California without a car , Day 12

[ali-s]

California without a car Day 12 Anaheim Aug 20th

Todays’ the day we’ve been waiting for – we are going to Six Flags Magic Mountain. DS12, who is into coasters in a big way, has been torturing us for the last 6 months with ‘extreme rides’ programmes and videos featuring some of the Six Flags coasters, we must be mad !
I booked our trip online through allanaheimtours, the actual trip is with VIP tours. It works out very expensive as the price incs tickets and transport, but without a car, it’s the most feasible way of getting there ( I think there is a train, but it involves changes and a cab ride – and we don’t have a good record with trains ! )I chose this company as they advertise that they give you the longest time at the park.

We are picked up from our hotel 20 mins late , at 9.20am ( good start ! ) and are taken down the road and around the corner to the ‘transport centre’ – we could have walked here if we’d known ! Here we get off and join the massive queue to exchange our e-tickets for real park tickets, everyone who is taking a day tour with this company is in this queue and there are only 2 girls at the desk sorting people out ! When we eventually have our tickets clutched tightly in our hands, we are directed to go outside,’ someone will tell you what bus you’re on’, well they would , if they’d decided them selves who was going where ! We speak to 3 different drivers before we find our bus. I overhear another driver advise ours to ‘ drop the 6 flags people off first, then go back to drop the Universal people’.

Our bus ( with maybe 15 people on board) leaves at 9.30am, around 11am , we pull into the Universal carpark and drop off 8 people , Huh! So much for the other drivers’ advice ! the driver checks ‘ the rest of you are going to magic Mountain , right ?’ I think this may not be the best time to confirm this ! We eventually arrive at Six Flags at 11.30am. We rent a locker ( $13 for all day access ) for the backpack containing iced water, and my bumbag containing camera & purse etc ,as I’m not sure I’ll be allowed to wear this on the coasters. Then head off to find our first coaster. Before the trip, we had all sat down infront of the laptop and chosen our ‘top 3 ‘ rides off the Six Flags site, we had then counted the votes and put them in an ‘order to ride list’, sounds a bit OTT, but I had read reports of long queues, and with our list, we could be pretty sure everyone would get to ride at least 2 of their choices.


First on the list was Tatsu, this park is very easy to find your way around, there are signs pointing to all the rides and we hardly needed to use a map. It’s also smaller than I imagined, it didn’t take too long to get from one side to the other. Tatsu has a 20 min wait ( wow ! that’s better than expected )and we are soon ‘flying ‘ through the air – this is a flying coaster, like ‘Air’ at Alton towers ( though I haven’t been on that )I thought we’d be strapped in in a standing position, and then flipped horizontally, but no, we sit, with our legs strapped in as well, and are then flipped over- so rather than flying through the air, you are ‘crawling ‘ through the air, throughout the ride you have a lovely view of the bum and feet of the person infront ,spoilt it slightly ! It was ok, but not the exhilarating ‘Flying ‘ experience we thought it would be.

Ninja was right next door, and though no. 7 on our list, it is a walk on, so we do, now we know why it had no line, it’s rubbish. A sort of ‘hanging coaster’ but you are seated in cars rather than separate seats.

Back to our itinerary, X2 is 2nd on our list. This has a huge line ‘overflowing’ from the main queueing area, approx wait times are posted at different points in all the queues and are very accurate. X2 has a 1 1/2 hr wait- but that’s more what we expected, so we get in line. The overflow line was ok, it had misters every few feet and we needed them, it was HOT, when we got to main queueing area, the misters disappeared and there was not a great deal of shade. I had visions of us all suffering from sunstroke before we got to ride ! , and of course ,our water was in the locker, along with our money, most annoying when we were stood beside an iced drinks seller. We were all a bit fed up by the time we were strapped into our seats, the seats are then tilted backwards, and you travel up the chain backwards- with the sun right in your eyes !and that old song ‘it had to be you’( can’t remember the singer )playing through the seatback speakers, rather odd choice I thought. The rest of the ride is a blur- literally, as well as the cars going upside down and looping, your seat spins independently, you may be upside down, while your neighbour is facing backwards. It’s over in seconds ( I’m sure it was less than a minute ) I thought it was slowing for a hill, but we were pulling back into the boarding area, I couldn’t believe it, we’d queued 1 ½ hrs for THAT ? what a waste of time, and we said so loudly for the benefit of the poor fools still queueing !

I’d noticed that several people had ridden wearing bumbags, so we go to retrieve mine from our locker. Our stomachs were rumbling, so we go in search of lunch- Johnny Rockets , fries and sodas all round and we were fit for our 4th ride. Goliath, a 10 min wait for this, but as we are about to board, DS9 says he feels ill , he’d really been looking forward to this ride, but he decides it’s best if he waits at the exit and we can hopefully ride again later.





