The History of Six Flags Magic Mountain (1971-2021) - The Complete Documentary

in the 1950s los angeles was growing it was growing so much that they needed more residential development outside the city 40 miles north the oil-rich farmland known as newhall ranch was assessed as a residential area which increased the tax burden the newhall land and farming company knew there was only one way to meet their new tax obligations and that was to develop the area and sell homes they would create a new city called valencia named after the oranges that had grown on the land construction started in the early 60s and in 1967 the first residents moved in the area was beautiful but obscure so new holland landon farming was looking for something that would attract people to the area little did they know they were about to unleash a monster something that would draw people not just from the los angeles area but from the entire world one of the greatest amusement parks the world has ever seen [Applause] [Music] this is episode one of a five episode series celebrating six flags magic mountain on its 50th anniversary join me as we take a journey through the last five decades [Music] [Music] new hall land and farming didn't necessarily have an amusement park in mind but while they were looking for some attraction any attraction to draw people to valencia seaworld happened to be looking to build a park in the los angeles area sea world's park in san diego opened in 1964 just four years prior to its executives approaching los angeles county to build on unused public land the idea was initially pitched as an aquatic amusement park and sea world san diego president george malay said he was willing to spend as much money on the first phase of this park as disney did on the first phase of disneyland this was not well received by everyone in the county supervisor kenneth hahn was staunchly against the idea of a 200 acre 10 million dollar project and leaked the secret meeting with seaworld to the press in october of 1968. george malay decided to cancel seaworld's request as a result of this premature disclosure stating sea world does not want to become involved in a controversial issue but the plan was not completely lost malay started negotiations with new hall land and farming to purchase private land in the area still by the end of october malay was considering other sites for his park like chatsworth and ventura he was only giving valencia valley a 25 chance of landing the park the area was so attractive because of the amount of unused land and the future home of the castaic reservoir with a 36 mile shoreline a perfect place for a disneyland style facility malay stated his decision would be influenced by price and proximity to freeway locations months passed and by december malay was back in negotiations with new hall land and farming in january 1969 a deal was struck just as malay wanted it would be right next to the golden state freeway it would encompass 120 acres and it would come with a price tag of 15 million dollars it was described as a themed park more than a carnival but not as sophisticated as disneyland one of the reasons this land was chosen was the terrain featuring a large 110-foot hill on the south side of the land and rather than cutting down the hillsides they would work around it they also envisioned a lot of water in the park to contrast the dry area construction was planned to start in february and be ready to open its gates two years later in the spring of 1971. in may of 1969 sea world came out with their first rendering of the park the park's signature landmark would be a 385 foot tall sky tower at the top of the hill and would also feature a mine train coaster a log flume a carousel dodgems a ferris wheel a sky ride a monorail an amphitheater a kid's area and so much more in july the new hall sagas valencia chamber of commerce approved the zoning change needed to build the park but the project still faced opposition la county supervisor kenneth hahn described the park as a honky-tonk and other residents were concerned that the park would attract dope narcotics gang fights and other undesirable characters sea world did their best to calm the nerves of valencia homeowners with an effort led by eugene doc lemon a former disneyland executive from the time it opened its gates in 1955. in this initial meeting lemons stated the park would not be water oriented like sea world in san diego it would be an amusement park open daily during the summer weekends in the spring and fall and closed in the winter the park would also feature a pavilion for concerts and dances when questioned about traffic lemons said they had been working with the highway department to get four lane access to the park and they would be able to park cars faster than you can back them up on the freeway the park would also benefit local hotels and restaurants using disney as the example with an expectation that the park would gross 10 million dollars with 100 million in revenue for local businesses there was also the matter of naming the park valencia rides park was pitched and shot down another name drawn from the us army missile site 18 miles to the east of the park site emerged as the favorite magic mountain lemon said i like to call it magic mountain i put magic mountain on all the drawings i show on my board maybe they'll learn to like it seaworld won approval from the regional planning commission in august and from the board of supervisors in october sea world was officially a go for the valencia valley magic mountain would be a joint venture between seaworld and new hall land in farming each owning 50 percent and investing 4 million in equity in the project with newhall land and farming lending 10 million dollars to finance construction the project was now valued at 20 million dollars it would be constructed by randall duel and associates out of santa monica having previously designed six flags over texas six flags over georgia and astroworld within the last decade in october 1970 the sky tower began construction this 800 thousand dollar project would be designed by intimate with a foundation consisting of six 80-foot casans and a 13-foot basement it used 460 tons of steel and could withstand 120 mile per hour winds a little closer to the earth giant sections of the metro monorail were being put into place in the meantime the park had purchased the 1912 carousel from west haven connecticut and we're spending 250 thousand dollars to restore it as the centerpiece at the front of the park by december 1970 construction on the park was 70 complete 300 construction workers were working around the clock to meet the spring 1971 opening date even before the park was open to the public doc lemon's promise was paying off santa clarita posted a 14 increase in property value in 1970 with 115 new businesses and over 1300 new families to the area with the park receiving credit for the boom the metro was complete on february 1st this 3 700 foot monorail was described as dock lemon as one of the most automated mass transit systems in existence with a computer system knowing where the trains were located at every moment it would hit a max speed of 12 miles per hour and could circle the whole park in five minutes with three stations where guests could hop on board it may have seemed like smooth sailing toward that spring opening date but there were a couple curveballs thrown their way [Music] on the morning of february 9th a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit sylmar less than 20 miles from the park after inspecting the park the damage seemed limited to an electrical apparatus that hadn't been installed yet the sky tower was undamaged the quake only set them back about fifty thousand dollars in april the parks union plumbers went on strike due to the fact that the park was using non-union labor and they were able to get other union workers across the park to join the picket line causing a 70 work stoppage and putting the targeted opening at risk the park was able to get a restraining order against picketing the site and work resumed one week later with the labor dispute behind them on april 15th the park announced their grand opening date of may 29th with 30 major rides plus music dancing and musical guests at their 3 400 seat theater opening day tickets went for five dollars for adults and 350 for children these were all inclusive with just food souvenirs and games requiring extra cash doc lemon predicted that more than 1.9 million guests would visit the park in its opening year the park posted 1100 jobs and had no problem filling them officials predicted that they could get as many as 15 000 applicants the park was quickly staffed new employees were trained and the park was ready for its grand debut on saturday may 29th [Applause] [Music] after getting a special licensing agreement with warner brothers for its opening year bugs bunny was there to cut the ribbon the jimmy durante show was the headline performance gold rusher an aerodynamics mine train coaster built into the hillside was the most thrilling ride on the other side of the hill was logjammer the standout water ride with two big drops galaxy was an impressive looking dual arm ferris wheel if you like bumping into others sandblasters allowed you to do it in cars and el bumbo allowed you to do it in boats bottoms up seemed to defy the laws of gravity the chevron grand prix allowed everyone to get behind the wheel in addition to the metro the funicular took you right from the entrance of the park up the hill to the entrance of the sky tower an eagle's flight was a skyride that would lift you to three different stations around the park the park's one millionth visitor crossed the turnstiles in september shortly after seaworld announced that they were leaving the partnership the main speculation for their departure was the performance of the park complaints from park guests far outweighed the praise rides were breaking down there weren't enough places to eat the service was bad and the lines were long there wasn't enough shade benches or drinking fountains the first season did not go well newhall land also pointed to seaworld's diminished financial capacity to operate magic mountain considering their new marine park opening soon in orlando florida doc lemon was out and terry van gorner was named the new president lemon wasn't bitter about being dismissed instead he voiced his optimism about the park's future that little place over there is going to flourish you've got to give it about three years he also mentioned that the park's first year was a lot more successful than that of disneyland i'm kind of like the author i wrote the book i wish it all the success in the world in november seaworld agreed to accept a 2.5 million dollar promissory note and payment for its half interest in the park the park managed to break even by the end of the summer with the guest performers getting credit for driving a lot of the crowd thomas lowe the chairman of new hall land mentioned a major new water ride and additions in the kids area was in the works as part of a 4.5 million investment this turned out to be jet stream helping take the burden off the popular log jammer featuring a 45-foot drop as well as the enchanted cottage and animal farm bringing live animals into the park after the contract with warner brothers expired and the park lost the rights to the looney tunes characters the park unveiled a set of new characters for 1972 bloop bleep king troll and the wizard the park continued booking the biggest stars they could get their hands on including al martino coming off his role in the brand new smash box office hit the godfather they also used other tactics to get people into the park including a jewel hunt the park hid 25 000 in jewels in the african belt section of the park and whatever you found you could keep great white knucklers only at magic hey ride the gold rusher the jet stream the himalaya and the mountain express ride all the magic mountain thrill rides and you won't have to ask you'll know what great white knuckler means you get all the great white knucklers [Music] heading into the park's third season magic mountain was looking to announce his presence with authority a flashy sign was put up right by the freeway off-ramp with an information booth at the bottom this came right in time to draw people to the park's newest and biggest coaster mountain express located right by the entrance of the park this schwarzkopf wildcat model reached heights of 50 feet and topped out at 40 miles per hour bill cosby and frankie avalon headlined the entertainment and the wizard and trolls played an even bigger role as the park's mascots they introduced a new slogan get high on fun and expanded the park hours to be open every day after christmas through new year's day magic mountains seem to have found their stride reporting a 48 increase in attendance from 1972 to 1973 hitting that 1.8 million mark that they had aimed for in their opening year but just as the future looked bright they were hit with another challenge in october 1973 opec announced an oil embargo causing a fuel shortage southern california tourist attractions were hit hard as people were driving less but magic mountains seemed to be spared from the hit publicity director jack ryan attributed this to the park attracting a local audience and being the only one in los angeles county people who may have ventured down to orange county for knott's berry farm or disneyland would be more inclined to stay close to home and go to magic mountain the park capitalized on their location describing their distance not in miles or minutes but in gallons of gas flyers started popping up showing the park was two gallons north of hollywood taking a bad situation and twisting it to their advantage new customers became repeat customers once the embargo ended in april one weekend in august of 1974 the park had to turn guests away because there simply wasn't any more room the 6 000 car parking lot was at capacity and 28 000 guests had walked into the park it was a fitting end to a record-breaking summer spurred on by three new rides the dragon a people mover on the other side of the mountain from the funicular electric rainbow a spinning flat right and himalaya a circular bobsled flat ride there was also a new restaurant called das open house bolstering the park's food service options world famous athletes made appearances at the park mark spitz a nine-time olympic gold medal winner in swimming and hank aaron who had just broken baseball's all-time home run record earlier that year for the kids the 40-foot big blue bounce house opened up at the cost of just eight thousand dollars able to take 15 kids at a time the park also blew away their attendance records on easter week and thanksgiving weekend by about 33 this also came along with a hike and ticket prices up to 650 for adults and 550 for kids the park kept off a great year by letting up the sky tower as a christmas tree something they weren't able to do the year prior due to the energy crisis the year wasn't quite perfect though in october a seven-year-old boy climbed out into the neck of the new dragon ride and he fell off getting pinned under the car the park had to bring out a hydraulic jack to free him he had deep cuts on his hand shoulder and face and was hospitalized for weeks a 3 million expansion came to the park in 1975 including a new train ride called the grand centennial excursion and an indoor walk-through attraction called the magic pagoda these two would figure into the first haunted mountain halloween event as guests could board the phantom train to nowhere or they can enter the haunted pagoda they also debuted the portal house a new shop and deli at the front of the park this would be open even on days when the park was closed a smart way to make some extra money but 57 miles down