Six Flags Magic Mountain to reclaim coaster crown in 2010
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
15 Comments on “Six Flags Magic Mountain to reclaim coaster crown in 2010”
Leave a Comment
If you are under 13 years of age you may read this blog, but you may not participate. Here's the full legal spiel.
Comments are moderated, and will not appear on this blog until the author has approved them.
All fields are required
Advertisement
SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG
Click the logo below to subscribe to news from this blog:
Or add this feed to your favorite RSS reader:
more
Or add this feed to your favorite RSS reader:
more
Advertisement
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.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Oh look another one of these dumb debates. I’m going to leave SFMM out for now and trash CP. Oh yea, I’m going there. Let the flaming begin. Why? simple, it’s not as great when you’ve been to almost every major amusement park in the country. Most of the rides at CP exist elsewhere in a far superior fashion or are just bad or outdated.
Here’s the list.
Blue Streak-Compact small Old school which can’t hold up when compared to any modern GCII anywhere in the country.
Cedar Creek Mine Ride-Arrow mine train that has been done at numerous parks and this one only places in the middle when compared to rest I’ve been on.
Wild Cat-Hey, Moronic Imbeciles running Cedar Fair, most parks have gotten rid of these old and busted worthless excuse of a carnies coaster. It’s time to jump on board.
Corkscrew-Classic Arrow looper, it was an earlier one and can’t stand up to the 2 clones of GASM, Viper, and the defunct Shockwave.
Gemini- Wooden racers aren’t meant to have steel, however it is fun, so it gets a point here. Can’t stand up to the rides such as Lightning Racer.
Jr. Gemini. No one cares about kiddies.
Disaster Transport- Disaster is right it’s time to dump these as they are a waste of perfectly good space. This applies for you too SFOT with La Vibora.
Iron Dragon-Can’t hold up to other suspended coasters. Big Bad Wolf, you will be missed as you were better than the rest. Looks like SFMM’s Ninja now has the title of best arrow suspended.
Magnum. Meh, fun yes, but old. Can’t compete with Desperado or the Pepsi Max Big One.
Mean Streak- Ah, ouch! It’s time to smash this wooden pile of a craptacular ride. Follow SFMM’s lead as they did with Psyclone. It’s time to go.
Raptor- One word Alpengeist.
Mantis-Can someone tell me why this has a brake on the first drop? Riddler is the best Stand up flat out. It is the best one in the world, and I can say that having been on all of them.
Woodstock-see Jr Gemini description.
Millennium Force-See Superman Ride of Steel (now Bizarro) @SFNE. MF may be taller and faster, but Bizarro is better in every way shape and form.
Wicked Twister- I’m sorry to those that like these, but to me Impulses suck!. Boring uneventful rides. Don’t care if there is another twist compared to rest, it still blows a**.
Top Thrill Dragster-Oh joy, a 30 second gimmick ride. These don’t suck at all (insert sarcasm). Goes for you too Superman the Escape, and Kingda Crap. I know S:TE is different tech, you nerd, just throwing it in because it sucks too. See Storm runner for how this type of launch technology can be utilized for an actual GOOD ride.
Maverick. Good coaster, nothing bad to say. So I give them a point here.
So for the actual well traveled. SFMM is a little better in terms of coasters to set them apart from other amusement parks. Tatsu will forever be the best Flyer (the mountain it is built on has assured this status, no one will spend the money needed to build it larger). X2 is unique and I did like it better than the one in Japan. That one hurt. Deja Vu, there aren’t many of these maintenance whores. But What a maintenance whore! These are amazing and I can’t bad mouth them. Terminator is very unique at night the ride really looks and feels like a war zone to fit the theme. So SFMM has the better coasters as they have more variety when compared to other parks.
Cedar Point’s management needs serious help. They have many old and busted rides that are way past their prime. Shoot the Rapids is not a suitable replacement for a log flume ride. Every single park has a log flume, what is this corporation doing? A steel flume with restraints? What is this? Flumes are supposed to be with no restraints and just bars on the side.
Cedar Point does have some decent Flat rides though. More than I can say for SFMM. maXair is good though I prefer a chance revolution with a good program such as Fireball at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Power Tower is good. Though I prefer the sky swatter to screaming swing designs when it comes to Skyhawk.
January 4th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
How about who cares about the crown and how about we care how fun the ride and park is and not compare eachothers?
January 11th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Cedar Point sucks!