Goliath was good, and so was our next ride, Colossus, also a 10 min wait- this is a wooden coaster and would have been great if it hadn’t kept braking, Megaphobia at Oakwood in Wales is still the best woodie I’ve ridden. DS9 had visited the restroom and had ridden Colossus with us, now he wanted to ride Goliath – the wait time now was 1hr ! we decide to try again later.



We go around the corner to Scream ( that was the name of the ride, not what we did ! ) 20 mins wait,the queues weren’t so bad afterall. This was a floorless coaster, like Duelling dragons, and we all agreed, the best coaster so far.

Into ‘Gotham City’ to ride batman next, the theming was a bit hit and miss around the park,well done in some areas, non existent in others. We ride Batman after a 30 min wait, good, but not the best ! Now , at DS9’s insistence, we try Goliath again, but the wait time has increased ! 1hr 15 mins now !, we have to be back at the bus in 1 ½ hrs, so it’s cutting it a bit fine ! He’s rather upset, but agrees to go in search of a ride with less wait – Riddlers’ Revenge has a 30min wait, so this is our last ride of the day, and the best. This is a stand up coaster, but unlike the other stand up I’ve been on ( shockwave at Drayton Manor ) this was smooth and fast, and long ! the longest ride of the day! Pleased to finish on a good note, we make our way to the pick up point, stopping to buy postcards when I realize I’ve only taken 3 photos (sorry ! )




We left the park at 6.30, having ridden 8 coasters, far more than we thought we would- and apart from X2, the queues were fine. We stop at Universal to swap buses- this involved ‘Bus driver bingo’ again, we had to try 3 drivers before we found one with our hotel on his list, why they didn’t just call out where they were going, I don’t know.We then had a looong wait, while the other passengers phaffed about , getting on and off buses, until everyone was where they thought they should be. This is the one big disadvantage with these day tours, we’ve done them in the past, and this company was no better or worse than others, but why it is has to be so disorganized, I don’t know.
We finally get dropped off at Residence inn at 8.30pm, I was half asleep, and woke up in time to see a building that looked familiar, I vaguely heard the driver say ‘something in Clementine’, and had to quickly wake DS9 & DH . We stumbled off the bus, I used the fact that I was guiding a still half asleep DS9 to avoid tipping the driver, might sound a bit mean, but the lack of organization and long wait at Universal hadn’t left me feeling too generous ! I was pleased I hadn’t when the bus drove off and DH asked, where are we ? Looking around, I had no idea ! There was a hotel reception in front of us, but it wasn’t ours ! I went in and asked the classic question ‘ can you tell us where we are please?’ the guy thought this was very amusing, and replied , while laughing, ‘ Motel 6’, ‘oh, we are supposed to be at the Residence inn’ I say ( thinking, heck, are we even in Anaheim ? ) he laughs some more and tells us, ‘that’s it , over the road’. The bus driver had only dropped us across the street from the back entrance ! We didn’t realize how spread out the accommodation is, until we had to trek through half of it to find our room !

We are too tired to go looking for somewhere to eat , so I buy some chips and microwave snacks from the hotel mini mart – don’t bother with the veggie burritos ! YuuurK ! like a soggy cardboard loo roll filled with wallpaper paste !

We collapse into bed , exhausted. Summing up our day, we agree, Six Flags may have the most coasters, but it doesn’t have the best. For us, it didn’t live up to the hype. My favourites are still Kraken and Montu, DH would still choose Sheikra.


Sorry for the lack of photos today, I’d taken my cheapie digital camera with me, and forgot I had it , it’s so small, it got lost in the bottom of my bum bag !

Tomorrow is Knottsberry farm and maybe , Soak city

[Guest]

A lovely day. I really enjoyed Six Flags, I think that was more because of Goliath and Colossus more than anything else.

[Cyclospora]

yes - definitely agree about Goliath, Colossus and Riddler's Revenge. Also agree about Megafobia!

Can't wait to read what you think of Knott's Berry Farm... esp Pony express!

Really enjoying your trippy - thanks

[The Durrigan's]

Awesome lookin coaster...

[Sarah84]

another great update

[Guest]

Great description of all the rides.

[purple myra]

I think all bus tours are all pretty much the same! Glad you managed to get so many rides done though

[Michelle]

I think we will be giving Six Flags as miss, DH doesn't do coasters

[Jools]

You must have been enjoying yourselves too much to take photos today Another great report

[Strommie]

Great day, apart from all the confusion with the buses