the golden state freeway knott's berry farm was making history on may 21 corkscrew opened to the public built by aerodynamics being the first modern inverting coaster even before anyone got to ride this historic coaster magic mountain had an answer [Music] they would go back to schwarzkopf who installed their last coaster and mountain express and build the first modern coaster to feature a vertical loop the great american revolution was slated for a spring 1976 opening to coincide with the country's bicentennial celebration construction started in the fall and continued through the winter the loop was topped off in february and there was a test car running through the course in mid-march everything was on course to open up on time which was a good thing because cedar point's corkscrew was scheduled to open with the park that year as well featuring a vertical loop as well as two corkscrews revolution beated out by one week opening on may 8th the coaster was an instant success being featured in cbs's way out games as well as the major motion picture roller coaster in the fall of 1976 sunset magazine gave revolution its highest ranking five stars an honor given to only two other coasters at the time the giant dipper at the santa cruz beach boardwalk and turn of the century at marriott's great america magic mountain was coming off a record year of attendance up 8.5 from 2.2 million to 2.4 million and a record year for revenues up 21 to 24 million dollars after revolution opened their june attendance jumped 46 compared to the year prior the park's 10 millionth guest came through the turnstiles in august and he and his family got to meet park president terry van gorder and was showered with gifts dinner at the four winds steakhouse passes for future visits and other merchandise the park didn't leave the kids hanging either they opened the interactive wizards village playground area and for those looking for entertainment the supremes headlined the parks performances as the park got better the price of admission went up adults now had to pay 7.95 and kids 695 a year after opening one of the world's greatest coasters magic mountain decided to mature the park jack ryan said it had to be more than just fast rides they opened spilikin corners a craft village deemed a folk fare and food fest for all ages potters weavers confectioners doll makers woodworkers and other artisans would be on display and you could buy some of these handmade items in december magic mountain would cover silicon corners and man-made snow and let the kids play in it the park also introduced a thrilling new flat ride a schwarzkopf enterprise called enterprise but revolution continued to carry the park through 1977 gary curiazzi the author of the great american amusement parks deemed revolution a top 10 coaster in america the only one in southern california to make the list and appeared on abc's good morning america where he introduced the coaster to the rest of the country on june 9th david basinger and linda brett crane got married while on the ride the next weekend roller coaster debut in theaters with the movies finale taking place on revolution this small park catering to a local audience was now getting national exposure and they weren't about to rest on their laurels they had something big planned in fact something huge construction on the world's largest coaster went vertical in november this was colossus wooden coasters were very popular in the 1970s but this would be the biggest of the bunch it would be the only coaster in the world to feature two drops over 100 feet as construction rolled into the winter of 1978 the numbers came in from 1977. the park had cracked a 3 million guest milestone they continued to draw in the hottest names for the time including performances from greece's frankie valley and was the setting for the tv movie kiss beats the phantom of the park the band would put on a concert at the park for all the movie's extras after investing seven million dollars and even a small tornado partially collapsing the structure during construction colossus officially opened to the public on june 29th it got rave reviews one new york coaster enthusiast crossed the entire country just to write it and came off with just one word devastating by 1978 it was clear that there was a coaster war going on nationwide and with the great american revolution and colossus magic mountain was right in the middle of it if not leading it the park had grown so much since its humble beginnings in 1971 and it was a lot for new homeland and farming to take on by themselves after all they were a land development company not a theme park operator as exciting as 1978 was for the park there were some horrifying incidents as well in january a mechanic was killed when one of the grand prix cars fell on top of him after the jack holding it up failed in february a pair of newlyweds boarded eagles flight and their car slipped from the cable and fell 50 feet to the ground killing the man and seriously injuring his wife the state determined the cause to be a design flaw with the gondola not gripping the cable tight enough reports were that the gondola was rocking a lot before it fell and the inspector was able to duplicate the accident with rocking and twisting another gondola on december 26 a woman was thrown from colossus and fell to her death she was ejected at the bottom of the second drop the ride was closed for extensive investigation there did not appear to be any mechanical failure and the woman's body type was being looked into as a factor it was determined that the ride needed an additional restraint and the ride reopened in february equipped with seat belts the woman's family filed a 6 million lawsuit that winter and the park was hit with another 1 million lawsuit from a west german banker who claimed that he had suffered two broken vertebrae among other injuries after writing colossus back in july these incidents in addition to the park's general growth demanding more of their resources pushed newhall land in farming to divest themselves from the park and return to their lane in may of 1979 they found a buyer and the rest [Music] is history the move that put this area on the map was the episode of magic mountain we made a lease deal for the land with sea world they couldn't raise the capital to develop the park so we raised 30 million dollars by issuing six percent debentures we brought magic mountain here partially by accident there were problems with the operation and eventually sea world sold out to new hall land and farming the transaction failed to solve all the problems at the vast amusement center and ultimately the six flags corporation bought the part from the company [Music] under pressure from multiple lawsuits following a series of accidents in 1978 and as the park continued to grow new hall land in farming was looking for a way out the company was not in the business of operating a theme park and they were looking to sell to a company that was in may of 1979 a tentative sale was on the table the great southwest corporation slash six flags corporation offered 53.2 million dollars 15.9 million down and the rest to be paid over the next seven years newhall landon farm wanted to go back to what they knew and used the money for real estate oil and gas properties six flags had a track record of success which did not go unnoticed by newhall land and farming when assuring the public that the park was in good hands dating back to 1957 six flags created three parks the first one being in arlington texas in 1961 the next going to austill georgia in 1967 then eureka missouri in 1971 six flags then turned their focus to acquiring existing parks taking over houston's astroworld in 1975 and new jersey's great adventure in 1977 magic mountain with its two world-class coasters growing community and great weather was an easy target for the chain the hourly employees were optimistic about the change but there was some apprehension at the top they were right to be concerned several members of management were either laid off or returned to new hall land in farming including park president terry van gorner dan howells assumed the position of general manager and announced some immediate changes for starters six million dollars would be invested over the next six months for park improvements this would help make the park more family-friendly investing in new shows and attractions magic mountain was famous for its musical acts but six flags envisioned variety shows with a western and circus theme and that's exactly what they brought to the park as early as that summer howls recognized the park was teen oriented and wanted to balance out the activities to attract families this also meant there would be no more alcohol sales at the park they didn't want to ignore teenagers or young adults either they put on a disco dance contest for 27 nights in the summer of 1979 with ten thousand dollars in prizes at stake as well as expanded the galactic laser experience show there was one more significant change the name of the park the president of six flags ned dewey announced that the new name would offer a greater appeal to the public and given their good reputation in the industry it was important to let the public know of six flags connection to the park it would henceforth be known as six flags magic mountain six flags wanted to find ways to make the park more affordable and rolled out an introductory price for their season pass at just 19.95 and six dollar tickets after 6 p.m a savings of 295 off regular admission they also took active measures to get more families into the park offering one flat rate for a car load of up to six people and free admission to kids with each paid adult ticket getting more foot traffic in the park was important but many guests would come up to the star attraction and find it shut down six flags noted they didn't want any of their rides to have more than 20 downtime colossus was operating at 50 the park was hit with yet another lawsuit in july from a guest who had rode colossus the prior summer claiming it gave her cuts and bruises on her legs and was seeking general damages medical costs and compensation for loss of income colossus was already closed for refurbishment when six flags acquired the park in june of 1979 so six flags announced a complete overhaul at the cost of two million dollars all 10 000 feet of track was replaced and 10 of the 14 hills were either raised or lowered they would also replace the trains weighing in at seventeen hundred pounds compared to the three thousand pounds of the old trains all this was expected to make the ride smoother and more reliable after being shut down for six months colossus reopened in december colossus had been a problem for the park since it opened but there was another problem that six flags would have to deal with that was just getting started [Music] on the night of july 28 1979 a 16 year old boy was stabbed to death in the arcade section of the contempo pavilion it appeared to be retaliation for another gang-related murder this led to a decision to increase the park security presence as well as the beginning of talks to bring metal detectors to the front gate anthony harris tried to assure the public we are working right now to guarantee that this will not occur again our park will not be in arena for gangs that saturday also saw 12 people arrested at the park on charges ranging from trespassing to possession of alcohol to possession of drugs six flags needed to nix this image of the park if they wanted to keep drawing in families by the end of their first year they announced the removal of two of the park's original rides galaxy and el bumpo these were sold to a korean amusement park company and a live dolphin show was said to be a replacement this would be part of a 1500 seat aquatic theater that would also feature divers log rolling and a golden retriever act there would also be a brand new 1200 seat marionette theater and galaxy's place would be buccaneer a swinging ship six flags was making drastic changes and started using the tagline we're building a better mountain the second energy crisis of the decade didn't phase the park much this one was caused by the iranian revolution but didn't have much effect on oil production memories of the 1973 crisis led to price hikes and long lines at the gas pumps but dan hall cited the increased price of gas could help the park as locals may choose to have their fund closer to home with fuel on everyone's minds the park even installed gas pumps in the parking lot for the convenience of its guests 1980 was six flags first year running magic mountain and they worked hard to mix up the entertainment for kids and families there was the wild west rodeo an eating contest and the dolphin show for the teenagers and adults there was the dj pop-off contest and hollow weekends the parks halloween event the park was also featured on nbc's everywhere show raising its profile and welcomed in celebrities like the los angeles lakers first overall pick in the draft magic johnson and continued to book major musical acts like rock and roll legend chuck berry just two years after acquiring the park six flags unveiled their new slogan no longer are they building a better mountain we built a better mountain this coincided with yet another six million dollar expansion plan this one to make the park one third larger than it already was including two new rides a mexican-themed plaza around revolution and an expansion of the walkway to allow guests to walk all the way around the park this expansion officially made magic mountain the largest park in southern california surpassing disneyland one of those new rides was the fiesta dance a cell near tilt-a-whirl and the other was roaring rapids a 1200 foot intamin water rapids ride as excited as the park was about roaring rapids the rollout was an embarrassment it was open for a day and a half before county inspectors asked it to be shut down the brand new electrical equipment that's used to pump 1.2 million gallons of water throughout the ride had not been certified for use in la county the park said the worst thing that would happen in the event of malfunction was the stream would just stop but the county did not want to make any conclusions until it was tested the inspection period for the county could be weeks or even months which the park could not afford they paid six thousand dollars to a private firm to fast-track the inspection which took a matter of days and the park tried to keep disappointed guests happy by handing out coupons taking two dollars off the 1095 admission price after being open for a day and then closed for the next seven the ride was finally cleared to open roaring rapids was a big hit and so was country western star loretta lynn and on july 18th 1981 the park hit capacity 43 000 people jammed into the park with cars spilling out of the parking lot backing up interstate 5. park officials closed the gates at 5 pm they had to wait for people to leave before letting anyone else in in a time where other amusement parks were looking at disappointing numbers blaming the air traffic controller strike for the lack of travel and bad economic conditions for reduced leisure spending magic mountain posted a 25 increase over the summer attendance from 1980. as a park spokeswoman said business is just marvelous for the whole year of 1981 the park saw a 10 increase from 2.4 million to over 2.6 million it was also a shining light for youth employment but nobody else seemed to be hiring during this time of success for the park six flags was put up for sale it was owned by penn central railroad who simply wanted to change their focus to other areas the buyer was bally manufacturing out of chicago a major manufacturer of slot machines and arcade games having to spring 142 million dollars for the sale bally was impressed