The back-and-forth war of one-upmanship between Six Flags Magic Mountain and Cedar Point resumes next summer when the amusement park behemoths battle again for the coveted title of “roller coaster capital of the world.”
Six Flags President and Chief Executive Mark Shapiro said this week that Magic Mountain would add a “family attraction” for 2010, with an official announcement expected in November. But regular Funland readers already know that the “family attraction” will be a new roller coaster.
Magic Mountain’s 17th roller coaster would move the Valencia amusement park into a statistical tie with Ohio’s Cedar Point for coaster supremacy, according to Roller Coaster Database.
Magic Mountain, which snatched the crown from Cedar Point around the turn of the millennium during a building binge, relinquished the title back to the Ohio park in 2008 after removing two aging coasters.
Cedar Point, which hasn’t added a new coaster since 2007, opted for the $10.5-million Shoot the Rapids water flume ride for 2010.
In 2009, Magic Mountain installed the $11-million Terminator wooden coaster, its first new coaster since 2006.
Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland. Follow Funland on Twitter and Facebook.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer
Photo: Six Flags Magic Mountain
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September 30th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Yea they may have the numbers, but six flags coasters are terrible when compared to cedar points….to me it’s not the quantity but quality…that’s where the point wins
October 1st, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Magic Mountain Coasters are better than Cedar Points. Cedar Point may have the better park, but Magic Mountain has the better coasters.
I wish Magic Mountain would invest more money into Park Operations and other rides that are not roller coasters.
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:02 am
The coasters at SFMM aren’t terrible. They removed the two worst duds in their line-up, Flashback and Psyclone years ago. Refurb-wise, there really are only two coasters left that still need to be tweaked. The other current 14 are all solid performers for their respective demo. I wish more parks, including Cedar Point, would remove coasters that are way past their prime, and not worry about carrying a record just for the sake of a record.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Head 2 Head matchups:
Magnum(CP)over Goliath(MM)
Gemini(CP)over Colossus(MM)
Mantis(CP)over Riddler(MM)
Iron Dragon(CP)over Ninja(MM)
Mine Train(CP)over GoldRusher(MM)
Blue Streak(CP)over Terminator(MM)
Raptor(CP)over Batman(MM)
Top Thrill(CP)over Superman(MM)
Wicked Twister(CP)over Deja Vu(MM)
Viper(MM) beats Corkscrew(CP)
Maverick(CP)beats Revolution(MM)
Cedar point Wins 10 to 1
X2(MM),Scream(MM),Tatsu(MM)
M-Force(CP),Disaster Transport(CP)Mean Streak(CP),and Wildcat(CP)are all uncontested.
October 5th, 2009 at 3:25 am
You seem a little CP biased, nothing wrong with liking that park, but heres my 2 cents
Magnum(CP)Goliath(MM)TIE
Gemini(CP)over Colossus(MM) YES
Riddler(MM)over Mantis(CP)
Iron Dragon(CP)Ninja(MM)TIE
Mine Train(CP) GoldRusher(MM)TIE
Blue Streak(CP)Terminator(MM)TIE
Raptor(CP)over Batman(MM)YES
Top Thrill(CP)over Superman(MM)YES
Wicked Twister(CP)Deja Vu(MM)TIE
Viper(MM) over Corkscrew(CP)YES
SFMM has 3 other top coasters in
X2,Tatsu & Scream as well as Revolution.
CP has 2 other top coasters in M-Force & Maverick as well as average ones in Disaster Transport and Wildcat. Mean Streak is sadly uncontested for roughness, lack of airtime & general enjoyment.
October 6th, 2009 at 9:23 am
how is SFMM taking the crown? they will both have the crown….. so doesn’t that mean that SFMM is not taking the crown but sharing the crown? and is it also true that SFMM has never had the crown to them selves since 2000?
October 6th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I have been to SFMM and CP and in my opinion SFMM wins hands down. Wish my home park SFOG was half as good as SFMM.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
SFMM beats CP because does CP have X2 4th Deminsion coaster like know other coaster can do the only thing CP wins is it has more flat rides.
October 17th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Wow, this article is totally unbiased!(sarcasm) It would be a tie, even though the writer says it as though otherwise. And as much as I love both parks (I’ve been to both) CP is just an overall better park. IMO, CP has better atmosphere, flats, and has three of the top coasters in the world (being Millennium, TTD, and Maverick). I will give SFMM credit for Goliath, X2, and Riddler’s Revenge; but face it, those can’t stand up against the Intamin Blitzkrieg that is the trio (MF,TTD, and Maverick). SFMM is so close to being as great as CP, but CP wins it by an inch. Maybe someday, it will change. But not right now, seeing as adding a family ride doesn’t change much. Feel free to be a fanboy and say all you want about me, but that doesn’t change anything.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
You can’t reclaim something you never had in the first place, nor can MM claim the ‘crown’ over Cedar Point by having the same number of coasters (and to be frank, nobody outside of MM considers that Superman thing a roller coaster, including MM itself until they needed to count it to try and one-up Cedar Point). The writer of this article must have been absent the day they taught how to pen an unbiased article that includes the full facts. When two football teams have the same score at the end of the game, does one run off and say they won? No, they TIED. Methinks Mr. MacDonald needs to purchase himself a dictionary.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:53 am
” relinquished the title back to the Ohio park in 2008″… Um, someone needs to do better research.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
This doesn’t really matter. Cedar Point will still be the only park with 17 coasters operating simultaneously. Never once have I been to MM and see all of their current coasters operating on the same day.