pm, it wasn't until 5:50pm that we could try to use them for dinner. Except every single dining place here closes early. Like at 5:30pm. One of the few things you can get with a meal credit from a quick service shop. 

Well it was a bit of a wild day, with Alli being sick, wasting lots of time for a dining plan that should have worked properly from the start, but at least there were short lines, and we were able to ride some big coasters. There's still a whole half of the park that we didn't even walk over to, so we'll have plenty to see when we come back and visit again this summer! 

On Tuesday we packed up from the hotel and headed to the airport. 

Our flight takes us through Houston, and despite being on the same plane, we had to de-plane and board again. 

It was late, past 1am by the time we got to our car in long-term parking. And... the battery was dead. That wasn't a nice surprise. Luckily for us, the parking lot attendant sent someone over with a car jumper battery and got us started. It was super late by the time we finally got home and got to sleep. 

You'd think that would mean the next day we might sleep in, but Ian is loving his school so much (his first class of the day is Tri-Wizard Tournament from Harry Potter), that he really really wanted to go. They're doing Wand Dueling for the first time and he doesn't want to miss it! 

I guess that's how we know we've got him in the right place, and he's loving school. It's been a fun weekend with lots of adventures!