with the current management and didn't plan on making any changes there was early speculation that bali would be much more aggressive than penn central and investing in capital improvements and adding new rides and facilities 1981 marked the end for several rides including the jolly monster the dragon the 99 steam train and the el dorado side of eagle's flight the chairlift ride had a rocky history up to this point with the newlyweds falling from the ride in 1978 and then another incident in 1979 where a group of teenagers rocked the car so much that the ride jammed leaving writer stranded for three and a half hours the galaxy side of eagle's flight would remain the el dorado station would be repurposed for a brand new thrill ride in 1982 the world's first true free fall ride built by intimate riders would be taken up 128 feet and then dropped with nothing attached the ride would be called free fall and would open in june this was part of a shift back towards appealing to teenagers which included an all-night school's out party on june 17th where the park was open from 9 00 pm to 5am as well as brand new entertainment a bmx bike show a tribute to led zeppelin a show featuring the legends of rock and roll and then country stars two months later johnny cash in the fall and something for a slightly older crowd a soap opera festival where stars could perform to the live audience and then do meet and greets with fans park gm dan howells was promoted to corporate and richard t miller took over his position in the summer of 1982 he was optimistic about the park's future under bally manufacturing as well as the park's ability to expand beyond its current borders and even mentioned early preparations for the olympic games coming to los angeles in 1984 bringing visitors from all over the world but he did come in with legal problems hanging over the park's head the parents of the 16 year old boy that was stabbed to death in 1979 sued the park for 9 million dollars citing lack of security that could have prevented the attack there was also a disabled man that was told that he couldn't ride revolution because he was unable to walk leading to a 50 000 lawsuit for punitive damages and the park to change their policy for disabled guests the perks of the policy came from safety and evacuation concerns and that they do not charge disabled guests admission to the park the court rejected their motion to dismiss the case the park also said goodbye to mountain express at the end of 1982. the schwarzkopf wildcat spent 10 seasons at the park but it was packed up and shipped off to a park in el paso texas in its final months at the park a man suffered a ruptured disc in his back when the car slid down the lip till before catching the chain and starting back up they would sue the park successfully for 151 thousand dollars but the park had something new up its sleeve a giant man-made lake 4.3 acres 8 million gallons of water and the location of a new collection of shows and activities for the park the main attraction would be a water ski show called the wizard of mystic lake it would also be the staging area for their firework shows this was part of a 5 million expansion that included a new park entrance and a brand new ride next to buccaneer the swings they called swashbuckler the park also raised cash by opening a computer discovery center where guests of all ages can get some hands-on time with computers many of them for the first time chrysler also signed on with magic mountain displaying their vehicles inside the park when a baby was born in their dolphin exhibit the park found a chance to reach out to the public starting a contest to name the newest member of the magic mountain family after nearly 1 000 entries were considered the dolphin was named slick the park continued to book major musical acts that keep people coming back including three dog night tina turner and a brand new band called rem 225 000 people attended concerts at magic mountain making it one of southern california's leading concert venues and as of colossus wasn't intimidating enough it also started running one of his trains backwards the biggest spoon to the park in 1983 was the release of national lampoon's vacation a comedy starring chevy chase is clark griswold the premise is that he's taking his family on a road trip to visit the amazing theme park called wally world which was filmed at magic mountain revolution and colossus were prominently featured in the film the moose says your clothes i say you're open 2.75 million guests came through the gates in 1983 and six flags was looking for more they had invested 23 million dollars in capital over the four years they'd been in charge and were looking for a big 1984. as richard miller mentioned when he took the reigns of the park the summer olympics in los angeles was going to flood the city with tourists and they wanted to capitalize on the opportunity [Music] the winter olympics came first held in the city of sarajevo in the country then known as yugoslavia and in may the park debuted the sarajevo bobsled a bobsled coaster built by the same company that brought us freefall intimate this trackless coaster featured sleds rolling through a trough there was also a new multimedia show at the magic moments theater called the spirit of the olympics they had their new attraction now they just needed the guests early on in the year there was concern across the entire southern california amusement industry that olympic tourists would not be interested in visiting the parks and to make it worse their presence in the city would make their normal local patrons want to stay home due to the traffic magic mountain extended their hours to midnight during the olympic games and tried to appeal the guests by pointing out that they were the only park in los angeles that was far away from the olympic commotion as the summer progressed the campaign changed if you've been thinking about bringing your family to six flags magic mountain there's no time like the present because the olympic crowds just haven't shown up but our loss can be your game smaller crowds mean shorter lines there were reports that colossus is lying normally at least 90 minutes was down to less than 15. when the dust settled magic mountain's attendance plunged more than 10 percent with disneyland suffering a 20 loss for the first time in 50 years you could walk into the chicken dinner restaurant at knott's berry farm and be seated right away the parks saw their attendance rebound immediately after and manche mountain threw a successful haunted mountain event for halloween 1984 also saw the important six flags acquisition of marriott's great america in gurnee illinois which gave them the rights to the looney tunes characters for the first time since its opening year of 1971 looney tunes would dominate magic mountain children's world would be transformed over the winter and in may 1985 bugs bunny world opened up the new land cost nearly half a million dollars equipped with 14 rides some new and some rethemed including the rabbit cadabra magic show spanning over six acres of land near the front of the park when the kids got bored with bugs bunny world there was a new show that year that exploded in popularity the chinese acrobats but on the other end of this wholesome family fun was a dark side and unfortunately it would dominate the narrative about the park on june 22 1985 in the early hours of the park's all-night schools out party violence broke out between two gangs when it was all over six people had been stabbed four security guards had been assaulted and 21 people were arrested this incident blew up in the media and the park went into damage control mode they downplayed the frequency of violence in the park and vowed to increase their security presence including better fencing around the perimeter of the park more lighting and looking for potential gang members coming into the park this effort would not come without controversy down the line but the park did not want to be known as a hotbed for gang violence as that would make people steer clear of the park their all-night party in september included more strict security measures and there were no issues but they weren't rid of gang violence 20 people were arrested the following spring when members of the crips in the bloods clash at the park richard miller would step down as vice president and general manager replaced by joseph shellacky in april of 1986. at the same time the sarivo bobsleds were being packed up and sent off as soon as they arrived and a brand new coaster was going up in its place [Music] introducing shockwave if you think you can take it stand up [Music] [Applause] like the bobsleds this would also come from intamin this being a looping coaster called shockwave standing 90 feet tall maxing out at 50 miles per hour all while riders are standing it was the first of its kind to come from the swiss manufacturer while shockwave satisfied the thrill seekers music lovers could enjoy the magic music jam at the showcase theater and the park drew in celebrities from 60s television with characters from leave it to beaver the brady bunch and the partridge family making appearances the park's reputation may have taken a hit but not enough to hurt attendance the park brought in six percent more in 1986 compared to 1985. thanks to shockwave the chinese acrobats a new marketing plan to draw people from orange county and san diego and the introduction of the twickett where guests could enjoy two consecutive days at the park for the price of one the removal of sarajevo bobsled and the introduction of shockwave gave guests a fresh reason to visit the park bolstering six flags new experimental plan this was known as the ride rotation program where the chain would install rides on flat plots of land across its parks only to pick them up after a few years and send them to another park marketing it as a brand new ride the sarajevo bobsled would end up at six flags over texas for the 1986 season known as avalanche shockwave would have the same fate being removed from magic mountain after three seasons and being moved to six flags great adventure for the 1990 season in april 1987 six flags changed hands once again valley had owned the chain since 1982 but sold it to west ray capital for 350 million dollars bally wanted to concentrate on the casino and gaming industry and six flags no longer fit in its business plan the next month magic mountain opened their new thrill ride one that was meant to simulate the feeling of flying like a fighter jet just like maverick from the new movie top gun this was z force this represented almost half of a 3 million investment on the west side of the park a 100 foot tall looping ship that featured a stall at the top hanging its riders upside down the entire back section of the park would be rethemed the electric rainbow was now turbo and himalaya is now subway enterprise was renamed reactor the park would also introduce a new pizza parlor as well as an after hours dance club requiring 200 extra jobs and they were having a hard time filling the spots after memorial day as the summer season kicked into gear and kids were getting out of school the park was 600 workers short of its 3200 employee goal causing some rights to be shut down offering jobs at three dollars and sixty cents an hour the park had to resort to sending recruiters to local high schools as well as reaching out to retirees and housewives the park was growing in popularity becoming the 10th most attended park in the country by 1987 and was even used as a bargaining ship when santa clarita was fighting to become a city later that year the park continued to get big name acts like the charlie daniels band and continued to spend big money just like every other park in the region knotts universal and disney were all pouring money into more and more expensive rides and in december 1987 magic mountain announced ninja a 5.1 million dollar suspended coaster built by aerodynamics this would not be the first of its kind but it would be the fastest hitting speeds of 55 miles per hour starting at the top of the mountain and then winding its way down to jet streams lake magic mountain ended 1987 with a one percent jump in attendance up to 2.8 million for the year and were hoping for a big 1988 but they got more than they bargained for the park's efforts to curtail gang violence led to what a park spokeswoman called an aggressive security posture which included more scrutiny for guests wearing known gang identifiers in march of 1988 the naacp filed a discrimination lawsuit against the park after some black members of a christian youth group were given what they called a degrading search the following month the aclu filed suit against magic mountain after four latinos were denied entry into the park because one member of the group was wearing a midnight cruiser shirt which the guards said resemble clothing favored by gangs while the park was wrestling with these lawsuits and their security practices their brand new coaster ninja was drawing in massive crowds but it hit a snag on october 2nd when it flew around the final curve too quickly and the train crashed into the catwalk handrail injuring two people and stranding its riders for almost half an hour the park shut the ride down to improve the braking system on that final section despite the mishap they were having a record-setting year this was helped by a late season edition the 112-foot spinning ride called condor and that was open for thanksgiving weekend they ended the year with 3.1 million guests a nine percent increase from 1987. investment continued to pour into the park as tidal wave was announced for the summer of 1989 the 50-foot shoot the shoots water ride was deemed the wettest thrill ride adventure ever conceived soaking riders on the boat as well as anyone standing on the exit bridge tidal wave represented the park's fourth water ride after log jammer jetstream and roaring rapids and was part of a water ride trend in southern california with knott's bigfoot rapids and disneyland splash mountain debuting around the same time part of tidal waves appeal was the big spectacular splashdown not only was it visually appealing but it drenched everyone which is the whole point of a water ride 1989 was deemed as a lackluster tourism summer for southern california parks with magic mountain announcing steady attendance for the year welcoming in new musical acts to the park like paula abdul as well as monster truck madness for a weekend in may rumors surfaced later in the year that paramount communications were interested in buying the park officials from six flags would not comment but paramount sources indicated that there was interest but any kind of deal fell through six flags would hang on to magic mountain into the 1990s a decade that would propel the park further into the spotlight and it all began with a brand new beast unlike anything the park had ever seen up to this point but it wouldn't be the last critical to knots is the issue of identity other parks have geared their marketing to instant recognition disneyland has the mouse at universal you ride the movies seaworld is jumping fish and magic mountain is roller coaster valhalla [Music] so [Music] by the dawn of the 1990s roller coasters were becoming bigger and faster at a rate that had never been seen before cedar point's magnum xl200 changed the game when it topped the 200-foot mark in 1989. ron tumor of aerodynamics said the coaster building boom has spawned a giant marketing competition to attract more guests parks need a ride that's either bigger or totally different than anyone else's magic mountain wanted a piece of the action in november 1989 they unveiled viper the world's tallest and fastest looping coaster standing 188 feet tall sporting the world's tallest loop at 140 feet and tying the world record