815 – Six Flags Magic Mountain with Ray

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and friends beyond the binary, it's time for the podcaster whose patrons is trying to talk like an announcer. I like doing this announcer on a train monotone. I don't know what it's called when you go down at the end of words. But that's what train conductors, good ones, do. We'll be journeying to places like Pillowton and Sleeptown. Thanks for supporting the show. Scoots is getting carried away because he's having fun doing this, but you patrons love to indulge me. So good night, patrons. Thanks so much. 

Hey, are you up all night, tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome. This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. All's you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play. I'm going to do the rest, and what I'm going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you can set aside whatever is keeping you awake, whether it's the thoughts… so things you're thinking about, things on your mind from the past, present or future… feelings… you know, bubbling up because of those thoughts, or just happen to be there, you're just feeling feelings, or experiencing them… or any physical sensations, or what's the case for me a lot of times, baffling sleeplessness. But it could be any number of things, but I'm here to help. Whatever it is that is keeping you awake, I'd like to help take your mind off of it.

What I'm going to do is, I've got a safe place here set aside. Come on in or observe it from afar. Or think about it. Say, “We'll I'll contemplate that. Let me feel it out.” I say, “Okay.” I've got a safe place. I'm going to send my voice across the deep, dark night. I do use these lulling, soothing, creaky dulcet tones, which kind of… I guess they're not self-selecting, but you could say… What do you say, again? Creaky dulcet. Yeah, creaky like a door, dulcet like a word that kind of used to mean sweet-sounding, or sweet on the tongue. Because I think you could say “I got some dulcet sweets.” And you say, “Well, that's a double thing-a-ma-jig, Scoots.” I say, “Well, okay.” But dulcet tones are more… and mine are creaky.

You know, meanders, superfluous tangents. I'm going to go off topic; I'm going to repeat myself; I'm going to mispronounce things, get mixed up, almost guaranteed. I'm going to make some corny jokes, I'm going to goof around, and I'm here to help. Here's the thing: if you're new, welcome. This is a podcast to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff as you drift off, and I want to give you a good couple things to know. I'm glad you're here, and I hope this podcast can help. It doesn't work for everybody, but give it a few tries. 

Structurally what to expect… This is where the first thing that can be confusing, so that's why I do this for almost every episode, just so when you're new the first few times, it can kind of familiarize you with the nonsense. So structurally what to expect. So, this is a free sleep podcast, so the way we do that is, we start the show off with a few minutes of business, and that allows us to have the show downloaded millions of times every month for free, so that's cool, the listeners that do that. But that's an essential part of the show. It's the first few minutes. Then the next 12 to 16 minutes are an intro, which some people skip, but most listeners as they become regular listeners, get into it. It's a bit counterintuitive for a new listener, so I like to explain it. 

The intro is a cool down period or a warm up period, depending on how you like your bed temperature. Or you might say a period of neutral-ness. You might say it's a room temperature period. Yeah, well, Scoots has the only podcast that a segment that's room temperature. You know, other than the Humidity Cast, the podcast… oh, it's Humidity Notes. It's a podcast about humidity and things interesting to people interested in humidity. Not as good as Scrip Notes, but still pretty good. It's made by Egg and Johann, and believe it or not, that's a podcast where they just talk about humidity and humidity… Oh, I think I said that. Oh, Scroop Notes is my favorite podcast, and Scrib Notes. It's another imaginary podcast like Scrip Notes, but about scribbling. 

Sorry, I was trying to… I already went off topic there. So, the intro is so long… It was so long, you say, “Ooh, that was so long, that foot bath.” You know, the temperature of my foot bath got to be room temperature. So that's kind of the intro. You say, okay, started off the perfect temperature of a foot bath, which you could define however you like. But… what was I saying? Oh, like with the intro, I forgot. The intro is really part of our wind down routine for a lot of listeners. The idea of the intro is to kind of ease you into bedtime as you're getting ready for bed, because lately especially a lot of new listeners come in and they say, “Well, when's the story start?” About 18 to 20 minutes. But why don't you see how the intro goes first, because a lot of listeners use it while they're getting ready for bed or while they're getting into bed. 

I guess it's kind of counterintuitive, because a lot of times… It's like a double counterintuitive. It's so counterintuitive it's really to counter the counterintuitiveness of regular sleep solutions. I'm getting real right now for a second. Because I think sometimes people are like, “Well, this will just put you right to sleep,” and you say, “Well, is that really how going to sleep works for everybody?” There are people that just lay down and go to sleep, but for people like me… I'll just use myself as an example. I do need an hour to ease into bedtime. So when I talk about the intro being 15 minutes, it's part of that easing into bedtime. Because someone that is maybe being more marketing than reality would say, “Oh, just put this thing on, you're out in two minutes. You count down from 21. It's the newest podcast, Sleep 21. It's the podcast that puts you to sleep, every episode you count down from 21 and then you're asleep. It's the Sleep 21. It's the new podcast I'll be launching.” Never. Because it might work for some people, I don't know, so… 

I don't know if I'm making sense, but that's my peal about the intro. You can skip it; just skip to 18 or 20 minutes, or you can give it a shot if you're new. And then the regular listeners are chuckling along, because this is when they either wind down or they fall asleep. Or some people have been listening long enough that they fall asleep super fast. It's also just time for us to spend… I think another thing is, it gives us a chance to spend time with one another. I mean, I'm your Bore Friend, right? This is when you can get to know me, or fall asleep. What other relationship is there that that offers? You say, “We're going to have some family time right now, or friend time,” but you could fall asleep during it. 

