How Six Flags Nearly Killed Magic Mountain
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- In 2006, in an effort to rescue a sinking company and re-define their public image, Mark Shapiro and Six Flags tried to do the unthinkable. This is the story of how Six Flags nearly killed Magic Mountain.
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At this point 90% of Chris’s brain’s storage space is comprised of Magic Mountain history and trivia
Sky tower docent material
He has been going there since 2000, so can't blame him :D He's very knowledgable about Six Flags Magic Mountain, and probably the one guy you wanna go to if you want to know about the park.
The other 10% is filled with his top 100 coasters ranked.
And how SKYRUSH sucks takes up at least another 6% : O
He needs to move on. Magic mountain has. They're sold out every day with 2 hour flash pass lines. Raptor on the way. It's over. Focus on petitioning frontier city for a raptor
Six Flags truely is the master of running functional parks into the ground.
It’s in the bottom of the food chain for a reason.
@@Emplordxiii There’s really only cedar fair in terms of competition so bottom of the food chain isn’t really a fair comparison... and SFMM is nowhere near how it was back then compared to now. Went right before COVID and it was clean, rides all operating super well, nothing was closed.
@@dankmemez7031 you’re remembering wrong because all the water rides were closed for the season, Superman still has only one side running, and X2 was closed for technical issues. Also, they decided to rush the opening to beat out their competition but failed miserably. Hell, they’re still struggling right now and still haven’t figured it out(I blame all of this on management. I feel sorry for all the low paying team members.).
@@Emplordxiii I mean this is a coaster channel so I don't really consider the water flumes that important. And X2 wasn't closed I went on it 3 times that day. When I go to SFMM I expect to ride a lot of coasters and that's it, which is why I think it's a great park. If I wanted perfectly run operations and great theming there are other parks closer to LA.
@@dankmemez7031 so you admit that as long as you get to ride many coasters, you don’t care if the park is run poorly. Glad to see you don’t care for your safety and well being.
Kinda interesting. This video dropped while at work today (at Magic Mountain), so I decided to wait to watch until I got home. At home, my dad gave me a lecture on what I really want to do with my life. His words were "don't count on Magic Mountain. I've lost count of how many times they've tried to close that park." So I guess the theme of today is: Magic Mountain has made some sort of deal with the devil that has allowed it to stay open."
From my research, this was the only time the park was really in danger of closing, even through some rocky years with gang rumbles and riots in and around the park
@Micycles LOL
Chris is a licensed MagicMountainologist
I remember when the park was up for sale! I was living in Valencia at the time! I was devastated! I know there were local residents that did not want to see it go either and attempted to make it a landmark of sorts, since it was built when Santa Clarita was still undeveloped, with a historical Newhall close by. Yes, it was true that the park did have a reputation as a teenage hang out as far back as I can remember. In the 90s it attracted a lot of gangs that basically used the park as their turf which drove away families and tourists. LA County Sheriif Dept had a presence there to help deter any gang violence. I imagine there is still an element of that but it has gotten much better.
Man I cannot imagine a world without Six Flags Magic Mountain
I remember how devastated I was thinking that my home park with so many amazing unique attractions was on the chopping block. Just imagine losing rides like X or Tatsu for some damn houses.
you got Knott’s if that closes down.
@@thebestdecepticonSoundwave you must not have read my post lol
Tbh, Six Flags was absolutely destroyed by former CEO Kieran Burke. He made some of the absolute worst decisions I've seen throughout Six Flags' history. While he did allow for many rides that we know and love from Six Flags at that time, he ultimately almost killed off Six Flags as a company when he just put the company under deby until their bankruptcy in 2009. I know a lot of people agree with me on that. And tbh, slow service and employees that don't care still kinda exist at some Six Flags parks.
Building all these Great coaster's we all know and love today at once, Tatsu, El Toro, and Both Goliaths at La Ronde, and Six Flags Over Georgia all in 2006 contributed to Six Flags major debt.
Oh the taco bell at six flags almost killed me.
May I ask how?
No you cant
Fun
@@annoyingperson2255 ok
@@jakobhellyer2792 nobody wants to be flagged for graphic content lol
Video idea: Strongest positive g’s, lateral g’s, hang time, whippiest, out of control, etc.