with seven inversions at eight million dollars it was the largest and most ambitious project in the park's history the park had realized that this was going to be their niche park spokeswoman courtney simmons said they constantly polled the audience and they always say the reason they come out here is for the coasters 67 percent of magic mountain patrons were aged 24 or under so that's who the park had to appeal to simmons said the amusement park is striving to be the coaster capital of the us and to introduce the best coasters in the marketplace this also justified the park to remove condor after just over one year of operation to make room for their new massive coaster viper was important to keep a step ahead of knott's berry farm for the youth market since they were also introducing a brand new looping coaster boomerang despite a february protest over the park's use of non-union labor to build viper it opened on schedule causing an early morning traffic jam near the magic mountain parkway exit on the morning of april 7th as popular as the ride was it wasn't without his problems it was stopped on the mid-course break several times in his opening week and after the first full week maintenance found some weak links in the chain lift and decided to replace the whole thing closing the ride for a week the kinks were worked out and viper was full speed ahead giving nearly 3 million rides in his first year the ace fall convention was held at magic mountain with the enthusiasts touting the park's big four revolution colossus ninja and now viper attendance at the nation's theme parks rose just 1.6 in 1989 but among those who added a new coaster attendance rose 8.5 magic mountain knew this and they saw their investment pay off by the end of 1990 despite a whole host of factors working against them gas prices were higher than normal an economic recession was on the horizon and tourism was sluggish magic mountain was one of the few southern california attractions to post an increase in attendance up 10 from 1989 by the mid-summer despite out-of-state tourism being down magic mountain benefited from 80 of their customers being local viper was the big draw but the park wasn't about to be one-dimensional 1990 also brought in new shows including one featuring the hot new fox series the simpsons a show celebrating bugs bunny's 50th birthday and new musical acts tommy page the cover girls and sweet sensation introducing a three dollar charge to see these concerts with more attractions and investments came higher prices in general with admission hitting 23 for adults in 1990 second to only disneyland in the region new coasters meant big money and magic mountain wanted to keep that gravy train rolling along they had seen how viper was helping the park thrive while other parks were suffering in the current economic environment ending the year up three percent while disneyland was down three percent seaworld was down eight percent and universal studios was down nine percent boomerang helped knotts break even magic mountain didn't want to waste any time introducing the next big thing in the winter of 1990 work started on a new wooden coaster in the back of the park on the old plot of sarajevo bobsleds and shockwave this was cyclone after introducing the state-of-the-art viper this would be a replica of the 64 year old classic at coney island in brooklyn new york the cyclone dubbed as an unnerving unforgiving and unforgettable experience and would feature a 95 foot drop a top speed of 50 miles per hour and come with a 5 million dollar price tag park president joseph schilocki pointed out the number of east coast transplants in california and said they may have a history with the cyclone and this could draw them into the park to relive memories the economy wasn't the only concerning factor for magic mountain or theme parks as a whole in the early days of 1991 america was preparing for war in the persian gulf officials thought that people would be glued to their tv sets and forgo travel at a fear of terrorism there was also the possibility of a prolonged war causing fuel shortages that could hurt tourism even more the war lasted throughout the rest of january and all of february and southern california parks did see a small decline in attendance trying to lure in locals with discount tickets a ceasefire was declared on february 28th taking the edge off the most serious terror threats but the recession remained cyclone opened to the public on march 23rd right on time for spring break and got rave reviews from former dodgers steve garvey and john johnstone calling the ride everything that coney island was and more and the early season opening helped the park post a 24 first quarter increase in attendance from the prior year but among the fanfare of a brand new hit coaster rumor started to surface about the financial health of six flags operating seven parks nationwide the interest payments on his growing debt started to become a problem in 1990 six flags collected 55 million dollars in profit before interest in taxes but owed 80.2 million dollars in interest posting a net loss of 25 million dollars by the end of 1990 six flags total debt outweighed its total assets it had a negative net worth of 127 million dollars the possibility of selling off some parks was also considered in the end time warner and two other investors offered 700 million dollars to acquire six flags time warner already owned a 20 stake and this move increased their ownership to 50 they saw this opportunity to further promote their properties namely dc comics and the looney tunes characters one analyst noted there is real appeal in the theme park business time warner could merchandise bugs bunny much like disney uses mickey mouse in addition to opening a new coaster magic mountain had something for everyone in their 20th anniversary they continued to book major music acts including timmy t cnc music factory vanilla ice and marky mark also welcoming in the ninja turtles captain planet and a nintendo competition to entertain the kids despite all the factors working against it all of this investment led magic mountain to break about even in attendance by the end of the year while other parks suffered disney ceo michael eisner was even on the record calling disneyland's attendance crummy posting a 10 decline but neither disneyland nor knotts had a new attraction for 1991. magic mountain was going to keep the recipe for success and become the first park in history to open a coaster three years in a row announcing flashback an intimate space diver this was advertised as a new coaster but it wasn't the same ride rotation program that saw the relocation of serious bobsleds and shockwave had now brought magic mountain their first portable coaster flashback was once known as z force just like their looping ship and started its life at six flags great america in 1985. before finding a new home at six flags over georgia in 1988 it would find its final landing place at magic mountain for the 1992 season as six flags phased this program out after 1993 still billed as a new coaster and with the general public none the wiser flashback opened to a great reception in april the park threw a baby shower for their new coaster passing out bubble gum cigars and baby bottles full of jelly beans to media members and guests with park president joseph shellacky comparing the opening to a berth in the family the coaster would take its riders up 86 feet and then plunge them through six steeply bank vertical 180 degree dives bent to simulate free fall and then ends with a 540 degree upward helix it would be located between mystic lake and bugs bunny world and would be deemed by one outlet the eighth wonder of the coaster world i heard that family togetherness is the new trend for the 90s so i say to my family hey why don't we head down to orange county to the same place we always go and they say oh dad that's so 80s and the 90s place to go is north of hollywood on i-5 at six flags magic mountain where the whole family can experience 90s hyped togetherness on the world's greatest rise like the new flashback roller coaster not to mention water adventures animal shows music food and fireworks and suddenly i realized maybe the 90s really are more exciting than the 80s just a month later during the civil unrest in los angeles following the rodney king verdict magic mountain was forced to make a decision should they close or remain open los angeles sports teams canceled or moved their games in fear of what would happen when a massive crowd gathered given the tensions in the city magic mountain decided to remain open drawing criticism from its employees who didn't feel safe and other citizens thinking the park was more concerned with money than safety magic mountain allowed its employees to stay home without being penalized and shut the park down early over the weekend to allow guests and employees to get home before curfew it didn't matter much anyway despite being the first weekend in may the park was a ghost town a pair of major earthquakes in late june also hurt the appeal of tourists coming to southern california and when you add the ongoing recession into the fold 1992 is shaping up to be a tough year answer the call of the new batman stunt show at six flags magic mountains with electrifying stunts explosive action in addition to flashback they also debuted the batman stunt show time warner's first initiative to get their properties into the park capitalizing on their new film batman returns hitting theaters that summer this would feature motorcycle and car stunts the park would also debut batman knights a 15-minute pyrotechnic display that ended with a battle between batman and the joker this was the start of an ongoing trend the theme rides off films bolstered by paramount's acquisition of the five kings entertainment company parks that same year and now 13 of the 20 most popular parks in the us and canada were controlled by universal disney paramount or time warner despite all the factors working against magic mountain they did enough to attract a large crowd in 1992 ending the year with 3.2 million guests unchanged from 1991 but 1993 wouldn't be any easier the year kicked off with the loss of president joseph shalaki who took a job at the top of petroco in texas he was replaced by del holland a 30-year veteran with the company most recently the president of six flags over georgia after years of drought in southern california spanning from 1986 through 1992 record-breaking rains pounded the region in january hurting early season attendance but holland was about to be hit with a problem much more serious [Music] on april 17th the park had a concert featuring tlc and paperboy it was such a big draw that the park had to close its gates by the early afternoon angry guests stormed down magic mountain parkway and attacked employees and customers at wendy's and marie calendars robbing the cash registers and smashing windows inside the park at full capacity the after hours dance club got too crowded and the park decided to close it people outside the club broke down the door and looted the place along with other locations in the park magic mountain officials cancelled the 9pm concert and closed the park early causing more chaos as security and police tried to get everyone to leave the park the melee caused an estimated 750 thousand dollars in damage after an all-night effort to repair the damage the park was open the next day but now with strict security but while the park could remove the graffiti repair broken windows and replace stolen merchandise the memories wouldn't disappear that easily the park had worked hard to repair their image and stem gang violence in the 1980s and this highly publicized event was not a good look some blame the park for overselling the concert putting money before safety and the local businesses were looking to six flags to reimburse them for their damages the park and the county worked together on a plan to prevent a scenario like this in the future with some even calling for the end of concerts which had been a staple for the park's entertainment since the beginning del holland issued a full-page public apology to everyone in the community stating that the park would only book concerts that were appropriate for the entire family and how this was an isolated incident the park never having this issue with concerts or large crowds in the past in the summer colossus's trains would bump into each other in the station sending nine people to the hospital this brought back memories of a 1990 incident on tidal wave where boats bumped into each other in the station injuring seven magic mountain may have been dealt a tough hand but they had the goods to turn 1993 to their favor their big project was a brand new area in the park designed to resemble yosemite national park this was the high sierra territory the standout attraction was yosemite sam sierra falls a raft water slide but the area would be defined by the world's largest man-made tree a 360-foot life-sized giant sequoia dominating the skyline there would also be a new show the very popular chinese acrobats along with a sports festival that included appearances from players from pro la teams and the dennis the menace screen test which gave audience members the chance to recreate movie scenes 1993 would also be the first year of frightfest the park's new halloween event in the end 1993 was a record-breaking year for the park increasing attendance by 3 percent while knotts and disneyland saw attendance drop time warner also decided to invest 70 million dollars to buy the other fifty percent of six flags it didn't already own and they'd make their presence felt at magic mountain more than ever before this year answer the call to batman the ride in august the park announced the addition of batman the ride for the 1994 season an inverted coaster by bollinger and maviard this would be the same exact model that six flags had installed at six flags great america in 1992 and six flags great adventure in 1993 and something similar had landed on the west coast that same year at paramount's great america [Applause] give me a pin okay we're here in the channel 4 newsroom as you folks there's no surprise for any folks this morning we've been hit with a major earthquake right now we're trying to basically gather some more information trying to figure out where this has been centered in the early morning of january 17 1994 a powerful 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook southern california the earthquake claimed the lives of 57 people and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage including the new hall pass that connected the san fernando valley the antelope valley and the santa clarita valley the closure of this major interchange caused the bottleneck on alternative routes causing less people to travel over the next several months before it could be repaired the park reported no visible damage in the aftermath of the quake but later on would discover problems with eagle's flight opting to permanently close the ride instead of fixing it many people also believe the earthquake caused damage to cyclone and this made the wooden coaster rougher and aged poorly magic mountain would still have to close the park because their water supply was severed and wouldn't be able to reopen until february 5th donating their admission proceeds from that weekend to the american red cross attendance may have been lighter than normal in those weeks following the parks reopening but they were gearing up for a huge summer with batman the ride and the opening of the brand new gotham city area of the park the largest project in the park's history the subway and turbo were renamed acme atom smasher and gordon gear works to fit the theme while the park had to bid farewell to z-force to use its land for the new coaster the whole