I'll talk about myself… and believe me, I'll go off topic; whatever I was talking about earlier I already forgot about. But here's the thing: tomorrow I won't ask you, “Don't you remember when I said that I prefer this over that? That's why I don't prefer cronuts, but actually I do. You don't remember us talking bout that?” You say, “No, Scoots.” I say, “Oh, good, because I don't remember talking to… I don't know if I talked about it or not.” 

Okay, so that's the intro, believe it or not. That's about 12 to 15 minutes. Then there's some business between the intro and the story, and that's just kind of how podcasting support works… That's where it's got to go. And then there's the story. So then tonight it will be a visit from my neighbor, Ray. He's a popular character on the show, so that'll be great. It'll be talking about a trip we made recently, and so that's the structure of the show. Then there's some thank yous at the end. And then yeah, this is a podcast you really don't need to listen to. I kind of explained it like that, like I'm your friend and I'm here, really… I'm here to help, and the way I help in this particular podcast is to be at your side, or further… wherever in the area, the vicinity you would like me… but to just chat and to keep your mind off stuff, keep you company, and then you fall asleep whenever you want. 

You could pay attention… and believe me, I'll be talking about… Ray will be talking about stuff that's kind of somewhat interesting. So you say, “Well, okay, but is he going to get to the point, because…” Well, eventually he might get to the point, and the great thing about podcasts and free podcasts is, you could re-listen to it. Or a lot of listeners relax during the day to listen, so you could check it out again. But you won't really miss anything… no offense to Ray or me… super interesting. That's kind of the purpose of the show. It's a weird kind of entertainment. You being entertained is optional. The kind of entertainment we offer, it's like… We're here. I don't know. Is there any other kinds of entertainment like that, where you say, “Yeah, you show up, and that'll be great. Or, you know what, don't even show up. Just… just be nearby, and you don't even need to listen to our performance, because it's just here to keep you company. But if you want to, believe me, you can.” 

So that's the show, but there's also no pressure to fall asleep, which… again, the counterintuitiveness of this podcast. I guess for some reason I'm stuck on that word, but it's important to me for you to know that yeah, you kind of fall asleep at your leisure. This podcast is here while you fall asleep, for me to walk at your side in some sense. But I don't want you to feel pressured to listen or to fall asleep. You fall asleep as you… you're distracted and then you drift off, ideally. And if you can't sleep, because I do hear from listeners that are in a position where they can't sleep or they're dealing… I'm here until the end for you. Believe me, I'm here to keep you company, whether you're awake or asleep.

I make the show because I believe you do deserve a good night's sleep, and I want to provide that, or assist in it if I can. You know, I've been making the show for… I don't even know, six or seven… 800 plus episodes.,. and I've heard a lot, a lot of stories over the years, and it gives me great honor to be of service to those of you that can't sleep, or that need comfort or companionship in the deep dark night, or distraction. Because I've been there, and I know how it feels. Doesn't always feel great, right? Especially when it's baffling. When you say, “I'm tired. What the heck? I want to go to sleep. What's up with that?” Or you may use much stronger phrasing. 

So that's why I make the show. That's kind of how the show works. If you're new, I'm glad you're here. And the main catch is, this show just doesn't work for everybody. And it doesn't have to work for you, but it's free, so give it a few tries and see how it goes. And I realize some people just… You don't have to like it. There's SleepWithMePodcast.com/NoThankYou, if you are having already a reaction like… because I totally understand. I'm not for everybody; not every podcast is for everybody. And also, sometimes I think people come to the show and they… There's so much of that message of like, “Yeah, this is going to be 21 Sleep Podcast, you'll be right to sleep, I promise.” I've been making a show, and it's been very very successful because of the generous listeners who spread the word and help it find other people that it can be successful for, but it still doesn't work for everybody. It's still not a guarantee; it's more of a sleep offering. I'm here to help keep you company, and we can see how it goes. 

So I guess that's it. I really do appreciate you checking the show out, if you're new. Or if you're a regular listener, what up? I'm glad to see you. Glad to have you back. I don't know. What was I talking about earlier? Because I can't even remember. Oh, yeah. Thanks. I was talking about girdles. I don't remember that. Anyway, so yeah, let's just see how it goes. I really appreciate your time, and I yearn and I strive and I work, very very hard, believe it or not, on this show. Because your sleep is important to me, and I really do value it, and I'd like to help you fall asleep. Thanks again for coming by, and here's a couple of ways we keep the show free for everybody. 

All right, everybody. This is an episode… This will be a three-parter that will probably get released almost over a year, but… and this is actually going to be part three, even though it's being recorded first, just at Ray's request. And I'm going to turn the mic over to my neighbor, Ray Perkins, and Ray and I went on a trip recently, and that's why we're recording this one last. Because he said… Well, we just… So, this is a trip Ray and I went on. I don't know if it's a trip report, but those of you who don't know, Ray Perkins is my neighbor, and he's a friend of mine. He's a gentleman who's not the same age as me, who has more life experience than I, and it shows. Though I think when he was my age he was probably super nice too. And he's somebody that loves theme parks.

