With all the Halloween events going on most of the recent coverage was focused on just that, but since I’m at Six Flags Magic Mountain frequently, I decided to create an update during today’s trip. We’ll be looking at some Fright Fest related seasonal offers as well as some operations and changes around the park!
– Over the years, many of our images have popped up on other sites and forums, awesome that our coverage spreads, not so awesome that not everyone mentioned where they got the images from. We are totally fine with our audience using our images, BUT ONLY IF credit is given to californiacoasterkings.com. Thank you! –
Let’s start with the fact that there are a bunch of seasonal offerings that are usually on the dining pass too. Including Scare-Acha wings and fries at High Octane Wings, as well as Fried Oreos there. 
Here those fried oreos are… As a guy from Europe I just recently had these deep-fried cookies for the first time, I’m an addict now. Get them as a snack on your dining pass this Fright Fest season! 
The photo-op across from Wascal’s gets updated for each season, here’s the Fright Fest one they’ve been using the past few years. 
If you visit the park during the day, prior to Fright Fest, there are several Looney Tunes characters in Halloween costumes you can take pictures with. 
There’s also a pumpkin decorating station inside Pistachio Park. Except it’s no longer Pistachio Park… The area lacks a name now, but huge new ads make sure to remind all you American readers to vote on November 8th. 😛
Oh hey, it’s Goliath. The coaster that receives increasing criticism for not having any quality airtime. But I like to look at the good things, the second half of that layout is intense! 
I spy Scream! For some odd reason I ride this ride on every visit recently. It’s back to hardly having a line, and it’s running smooth recently. 
I don’t think we covered this before, the park added these two beverage vending machines to the Scream Plaza. 
Moving on to DC Universe/ The Suicide Squad: A Six Flags Fright Fest Experience… if you follow along on our social media platforms you may have figured that the Harley Quinn photo-op moved from the police car to the newly added prison cell that’s located in front of the Batman: The Ride entrance. 
Speaking of Batman: The Ride, I’m surprised that the park went for green on the refurbished height-restriction sign at the entrance. 
Perhaps the track will be green in the future? (Just kidding). Speaking of the track, the paint continues to peel off, as you may see here on the bottom of the corkscrew. The last turn into the brake run is peeling all over. Nonetheless my real complaint is the terrible operations this afternoon. A usually 5-minute line became at least 20 minutes, and the rate at which they dispatched trains was disastrous. I know this isn’t Disneyland or Universal, but this is the worst I’ve seen in recent years on this ride. 
Next door, Riddler’s Revenge was doing a better job dispatching. I came to the area to see if any real changes were made regarding the Metropolis Area and Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. The area remains untouched, the construction site of the new ride is completely flattened with more markers. I couldn’t get a good shot, but I expect vertical construction to begin pretty soon. 
Moving on to Apocalypse, I touched upon it in previous updates and on our social media a bit, but today I’ll throw all my thoughts together. Hold on. 
If you’re an avid reader there’s no way you didn’t figure that Apocalypse was closed for a few months to be retracked. When a ride is closed for that period of time, you’d expect quite a few upgrades to have been made, right? WRONG. This turn right here, from the moment you drop into it to the moment you transition into the next turn, is the only significant section of the ride that was retracked. 
Here’s a better look at that turn. I mean the turn was terribly rough, I’ll give you that, but that was more of a heavy vibrating. The turn is now butter-smooth again (for a wooden coaster), but it leaves most of the rest of the ride to be undesired, and not very reridable for the average guest. The parts of the ride that need a lot of help are the drop, the quick turns, and the airtime hill following the drop. Several small section of the ride have received minimal retracking over the past year and a half, but in all honesty, I’d rather see the ride closed for a longer period to have it reopen entirely retracked. 
The issue lays with the location of the ride. Valencia, where Six Flags Magic Mountain is located, is a dry-heat desert like environment, there’s simply not enough humidity to keep the wood well and the sun beats down on the park all day, almost every single day. That’s why the ride is so white-washed, and that’s why the ride utilizes a sprinkler system (blue tube running along the handrails, as seen below) to keep spraying the ride daily. In addition the park is opened at least two days a week, and the ride is running all operating days, usually. So it makes complete sense that the amazingly smooth GCI wooden coaster turned into this pain-filled experience. Now all we can do is hope that the park invests in a complete refurbishment. 
Moving on to Viper! Another ride that I ride weekly, to the point that California Coaster Kings gets random shout outs by the Viper crew. If you haven’t heard the recent rumors, the ride is rumored to be closed and removed in 2017 for a 2018 addition. I have yet to hear anything official, so we’ll wait and see. 
The rumors also include guesses that the park may add the Six Flags chain’s first Dive Coaster. The strip of land that Viper is located on is not all that big or wide, but the hill quickly declines right next to the X2 walk way (from where the above Viper picture was taken). Far below X2’s walk way there’s a picnic pavilion with quite a bit of space, the height difference would make total sense for the rumored idea that the park would use the terrain to save money construction wise. Again, no official word whatsoever, so we’ll wait and see. 
Speaking of the X2 walk way, X2 recently received new cars for the back two rows, creating a way smoother experience. The speakers weren’t connected the first week, but now are working properly and the Fright Fest Satan’s Domain soundtrack is turned on. Make sure to ride X2 during Fright Fest, nothing beats X2 in the dark, especially after it’s been running all day and night and is significantly faster! 
Superman: Escape From Krypton was one of the only rides with an actual long line during the day, as usual. The ride did start operating both sides prior to Fright Fest crowds arriving. 
Oh look it’s Full Throttle, I’m curious where it’ll place in this year’s California TOP 50… (Part one is available here, part two just launched as well).
Another congrats to the Twisted Colossus crew for keeping the ride racing this much. On my way in I saw it race a few times, on my way out, again. I didn’t actually ride it today, but the current crew really does a nice job. 
The park added park-wide free WiFi for guests to use very recently, and to my surprise it works flawlessly. Every corner of the park, even where the mazes are located, have full high-speed WiFi! Make sure to log into the network next time you’re there! 
Before I wrap it up, Tatsu really needs a repaint… let’s hope 2017 or 2018 will be the year when it gets some love. The ride is nearly impossible to repaint due to it’s location on the mountain. The park indicated during the New Revolution makeover that the investment of repainting Tatsu would be too much, which makes sense. Luckily this ride doesn’t need to look newly repainted to be awesome. 
There’s not a second on this ride that I do not like. It’s just amazing. And with that, that’s it for this update!
Thanks for checking out this Six Flags Magic Mountain Update, make sure to check out the park’s Fright Fest event! It’s gotten amazing over the years. (Try and avoid Saturdays, they’re insanely crowded). Check out our Six Flags Magic Mountain Fright Fest MAZE Ratings and Reviews and Scare Zone reviews! All other Halloween events in the state have been reviewed in detail, find all of it conveniently in one spot on our Halloween page!
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Spraying water on Apocalypse would help keep the wood moist, but in the midst of the worst drought of all time here in California, they’re not going to do that. I see some major work on Apocalypse in the future. Maybe for its tenth anniversary in 2019 it will get a GhostRider-style retracking. By then it’ll definitely need it.