Last Saturday, Rob and I went to Magic Mountain with some friends. Pretty much only because we had $15 discount tickets. I haven’t been to Magic Mountain since high school (13 years ago!!!) so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was just excited to experience actual roller coasters (I mean, I love Disneyland but let’s be honest — it’s a theme park, not a thrill park).

I made it on to 5 rides, which was a good amount for me. I guess I’m getting old! Argh.

I didn’t take any pics because I kept having to put my bag in a locker for all the rides but I found some pics so you can see the CRAZINESS.

This was our first ride of the day and we waited almost 2 hours because it only loads 28 people at a time. The first part of the ride is an incredibly steep incline that takes forever to get to the top. The anticipation going up the incline stressed me out because I couldn’t see the track at this point. Then of course, there’s an inevitable drop leading into twists and loops the rest of the way through. It’s an older ride so it’s a little bumpy but I was too busy screaming to notice much.

OMG. This ride is INSANE. As we got closer to the loading platform, I got ridiculously scared and almost talked myself out of getting on the ride. I’m glad I didn’t, though, because it was a great experience. Once you’re seated and strapped in, the seats get rotated 90 degrees so that you’re facing down. YES, THAT IS CORRECT. Because of your prone position, the track is above you on your back so you can’t see where you’re going but you can see EVERYTHING below. Like the ground. !!! I was scared for the first few seconds as we waited to take off. But once we did, though… WOW. It’s an amazing ride. And surprisingly really comfortable. But VERY intense. There’s an enormous pretzel loop towards the end (seen above) where you’re heading to the ground FACE FIRST and then you find yourself going backwards as you go back to the top. Like I said, INTENSE. I give it a HUGE thumbs up but it is definitely not for the faint of heart!

This is the newest ride in the park — it opened back in June to coincide with the release of the movie. I LOVE wooden roller coasters so this is the one ride I was most looking forward to. It didn’t disappoint! It was my favorite ride of the day. It starts out with a couple of pre-ride videos to set the scene for the ride, which really surprised me because MM isn’t exactly known for “theming.” That’s Disney’s forte! Anyway, the ride is spectacular. It goes incredibly fast up and down the hills and turns. It even has on-board speakers blaring exciting music. If the line wasn’t so long, I would have loved to ride this over and over and over…

I did not like this ride. Partly because someone standing next to me in line totally ran in front of me and swiped my seat so I didn’t get to sit next to Rob. I had to sit by myself. !!! Horrors. For me, part of the fun of thrill rides is sharing the craziness with friends and trying to out-scream each other. 😀 Anyway, this ride starts off backwards and brings you up a 20 story tower slowly and pauses at the top… then it suddenly propels you downwards face first at 60+ miles per hour. OMG. This ride didn’t have the same excitement as Tatsu for me — it was just flat out terrifying. After a revolution, you head up another tower, go backwards to the first tower and then do the face first drop again. UGH. To make matters worse, the ride is rough and it definitely thrashes you around. Not pleasant.

Deja Vu made my neck hurt so I don’t think I enjoyed Batman as much as I would have normally. On this ride, you’re seated with your feet dangling free. Similar to many coasters, the ride starts slowly going up a lift hill then it gets going with twisting dives, turns, and multiple vertical loops. It was dark when we got on the ride so it didn’t seem as scary as it probably would be during the day when you can see exactly where you’re going. Still, it’s a solid ride and a good way to end the day.

If we had more time (we got to the park late and it closes early in the fall/winter), I would have liked to make it on to X2 and also my original favorite wooden coaster Colossus. Maybe next time… another 13 years from now.

😀