California Dreamin' - Part 2: SFMM

June 30, 2026, 12:24 PM

5 stars, highly recommend. If you’ve read my park/attraction reviews and experiences with Six Flags, those are probably the last words you’d expect to see me write about a visit to a Six Flags park, especially Six Flags Magic Mountain. One of my first visits to the park over 2 decades ago ranks as one of my absolute worst theme park experiences where we spent a full day in the park with a final ride count of 8 (including twice on Scream!). Our past few trips to the Valencia park have been better, but this most recent trip was about as close you can get to a perfect day at one of the most notoriously busy parks in the chain. Maybe it was the unexpected crowds and lines at Knott’s that lowered our expectations or the fact that we visited on a Monday, but our experience was about as ideal as you can expect. That’s not to say someone in the park on the same day would have had a horrible time, because we did observe some long attraction lines in the app, but they were always on the opposite side of the park where we were at any given time. Also, we did observe a few operational quirks that didn’t necessarily impact our experience, but is something that I’m sure would annoy many.

We zipped up the I-5 from our hotel in Chatsworth rather quickly on the morning of our visit, so we were probably among the first few dozen cars in the lot. Since we have Prestige Passes, we were able to park in the spaces closest to the first tram/bus stop. The last few times we went to SFMM, trams were few and far between, so we’ve typically walked, but on this day, a nicely air conditioned former transit bus was less than 20 yards from where we parked and departed less than 2 minutes after we boarded, offering a quick and efficient ride up the hill to the park’s front gate. Another advantage of having Prestige Passes is getting through security and entrance gates before other guests. We were held at a rope just past the gate, but we released to the enter the rest of the park about 15 minutes prior to the posted park opening time, which was when regular passholders and single day ticketed guests started entering through the gates. We considered heading to X2 first, but since Zach had ridden that coaster during our last visit in 2019, he wanted to start our day with a new coaster for him, so we headed towards Full Throttle, where we were in the front row of the first train of the day. When this coaster was new, it was quite novel and exciting, but with so many coasters featuring swing launches and multiple launch tracks, the only thing particularly notable about this coaster is the amount of hangtime you get on the former world-record holding loop. Other than that, Full Throttle is short, mostly forceless, and borderline forgettable.

As we walked counterclockwise around the park, you can see the significant clearing work that has occurred to make room for next year’s new roller coaster, but not much else – not footers, or even equipment nearby to do any serious work to erect a major coaster. The coaster isn’t expected to be ready until 2027, but considering track is on site, it was strange for me to see so little work being done. When we reached Goliath’s entrance, the first train of passengers was headed up the lift. However, after we made our way through the long and winding queue and up to the load platform, we had just missed the next load cycle, and with single train ops, it meant we would need to wait 3+ minutes before boarding. For a coaster the quality of Goliath, that’s a pretty short wait, but with such a long course and cycle time, it mean this would be our only ride with waits exceeding 45 minutes for most of the day. It didn’t affect us since we got on early in the day, but if we had arrived later in the day or gone the other way around the park, seeing this coaster operating with just one train would have been really frustrating.

We continued our way around the park and rode Lex Luthor Drop of Doom as a walk on. Any drop ride that is 300+ feet tall is amazing to experience, but I do wonder if SF will continue to operate this when they finally decide to replace Superman. Next up was Twisted Colossus, which was operating with 3 trains, but slow ops meant the trains were not racing/dueling. This coaster was better than I remembered, but I still don’t think it’s better than smaller/shorter RMCs like Twisted Timbers or Goliath (SFGAm). Maybe if the trains were racing/dueling I will change my opinion, but based on my experiences, this coaster falls short of expectations for me. Across the way is Scream! and it didn’t have a line, so we took a quick spin. Boy, this coaster has seriously deteriorated since my last ride and was extremely rough. Also, this steam punk area of the park where Twisted Colossus and Scream! are located is really depressing with sun bleached signs, baren paths, and an empty theater. Back in 2019, the steam punk theme was new, and the area felt vibrant and full of potential, but now just 6 years later it feels like it needs another refresh.

We next moved around to Justice League, which was also a walk-on, and had most of the features and effect working. I had actually forgotten how different this version of the attraction is from other, so it was refreshing to see the slightly different layout and the addition of Harley Quinn. Like Goliath, this would feature significant lines later in the day because of its limited capacity (and air conditioning), so while we had a great experience, guests waiting to ride this later in the day probably didn’t. Wonder Woman would be one of 2 new coasters for me to ride at SFMM, and it’s a fine little coaster. This coaster is a foot taller than Jersey Devil, and features a slightly different configuration on the final brake run, so while it’s not technically a clone of the SFGAdv coaster, it’s pretty much the same. I tend to enjoy RMC single-rail coasters, but they can be a bit uncomfortable with the spread-leg seating position, but the whippy inversions and rapid-fire changes of direction are a blast.

Next door is Batman: The Ride, and while this is a clone, this particular version was running impeccably and might be the smoothest ride I’ve had on a BTR clone anywhere. I’m not sure why SFMM maintenance had Batman running so smooth while Scream! was so rough, but crews should share some notes. Riddler’s Revenge was next up, and also had a very short line, though the notoriously slow operations due to the train design meant it still took a couple minutes to board. B&M stand-up coasters are quickly going extinct, and the ones that are still operating are slowing getting rougher and uncomfortable compared to more modern designs. The riding position is still a novelty, and Riddler’s Revenge is still the gold standard of the design.