Traditionally, he's always loved Disney theme parks, but as we always look for stuff that's a little bit… stretching the ol' D-O-L-L-A-R, I said, “Ray, what about some of these other ones?” So we recently went on a trip where we went to… Well, he'll tell you all about it. So some of this might be recycled information, or maybe this one will come out first, even though it's our… I guess this will be the first one, even though this is our third one. Is that okay, Ray? He's nodding. So this will actually be our third stop but our third episode. That way… yeah, it's better to record it in order. He's nodding. 

Ray is a super kind gentleman. He's nice, and he loves theme parks, and he's great to go to theme parks with, where I'm not necessarily as good. And to say this theme park was… This one that we're going to do tonight was really truly a journey. Right? Yeah, Ray's nodding. So without further ado, my neighbor, Ray Perkins.

Well, hello, hello everybody. My name is Ray Perkins. I'm Scooter's neighbor, as he said. Thank you, Scooter. And I'm glad to know this will be the first episode you're hearing, because that will make it very easier on me to tell you about everything that went on and took place and so much sort of things. And I know you'll be hearing this probably much later than when this happened, just because of the production schedule for the podcast. 

I like to call Scooter the Podcast Boy, because he is to me; he's a young man. I mean, he is just a boy. He's growing into being an adult. And sometimes you can say that word and embrace it, but other times don't use it. But anyway, he's the Pod Boy, so… What was I going to say? I forgot already. So we went on a trip recently for us. We got back last night, almost. Yesterday afternoon. A road trip of Scooter and I and his young one. But Scooter and I are the primary… and Scooter said to me… 

Let me give you the backdrop on this. So Scooter said to me, “Ray, I've got to go down south to southern California to do some work, and I'm going to be working most of the time.” He was working with an Australian company like on that wonderful episode that came out a while back where he toured Australia and learned things like getting the petrol at the servo and the lovely Three Sisters… so I would like to go one day to Australia with Scooter and visit the Big Banana and go on some rides there. 

But anyway, he was doing work for that there, and it's summer break and he said, “Well Ray, I've looked at Costco,” which, Ray has never bought… I don't believe I've bought a theme park ticket from Costco, but I could be wrong, because Scooter handles these things. He's the budget-minded one. And he said, “I've got to be working most of the time, but I'm going to have… I want things to do.” He goes, “I looked at Costco. They have this deal there…” It's one of those cards that you go for a city for a tourist, and for this one it was a four day card, and you could get into some of the parks and some of the tourists attractions. If you used it properly, you could really get your mileage worth. 

Your friend Ray… and my accomplices… not Scooter, because Scooter had to work a lot of the time, but we probably paid $225 for the card and got about $375 worth of value over four days, maybe more. If you were paying gate price, probably more. But with the discounts and things, we still ended up ahead. Scooter, I think, ended up breaking even on his card, because he did have to work a lot of the time. And then a lot of people said, “Ray, why didn't you tell us…” and I said, “Well, Scooter was working and very focused on that, so Ray was more trying to be a comfort blanket for Scooter.” And I was also doing some family care or whatever. So while Scooter was busy, I was tween-sitting, we'll say. And so I think that's enough setup.

So we had the card, and we went to two other stops that you'll hear about eventually, but our last stop… Scooter was done working, and then we had a couple more hours to get dinner, and then we left Los Angeles and we went and spent the night in… Oh, no. Did we spend the night? No, no, no. We got up in the morning. Scooter worked, we got dinner, Scooter went to bed… We all went to bed at an Airbnb… and then we headed… We were able to sleep in. 

Now, this was a little bit of a debate. Now I'm going tell you about where we went, and this was a whole new ballgame. For those of you who know Ray, we are into a whole new territory of advice for theme parks, because this is one we've never covered on the show before. It's a company and style of theme park, and it requires a much different approach. But if you… and Ray had to learn his approach while it was at the park. It had been so long since I had been to one of these style of parks. And like I tell everybody, these parks might not be for… Theme parks aren't for everybody. Not everything is for everybody. So [inaudible 00:21:29]… But as I tell you this journey, I'm sure it will be very restful, because I've done these podcasts before. 

Okay, so we went to a park in Valencia called Magic Mountain, and it's very well known; it's been in a lot of movies, and particularly one of Scooter's favorites, National Lampoon… which probably Scooter should do as a Tale of the Tape, Scooter. He's nodding at me, saying “Great idea.” But so… we went there. Now, we were staying in Los Angeles, and we were trying to plan… We were kind of trying to figure things out, and then Scooter said, “Well, I've worked very hard. Let's just leave when we leave. Because of traffic and things.” The park opens at 10:30, and usually your friend Ray would say be at the park when it opens, right? But when we say, “Well, I don't know about traffic and all those things,” and plus, this one was more of a fun trip. It wasn't, “let's do everything we possibly can.”

Now, knowing what Ray knows now, I would go back to my original advice, which would be, be at the park a half hour before it opens. 10:00 if it opens at 10:30. But I am using an assumption, because I wasn't there at 10:00. We got there at about 10:45 to 11:00, so the park had already been open for about 15 to 30 minutes or so, maybe a little… around then. 

So let me do some… How do I approach this here? I guess you could be going on a bit of an emotional… This is the first, most emotional journey you'll ever go on with your friend Ray at a theme park, and I'll you right now, it'll be okay, and we'll have a good time. Ray learned how to have a good time, and I'm going to try to relay you that information… and I guess I'll do it now, so that you know it up front, and then reflect of when I was doing that and when I wasn't doing this. 