area was like entering a new reality the grimy city of gotham batman's queue was designed to simulate the entrance to gotham park where everything was beautiful but as you walk deeper into the queue you run into the gotham public works project and in order to escape you need to walk through a giant pipe to get to the bat cave where you board the coaster batman the ride was a huge hit as the novelty of going upside down while under the track sparked curiosity of people all over southern california unfortunately for the park this included gangs in april there was a shooting and a stabbing outside the park and security had to deal with the coordinated gang effort to vandalize and loot the park magic mountain found themselves on the defensive from an anti-gang task force accusing them of failing to make the park more family oriented as they promised after the incident the year prior the park pointed out their efforts to deny entry to members of gangs on their ban list increased security inside the park paying l.a county sheriff's deputies to be stationed at the park on the weekends and hiring gang experts to screen people at the entrance the park did reject the idea of installing metal detectors citing that it would take too much time to get everyone through by the end of the summer a story emerged about six flags plans to add a new resort adjacent to magic mountain this was revealed to be hurricane harbor a 22-acre water park with a separate admission price six flags was hoping to make magic mountain into a two-day attraction and the complex would now be known as six flags california hurricane harbor was expected to bring in as much as 45 million dollars a year and add 250 jobs this was not a brand new idea it had been on the drawing board for 10 years but park officials said the earthquake inspired them to give the project the green light there was some apprehension about an investment this big leading up to 1994 but management figured if the park could succeed under great adversity it could do even better in most other years indeed despite its problems 1994 was yet another record-breaking year for magic mountain while disneyland posted a 10 decline in attendance magic mountain managed to increase its 1993 numbers by 6 percent up to 3.5 million guests the park also claimed a new world record granting 15 million roller coaster rides in 1994 including running cyclone backwards for the first time during fry fest as the calendar turned in 1995 more details emerged about hurricane harbor the price tag was set at 35 million dollars kyle stith was hired as manager of operations taken from six flags waterworld in houston texas the park would be themed to a storm-ravaged island with a smoking volcano at the park center time warner had pumped 40 million dollars into the park over the prior three years but by april rumors surfaced that the company may be trying to sell half at stake and six flags to help pay off some of its debt the deal was struck quickly as 51 was sold to boston ventures an investment group pulling in 200 million dollars in cash and unloading 800 million dollars in debt time warner continued to operate the park with its 49 stake allowing the park to keep its looney tunes and batman attractions in fact the batman stunt show was even updated in 1995 to coincide with the release of batman forever where batman and robin save gotham city from the riddler's mind stealing ray hurricane harbor opened on june 16th with balloon arches bugs bunny and a band but a storm forced the park to close at 2pm despite quite literally raining on hurricane harbors parade it had a successful opening weekend by the end of summer magic mountain reported record summer attendance for the third straight year up seven percent from 1994. the hope to bring guests out for two days seemed to be working as they drew more people from outside markets buying a ticket for magic mountain one day and a ticket for hurricane harbor another day there were some concerns that people would not want to come out to dusty old santa clarita as a multi-day tourist destination but that appears to be exactly what happened as nearby hotels enjoyed 98 capacity during the summer magic mountain was hoping to capitalize on their biggest expansion ever with a roller coaster unlike anything that had ever been built [Music] in the first week of 1996 the park announced superman the escape the world's first 100 mile per hour coaster set to open in the spring and using the land formerly occupied by the recently departed eagles flight the ride would make use of electromagnetic catapults to achieve the mark technology never used before on a coaster after reaching the 100 mile per hour mark it would climb a 415 foot tower before returning to the station paul rubin north american editor of park world magazine said the roller coaster arms race has been inching skyward but this is a quantum leap over anything else that's out there the linear induction motors used on the ride are the same as the navy was studying to launch jets off aircraft carriers at the peak of the tower all the way back to the ground riders would experience 6.5 weightless seconds this would also be the first time the park would utilize the internet for a marketing campaign setting up a website to follow the ride's construction with updates twice a month park spokesperson palmer moody said the reason for going on the web is you're reaching millions of people people go on the web to look for vacation sites and specifically theme parks i think the net offers all sorts of interesting opportunities to theme parks and guests but the internet played an unintended role in superman's construction and that was gossip superman's original june 1st launch date was scrapped and this was due to a delay in receiving a part putting their testing behind schedule the park was hoping for a mid-june opening but by mid-june the ride was only reaching speeds of 50 to 70 miles per hour the media was already touting the ride as a headache for the park by the end of july superman was hitting speeds of 89 miles per hour and the park no longer wanted to give a projected opening date they chalked up the delay to the ride being a prototype and asked for patience but the message boards online were buzzing with speculation including the speed being too much for the ride vehicles with parts starting to burn or that the park could only get 60 miles per hour because there was a problem with the drive or even that launching it at full speed would snap off the top of the tower others were more critical saying the park should have anticipated delays and gotten started earlier calling it superman the mistake by the end of september the park was waiting for more parts to arrive by the end of november the park invited season pass holders to write superman still not hitting the 100 mile per hour mark but maxing out at 90 to 95 miles per hour it was the end of a disappointing year that included the tragedy of another park employee being killed on the job when a ride operator on revolution slipped in front of a moving train in the station the one bright spot was the opening of dive devil the park sky coaster an upcharge attraction that simulated bungee jumping the park managed to match his 1995 attendance and was looking forward to a better year in 1997. their first move was to expand hurricane harbor doubling its number of slides from its opening year two years prior the highlight being black snake summit a 75-foot tower with five slides branching off including the near vertical venom drop on february 27th magic mountain got final approval from county safety officials to open superman finally hitting that elusive 100 mile per hour mark riders walk into superman's fortress of solitude into a dark and narrow corridor before arriving in the station boarding the 14-person car before being blasted out taking seven seconds to reach that top speed the speed that had been the reason the ride was delayed by nine and a half months in the face of an industry-wide attendance slump magic mountain boasted what they called solid numbers experts figured the numbers were bound to level off after several straight years of big additions including disneyland's indiana jones and universal's jurassic park the ride but the southern california theme park market was about to get much more competitive as the family-owned knott's berry farm was sold at six flags main competitor cedar fair and a new 325 foot drop tower was set to debut in 1998 with a massive new wooden coaster to follow magic mountain was not about to be left on the sidelines was that over the top i can never tell [Laughter] during the first week of the year the park unveiled the riddler's revenge a 156 foot tall 65 miles per hour six inversion stand-up coaster this was the grown-up version of shockwave as the pr manager put it which departed the park almost a decade earlier it would be a custom designed model with over 4000 feet of track with its layout wrapping around and over freefall while riddler's track was going vertical time warner decided to vacate the theme park industry to focus on its core entertainment media assets it made a deal along with its investment partner boston ventures to sell the six flags chain and its 12 parks to premiere parks incorporated for 1.9 billion dollars premiere would also gain exclusive theme park rights through the looney tunes characters as well as dc comics preventing a major retheming effort at magic mountain as well as throughout the chain despite the el nino event dumping rain on california throughout the winter of 1998 riddler's revenge was able to open on time giving the media their preview on april 1st and opening to the public on april 4th just in time for spring break magic mountain posted a 10 attendance increase over spring break 1997. for the kids the international acrobatic circus would make its u.s debut and looney tunes nights would bring a parade and a fireworks show but it was far from a party in 98. a shooting in the parking lot left one miner dead in april 11 people were arrested for fighting inside the park with some reports of shots fired inside the park the conversation about the park security and image was rekindled with nicknames flying around like six stabs magic mountain as well as tragic mountain and by october the park announced that it would be installing metal detectors this was a measure rejected by the park four years earlier but recent events combined with premier park's use of metal detectors at some of its parks finally pushed magic mountain to do it becoming the first southern california park to employ them full time by the end of the year despite the success of riddler's revenge magic mountain posted a 9 drop in attendance mainly due to el nino washing out the early parts of the year magic mountain's big plans for 1999 revolved around bugs bunny world expanding the area with 16 new rides and attractions including a brand new enf miler kids coaster canyon blaster this was enough for the park to boost its attendance from 1998 by 4 percent drawing in families interested in taking their kids to the new and improved bugs bunny world and having good weather in contrast to 1998's el nino washout the future of the park looked bright premiere parks indicated that they wanted to invest a lot of money into magic mountain seeing even more potential in the park and this was boosted by the news that new hall ended farming the original builders of the park was planning a 400 acre addition around the park this would turn magic mountain into a true resort with a retail and entertainment complex along with hotels the project was slated to be four times the size of the park itself and put magic mountain on the tourist level of disney and universal considering disney was building california adventure and downtown disney to be opened in 2001 and universal's already successful citywalk in late 1998 rumors started surfacing about a new coaster for the park and not just any coaster a true record breaker in april of 1999 blue steel beams and orange ribbons of track started appearing in the park's back lot all the park had to say was it's just stuff that's getting here early for the year 2000 what was the park so tight-lipped about 10 years after debuting the monstrous viper and after a decade of peppering the park with seven major coasters magic mountain was about to outdo themselves once again with yet another record breaker a giant among coasters [Music] roller coasters appeal to the american character the same spirit that settled the continent animates the search for an ever more thrilling ride [Music] [Music] what has big blue pylons long orange track goes way up in the air curves around and comes back down that's what everyone was asking in the fall of 1999. six flags hadn't announced any of their new for 2000 coasters yet and there was some speculation that this mystery mega coaster could be in the 270 to 320 foot range cedar point was already touting their new for 2000 coaster millennium force as the world's tallest coaster disregarding superman's 415 foot tower deepening the rivalry between the parks in november the new coaster was topped off and the curtain was finally dropped this would be goliath featuring a 255 foot drop and although it wouldn't top millennium force goliath would be the first big attraction of the new millennium and claim the record for biggest coaster from japan's fujiyama even if it was just for a few months the park was hoping goliath would boost attendance to new record levels previously set in 1994 goliath is a reference to the biblical account of david versus goliath and for media day on february 10 2000 magic mountain invited hundreds of people named david from all over the country to come and get their first rides despite a cold driving ring goliath made its debut to rave reviews people seem to notice how smooth the ride was using polyurethane wheels and how quiet it ran how fast it was and most of all the intense finale goliath ends with a 585 degree helix exerting pressure on your body more than four times the force of gravity you can't move your head or your arms until it's over goliath was the apex of a long string of additions for the park adding seven other coasters over the prior decade but to understand what was coming next you have to look at their new ownership premier parks bought the six flags parks from time warner in 1998 and they were hyper aggressive in expanding their number of parks and the number of roller coasters in each park canyon blaster is one of 21 new coasters added to the chain in 1999 and goliath was one of 21 new coasters added to the chain in 2000 parks like six flags ohio and six flags holland received four coasters each in 2000 alone and magic mountain was about to get a big chunk of that pie in december 2000 magic mountains stunned the coaster world by announcing three new coasters to open in the spring of 2001. one was goliath jr which had operated at the park from its opening until 1998 when it was put into storage previously known as clown coaster and wildly coyote coaster and it was rebuilt in the shadow of goliath the other two were first of their kind thrill coasters including deja vu a vacoma giant inverted boomerang one of three being introduced to the chain in 2001 as well as x the aerodynamics fourth dimension coaster which captured everyone's attention this would feature a near vertical drop at over 200 feet with riders sitting two across on either side of the track and would feature a brand new style of track with an extra set of rails that controls how the seats spin magic mountain had already established its role in the southern california theme park market but it seemed like they were more focused on one upping cedar point thousands of miles away in ohio to be the true coaster capital of the world this would vault them over cedar point in the race to have the most