He’s done positive g’s, I agree though that hangtime or laterals would be an interesting list
it’s hard to find data on g force though
Chris Tyler I meant like strongest that he’s personally felt. Kinda like how he thinks xcelerator’s launch is more powerful than storm runner’s
I also find these videos fascinating. However, if I had a nickel for every time Six Flags almost killed something, I’d own the chain myself!
Could you RMC roar while you're at it
I already know this is going to be your best video!
Imagine in a alternate universe where Astroworld survives, while Magic Mountain closes in 2006.
Don't say that
Anyways, RIP Astroworld
@@seanlewis1148 Just saying
@@raylaguna2601 say less
As a Washington football team fan, Snyder destroys everything he touches
As a human you are correct
Imagine if Premier Parks never bought Six Flags.
The World would be in a better place.
No one knows more about SFMM than Airtime Thrills
So glad the parks here are finally reopening, a year of no parks sucked.
This was the most stressful thing to happen to 9 year old me.
These videos really are top notch. I'd watch these mini docs over movies any day of the week
Keep up the good work Chris, I honestly did not expect this idea. Definitely something I didn’t expect as a video
Wow, this was really interesting! I can’t imagine how different theme parks would be today if there wasn’t Magic Mountain...
8:15, why cant we in the seattle area have a good park
What an amazing video. It would be a shame if this park was to close. You did an awesome job with this.
Question 🙋♀️ for you please 🙏 Airtime Thrills, did Six Flags sold some of its theme parks to save on costs for Magic Mountain so it can stay? What Six Flags theme parks were closed and scrapped in order to save Magic Mountain?
MM is a super important asset for non-USA enthusiasts imo, as it's much easier to sell a trip to California than a connecting flight up to CP, maybe a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall & Fame and then back on the plane with you. You also have more operating days to play with than a lot of other parks.
International visitors will be insignificant to them economically so we're lucky to have kept the place available.
They wanted to tear Magic Mountain to put in houses, and now they’re building houses behind the park. How ironic
Is Six Flags Magic Mountain saved after it was almost killed back in 2006
Considering I was only 1 when all this occurred, it’s scary to think that I almost didn’t grow up going to this park nor would I have even known it ever existed before
Pfff! Goliath jr. Would never have looked like percy if this happened, so i'm glad it didn't!
After six Flags Magic Mountain opened 50 years ago, "Evolution" didn't rock the coaster world "right away"; it rocked it five years (minus three weeks) later in 1976.
You gotta collaborate with Company Man for more videos on Six Flags financial videos!
Yeah he isn't very knowledgeable
I learned so much from this 👍🏼 Great job, Chris!
After the Astroworld deal blew up in Six Flags' face, why would they think selling an even bigger park for real estate development would be a good idea?
Different markets, but I bet the SFAW debacle made them more leery about selling the park to a developer
Do you know what Airtime Thrills? I’m glad 🙂 that Six Flags was able to keep Magic Mountain
not six flags leaving my two former home parks to rot. elitch and wild waves are jokes. thank you for your continuous dedication to magic mountain :)
Not Six Flags, but Premier Parks
YES AIRTIME THRILLS UPLOAD!
okay i KNOW ben shapiro and dan schnider are not the shapiro / schnider in this video but my brain doesn't seem to realize that.
It's tough to imagine Magic Mountain going away for good. I had no idea the park was in jeopardy around the same time as Darien Lake and had always assumed it was safe no matter what. I'd imagine all bets are off except for Six Flags Over Texas for obvious reasons.
Great video and well put together. You clearly did your homework.
This video brings back bad memories. I was very worried for the park at the time. In fact, news reports were saying it was over.
It did look really dire there for a while. I was working at the park that year but i dont have a super strong recollection of it, i think i was so fed up with the place i had a "eh, either way" attitude
Darn, it almost became six flags TRAGIC mountain
I'm sorry I had to 🤷♂️
That title made me smile. I built a twisted version of Magic Mountain on Rollercoaster Tycoon with the same name back in the day.
As a Washington fan, anything involving Dan Snyder I know will be a disaster.
There could be an entire video on how Snyder ran Six Flags into the ground
@@CoastersRUs-us Everything he touches turns to garbage.