So, because we had slept in, we went there… We were rested. We weren't there at opening, but we had high hopes. You could read things about touring plans and things, because they're the newer coasters they have there. This park is known for its coasters. World-renowned, I would say. And we'll talk about those things, because that's not for everybody. They do have other options and other things to do. But that was kind of the primary, because we had a tween with us, because that's coaster age, we said, “Okay, you finally reached… You're much taller than the 58 or the 64 inches, and you're feeling bold, so you want to try these coasters.” 

So… Where was I? I forgot. Okay, so… so you could have a touring plan, which would be, let's say you're a teenager… Well, you're going in with the expectation of doing all the coasters. I would say look up the most popular coasters, which I think we'll probably read when we read the pamphlet, and go on those two or three first, because they get really long lines. You get there when the park opens and try to go on those. But after that, you kind of… Everyone is kind of in the same boat. I mean, these other places… They're trying to have a distribution… They have these upsells, but I don't know if even doing upsell at this park would work very well. 

So, okay. What else do you need to know? Because you say, “Ray, I have never been to a Magic Mountain.” Well, it's a brand of park with the flags, the number of flags being six. So they have a lot of parks in the US, and they have a rep of… They have a reputation, and I'll tell you right now: they exceeded… They did very well, because I said, “Well, why haven't I been to one of these parks in like 15 years?” And I said, “Because they're known to have chewing gum and spilled soda and a lot of yelling teens.” And it ended up that none of that was very true. It was very well kept. I mean, if you're going with your air up in the nose, you're going to be looking for things. I was looking for the bright side of things, when I could say, “Oh, well done, Magic Mountain.” 

So, I wasn't there nitpicking, I would say. And I was very impressed. I thought that, one, the employees, they were all very calm, collected, nice people with positive attitudes. The park seemed to be reasonably clean. Much cleaner than I expected, which was that there would be things on the ground. If you're looking at it like, “Oh boy, this has got to be perfect,” it's not perfect, but it's a different price point [inaudible 00:27:00] too. If you say, “Well, it's got to be like Walt and Roy would say with the white glove treatment,” you probably are better off going someplace else. You know, but Scooter said to me, “Ray, let's see if we can have fun here.”

Now, Scooter had been to this park probably about eight or nine years ago. He said he had been waiting his entire life to go to this park, because of a few reasons. One is that it was on National Lampoon's Vacation, and this had just been this park that has… like Cedar Park in Ohio and Magic Mountain are the two big parks that have the biggest coasters, or the most coasters, or something. He said, “One day, you'll go there,” and I think when Scooter was younger… and we'll talk about it… he was a coaster… He's not a big coaster person anymore. He'll go on them, but he's… You know, he said, “Oh boy, Ray, these things are not for me anymore, so much.” But to be with a tween on them makes it more fun. His daughter, is what I'm saying.

So… Let me see. I'm getting mixed up. The park is very big, so that's a good thing. It was very spread out. So they did better than I expected. That was one thing I wanted to mention. But the park is very big. It has a lot of trees. That's another thing. Oh, Scooter's been there. So this was back in Scooter's wild days, or whatever, and he said when he went there, he had been out very late the night before, so he was feeling A-W-F-U-L, he said. He was in very rough shape, even when they got to the park. He was not feeling good. And he was tired and hungover, so he said his memories of the park were that he went on a few rides, and then he went on this one ride and he was like, “Okay, I've got to go. This is too much for me.” But he did say it was cool to finally go and to go on some of the rides that he had read about.

Okay, so that's… I think that's everything about the basic setup. So we got to the park there… I'm just opening my map here. So we got to the park there, let's just say it opened at 10:00 and we got there at 11:00, for brevity's sake, and it took a little while to get in, you know, because we had another ticket, so we had to get our tickets thing-a-ma-jigged, and then you've got to go through and they check, and then you go in and they have a little Main Street area. Now, I did not know this, but according to when we are leaving, there is a place to get F-U-N-N-E-L C-A-K-E-S, a delicious treat. And when we left the park at closing, there was like an hour line for those. Because I guess that's a big tradition, is people stop there and get a funnel cake before they leave. I don't know if we had a treat while we were there, to be honest. I don't think we did. But we'll talk about it as I remember things.

But so… Yeah, you go in, and again, you're paying much less than these other theme parks, and a lot of times it's based on, oh, can you get an annual pass or something? If you live nearby, maybe. But not they sell subscriptions, which is the same as an annual pass. You just get charged on an ongoing monthly basis, but you still have to pay for 12 months. What are the other things? They also try to get you to buy a meal plan and all-you-could-drink soda, which… at first Scooter said no. He said, “I don't think I'm going to do that.” Because I said, “Scooter, how much soda you going to drink today?” And he said, “Well, let's just see how the day goes, Ray,” because it was going to be a warm, warm day. Very sunny. 

