Will Thomas save Magic Mountain?

[Bud Parsley]

Well, SFMM I guess is serious about trying to cater to the family crowd. They are adding Thomas the Tank Engine this year in a themed land, and demolishing Flashback. No new coasters.

So, thoughts? Does this addition this year make any difference or is this park too far gone? What would you suggest they do?

[65skylark]

I think it is one of many more steps they need to take. I like the idea a lot, but it isn't going to save the place. They are also putting millions of dollars into X to improve it this off-season. It will be known as X2 next year. Both these things will help, IMO. They have been slowly moving in the right direction. Since 2002, I have made 7 trips to SFMM. Every single trip has been a little better than the one before, with the trip in '02 being the worst trip of my life to that place. If they keep to what they are doing, think the place can be turned around, but it will take several more years.

A few things I would like to see:

1. Get the monorail back up and running. It is a nice family ride that really covers a lot of the park.

2. Get rid of Deja Vu. Follow SFGAm's lead and sell the sucker. Good or bad, a ride with that low of capacity does not belong in a park like SFMM.

3. Continue improving on training the ride ops. Operations have gotten considerably better on most coasters but are still poor on a few others. Tatsu is by far the best coaster in the park and has by far the worst operations considering it has a dual loading station and the ability to run four trains with an efficient crew. It should be the most efficient coaster in the park, not one of the least.

4. Raise the price for a season pass!!!!!!! You want a more family friendly crowd in the park? Don't sell season passes for 59 bucks!

5. Include the water park with the price of admission. Hurricane Harbor is an awesome water park. You want to add value and get more people in the gates, do what many other parks are already doing and include the water park with admission.

All in all, I think they are steadily improving. The park is cleaner than it has been in years. They have better food options. They got rid of Psyclone and Flashback will be gone soon. All of these things helped, IMO. They just need to keep improving. They do still have a ways to go.

[65skylark]

Here is a really good SFMM update posted over at Theme Park Review. It was posted by a friend of mine and employee who works there. Just more evidence of what I said about steady (and slow) improvement. Flashback looks to be very close to finally being gone and they seem to have a REALLY need plan for the Sky Tower, along with Tomas Town construction pics and more. Check it out......... www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26782&start=2010