Closing this park would've been a huge sin.
UNFORGIVABLE SIN!!!!
Nice vid. (I may or may not have watched this while at six flags)
P.s. At six flags magic mountain.
Wish I was there right now
@@AirtimeThrills not everything is open yet and it’s at 25% capacity, but hey the new rides are fine.
I’m glad that Magic Mountain was able to make it past 2006. It would be truly sad to see the City of Angels to be without a Six Flags park.
The Los Angeles Metropolitan Area is home to many amusement parks. To see it without a Six Flags park would have people scratching their heads.
Plus, most major cities in America have Six Flags parks nearby. NY and Philly have Great Adventure, Chicago has Great America, San Francisco has Discovery Kingdom, Dallas has Over Texas, San Antonio has Fiesta Texas, Atlanta has Over Georgia, and of course, LA has Magic Mountain. If Magic Mountain ended up closing, it would end up standing out as one of many American cities without a Six Flags Park.
Hell, it would even end up being on a list of Top 10 cities that don’t have a Six Flags park, along with New Orleans, Houston, Orlando, Cleveland, Seattle, Portland, etc.
Looking very forward to the documentary in May!
Geez, widely-despised Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder was involved in Six Flags's rebranding? I can't say I expected that.
Great video! 👌Can’t wait until they let, out of staters, back in!
Loved the video, I don't think I could imagine California without Magic Mountain that place is special!!!
Who knew the most lethal weapon in the world is money?
Six flags actually opened Superman escape in 1997, Riddler in 1998 Canyon Blaster in 1999, Goliath in 2000, Déjà Vu in 2001, and X in 2002.
I worked at Magic Mountain years ago as a performing character (face some days, mascot other days).
Very informative, great video
If that had happened, then the following coasters would go to:
The mine Train: scrapped
Revolution: America
Colossus: torn down
Batman: Fiesta Texas
Riddler's Revenge: New England
Psyclone: torn down
Flashback: scrapped
X: Great Adventure
Deja Vu: Great Escape
Scream: Great America
Superman: Over Georgia
Goliath: Saint Louis
Viper: scrapped
Ninja: Scrapped
Tatsu:. Would have been built elsewhere such as Over Texas
Tatsu was already open when this whole thing was happening so they would have HAD to find a spot for it
But I want Scream at SFOT since we already another schwarzkopf looping coaster. It’s redundant.
X2 and El Toro at Great Adventure would have made a stellar one/two
Punch of all time
Great America and Great Adventure would've received all the coasters😂
Maybe a very small few. Most of them were customized to fit Magic Mountain's unique terrain.
That’s great that SFMM was saved. It’s the 2nd best park if not the #1 park in the chain
Uh Magc Mountain pretty much is the number one Six Flags Park in the chain.
Yeah I agree, it’s better than Great America and Great Adventure
@@trentspara1826 And what's your number 1 park? I predict it's Cedar Point.
Glad they survived the chopping block, just the thought of this turning into another AstroWorld is appalling (not sure if I spelled that right lol)
Six Flags sure is good at wrecking parks. I guess buying a shit ton of expensive roller coasters does not guarantee success
I thought you were posting what would replace the boomerangs at New England today? Was not expecting this
Yeah i used my "subject to change if i post a mini doc" clause of that community post
Imagine if Cedar Fair killed Cedar Point
Unheard of
Cedar point is on a popularity level six Flags Magic Mountain will never know
@@jrax1713 magic mountain is literally the 2nd most notable coaster park in the world. 3.56M attended Cedar Point in 2019(last legit year to check) and 3.44M attended MM. Not a major difference at all.
Well good thing that six flags didn't ruin any other parks!
Astro world
Kentucky kingdom
Worlds of adventure
Elitch gardens
La ronde
Six flags america
Darien lake (left them to struggle)
Frontier city (no hope from the start)
Not great escape. They just didn't add upon it, but they didn't ruin it
Nice vid 👍
And furthmore I actually applied for a job at Six Flags Magic Mountain a few years ago. Not in the park though. In Human Resources as a Risk Analyst. The Roller Coaster Scream was right outside the offices . I thought that was kind of cool. Well, I didn’t get the position even though I had lots of experience. It did find out that they do prefer to hire from within. There were several candidates applying for the same position that actually worked in the park so that was that. I did go thru several interviews before I was turned down thought so I appreciated that they considered me even if they had someone else in mind. The perks would have been fab though. Free admission to the park and any Six Flags park for me and immediate family members. And other discounts, etc. when I was in high school Magic Mountain recruited all the local high schools for the summer and it was considered the hot spot to get a job! If you got to work at a Magic Mountain you were considered one of the cool
Kids.
