A Day of Fun at Magic Mountain

Ride the eXtreme rides like Scream, X, Goliath, or Déjà Vu. My favorite is Goliath, followed by X. My friend’s favorite is X, followed by Déjà Vu. Goliath is a roller coaster than plunges down 255 feet at 85 mph. It’s a thrill ride. Scream is a floorless roller coaster that lasts quite a long time. It’s a smooth fast ride. Déjà Vu is a suspended boomerang roller coaster. Because of the boomerang nature of this ride, there is only one car, so be prepared to wait. X is an amazing ride. The seats flip 360 degrees, so when you ride, sometimes it feels like you’re on your head.

Get wet by riding the water rides (Tidal Wave, Arrowhead Splashdown, Log Jammer, and Roaring Rapids) or just stand on the bridge over the Tidal Wave cars where a stream of water splashes you to cool down on a summer day.

Quick Tips:

Check the Internet for discounts. If you buy a print-and-go ticket, you save . It’s advertised widely in Southern California, but not anywhere else, that you can buy one ticket and get one free for bringing a Coca Cola product can to the ticket booth. The Coke discount begins in the spring and ends in the fall. Some Southern California employers provide free or discounted tickets to their employees. Check with your employer. Bring water bottles and eat one meal outside of the park to save money. With your fee to park, you’re allowed one exit and re-entry. Otherwise you’ll spend on a bottle of water, and -10 per meal. There is a .99 souvenir cup with 99¢ refills, but the top doesn’t close well enough to pop into a backpack, so be aware that you will have it in your hand all day.

Don’t risk skin cancer and wrinkles. Slather on the sunscreen. Bring a change of clothes if you plan on getting wet near the end of the day. It can get very cold at night. Otherwise, plan on getting wet earlier so that you dry off by the end of the day.

Best Way To Get Around:

To get there, you should have a car. You could take a taxi or a bus, but I don’t see how that would make better sense than renting or bringing your own car. Sometime big groups come in charter buses, which is best.

From the parking lot, a tram will take you to the park. Sometimes it's faster to just walk if there are huge crowds. Rely on your judgment. At the end of the day, you will be thankful for the tram. Walking to the parking lot seems like a huge ordeal after walking around all day.

You will be walking and standing. Bring suitable shoes. Flip-flops are a bad idea since you will have to deal with your shoes for the suspended roller coasters. Most people just leave their shoes by the side and ride the roller coasters barefoot; otherwise your shoes become a weapon as they fly off your feet at high speeds. At the same time, sneakers might not be a good idea if you ride the water rides. Sloshing around in your socks and sneakers all day isn’t fun. My recommendation is to wear sandals with straps that fit on your feet securely.

Suzette's Bakery serves funnel cakes. There are other bakery items as well, but most people go for the funnel cakes. You can get a funnel cake with strawberry syrup for $7.99 or a funnel cake and drink combo for $6.99. I looked at how much powdered sugar was sitting on top of the funnel cake and realized it was enough to put a diabetic into shock. I decided to go for a funnel cake and drink combo, and I ordered coffee for my drink. Anything else with sugar would have been brutal.

As I waited for my funnel cake, I noticed that the two girls in front of me ordered two cakes. One had strawberry syrup splashed on top. The other not only had strawberry syrup, but whipped cream thickly layered over the syrup. I was shocked. That kind of eating could kill a person! It took forever to get my funnel cake. My coffee was tiny, but I needed a cup of black coffee to cut the sweetness of the funnel cake. I considered adding peaches or other fruit toppings when I perused the display case, but I didn't want that much sugar.

When I finally received my funnel cake, it was hot and fresh. I took it out to my friend who was waiting impatiently on the park bench. He really liked the funnel cake, but balked at buying an additional one to take home to his family after hearing the price. It's a very messy item to eat. Be prepared to have powdered sugar all over your clothing and face. It's worth it.

I was starving, but I didn’t want to eat inside Magic Mountain since the prices would be inflated. My friend and I instead decided to eat at one of the restaurants near Magic Mountain. It was located in a plaza near Magic Mountain Parkway. There were several fast-food places, but my friend nixed most of them. So we decided on El Torito.