coasters park president del holland said we dropped a bombshell that's sure to echo throughout the industry we've always held our ground as one of the world's best thrill parks but with southern california's rapidly changing theme park climate it's the perfect opportunity to elevate our status and become number one a chance to redefine the park and stake our claim as the world's one and only extreme park as holland referenced this was also a good move to take some of the spotlight away from disney who was set to open their brand new california adventure park in february 2001 was shaping up to be a great year to celebrate the park's 30th anniversary it was anything but 2001 started off all right goliath jr opened in late march touted as the training ground for young thrill seekers thrill shot opened in the cyclone bay area of the park a new slingshot of charge ride from sns worldwide california adventure opened up on time but the crowds weren't showing up a wet winter didn't help neither did a slowing economy and by spring break the whole industry was nervous when the new park was drawing in only half the crowd they were expecting tourism was way down nationwide in the spring of 2001 but magic mountain was counting on doing what they've always done attracting locals to come ride their new state-of-the-art thrill coasters as park spokeswoman amy means said it would have to be one heck of a great depression to keep people away from here but with new prototypes comes new problems and both deja vu and x had their spring openings pushed back deja vu had a may 24th date slated to capitalize on memorial day crowds but sudden errors and malfunctions during testing pushed the opening all the way back to the tail end of summer as enthusiasts watched and waited as all three of these giant inverted boomerangs missed their targeted opening dates by a long shot earning the moniker delay javo the coaster would finally open to the public three months late on august 25th meanwhile the revolutionary fourth dimension coaster x was having problems of its own that extended far beyond the summer especially around its trains while the manufacturers were doing their fine-tuning and everybody was waiting for the ropes to drop the park faced some other unforeseen challenges on june 2nd a woman died of an aneurysm while riding goliath the ride was closed for a few hours but reopened the same day but the state ordered it to be closed for 10 days while they performed an investigation although the aneurysm had been caused by a pre-existing heart condition the final report called goliath a factor in her death the incident fed into the ongoing conversation about theme park safety as the manufacturers were coming up with crazy new ideas and more intense forces and as parks were snatching them up as fast as they can produce them such as the two new extreme coasters under construction at magic mountain the effect of these rides on the human body was under a microscope led by massachusetts representative ed markey to make things worse the park was hit by a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of guests who were turned away as part of their efforts to curtail gang activity and then two more lawsuits in the span of a week later in the summer both claiming discrimination at the entrance anybody know what that smoke is in lower manhattan i'm sorry a lot of smoke in lower manhattan a lot of smoking lowering in manhattan out of the top of the world trade center building a major fire the terrorist attacks of september 11th on new york city and washington dc shook the country and the world magic mountain and other southern california parks never opened their gates on that tuesday but reopened the next day in addition to metal detectors bag shacks started becoming the norm as well magic mountain held a teddy bear drive starting the following saturday where people could bring stuffed animals to be sent to the salvation army in new york and that same day hurricane harbor had to be evacuated after four men falsely claimed they left dynamite in one of the lockers the attacks would not help the already sluggish tourism industry making the local market that much more important and they were going to draw them in with their brand new rides x opened to pass holders in december and held this grand opening to the public in january everyone wanted a piece of this one-of-a-kind experience spinning 360 degrees on a vertical axis while traversing elements at 76 miles per hour it was the wildest coaster on earth and as early writers testified definitely worth the wait it would receive top new ride honors from popular science magazine iapa amusement today and themeparkcritic.com park spokesman andy gallardo said the park had never seen a coaster rise in popularity so quickly no matter what idea you have about roller coasters this just defies anything you've ever known about a coaster super bowl mvp dexter jackson chose to celebrate not at disneyland but on x but behind the fanfare of debuting the pink and yellow monster greeting everyone as they approached the park there was an ugly side x's manufacturer aerodynamics had filed for bankruptcy shortly before the ride opened six flags sued them for 5.8 million dollars because of the problems with their prototype in the early months of 2002 guests would have to wait four to five hours as x dealt with long periods of downtime and one trend operations given aerodynamics problems magic mountain wanted to bring on another company to fix it and even tried to acquire the design plans for x in exchange for ten thousand dollars and dropping their lawsuit this offer was rejected the park shot the coaster down in june because the seat rotation was not moving smoothly and it would remain closed until august the park was even sued for false advertising luring people into the extreme park while x sat closed for weeks and even months this included advertising on cocaine's which coca-cola claimed was in the process of being removed still x helped magic mountain draw in more people in 2002 compared to 2001 while other parks in the chain like great adventure over texas and worlds of adventure did not add anything new following major additions in 2001 and saw a drop in revenue of 25 million dollars magic mountain was hoping a brand new major ride would help keep the upward trend going in november blue and yellow coaster tracks started to arrive in the back lot and it didn't take long for the park to confirm what was coming a b m flawless coaster called scream six flag spokesman andy gallardo called it the missing link in the parks lineup and more importantly it was a tried and tested model surely more reliable than their last two coasters as these floorless coasters had been popping up all over the six flights chain and elsewhere since 1999 magic mountain and the whole industry got some good news as 2003 kicked off with two studies commissioned by the industry returning results showing that roller coasters are not harmful to people's health these reports helped combat the attempt to impose federal regulations on theme parks six flags also pledged to report all coaster-related brain injuries to federal authorities like the one on goliath in 2001 but also occurring on knots montezuma's revenge and disneyland's indiana jones scream would open in time for spring break in 2003 a mirror image of medusa at new jersey's six flags great adventure located in the parking lot behind colossus but wasn't enough to bump attendance from 2002 as most parks nationwide saw their attendance dip flashback which had been closed during the summer to spare hurricane harbor patrons the noise normally would reopen in the off season but it would give its final rides in 2003. the park's original scrambler was damaged by an uprooted tree but the park was able to get a replacement from six flags over texas also in response to the mounting lawsuits and still trying to keep the parks safe magic mountain announced the contract with the sheriff's department to have their own unit on the premises a half million dollar investment by the park to bolster security around the perimeter where there had been so many issues in the past as well as be nearby to respond to calls within the park and outstepped that old guy [Music] 2004 was a tough year for the park and the chain as a whole there was nothing new introducing to the park and a ride operator was killed on screen after entering a restricted zone during morning testing the ride was shut down but reopened a few days later in june the state ordered the park to shut down superman over concerns with the t-bar restraints this was the same design as found on perilous plunge at knotts hydro at oakwood theme park in wales and superman right of steel at six flags new england all of which had riders fall to their deaths in recent accidents knott's berry farm's accelerator received the same order magic mountain announced that they would keep the right clothes until the lap bars were modified the 400 acre expansion pitched by new homeland had farmed five years earlier never materialized which would have been a big boon to the park and the economy rumblings from the top are growing louder as six flags attendance and revenue was down and its stock took a 37 hit through the first half of 2004 the massive investment over the last five years was not paying off as they expected there were calls for a change in leadership from the company's top investors and daniel snyder was able to acquire enough shares to take control of the board of directors in 2005. drastic measures had to be taken given the company's 2.1 billion dollars in debt and the bad situation was made worse when they lost six flags new orleans to hurricane katrina and sold astroworld for about half of what they wanted for it snyder got rid of ceo kieran burke and brought in espn's young vp of programming mark shapiro his vision of bringing six flags out of the depths of despair revolved around making the parks appealing to families six flags had a reputation of attracting teenagers to ride the biggest and best throw rides but that meant very little cash flow and security problems by the time shapiro came into power land was already being cleared for the next big project at magic mountain the first coaster to open up in three years the flying beast sitting on top of the mountain tatsu born a fire forged from fear the beast has risen park myth hard metal introducing tatsu the longest tallest fastest flying coaster on the planet this would be a massive expensive b m flying coaster rising 170 feet off the ground before performing a series of acrobatic elements all while the rider is face down finishing off with an intense pretzel loop element 124 feet off the ground where the ride finally hits his top speed of 62 miles per hour tatsu was visually stunning for anyone passing by and when it opened in may of 2006 it got great reviews and it was a huge draw but it failed to do one thing and that was fit into mark shapiro's vision to overhaul the chain shapiro knew of the park's history with gangs and violence and felt that the park's 17 coasters brought in a rowdy crowd of teenagers who hated all of his changes to make the park more attractive to families and families would be deterred from coming to the park and spending their money if there were too many teenagers causing problems with universal knots and disneyland nearby shapiro saw the family park market in california as oversaturated and turning magic mountain into a park that had to compete with their clientele didn't make a lot of sense also the land that magic mountain sat on was valuable to real estate developers and given the chain's debt problems shapiro saw the chance to sell a park that doesn't fit into the chain's future for top dollar despite the success of tatsu the rumors of the park possibly closing and turning into a housing track hurt morale and the uncertainty of the park's future was blamed for the 25 drop in attendance six flags was trying to sell magic mountain as part of a package deal with six other parks using some of the fears that the park would be bought by real estate developers who would scrap the park but in the end magic mountain stayed in the chain while several other smaller parks were sold off to help pay down the chain's debt magic mountain was here to stay and shapiro would do what it took to give the park a broader appeal this included a vip tour where guests could pay a premium to have a tour guide take them around the park with immediate access to food and rides also the justice league feast brunch with bugs and name-brand restaurants like coldstone papa john's and johnny rockets making their debut the plaza cafe would be converted into the cyber cafe where guests could use the internet the sky tower would be converted into a museum of the park's history the batman begins stunt show would be joined by entertainment at the warner brothers kids club along with daily parades and the fireworks show the park invited people to get married on tatsu on july 7 2007 and picked seven couples to take the plunge on 7707 the new approach resulted in the chain's best guest satisfaction score since 2002 and although they were still posting losses attendance was up just as things were looking up an explosion inside a tunnel in the new hall pass cut off a major artery to the park coming from the antelope and san fernando valleys right in the middle of freightfest cutting attendance by one-third this was the same section of the freeway that collapsed during the 1994 northridge earthquake and that caused the same problem november was the month of thomas first the park announced thomastown to debut in the spring of 2008 a kids area adjacent to bugs bunny world encouraging families to come back to the park with their small children a few days later jay thomas was named the new park president after del holland decided to retire following a 44-year run with six flags thomas was an 18-year veteran of the six flags chain most recently serving as the president of six flags kentucky kingdom he came in with the focus on improving employee morale placing people in roles that made sense for their personality and challenges workers to pick up all the leaves off the footpaths saying that leaves encourage trash this went along with a new guest code of conduct banning smoking outside of designated areas as well as profanity bathing suits and line cutting the park also announced that x would be closed down for renovation to come back in 2008 as x2 or x to the second power a 10 million revamp from sns worldwide the trains that had plagued the ride from the beginning were too heavy for the track and sns was ready to install new ones that were 5 tons lighter the renovation would include a new color scheme on-ride sound and a fire effect shapiro noted this was part of about 100 million dollars the park had invested into magic mountain to clean up all aspects of the park and that part of making the park work was taking out what doesn't work 2007 saw the removal of cyclone and flashback as well as granny grand prix to make room for thomastown and the following year four more rides would bite the dust spin out sierra twist circus wheel and free fall [Applause] six flags more flags more fun despite continuing to post net losses six flags reported growth in the fourth quarter and profits up 35 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2008 x2 opened for memorial day weekend back and better than ever offering a smoother ride and a soundtrack going up the lip hill and throughout the course including a range from metallica to frank sinatra and right before the train backs into the final raven turn there's a fireball in your face but fire wasn't always the park's friend as the park had to pull the plug on their nightly fireworks show due to concerns over brush fires later in the year the park would begin to test their