Feel like Six Flags should sell off a bunch of parks now
One of my biggest fears in life is having the 2 Six Flags parks in CA close down. I love Discovery Kingdom and Magic Mountain so much!
Even then I knew six flags was smart enough not to sell the park especially after they opened a Tatsu
Awesome video
Kirean Burke and Gary Story ran this park into the ground, I remember back in 2002 coasterforce made a joke mimicing how many rides were closed. They showed a map of IOA where Universal took a ride that was closed for refurb off of the map, so coasterforce did the same thing for a map of SFMM for all the closed rides and half the riders were missing. They were also notorious for one train operations in the early 2000's even with lines over an hour long. I clearly remember Mark Shapiro trying to sell the park in 2007 and they couldn't even find a buyer lol. Sadly although they have tried they never were able to overcome this image, the place is still a dump two decades later.
Also I worked for SF throughout this whole period and I think while Mark Shapiro was well intended, coming from the TV industry he clearly didn't know anything about the theme park industry as a business other than the basics and would always say obvious stuff like it was some big discovery. For example, someone told him how much cheaper seasonal employees were than full time employees so he cut a bunch of full time employees and basically said what's the big deal we can hire seasonal people. But the parks already had too few full time employees, so as a result the parks were never ready to open on time. He also was doing an interview once after his first year and basically said Disneyland is expensive so Magic Mountain needed to focus on hispanics because they are lower income. May have been true but it was a totally stupid thing to say in that context. It seemed like he was always having moments like that. Also when the Dark Knight came out, which was like the biggest and most popular movie at that point, instead of spending the money to make the ride good he wanted to make it cheap so decided to build a Mack Wild mouse but advertise it as a big new thrill ride. As a result the GP got confused and angry how the best movie in years was such a shitty ride.
Although I also think it needs to be pointed out the guy never had a chance the company was in shambles when he took it over and was in shambles when he left.
Also a few more things people don't think about:
-Daniel Snyder bought Johnny Rockets at the same time he took over Six Flags. Then he lined his own pocket by putting Johnny Rockets in all the Six Flags parks.
-Mark Shapiro made a big deal with Papa Johns to put them in all of the parks, then after Shapiro got fired from SF he got onto the board of Papa Johns. In the famous Papa John interview he even talked about how much he hated Mark Shapiro and said "Mark Shapiro knows nothing about pizza!" maybe he knows as much about Pizza as he knows about theme parks lol.
I always wondered what it would've been like if SFMM was shuttered. Would other parks inherit some coasters? Would Six Flags be operating their chain how they are today? How would it effect the other parks in LA? So many questions...
Well, I will at least explore where the coasters would have gone. The rest of those questions calls for wild speculation which can be fun too
We love coaster history!!!
I'm glad I got to go to magic mountain January of 2020 shortly before covid. It's a great park
Could you imagine Herschend getting those other seven properties?
It would be interesting to see Herschend war with Six Flags and Cedar Fair at this point in time
No I am not going to stop thanks for the dinner reminder
That ending was brutal. but factual.
Before I started watching a lot of roller coaster and theme park videos, I didn’t know that Magic Mountain was a big deal to people. I’ve lived in southern california my entire life and have been to most theme parks in the area when I was a kid, but I didn’t like any of the parks I went to back then. I told my roommate that it is a pretty important theme park in the US and has the most coasters in the world and the response was “oh really? huh.” Same for Knott’s. I honestly didn’t know people from other areas cared about it either.
I definitely get that, growing up in Santa Clarita also
@@AirtimeThrills I definitely didn’t realize how large of a park it is until going to fiesta texas a few weeks ago. Next week I’m going to magic mountain though and will definitely be more appreciative of having such a park so close to me.
Magic Mountain is a destination park, especially for tourists and coaster enthusiasts.