El Torito is a Mexican restaurant, but it is definitely NOT authentic. It’s more like a California-Mexican blend (Cal-Mex). Some people call it Tex-Mex, but since El Toritos are concentrated in California, it appears to be have a more health-conscious menu than most Tex-Mex places that I’ve seen. I decided to try the Oaxaca menu since we had recently visited a great Oaxacan restaurant. My friend advised against it, since I would be going from tasting a fantastic mole to an average mole. Still, my heart was set on a tamal, so I ordered the Tamal Oaxaqueño. My friend was right. The tamal was definitely not up to snuff. I was also very disappointed with the mole coloradito. It wasn’t that it was bad; it was just that I had such a phenomenal mole a couple of weeks ago. In comparison, it wasn’t all that great. I was able to finish my meal. I was very full. My friend finished his meal without any complaints. He was very full as well.

We finished lunch and was ready to hit Magic Mountain. I figured that we saved a few dollars by grabbing lunch before entering the park. I was definitely trying to save a few dollars here and there since money is tight. The bill for lunch came out to about $30 including tax and tip. My friend ordered two beers. I only ordered an iced tea. Leave it to my friend to knock back a couple beers before riding the rollercoasters.

We decided to eat at Food Etc. because it’s an air-conditioned food court. We wanted to get out of the desert heat. There is a variety of food stands to choose from: sushi, pasta, pizza, tacos, nachos, sandwiches, turkey legs, salads, and desserts.

My friend chose to get a turkey leg from the barbeque stand. I chose to get a turkey sandwich from the deli stand. My food cost about $8 for the sandwich, chips, and a small drink. The sandwich was rather bland, even after smothering it with condiments. It was prepared in advance, so it was dry. At least my bag of chips was a decent size, and the "small drink" was more like a large.

My friend’s meal was also about $8. She received a huge turkey leg, a side of mashed potatoes, and a small drink. The turkey leg reminded me of the ones I saw at Disney World. I wondered if it was from the same vendor. Her "small drink" was actually a large like mine.

My friend was extremely pleased with her meal. You definitely get a decent-sized meal for the price at the barbeque stand. I don’t think I will return to the deli stand. I don’t think $8 for a tasteless sandwich was a good buy, even at an amusement park. I think I’ll go to the barbeque stand and get some chicken next time. Neither of us wanted to try the sushi in the desert heat with who knows who preparing raw fish. It just sounded like you were asking for trouble. California rolls would be okay, but we didn’t like the idea, period. Sushi doesn’t sit well for long, so you need to refrigerate the rolls after preparing them if you want to make a lot in advance. The problem with refrigerating rice is that it gets really hard. So, the best sushi is made fresh, which is hard to do at an amusement park with long lines. Those who don’t know much about sushi are probably not as picky, so rock-hard rice is okay for a lot of people who didn’t grow up eating sushi.

The best part about eating here was the air-conditioning. We sat at our booth for a good long time, resting our feet and cooling off. We noticed one guy sleeping in the booth next to us. As I looked around, people looked like they were completely exhausted. Some folks who had extremely pale skin were beet red from the sun. Sunscreen, folks! I can’t emphasize it enough, especially if you have alabaster skin.

After about an hour, we left to get on with our day. We had a whole bunch of rides waiting for us.

We had some trouble finding Denny’s because it’s hidden on the other side of the hill. Most people frequent the restaurants that are right across from Magic Mountain since they’re easily visible. After finding it, we practically crawled to our seats. Our feet were killing us. It was also cold inside the restaurant, so I went back for my jacket while my friend ordered coffee to keep herself warm. I became colder still after drinking my cherry lemonade.

My friend decided to order the new Apple Fruit-Filled Pancake, which is a light, fluffy, oversized buttermilk pancake loaded with cinnamon-apple filling. It’s served with two eggs, two crispy strips of bacon, two savory sausage links, and hash browns. I went for the Ultimate Omelette, which has sausage, bacon, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, and diced tomatoes, topped with shredded Cheddar cheese. It’s served with hash browns or grits and a choice of bread. I chose hash browns and an English muffin.

My friend ended up getting her pancake without the apple filling. After notifying the waitress, she brought it on the side. It turned out to be a good thing because my friend actually preferred it that way. If it was filled, she said, it might have been too sweet for her. My omelet was very good, but my hash browns were totally dry. At least my English muffin was fine, and I liked my cherry lemonade.

