Six Flags looks to transform Magic Mountain's kiddie land
Six Flags Magic Mountain is revamping its kids' land for 2026. But that switch could lead to a lot more than just a new experience for families.
The California theme park announced this morning that it will transform its current Bugs Bunny Land and Whistlestop Park into Looney Tunes Land by next summer. Bugs will remain in the reimagined land, which will be anchored by a Bugs Bunny Play Park section.
Other sections in Looney Tunes Land will include Road Runner Ridge, Taz-Mania, and Camp Duck Amuck.
Site plan for Looney Tunes Land, with Taz-Mania at the top, Road Runner Ridge below and to the right, Bugs Bunny Play Park in the middle and Camp Duck Amuck at the bottom. Image courtesy Six Flags
"The new Looney Tunes Land will be a continuation of our mutually successful partnership with Warner Bros. that began more than 40 years ago and will continue to celebrate the characters of their beloved franchise," Six Flags SVP and West Coast regional general manager Raffi Kaprelyan said. "We are counting down the days until we can invite families to experience the whimsy and fun of Looney Tunes in a way that is more immersive and exciting than ever before."
Concept image from Six Flags detailing the new Granny’s House that will sit at the back of the current Wascal’s restaurant, which also is getting a refresh.
Work gets underway officially in January, following the Holiday in the Park event. The park has filed permits to remove the Tweety's Escape and Magic Flyer rides. An all-new Taz’s Exploration Trail ("where guests will explore the Tasmania Trail and go on a treasure hunt," according to the park) will replace those attractions.
Also in the Taz-Mania area that replaces Whistlestop Park, Whistlestop Train will become Taz’s Tasmanian Train Tours.
On the flip side, down in the new Camp Duck Amuck, Taz’s Trucking Company will become Daffy’s Forest Four-Wheelers. Meanwhile, Bugs Bunny Play Park will replace Speedy Gonzalez Hot Rods and Pepe Le Pew’s Tea Party with "thematic free play and exploration zones."
Now, doing some quick math here, if Magic Mountain loses two kiddie coasters, does that mean it loses the title for world's most roller coasters in one park? Personally, I think including kiddie coasters in a coaster count is a bit absurd, but numbers are numbers. And there remains no word on a timeline for the Vekoma thrill glider coaster on the old Golden Bear Theater site, for which Magic Mountain got approval last year.
Nevertheless, Six Flags is promising a more immersive experience in its redesigned kids' land.
"Each area will have its own color palette, fauna, landscaping, graphics, hardscaping (complete with character footprints in the concrete), railings, signage and more distinct experiences in each area," the park said in its press release.
Replies (6)
I'm glad they're going for a "quality over quantity" approach here for the kiddie coasters. However, it strikes me as odd that this is a 2026 addition. I guess that means that the thrill glider is probably going to get delayed until 2027?
Definitely delayed. There's no construction happening - just site clearing.
Honestly, this feels like a last minute addition to have something new for next year after the coaster got pushed to 2027. They're pulling out four rides and replacing them with a couple play areas, which helps cut back on operational and maintenance costs while offering something different for kids to explore. I just don't know that this is really what the park needs, as the kids area was just refreshed in the mid-2010s and is deserted much of the time.
"There's no construction happening - just site clearing"
@Robert - I've seen photos and reports of coaster track showing up at SFMM, so at least from a progress standpoint on the new coaster, it did seem like before this announcement that there was some expectation that the coaster might open sometime in 2026. My feeling is that as a park with year-round operations that SFMM is not beholden to the expectations of opening new attractions in the spring/early summer, and given that steel had started arriving over the past few weeks, it seemed plausible that SF could get this coaster open in the late summer/early fall if they really wanted. Opening a bit later would also keep them from having to compete head to head with the opening of F&FHD, which I would see as a positive.
This announcement came a bit out of left field for me when considering the current state of WB. It seems odd for SF to double down on a license that has an uncertain future. Perhaps they're betting that the license becomes more valuable assuming Netflix streams the old Looney Toons catalog that has been kept mostly under wraps by HBO/Max hoping that the increased exposure will increase the IPs popularity and awareness. However, even if the IP does increase in popularity under Netflix, there's no guarantee that the IP is worth maintaining when the license expires either because it decreases in value or Netflix wants too much to renew the license.
It really feels like this renovation is being done with an eye to allow greater flexibility if SF chooses not to renew the Looney Toons license beyond the current term. If you look at some of the designs, there's nothing that screams Looney Toons with most of the plans appearing generic western/southwest cartoony. While on the surface it sounds like SF is committing to Looney Toons for the long term, I actually think this is being done explicitly and purposely to allow them to easily switch the theme of their kids' land to something else if necessary.
There were rumors that Kabletown may end up as the home for WB IP, but if the Netflix Houses are successful I wouldn’t be surprised if Warner Brothers new owner claws back the theme park rights for themselves. Warner Brothers themed location based entertainment attractions in the amusement park light metro areas surrounding Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Houston, NYC and Miami could be very successful.
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While SF is working on kiddie areas, the area at SFGA is desperately in need of some updates. After SFGA ripped the Hanna Barbera/Cartoon Network theming out, it has left an area that looks worse than a traveling county fair. (Ironically, the kids area is not located in the county fair section of SFGA.)