Okay. So let's see here. I think that's it. So you go in, and very much like a lot of these parks, you go and you see the initial things, like the Main Street USA style with the shops and things. And then we went in and we went to the right, so we started going counterclockwise, because we had heard the two most popular ones, I believe, at the park currently are Full Throttle and X2. Now, Scooter said he had been on X2 before, and he said, “Ray, that's…” He wasn't feeling good that day, but he said, “I don't know about that ride, Scooter. I mean, Ray.” Sorry, I'm thinking as I'm talking here. So just in case anybody's a huge fan, we did not get a chance to go on to the X2, but again, if you see it, you say, “Ooh, boy. That is one interesting coaster.” It's a roller coaster. And again, and I'm going to talk about this in a respectful sleepy way, so you don't have to worry about any of that. 

Okay, so we went in the park, we took a right, and at this point… and also, the USA women's… The Women's World Cup was happening. They were playing France. France, France, Ray says. So we were trying to see if we should try to watch the game, stay spoiler free… and it ended up we were able to stay spoiler free and watch the game that evening, which was nice. 

Okay. So we walk in the park, we pass… the Full Throttle was the first ride we saw, and the Full Throttle is… We didn't go on it. It already looked like it was about an hour wait, it said. Now, we did learn that… Okay. Well, we'll get into the strategy, but we'll talk about the wait times and those things. Also, there was a bandstand in front of the Full Throttle, which would be rocking later. Then we passed… What was interesting was… Again, this park has some hills and things, which if you're not into walking, it could not be great. But also, it does give it a feel that… My spirits were very high at this point. So we'll talk about Ray's emotional journey. I said, “Well, I'd like to go on this Full Throttle.” It was a loop-de-looper, and it had a tunnel and things. But I said, “Well, maybe not an hour, because there's more things to go on.” So we didn't wait in line for that, but I said, “Oh, boy.” 

So we passed an Alpine themed sports bar, and it was just… I just liked the theming of it. Even though it was not an Alpine themed area, I said, “Oh, I like that place.” That's when we were talking about the World Cup. Then there was the kiddie land off to the right. I think they call it Camp Snoopy or Bugs Bunny Camp. I think Bugs Bunny. And we did not go back there, but again, it looked like it had a lot of shade and a lot of trees. They do a great job of having… in most of the areas where they can, because this park has been around for a long, long time… very tall and developed trees. 

But again, we were still… Now, I'll be honest with you, though. We were still in the mindset of Ray's touring plan, which is get to the park, and in the first two hours of the park, go on as many rides as you can. So that just does not work. I'll tell you, as you'll find out. And I don't necessarily fault this company, because I say, “Well, you've got to adjust your touring plans to reality,” I think is what… and at first this was not easy for Ray, because what happened was, we passed by the kiddie land. There was also an Old West stage. I don't know what kind of show… We didn't go to any shows. Then you pass into an area, and on the left side is the ship, the pirate ship and the swings. We thought about going on those, and then we went on a ride… You know David, David and Goliath. This one was called Goliath.

This one, Scooter had been on before, and he said, “Oh, I think this is a very fun one. It used to be the top-of-the-line coaster, so they said go on that one early. The internet said that.” So we said, “Okay, let's see.” And as we walked in there and they had the cool giant letters made of fake stone and it had a temple theme… We headed back, and one of the signs said, “Wait time from here: 45 minutes,” and then there was no wait there. So went further and further on, and the line was very short. Now, this is probably 11:15, we'll say. Maybe… Yeah, let's just say it's 11:15. 

Now, we got to the line. It was probably, if we were guessing, where we were to the boarding area was probably like a 20 minute wait. So we got in line, and now this is where Ray's plan start to become adjusted, because then we noticed the line wasn't moving. And then we noticed the cars weren't going by. And then they made an announcement… and this happens at parks. Usually it doesn't happen right when you get there, so we were just unlucky in some sense. But I would say we probably waited like 15 minutes, so probably had another 10 to 15 minutes left when it stopped running. 

And again, you're here, you're in line, you're close to getting on, and it's early. It's nicely shaded for the most part where we're waiting, so we waited it out for quite a while, and they said they were having a temporary issue, and a few people would get out of line, and we'd get even closer. And we weren't paying attention to the time when we first got there, but our spirits were still very high. So we said, “Oh, okay, we'll wait a few more minutes,” and then time flew by and we definitely had been there in line and waiting for probably… I guess like 45 minutes before we gave up. Maybe it was an hour. Where we were like, “Oh, let's wait another 10 minutes,” and someone came by and they said, “Well, there's people working on the track now.” We said, “Okay, if there's people working on the track, we're better off saying oh well.” And we said, “Okay, oh well. Let's go on to the next ride.” 

The next ride, it was a little bit of walking to get there. We passed by a couple spots to eat, one that had sushi and… I don't know what the other food was. And then we passed under this Superman ride, which I don't know if they… It's a new version since Scooter has been there. It's very loud. I would say if you're listening, turn down the volume on that ride. Anyone that's been to the park, you can't walk near this ride without holding your hands over your ears. It's ridiculous, I would say. Are you advertising for people to get in line for it? I don't understand it. It's supposed to be the sound of Superman flying by at a high speed… 

So we took a right there. You walk along, you pass an eatery, you're going to Superman. Also attached to part of Superman was a tower ride. You know, that you go up… an accelerated elevator, I'd say, for sleeping people. And again, our confidence was a little shook, because we said okay… Scooter's little tween loves those rides, so we said, “Let's go on that one,” and because we knew already that the wait time signs were not accurate… but we were still operating, again, on if it said 45 minutes at the door, maybe it's only 25 minutes. But then we said, “No…” We shuffled our feet at the entrance, and we saw people in line, and we said, “Well, what if it's an hour even though it says…” We said, “Okay, let's go…” We did that for a while, and then we said, “You know what? Forget it.” 