There were a lot of people coming in from a full day of Magic Mountain. Since it gets so busy, the overworked waitresses tend to forget you as they deal with so many people. My friend was left waiting for her coffee a couple times. I had to hail the waitress to get my drink refilled as well. When we tried to pay our bill, we had to wait until someone finally arrived at the cashier station. At least we weren’t paying an arm and a leg for the privilege of staying at the amusement park, but they could improve service quite a bit.

Magic Mountain is in the desert. It gets HOT, so load on the sunscreen before stepping out. Don’t worry about getting there ½-hour to an hour after the park opens. Park employees don’t get there in time. We decided to ride Déjà Vu first because that was my friend’s favorite ride. We waited slightly over an hour for that ride, but it was worth it. It’s a suspended rollercoaster. You sit with your feet dangling. You go forward through the track, then backward on the same track. Because of the boomerang nature of the ride, only one car operates at a time, so the lines are long. Since it was near the back of the park, we decided to hike there first. Most people tend to start at the front and move to the back of the park.

After that, we moved on to The Riddler’s Revenge. It was a very long line. We waited 1½ hours for that ride. I had forgotten that the back lines are shorter than the front lines for this ride. When the lines split into two, seek out the section that says "Lanes 5-8." Avoid the "Lanes 1-4" line! People want to ride in the front, so Magic Mountain developed line 1 to be longest. Each successive line is progressively shorter. Look for lane 8 for the shortest wait. A horrible techno song repeats. Don’t torture yourself longer than needed!

Batman the Ride was next. This line moved faster, 45 minutes. Magic Mountain should offer the single-rider line like Disney. Several seats were empty because groups didn’t end up evenly in the cars. If there were single riders, then you could fill in the empty seats and allow for faster wait times for those willing to sit separately.

After that was Scream. We had never been on this rollercoaster, so we were glad to see that it was running, and the lines were quick. We waited 45 minutes. It lasts longer than other rides, and your feet dangle like in Déjà Vu. It’s extremely fast. The wind rushed into my eyes, making them water. My friend proclaimed that his new favorite was Scream. I still favored Goliath, which was next.

My friend didn’t want to wait, but we were almost upstairs. Once upstairs, the wait was shorter. We waited slightly less than an hour for Goliath. I love the 255-feet drop. I suspect my friend had a panic attack after seeing the drop, but he managed to finish the ride. Afterward, he was exhausted and couldn’t go on. Although I had energy to ride more roller coasters, I didn’t want to leave my friend sitting on a park bench. I decided to finish with X since I hadn’t experienced it yet. It was closed, although it had been running earlier in the day. Superman the Escape was also closed. We left around 7 pm after getting there at 1 pm. We managed five rides in 6 hours. Hours were 10 am – 10 pm.

My friend and I went to Magic Mountain Monday since the weekend revelers would be too sleepy or hungover from having a great weekend. We got there 10:30am due to my late start. My plan was to ride X first, but we couldn’t figure out where the entrance was. We ended up getting on Viper first. As we waited, we asked the park attendant. He instructed us to go over the bridge. Viper was a quick start to the day.

We waited 1.5 hours to ride X. Only one car was operating. Around noon, they ran two cars. This sped up the line. My friend exclaimed that X was her new favorite ride. I have to say that it’s good. It’s the only dangling roller coaster that I’ve been on that makes you feel like your riding on your head for a moment. When we left, we found that the wait was three times as long as when we first got there. Make sure you get on this ride early, because it closes early. It closed at 9pm that day.

We skipped Déjà Vu to go to Psyclone instead. We saw a single rider sign for Déjà Vu, but we couldn’t figure out where it was. As we waited for Psyclone, we noticed that Déjà Vu stopped moving. People were stuck upside down in the ride even as we got in our car. The wooden roller coaster knocked us about. My back and neck hurt, and my friend hit her knee on the metal brace. I don’t like rides that don’t hold you firmly. Too much space between your body and the supports means that you will be hitting the supports as you are flung around by the ride. I don’t recommend this ride for people with bad backs. It’s a long ride, though, for the reasonably short wait.

As we exited Psyclone, the stuck riders were just getting off Déjà Vu. They were hanging upside down for 15 straight minutes. We worried that might happen to us. We waited to talk to an employee. A line of people were giving their names to him. They were the riders stuck on Déjà Vu. They received a Fast Lane pass for X for their trouble. They also got another uninterrupted ride on Déjà Vu immediately after the ride started back up. We asked the employee about the single-rider line, and he directed us to it. We were on the ride within 20 minutes. I waited for my friend at the exit since I got on first.