new cubot ride reservation system where guests could pay to cut their time in line tapping into a new line of revenue the park and shane in general seem to be on the right track but not everything is under their control the number of body blows it took today the american financial system is rocked to its foundation as top wall street institutions topple under a mountain of debt the credit markets were in a gradual meltdown starting in 2007 and it reached the apex in late summer of 2008. the economy was in a recession heading into 2009 where disney cut 1900 jobs in anticipation of a downturn in business but matching mountain refused to make any cuts hoping the bad economy wouldn't hurt the regional parks as much as the destination parks even by april 2009 the orlando theme parks were feeling the effects of the recession six flags was warned late in 2008 that its stock value was too low to be listed on the new york stock exchange and with consumers spending down and the newfound difficulty of accessing credit facilities six flags was in a dire position its credit rating was downgraded by moody's and stocks sunk down to 19 cents per share six flags had an august 15 2008 deadline to pay nearly 300 million dollars to preferred shareholders and it was becoming clear they wouldn't be able to do it the new york stock exchange delisted six flex stock in april of 2009. what happened here the machines happened this is not the coast that my mother warned me about with the financial storm looming in the background magic mountain debuted a brand new coaster on memorial day weekend terminator salvation the ride in conjunction with the new terminator film hitting theaters that summer this is a gci coaster standing on the plot of the recently departed cyclone sporting a post-apocalyptic theme including an entire storyline in the queue before boarding the coaster equipped with on-ride sound and featuring a station flyby and fire effect about three weeks after the grand opening six flags officially filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection looking to reorganize and shed 1.8 billion of its 2.4 billion debt j thomas and other park spokespeople assured the public this was just a back of the house issue and there would be no effect on the day-to-day operations of the park in a letter to the editor of the local newspaper the signal thomas said the mission to turn the park around was working and the park will continue to improve despite the bankruptcy we're still hiring staff adding days expanding hours launching new shows giving you and your family more dining options and bringing you our summer concert series all without raising admission prices magic mountain will continue to be the safe fun escape from the ordinary that generations of families have always enjoyed it will continue to be the place where imaginations run wild and lifelong memories are created i'd like to thank all of you our staff our local communities and especially our guests for making six flags more fun than ever [Music] jay thomas was right the park did march on but it wouldn't be the same it's not just the six flags of visitors screaming these days investors are making some noise after the company ran into serious cash flow trouble the big brand everybody knows it and there's some big names involved here as well how about daniel snyder owner of the washington redskins how about bill gates these guys put in a lot of money into six flags a few years ago and now they have lost it all now six flags parks filing for bankruptcy over the weekend that company reporting its depths of over two billion dollars despite the fact that six flags had more than 25 million visitors last year so what the world's happening to what the world's happening [Music] so [Music] for the last two decades magic mountain got to reap the windfall of massive six flags investments from 1990 to 2009 the park introduced 13 coasters you could start to see the wheels falling off the train heading into the mid-2000s and despite a drastic effort to save the chain starting in 2005 the economic crash of 2008 was the death blow six flags filed for bankruptcy in june of 2009 and emerged from bankruptcy nearly a year later the company started off with 2.7 billion dollars of debt and came out of the ordeal with just one billion dollars of debt achieved by turning the ownership of the company over to bondholders with multiple hedge funds owning its bonds and investing more than 700 million dollars into the six flags entertainment corporation all of the existing shares of stock were wiped out and six flags applied to list newly issued shares on the new york stock exchange dan snyder was a key player in trying to save the chain before its demise but he was not part of the reorganized board of directors with the economy in shambles six flags appealed to investors by saying that people would opt to have more fun close to home and that meant trips to their local six flags parks but 2009 was still a bad year for the chain with attendance down six percent and revenue down 11 the new decade started off with park president jay thomas leaving magic mountain for a job in the corporate office in dallas replaced by bonnie reb john from warner brothers but before that she had worked at magic mountain for 22 years starting off as an entry-level worker in 1985. she also became the first woman to claim the title as president of magic mountain rabjohn was taking over a park with a questionable future for so long it had benefited from the biggest and best coasters on the market but those 20 million dollar rides coming on a near yearly basis was what got the chain in trouble in the first place right out of the shoot we would get a glimpse of the future of six flags in fact the park was supposed to open a new coaster for the 2010 season well not exactly new six flags lost six flags new orleans after hurricane katrina in 2005 and within a couple of years they started taking rides out to use at their other parks magic mountain was the lucky winner of the verkoma junior coaster road runners express set to open in the back corner of the park near deja vu and with the name mr six's dance coaster but construction delays forced the park to push the opening back to 2011. it seems like there was a lot of uncertainty around this coaster as by late summer the park confirmed that the mr6 theme would not be used rather it would be called little flash to go along with the dc theme and then in the fall they confirmed the ride would not be set next to deja vu it would be in bugs bunny world and it would use the site occupied by yosemite sam sierra falls marking the end of the raft slide's 17-year run the location in bugs bunny world would also lead the park to go with a looney tunes theme opting for the same roadrunner express name it used at six flags new orleans road runner was late to the party and it wouldn't be making its debut alone in 2011. superman the escape closed down without notice in july of 2010 with a sign indicating that it wouldn't reopen until 2011 with australia's tower of terror getting a makeover that same year that included turning the cars around to face backwards this seemed to be the direction that magic mountain was headed also in october the park confirmed the future of superman it would now be known as superman escape from krypton the gray tower would be painted blue red and yellow and the trains would run backwards the lap bars would be replaced with over-the-shoulder restraints the first additions for the park following bankruptcy were a relocated family coaster and a renovation of an existing coaster but there was something else in magic mountain's bag of tricks for 2011 and it was something they probably wish had never been unleashed onto the public in brightest days in blackest night no evil shall escape my sight let those who worship evils might beware my power green lantern first flight on the small plot of land between batman the ride and tidal wave on the former spot of their enterprise reactor a very compact intimate wing coaster would emerge this would be called green lantern first flight it's opening coinciding with the ryan reynolds green lantern film hitting theaters that summer this was the intimate zak spin model with three other installations in europe but this was the first one to come to america its spring opening date would be delayed through may into june and finally would open on july 1st standing 105 feet tall and covering 810 feet of track riders would spin freely on a vertical axis going both forward and backwards but as mechanics quickly found out the ride hit a weird quirk where the train would come back to the station upside down extra weight was added to the trains and the spinning was reduced to help solve the problem but it made the ride's forces uncomfortable and the ride's popularity started to suffer green lantern was the main attraction in the brand new dc universe a total renovation of the old gotham city area with bright and vibrant colors that contrasted the drab and grimy feel of gotham city gear works was re-themed to wonder woman and adam smasher was re-themed to the flash green lantern marked the park's 18th coaster overtaking cedar point for the most coasters in any park in the world but that wouldn't last long early in the year rumors started circulating about the possibility of deja vu being removed and sent to six flags new england in october that rumor was confirmed to be true it didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense for the park to give up their coaster record voluntarily but this wasn't the six flags of old this was post bankruptcy six flags they were looking to move pieces around the chain to maximize their value this included taking iron wolf out of great america and giving it to six flags america raising occasion making the same trek a couple years later and pandemonium moving from discovery kingdom to mexico deja vu at magic mountain was only 10 years old but it was the only one of the original three that still remained in the chain its maintenance and capacity issues became a problem and it seems like six flags wanted to get it to a park with less foot traffic and also to get it to a park that could use it more than magic mountain the chain as a whole started shutting its license deals by 2011 sticking to looney tunes and dc comics properties but otherwise going with more generic themes this affected magic mountain when terminator salvation the ride turned into apocalypse and thomas town turned into whistle stop park 2011 may have been the park's 40th anniversary celebration but it was also the year that we had to say goodbye to two of the park's originals one was the metro the monorail that had been standing idle for 10 years up to that point but it was finally to be removed from the park there are still pieces of the metro standing to this day generally out of the view of the public but are easily visible if you know where to look the other right to bid farewell was the beloved log jammer on october 31 2011 the last log would make its final splashdown without any official warning from the park logjammer's closure was a surprise to a lot of park goers the metro and logjammer simultaneous removals were no coincidence the park was prepping their land for something big in 2013 but in the meantime the park was not about to leave its guests empty-handed for the 2012 season in september 2011 the park unveiled the world's tallest drop tower lex luthor drop of doom built by intamin it would make use of its very own 415 foot superman tower to hoist riders up either side dropping them 400 feet and hitting speeds of 85 miles per hour with the ride coming to a gradual stop with magnetic brakes the park ended a very busy 2011 with 2.7 million guests a 3.8 percent increase from 2010. magic mountain continued their exodus of older or problematic rides into 2012 as they removed thrill shot in february the sns slingshot hadn't operated since 2009 because of maintenance issues but they were eager to reveal their next big project and in march the park revealed a one-of-a-kind roller coaster full throttle would feature the world's tallest loop at 160 feet two launches a top speed of 70 miles per hour and would be the only coaster in the world traversing a loop underneath and on top as the rights finale was a near vertical drop off the top of that record-breaking loop it would be located on the site of log jammer draining all the water from the area and a complete overhaul of the front of the park the restaurant in the front once the chicken plantation then justice league feast then johnny rockets then what the fried was removed in favor of full throttle's entrance as well as a new stage for live music the old arcade would be overhauled and turned into a shop and two restaurants full throttle would start right next to the logjammer station but would hop on top of the mountain over superman's plaza and go into a dive drop into the tunnel that was once used as one of metro's stations a reverse lsm launch would take riders back up the dive drop before boosting the train to his top speed of 70 miles per hour and then diving out the loop and into the brakes as for the theme it was all about living life to the fullest as tim burkhart said everyone thinks they live their life full throttle it doesn't matter if you're 8 years old and riding a skateboard or 80 years old and watching someone ride a skateboard the newly renovated superman escape from krypton fell victim to the park's newest riots having to be closed for the construction of lex luthor which even required a helicopter to install pieces at the highest point and then closed again when crews needed to work on full throttle section to track over the plaza but from the park's standpoint it was worth it as full throttle ushered in a modern look for the front of the park instantly becoming the park's most popular ride when it opened on june 22nd 2013. this would also be the year that six flags would unveil their dining paths where guests could pay one price for the year and get two meals on each visit with lunch in the first half of the day and dinner in the second half six flags would also have to deal with a horrifying incident on july 19th as a woman was ejected and killed on the new texas giant at six flags over texas the issue was a restraint that was not properly locked pointing out the need for an additional restraint mechanism seat belts magic mountain would add seat belts to full throttle and goliath later in the year 2013 also saw the demise of the world's largest man-made tree the giant sequoia that served as the entrance of bugs bunny world this had been installed with the high sierra territory back in 1993. this was part of yet another renovation of the kids area of the park set to open in 2014 featuring a brand new kids coaster this would be speedy gonzalo's hot rod racers a zemperla gravity coaster replacing foghorn leghorn's barnyard railway as well as tweedy's escape which would be moved next to roadrunner express the removal of the tree also saw the removal of mooseburger lodge the main full-service restaurant in the park this was converted into the full throttle sports bar fitting the theme of the adjacent full throttle plaza and part of the recent trend to bring alcohol back to certain areas of the park even though concerts were discontinued at the park for years american idol winner scotty mccurry performed at the july 4th fest sponsored by coca-cola where on the july 4th weekend you could get into the park an hour early with a can of coke and enjoy early ride time on a few coasters as well as games a party at the full throttle plaza and fireworks this was when the park introduced biometric scanners verifying your past not based on your picture but based on your fingerprint this would be a more secure albeit slow method to admit people into the park at magic mountain