Continuing our look at 10 anticipated new attractions in 2019, we head up Interstate 5 for a sneak peek at Six Flags Magic Mountain's upcoming West Coast Racers.
Themed to West Coast Customs, the Los Angeles-area shop known for transforming everyday vehicles into outrageous Hollywood show cars, this Premier Rides launched coaster features a Mobius strip-style track that will send riders racing against each other.
During their two laps around the track, riders will experience four launches, with a top speed of 55 mph, plus three zero G rolls and a zero G stall. There's even a reprise of the famous "high five" interaction from Magic Mountain's Twisted Colossus.
In between their two laps, as they pass through the station, riders will drive through a "pit stop" themed to the West Coast Racers shop.
No word yet on an opening date for West Coast Racers, which is going between Apocalypse and Ninja in a newly themed area in the park. This will be Premier's second coaster at Magic Mountain, following the popular Full Throttle.
Tomorrow: We stay in Southern California... while visiting a whole new World.
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I hear you AJ, but I can see the reasoning behind this. The parks that bring in the most revenue/profit, should see the most investment. However, what I find so very interesting is that whenever SFMM adds another big ride, you would think the lines for some of the older coasters would see a drop off, but that never happens. Do the older coasters just get less efficient in their operations or do the new coasters actually increase the number of guests in the park each day? My money is on the former, but I don't have any raw data to back that assumption up.
I'm not really sure what this coaster brings to SFMM that they don't already have (other than to leverage a relatively cheap IP), but I'm not sure what other park would benefit from something like this (SFoT maybe). I just wish for once that SFMM would take a multi-year approach to build themed lands, instead of taking less than a year to build a new coaster and then give a half-hearted attempt to develop a theme around it. I know the average SF guest couldn't care less about theme, but if they just gave a little more effort and another 5-10% of an investment, they might have attractions that would hold guests for more than the time they spend in line instead of sprinting off to the next closest coaster.
In addition to SFOT, I'd say the ride would have been a better fit for SFGAm (if they weren't getting Maxx Force), SFGAdv, SFNE, or SFOG than SFMM, but I guess Six Flags didn't see it that way. It is supposedly a $20 million dollar coaster and I don't blame Six Flags for only wanting to invest that much in their most popular park, but I wish they'd gone for something a bit more unique rather than combining highlights of several other rides within the same park into one.
As for more themed attractions, it's unfortunately highly unlikely to happen at SFMM. In terms of visitor numbers, Justice League was the park's least popular attraction in the past decade, while CraZanity has brought in numbers comparable to some of their recent coaster installations. The park said at an enthusiast event earlier this year that their plan is a coaster every few years with flat rides on other years, so while I suspect we'll continue to see refreshed areas with new attractions I doubt we'll see anything more than what they've done recently. In the highly competitive So Cal market, SFMM can't win in the theming department, so they're wisely focusing on what they do differently to attract guests rather than trying to fight a losing battle.
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I'm still a bit sad that this is going to SFMM where it will likely be a middle tier coaster instead of another Six Flags where it would be top two or three in the park. That said, I'm looking forward to having a fun new coaster at my local Six Flags, and if Full Throttle is anything to go by it's likely one I'll ride every visit.