Superman was next, only a 30-minute wait. Good thing, since it’s a two-second ride. Ninja was nearby, so we rode on that after a 20-minute wait. Colossus was close to our food destination, so we rode that before eating. Beware of this ride if you have a bad back. We made our pit stop at Food Etc to rest our feet and get some energy back.

After we ate, we went back for more. By this time, it was 5pm. I worried that the food in my stomach hadn’t sufficiently digested enough to go on Goliath because of the huge downward plunge. Our wait in line should bide us time. We were on and off the ride in less than 15 minutes! Had I discovered this secret before, I would have saved all the big-ticket rides for dinnertime.

Scream was next after another brief wait. We waited about 40 minutes for Batman the Ride, and then waited an hour for Riddler’s Revenge. The lines are done differently now. A park attendant directs you to a lane. There are eight lanes. Previously, there was a long line for the front seat. Now you can’t choose your own lane. You must go where the attendant says. Unfortunately, the girl working that day didn’t seat people efficiently. If there is an odd-numbered party, she left the seat empty. Many park attendants do this. All the rides should have a single-rider line like Déjà Vu. When are they going to smarten up? My friend and I asked to fill the two empty seats since we were a party of two that didn’t mind being split up. The girl shrugged and said okay. At least we jumped ahead one car by taking some initiative.

After that, we went on Tidal Wave. A tip to those wanting to get soaked: you need to be at full capacity with the heaviest members in the front. Our half-filled car had the heaviest members in the back. The kids in the front were very disappointed, but unless they let the heavy adults sit up front, they’ll never get splashed the way they want. It’s physics. My friend and I scurried across the bridge before another Tidal Wave car came through. We watched as people screamed, getting completely splashed on the bridge.

We went on Goldrusher for nostalgia’s sake. Ahh… the first roller coaster. It was actually fun. Arrowhead Splashdown was next. The same rules of physics apply. The people who packed the cars were totally soaked. Some boys tried to ride solo, but the park attendant nixed that. There’s a minimum of two riders unless only few people are waiting. My friend and I rode by ourselves, shrieking at the dirty water inside the car. We were splashed a bit, but more so by the water already in the car!

Our last ride was Revolution. I was getting really tired, but we decided that we’d ride this for nostalgia. My friend’s ears were boxed by the shoulder harness. I had no trouble on this ride, but got my ears banged up on Riddler’s Revenge. I guess it depends on your height.

We finished the park exhausted. We could do no more. We left at 8:30pm: fifteen rides in 10 hours. We dragged ourselves to Denny’s for dinner, completely spent.

Unlike Disneyland, you are not permitted to bring snacks into the park. Some people actually get away with it. It totally depends on who is working the security area. Most folks will be told to leave the snacks behind. Don't chance it. Why bother when you can eat lunch or dinner outside the park? With your $8 parking fee, you are allowed to leave only ONCE, so decide whether you would rather leave the park for lunch or dinner, but you will have to eat one meal in the park if you are staying from opening to closing. Luckily, they will allow water into the park, so you will at least save money on water. Do you really want to pay $3 for a bottle of water that you could have paid less than a $1 from the supermarket?

Don't forget to bring a jacket for the evening. Although it's scorching hot during the afternoon, the desert cools down quickly at night. This is also the time to ride the water rides since it's cooler. Shorter lines, but colder temperatures. I recommend that you ride the water rides earlier in the morning so that you have time to dry off, or late in the evening if you don't mind being wet as you go home. A change of clothing left in the trunk of your car would be a good idea. Afternoons are the worst time for a water ride. Don't wait for 2 hours or more. It's just not worth it.

Make sure you bring extra sunscreen, film or batteries for your camera, lip balm, and sunglasses. Don't forget to bring good walking shoes. Magic Mountain is on a mountain. It's very hilly, so good walking shoes is a must. If you happen to wear flip-flops, just know that some rides are suspended, so you will have to deal with your shoes. I wore my flip-flops and took them off on the suspended roller coasters, going barefoot. Hats and sunglasses will have to be dealt with as well, otherwise they will fly off and join the personal-item graveyard underneath the rollercoaster tracks. There are lockers for backpacks and purses. Most of the rides run only one car, so people felt safe enough to leave their personal belongings near the ride exits. It's up to you whether you want to chance losing anything at the park.