and across the chain six flags started running their batman the ride inverted coasters backward for a limited time this was a no-cost gimmick to give its guests something new to come experience 2014 had its problems also right after the july 4th fest green lantern closed after a death on one of its sister coasters in spain a teenager was killed when its harness flew open this was at terraminica on a ride called inferno an inspection was done on the restraints to make sure that this could never happen on green lantern on the same day of this incident a tree fell on ninja's track and caused the front car to derail stalling the ride firefighters had to come under the scene and rescue 22 riders after being stuck for about two hours two people in the front car needed to go to the hospital but nobody else reported injuries the ride would be inspected by cal osha and reopened 12 days later with a lot of the trees surrounding the ride being cut down to avoid a repeat incident this was also around the time the sky tower gave its last rides also forced to be closed by the state due to a regulatory issue in order to reopen it the ride would need a multi-million dollar upgrade to the elevator to bring it up to code as an amusement ride and the park did not want to apportion the money for that project but there was one more major announcement in 2014 one that was an emotional gut punch for the park's longtime fans still a thrill ride thrill seekers are flocking to six flags magic mountain for a chance to ride the colossus roller coaster one last word is out this is it for colossus on june 3rd 2014 magic mountain announced that colossus would be closing in mid-august banners went up around the park telling people to take advantage of their last chance to ride the king of wooden roller coasters park spokeswoman sue carpenter said the park would announce exciting future plans that the guests should love this clue fed into speculation that colossus would not actually be removed it would just be overhauled by 2014 there was a way forming through the amusement industry unlike anything it had ever seen old or rough wooden coasters were getting new life thanks to a new invention from rocky mountain construction the eibach track it started right after six flags came out of bankruptcy when the chain was looking for inexpensive ways to build thrill rides giving rmc their first project at six flags over texas and their texas giant coaster redoing the whole layout to include steep drops sharp airtime hills and overbanked turns over a glossy smooth track it was a huge success and six flags employed rmc to overhaul the rattler at fiesta texas this one featuring an inversion in 2014 rmc did the same thing to medusa at six flags mexico coaster enthusiasts could see their writing on the wall but the park remained silent about the future of colossus two weeks before its closure the park held a 36-hour marathon for 24 riders one hour for every year the riot had served the park riders who could make it for the entire 36 hours would win gold season passes good at all six flags parks the weekend colossus gave its final ride the park announced that its plans for the coaster would be released on august 28th the park would not disappoint [Music] twisted colossus would keep the iconic white wooden structure of the original as well as the dual tracks but it would now be a mobius loop coaster using just one station but having the train traverse both sides one blue track one green track making it the longest hybrid coaster in the world with nearly 5 000 feet of track rmc would sync up the elements so the trains would have several different interaction points workout started on the conversion right away and the project got some national attention when a welder set fire to the peak of the lip till on september 9th causing an impressive blaze that lasted 38 minutes collapsing a large chunk of the coaster at the top but causing no other damage to the structure the park voiced their confidence that its may 2015 opening date was still on track in fact the construction manager said the fire was a good thing as he described it we had a decontamination issue that went up in smoke magic mountain would wrap up 2014 with the first ever holiday in the park event decking the park with more than one million lights falling snow light shows carolers crafts holiday treats and a chance for kids to meet santa and mrs claus this would become an extremely popular event for the park throughout the years on the level of frightfest the park was gearing up for a strong 2015 with their new world-class hybrid coaster and would give the entire area the facelift it needed the colossus county fair section is an offshoot of the main path of the park and with the old colossus and scream being the main attractions it didn't get a lot of foot traffic this was now known as the screampunk district with a steampunk theme the magic moments theater would now be the gearworks theater ben and jerry's would now be twisted witches and scream would get a brand new paint job with solid blue track and orange supports twisted colossus would open right on schedule on memorial day weekend drawing in massive crowds and receiving a huge ovation from just about everyone many of whom were getting their first taste of a hybrid coaster where 2015 was all about the thrills and introducing the screenpunk district as a new area of the park matching mountain focused on another section of the park for 2016 the entry plaza the restaurants and retail shops were repainted cyber cafe was reverted back to the plaza cafe as smartphones made the allure of vlogging online obsolete though the park would start offering free wi-fi throughout the park the orient express an original ride from 1971 which would take riders to the top of the hill would now be known as the helpful honda express and was given a fresh paint job this wasn't the first time the park would name a ride after a sponsor as jetstream was renamed arrowhead splashdown between 2001 and 2006. so why focus on the entry plaza in 2016 because the headline edition of the year was the new revolution the first coaster that guests see when they entered the park this was the complete refurbishment of revolution celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016 replacing its old trains with over the shoulder restraints and lap bars with fresh modern looking trains with just a lap bar the coaster would also get a fresh coat of white and blue paint lights tracing the loop and virtual reality headsets this was one of many coasters across the six flags chain to offer the virtual reality experience where riders would be immersed into a world that was synced up with the movements of the ride the main show was a battle with space aliens and for the winter the show would change to a ride on santa's sleigh the whole operation was a showcase for the samsung vr headsets and yet another cheap method for post bankruptcy 6 flags to offer this guest a new experience as dennis spiegel of international theme park services said they can change it annually just rewrite the software rather than spend 25 million dollars on a new coaster virtual reality turned out to be a fad more than a mainstay for the chain as the vr experience moved from revolution to lex luthor drop of doom by 2018 and time will tell if they'll bring it back in another capacity in the future 2016 was a huge year for the park bringing in 3.3 million guests and boosting their 2015 numbers by 7.3 percent the same year universal's attendance balloon by nearly 14 thanks to the opening of the wizarding world magic mountain continued their push for renovation in 2017. this time focusing on the movie district this is where you'd find the batman theater riddler's revenge and jb smokehouse the batman theater would be demolished in early 2016 making room for a brand new ride the interactive shooting dark ride called justice league battle for metropolis this was popular at other six flags parks at the time but magic mountain had never seen a ride quite like it these rides that doubled his games were growing in popularity with every southern california park offering at least one before magic mountain debuted justice league in the summer of 2017. this was part of a brand new area called metropolis removing the rock wall in the middle turning jps into a similar barbecue restaurant called ace of clubs and giving riddler's revenge a brand new paint job turning its black supports yellow just outside of metropolis green lantern first flight would close down unexpectedly at the end of summer low ridership and complaints had prompted the park to make some adjustments to help the ride experience and trim brakes were installed to control the speed through the turns despite this the ride remained dormant and its future was in question around the same time green lantern shut down the park announced that it would operate 365 days a year starting in 2018. the move was aimed to make the park a major destination resort like disneyland and universal hoping to draw on international tourists and seeing a year-round schedule as the way to do it the park didn't have an on-site hotel to host these guests but officials in the park hinted that that may be in their future with attendance up 17 from 2014 to 2016 the demand for the park seemed to justify the expanded schedule though the park would launch a campaign early in 2018 advertising how empty the park is on weekdays in the winter and how many rides you can just walk onto 2018 kicked off for the departure of park president barney rebjohn now known as bonnie sherman weber taking a job at the corporate office in texas and the park welcoming back its old director of operations as the new president neil thurman coming off a two-year stint as the president of sixth flag's great adventure thurman brought the park into 2018 with yet another renovation underway this being the midway area between dc universe and metropolis all of the game booths that dominate the area were given a fresh paint job and another park original was given a full renovation the sandblasters were given new cars a new light package and was renamed jamming bumpers scrambler was repainted and given a shade cover but the main attraction causing this overhaul would be chrysanity a zampurla giga discovery pendulum ride swinging riders up to 172 feet in the air it opened in july as the tallest of its kind in the world before christianity even opened land was being cleared in cyclone bay and wall started appearing with signs teasing yet another ride two was better than one in 2019 one two three four ready set go into 2019 victory is in our future new in 2019 racing towards bigger thrills in 2019 new thrills coming to the west coast in 2019 not even two months after christianity opened to the public neil thurman held a special event on august 29 2018 announcing the park's newest coaster west coast racers this premier ride's launch coaster would mimic twisted colossus in its dual interactive moments and being a mobius loop where riders could experience both the white and the yellow tracks this would be part of a renovation of another part of the park their seventh year in a row doing so and this one needed it the most cyclone bay named after a ride that was removed 12 years prior would now be called the underground referencing the underground street racing culture of los angeles and the park partnered with west coast customs out of burbank to theme the ride and the area as a whole 48 years after opening its gates as a small regional park to draw people to the valencia valley magic mountain was about to become the first park in the world to reach the 20 roller coaster milestone but there was just one problem green lantern its future was still in doubt now closed for a full year and no opening date in sight the work the park had done in the ride made everyone think that it would reopen at some point but on march 23 2019 the park confirmed that it would be removed that same night and throughout the next day green lantern was seen doing test runs a peculiar move for a ride that was just announced for removal but the rumor was there was someone from another park there to see the right in action and perhaps it was laurent the six flex park in montreal canada those rumors turned out to be true as six flags announced in august that green lantern would be reborn at leron as the pair and it started being taken apart a month later the park would also do away with its biometric finger scanners after being sued in illinois over privacy concerns and switch back to a system where they stored your picture and they would appear when your pass is scanned the same system cedar fair uses meanwhile west coast racers was facing massive delays a rainy winter didn't help neither did the track being shipped overseas from italy pieces started arriving in february vertical construction started in may and by mid-july only about half the track was up the park wouldn't start as passholder previews until december 21st with an official opening date of january 9th this made west coast racers the de facto new addition for 2020 but the park had something up their sleeve for 2021 markers started appearing from the green lantern site in dc universe all the way to metropolis a massive footprint for what seemed like a new ride permits were filed for a new roller coaster in the area a near clone of the rmc single rail raptor jersey devil coming to great adventure for 2020 this would be the park's big edition for their 50th anniversary and their official 20th coaster but the world had different plans and the coronavirus outbreak shut the park down from march 13th 2020 all the way until april first 2021. construction crews have been dismantling tidal wave and it seems like their 20th coaster is still on track even if it's a year late and that brings us to today looking back 50 years at the marvelous history of one of the best throw parts in the world from its humble beginnings sporting gold rusher and logjammer as its main riots to the addition of two world-class coasters over the decade to joining the six flags chain to its future being threatened by gang violence to becoming the place for the biggest and best record-breaking coasters to the danger of being sold to real estate developers to becoming the first in the world to reach the elusive 20 mark to being shut down for more than an entire year but coming back strong we've looked at the park's past but now we look at the park's future there's a massive housing development being built in the hills around the perimeter which could be a great thing for the park or it could cause problems six flags has been employing their post bankruptcy investment plan for 10 years now and even though it's certainly different it hasn't been a bad thing for magic mountain the future of magic mountain looks bright heading into the second half of its first century thank you all so much for joining me on this journey throughout the 50 years of magic mountain this is the final episode of the five episode series so if you haven't seen the rest of the videos and you're interested those links are down below if you have a couple hours to spare it may be worth sitting down and pinching the whole thing before you go if you can drop this video a like and share it with whoever may be interested i would really appreciate it this has been by far the biggest project in my channel's history and i welcome any support thank you all for watching and i'll see you all next time [Music] you

Channel: Airtime Thrills

Views: 1,187,617

Keywords: SFMM, six flags, magic mountain, valencia, newhall land & farming, sea world, goliath, twisted colossus, x2, riddler's revenge, apocalypse, scream, coaster, roller coaster, theme park, amusement park, documentary

Id: U_WKum-k4Zw

Length: 121min 23sec (7283 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 25 2021