I would say that we probably only waited 20, 25 minutes to go on that ride, but we alas'd, and we moved on. So then we went around past the sandwich shop. It was a steampunk theme for just a small portion of the park here, and I will say this about this park: it either had very strong theming or not very strong theming. And again, I don't know. I'm not expecting it to be strong or not strong, but I would say if you're designing these things, just go for not cheap. I'm not throwing shade at this park, but it's like, well, if you're going to do steampunk on a budget, just don't do it. That would be Ray's advice. Just do Old West or something you could do on a budget. And this criticism will span parks, because another park had a boardwalk theme done cheaply, and I said, “Well, why don't you just do all Old West there too?” Or just do non-themed. But that's just Ray's opinion.

But this part of the park… only like one ride and the theatre… so I don't know if the theatre… Let me look it up. Do they have a steampunk show there? Gearworks Theatre. It just says live shows, special events. Maybe they have a steampunk style show. The other theatre was Golden Bear Theatre, and that just says special events and live show. Let me see what other… Oh, there's Pint Sized Fun, Bugs Bunny World. That's what the one is called. 

Here's what's interesting… So, Ray didn't really look at this one when I was at the park. It has its thing broken up into very good ways. It has Pint Sized Fun, and the pint sized fun is the carousel, the Buccaneer… and in Bugs Bunny World they have Canyon Blaster, Daffy's Bus Ride, Elmer's Weather Balloons, Looney Lodge, Merrie Melodies Carousel, Pepé Le Pew's Tea Party, Road Runner Express, Hot Rod Racers, Pounce and Bounce, Taz's Trucking Company, Tweety's Birdcages, Yosemite Sam's Fun Ride, and then they have Whistlestop Park with the Magic Flyer and a Whistlestop Train. 

Then they have Thrill Seekers in Training, so they have a ride, Ninja, which we'll talk about. Scrambler, that's a classic ride. Ray and Scooter tried to get people to go on that, and no one wanted to go. Sand Blasters, those are bumper cars. The Flash ride was a bob ride, as we talk about… You know, at a fair. There's a Wonder Woman ride that was one of those Gravitron-style rides. Swashbuckler, those are the swings. 

Then there was the funicular run by Honda, the car company. It was an indoor funicular, Helpful Honda Express, because there's one big hill. And then they have moderate Six Flags: Justice League: Metropolis… This ride will come in a big part of Ray's story about today. Superman… This is a moderate one. We didn't go on this one, but Scooter said this was the ride back in the late '90s, early '00s. The Lex Luthor accelerated elevator ride, we didn't go on that. Gold Rush. Oh, boy, that was a classic family roller coaster. Oh, and then an extra charged one of one of those swings. 

Then they have Maximum Thrills. There's the pendulum… New Revolution – Classic. I guess we didn't go on that one. Oh, okay. That's the one… It used to be called something else. I think it was called the Winder of Sides at one point. Oh, boy. And the next one we'll be talking about… Full Throttle that we didn't go on. Goliath that we waited for and didn't get on. Let's see. How do we talk to this one… There's a ride… Whee, we'll call it. Green Lantern, that was not working. Batman… That one we did. Riddler, Tatsu… Darien Lake Original that has a different name, but we can't… and then X2. Then there's three water themed rides. They also have a water park, but that was really busy, I heard. Roaring Rapids, Jet Stream, and Tidal Wave.

Okay, so where we were? So, back to where we were. We couldn't go on Goliath, and then we passed all those things, went through the steampunk land… and then we got in line for a ride called Twisted Colossus. Now, last time Scooter was here, this was a wooden roller coaster, but I guess four or five years ago they made this into some sort of hybrid coaster. This is the one you can see from the parking lot; you can kind of see that and Superman from the freeway, I think. And it's still a wooden superstructure. It looks like a wooden roller coaster that you'd see on any seaside amusement, which is very large. And we had heard good things about it. 

Now, we got in line again, and we thought it was going to be about 20 minutes or something. I think the sign said from this point, 30 or 45 minutes, but we walked in and got in line much further in. And this is where Ray… I should have already known this, but you know, when you're in line you're observing things. And this place is just run a little bit differently. Everyone working there is younger, it doesn't seem like they have a lot of middle managers, which probably the kids that work there are happy about. And instead of… It seems like between the two choices of maximizing guests enjoying their day… They definitely focus on making sure everything is working correctly, right? To keep you in your seats. But they don't… They're not super focused on efficiency. So again, if you're watching how they're loading or dealing with the crowds, you could…

This is where Ray… I was watching, and I said, “Well, I don't understand. You're not maximizing efficiency here.” It could get on your nerves. It did on Ray's nerves, at first. But then we got on this ride, and Scooter and I agreed… everyone agreed… this was probably one of the greatest rides we've ever been on. Without a deep… Well, you say, “A deep themed ride?” No, no, no. A roller coaster style ride. Scooter's coming in.

Best roller coaster. I would agree. 