We wanted to ride Gold Rusher, but the coaster wasn’t open when we passed by and wouldn’t finally open until we were near the park entrance and ready to leave. We decided to move to West Coast Racers, which would be the other new coaster that has opened since our last trip. I really enjoyed this coaster, but wish the “comfort collars” weren’t necessary. The cool dueling maneuvers are really fun, and the mobius layout is clever to allow riders to experience both tracks in a single ride. The West Coast Customs theme works well, but an IP that’s close to 20 years old now and has not aired in over a decade. The indoor queue is nice given this area of the park is a bit of a concrete wasteland with little shade. I wouldn’t say West Coast Racers is an elite coaster, but it is the type of attraction SF needs more of across the chain. I can’t say the same for Apocalypse The Ride, which is another decently themed coaster, but the ride itself is awful. Even with Millenium Flyer trains, this GCI woodie with a fly-through station is about as rough as they come, undoubtedly from the punishment the tracks take from the California sun.

We eventually started to make our way back towards the front of the park, and bypassed Tatsu, which had a 45 minute wait. We instead grabbed quick rides on Viper and Great American Revolution. Viper was as expected, a mildly rough Arrow looper, while Great American Revolution was run smooth and silky, belying the latter being 14 years older. SFMM has done a slight retheme to Revolution for America’s 250th birthday, and the bunting around the station and new front of the trains are a nice touch for this classic.

With crowds drifting to the other side of the park, we took advantage of a 15-minute posted time for X2 (even with single train operation). It’s inexplicable why this coaster is still named X2 despite not employing the effects and on-board soundtrack that triggered the coaster’s original name change. I did miss the music and flame effects, but it was still great to experience one of the most unique roller coasters on the planet. I do wish the rotation of the seats was a bit smoother, but X2 is one of those coaster every thrill seeker must experience. We would circle back to get another ride with an even shorter line (though ended up in the same seats).

When then went back up the hill to ride Ninja, another type of coaster facing extinction. Of the Arrow suspended coasters remaining in North America, this one is decidedly middle of the pack, superior to Iron Dragon, but not as good as Vortex of The Bat. I feel this coaster has the potential to be the best if it didn’t has such an anticlimactic finish with a long lift hill bringing the train back to the station. Topography is used well on this coaster, but if there was a way to either allow guests to unload at the bottom of the hill or do something to the lift itself to make it more interesting (themed tunnel perhaps) it would make Ninja one of the best of its type. Tatsu consistently had 30+ minute lines and single train operation throughout the day, so we had planned early in the day that this was the coaster we would use out single use Fastlane that comes with our Prestige Passes. I’m not sure if SFMM ever uses both sides of the station on Tatsu anymore (Sea World rarely uses both platforms on Manta), but it’s probably frustrating to visitors when they see what looks to be a perfectly fine-looking train sitting on the far loading platform just sitting there while you wait for what is typically a 5+ minute cycle even with an efficient crew. While waits and seemingly deliberately crippled capacity can be frustrating, Tatsu is still one of the best flying roller coasters in the world (just behind F.L.Y. in my book and neck and neck with Manta). The coaster uses the topography of this section of the park so well, and it creates an intense crush of positive g’s at the bottom of the pretzel loop.

This was truly the first time I had walked away from SFMM where we felt like we had an amazing day. We rode every major coaster in the park and a few other rides along the way, most with minimal to no waits. The park was generally clean and the food we got as part of our season dining was all up to par. However, this park still has a long way to go to get to where it should be given the market and to escape the stereotype of Six Flags. The first is that this park desperately needs more shaded and air-conditioned dining areas. There are plenty of trees around Tatsu and a few more near Goliath as well as an small indoor restaurant, but most other quick serve restaurants and drink stands have just a handful of outdoor picnic tables with umbrellas. That’s probably fine for half the year, but in the hot summer months, most people probably don’t want to eat outside when it’s 90+ degrees. I also think the park needs to commit to more entertainment. We saw a few characters as we walked around, but there weren’t any shows or other options for guests to sit and take a short rest while being entertained. I know SFMM is all about thrills, but if they’re going to be successful in today’s market, they need to appeal to a wider audience and giving older folks and families with small kids something more to do than ride. We walked through the recently renovated Looney Tunes area, but it didn’t look much different than it was the last time we were in the park in 2019 – maybe some fresh paint and a new pad where it looked like they were building a new tracked attraction. Also, like other places around the park, there was very little shade in this section and no indoor spaces that I could see to give families a break from the heat. I also think SFMM needs to start putting some of their aging attractions out of their misery. While not that old, Scream! is running really bad, Apocalypse is painful, and Viper is a relic that offers little to modern thrill seekers. The new coaster, which is reportedly aimed at families, should help take some stress of the ride capacity that could allow the park to trim their lineup so the bad apples can be weeded out. However, those are all suggestions that didn’t impact our overall enjoyment during our visit, which was the best day we’ve had in a SF in a very long time, and the best visit we’ve ever had at SFMM.

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