Omg when I heard that the magic mountain is closing I was crying like a baby but when the said they wont shut it down I was so happy that I cheer so loud thanks for the history airtime
Thanks for these very interesting facts. So glad MM didn't get the ax. I bet park enthusiasts of Houston will never forgive SF for making them lose Astroworld.
Astroworld wasn't a great park from what I saw, but I keep thinking how amazing a week in Texas would be if that park was still there
If you ask me, it was mostly Kieran Burke’s fault for killing off Astroworld. He closed it for the STUPIDEST reason imaginable (Problems with the parking lot?! The FRIGGIN PARKING LOT?!?! Are you kidding me?!). I just wish he could’ve sold it off to another chain like Cedar Fair or Herschend, but NOPE, he saw the rise in land value in the area and fell to greed, and had the park sold for scrap.
I’m honestly glad Burke got booted from being the CEO of Six Flags, because it was stupid of him to have Astroworld scrapped, but even then the site where it once stood is still empty to this day, and Houston STILL sticks out as a sore thumb as one of few American cities without a major amusement park (along with Seattle, Portland, etc.), so the wounds from the loss of Astroworld still haven’t healed.
So mostly, it is Kieran Burke that many park enthusiasts will never forgive for the death of Astroworld.
As always, Have A Six Flags Day!
It's crazy to think that i went to six flags magic mountain yesterday
I grew up in Houston going to Astroworld.
Lived in California and went to six flags all the time with my punk ass friends since the season passes were so cheap. lol
I was bummed they Closed Astroworld, so happy they did not close magic mountain.
now I live closer to Elitch gardens and woah, that one is cheap for a reason it seems. lol
As a team member at Magic Mountain they are repeating history....yes we were close for a year but it was in bad shape before we closed. Now that we are open they are losing money and membership is part of the problem. It’s a third party system....
I wonder what would happen if Cedar Fair bough this park! Anyway, great video!
it would have become Knotts.....and Cedar Fair has really made Knotts suck, kinda would have been better to have just sold Knotts to Disney which to my understanding was going to happen until they realized that Disney would likely just shut the park down....Seems like that might have been better though than the mishmash of weird crap that Cedar Fair has vomited all over Knotts
Is this part of that big SFMM documentary like thing project you were talking about? It has way more in it than I thought.
WHY DOESNT THIS MAN HAVE MORE SUBSCRIBERS?!?!?!?!
Holy shit, I was only 11 when I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain at a summer day camp field trip with my brother when all of this happened. It would have been my first and only trip to that place, along with Hurricane Harbor.
So lucky that the best park in the world wasn't sold off...
I saw this video and was like “the *f word*”
This is off topic but I was watching The Lost Boys again last night and I was wondering if you know what coaster it was in that movie.
Video: Mine trains ranked, or new generation vekomas by prime ride time
I second this. Particularly the mine trains ranked video
I like the mine trains ranked idea
Seeing how Magic Mountain has been doing for the last few years, I’m pretty sure history will repeat itself only it won’t turn out so well.
IMO Magic Mountain should've remained an independent park, but more of a true destination spot with on site hotels instead of being acquired by Six Flags.
@@seanlewis1148 but, it was acquired by Six Flags extremely early on(It didn’t even make it a decade of operation before it happen) and the purchase made it more successful than it was.
It’s just that Six Flags is a terrible amusement park company that it’s not going to last a decade or two.
I love this park and I was never aware of how at risk it was
Got that mythic airtime in the back row of Wildfire yesterday. They're loading all rows again at SDC!
Thats awesome. I may be there next weekend
I wonder how the park would be today if they did sell to other operators. Maybe better, maybe worse I'm really not sure
We need chris to host a gameshow but its only about roller coasters
glad they didn't kill the park.
Wow, SFMM nearly shut down the same year I was born
My mom never let me go to magic mountain because of the gang violence
Bring back DeJa Vu! If they sold this place to real estate developers it's time to leave the state. Knotts might keep me here, maybe. Dizzyland, huh!
Going out on a limb here: I heard rumors that magic mountain was "supposedly" going to move up to nor-cal, up here by shasta lake. They even had land cleared.
Does anyone know if this rumor is true?
Remember that time when Walibi Holland was a Six Flags park? Good times