Now, some of you might want something a little bit more intense. For fun… This was the funnest roller coaster I had ever been on in my life, probably ever will be. Now, Scooter also says by far the funnest coaster that he's ever been on. Also, you kind of go through it twice, because it used to be two of those wooden roller coasters racing one another, but now you're coaster goes through and you kind of do race one another, but it's on your second loop through the whole thing. So not only is it a long ride; it's just so fun. By far, the most fun we had that day. This was the beginning, the first ride we went on, and the last ride we went on. 

Now, I would say that Ray's mood was already, though… Well, we're two hours probably in, and we went on one ride. The next ride we went on was called [inaudible 00:48:59]. It was right next door. It's another different style of riding coaster ride. And the temperature was getting warmer. We had a water break and then we waited in this line. Now, this was one of these times where Ray… They only had one train running for this ride. Usually they have two or three to be efficient, right? And so this was another hour wait, which wasn't an hour's worth of people. So if they had had two trains running, it probably would have been 30 minutes. If they had three, it probably would have been 20 minutes, or 15. But it was very well shaded, and we still had a pleasant time on the ride. 

But then we had been at the park like three hours, we had only gone on two rides, right? So this was starting… Now it was the warmest part of the day, and I guess we didn't realize it. So then we were walking, and I think we were trying to figure out, should we ride something? But again, the park did not feel super busy, even though it was busy, because it's so spread out and so many rides. 

So then what happened is we ate lunch at Ace Café or something with barbecue. And it was very busy, but Scooter did buy an unlimited drink cup. There was not a lot of places with A/C. So they had a patio with shade, and I guess this is where our expectations came up against reality. We said, “Well, we ate. It wasn't bad, but we're still warm.” Then we went and used the restroom that was very busy, and that was where I said, “Oh, boy. This is…” and then the tween, little one… I call her a little one. She said there's this water ride called Tidal Wave.

Now, you just go up… It's not a flume ride; it's one of those bigger boats, and you go up and then you just go down one hill and it makes a big splash. We got in line for this one. We said, “Okay, this will be fun.” We'll get a little wet. We're warm. But again, this was the next ride we had gone on that again, only had one boat running. And this wait did not have shade, so this was a drastically long wait. Now, there were two high points here. Actually, other than the Twisted Colossus, the high points of the day. So I'll tell you about those at the end just to bring things back up, but those were just distractions, because we were sitting in the sun, we were waiting. You say, “What are we waiting for? How do you not have two boats in the summertime, running?” And everyone in line was accepting of it. And again, Ray would become accepting of it when I tell you how to deal with these things after. And it was just a little bit too long waiting in line in the sun, so we were all white after this. 

Now, the two high points. Oh, boy. So there was this young man, probably somewhere between 10 and 12. Because there's a bridge that goes over the splash zone where the tidal wave is, right? And it was a warm day. He probably has an annual pass. And he would just stand there for every tidal wave and yell with joy and get soaking wet, and then he would go and rest in the shade. Like a professional getting splashed by a wave thing. He had a red t-shirt that had a number 86 on it, and he was just so happy and filled with joy that that helped keep us going, was watching him waiting for the wave and then getting splashed and then before and in between sitting on the stairs in the shade kind of just contemplating the waves, and then going up and getting splashed again. And he was kind of dancing and it was just very, very nice to see someone happy.

Then there was a dad… and this was very brief, though. He was in line by himself. Well, I would assume he… Oh, no, he must have been a dad, I guess. Now, he had on the… They give you a wristband or something if you pay extra; you don't have to wait in line. You still have to wait in line, though. But he was in that line, so we were watching him. And he had a very long ponytail. His hair was pulled back, and he had a ponytail down to his lower back. And then he had a t-shirt that was a Superman sign, and then it said Dad, like Super Dad. And he just had this nice smile, and he was excited to go on the ride by himself, and he said nice things to the works. He was just the spirit of goodness. I don't know how else to say it. 

Again, it was very inspirational, because we had finally got into the shade at this point, closer to the ride… I don't know. But then after we rode this ride, again it was like we were worn out, we were hot, we were cranky. Even Ray was cranky. And that was about 2:00 PM or something, maybe even… I don't know what time it was. We were kind of fed up with waiting in line. I said, “Maybe this is just it.” Because we said to the young one… even though we weren't believing it, we said, “You know, this is how theme parks always were until these Fast Passes and touring plans. You would wait in line for an hour every ride.” She said, “I don't believe it.” We said, “This is how it used to be. Got to wait in line.” 

So then we said okay… We found this Hall of Justice or whatever, which was a 3D water gun ride, like Buzz Lightyear. We found out that ride had A/C, so we went on that one next, and this ride ended up being just what we needed, because when we waited in the line, we were in air conditioning… and it wasn't an hour wait for that one, but it was a while. It refreshed us, we got some more waters, we went on the ride. The ride was pretty fun. It was one of those games like you're aiming… like a video game ride. And by the time we were done with that, we stayed in the gift shop for a little while, and our spirits were back… I don't know. We were back.

Then we realized, okay, probably most of these rides, you've just got to accept you're going to be in line for an hour. Because we checked the wait times, and we just didn't feel like they were clear, even though they were on the app. So then we went on the Riddler ride, and that was very fun. This is where Scooter and I both were like, “Well, these aren't exactly our style of rides,” but that one was very well shaded. It was about an hour, probably, in line. Maybe a little less, but when you say okay… 

This is what Ray wants you to know. If you go to this park or one of these style parks, just expect to wait in line an hour for every ride, except for some of the littler rides. Then if you wait less you say, “Oh, boy! I waited less than an hour!” And I'm not being ironic or sarcastic. You say, “Well, the park is open from 10:00 to 10:00, or 10:00 to 9:00. You could get a lot done and stay cool. But when we had this mindset of trying to get a bunch done like you do at a Disney or a Universal park, then take a break… This one, you should just be taking a break the whole time. I guess that's what I'm saying. 

Bring some games to play in line or something like that. And yeah, instead of rushing, stretch the day out. It's a much different mindset, and once this Hall of Justice cooled us down and we said, “Okay, it's probably going to be an hour wait for every ride,” we just said, “Oh, okay. We won't worry about what the wait time is, unless it's one of those…” Those two rides we realized we probably wouldn't go on, the two newest ones. 

So we went on the Riddler. That was fun. Then we went on Batman, which was also fun. And the Batman ride is a very standard one at Six Flags parks, so we had been on it, Scooter and I separately at different parks probably. Still a fun ride. They had the Green Lantern ride that was not open. Scooter tried to get people to go on bob ride. No one was a taker. And the same with the Scrambler. Then I think we got more water. Then we went on the Gold Rush. 

Oh boy, that was another fun one. This was more a family-style coaster built on the ground, kind of. Using the natural hills of the park. Because at the center of this Magic Mountain… I guess maybe that's the magic mountain. I don't know. But there's a big hill, Gold Rush, it's called. And this one was just an old fashioned coaster, like maybe you would even find at… you know, a smaller place. But it was built around the hills; it kind of naturally went around the hills. It was a very fun ride. Oh, did we have fun on that one. Now we were kind of in the zone. That wait wasn't an hour, but we said, “Okay, we're planning it.” 

Then we went up… We walked up a hill, and then you go to a turning point where you can go further up the hill or go to Superman, and it ended up Superman was not running at that time. Scooter did really want to go on Superman, so I felt bad for him. Then we went on the Ninja ride. It was an old fashioned coaster. We were telling the tween, they thought this would be the next big coaster. It wasn't. It's kind of like a bob ride. So I guess we kind of got a bob ride in. It's like a car suspended from a pole, and you sit in the car. So it's not super thrilling, but it's kind of fun, because you get swung side to side. 

That wait was about an hour, and that one was not a… Sometimes you felt like they just didn't have enough people working there, which makes you say, “Hey corporate, get some more workers here,” because the workers were working very hard and doing the best job they possibly could.

Then we went on the ride Tatsu, which Scooter really liked. And that one… You'd say, “Oh, boy. This ride is not for everybody.” It's right by the funicular, so Scooter got to say funicular 50 times. We also saw a flume ride that we did not go on, and then we saw where they were getting ready to expand the park with what looked like a wooden coaster and some sort of other… a coaster and a wooden coaster. At first Scooter said, “I wonder if that's a closed down section of the park.” At first it looked like maybe it was no longer used. And then we realized, no, they're building it and refurbishing it. So one day we'll go back there. 

So we went on Tatsu. Scooter… That one is probably not for everybody. It's a bit like X2, but not… If you were going to go on X2, you should go on Tatsu first to see what you think and then se if you want to go on X2. Then Tatsu is up in this wooded area. There's also a raft ride that was not running that looked fun. In a very shady, up area, there was a couple places to eat. Then we strolled down the hill. And again, we had been in this one-hour mode now for four or five rides, so time was going by, but we weren't worrying about it, you know?

There's the New Revolution. Maybe they changed that from the original ride, because it looks like it runs a little bit further. We didn't go on that ride… I guess I wish we did. Then we went on the first roller coaster that Scooter ever went on, a version at Darien Lake with the same name. Same car, probably the same company designed both roller coasters. Slightly different track layout, but very similar. 

So this was back in the '80s, when Scooter actually… The first time he was supposed to go on a coaster, it was him, his brother Carl, and his father. And they were the only ones tall enough to go on this coaster, because they had six kids; they didn't go to theme parks very much. Originally they would go to this place called Roseland Park, which was a small, small theme park. And then they started going to Darien Lake, which is now a Six Flags park. So this was the first coaster Scooter went on, and when he was waiting in line with his father and his brother… and I think Scooter was a little bit older than his daughter is now. He was probably in sixth grade, or maybe fifth grade. But he saw it, he said, “No, no. I don't think I can go.” So his father and his brother went, and then they said, “Oh, see, we did it. We're fine.” And then him and his brother and his father rode it like 20 times in a row. 

Again, Scooter said, “I don't know how we just kept waiting in line for an hour over and over again, but we did. That's just what you did.” So we went on that ride, and it was a little bit rough. We say, “Okay, this is why they made these in the '80s and the '90s.” You could see X2 from there, and it looked like it had a long line, and it was a long walk to get there, so we didn't go on X2. All of us just said… We still needed to get something to… Oh, no. We didn't eat. We said, “When are we going to eat dinner?” Then we said, “Okay, let's just make sure we go on Twisted Colossus one more time,” which is on the other side of the park. 

So we started walking there. At this point, it was getting evening. Then there was a dance party at Full Throttle on the stage there, which was nice. And I think all we did… Yeah, we just walked all the way back and rode… I'm trying to think if we went on any other rides. I don't think we did. I think we just walked all the way to the other side of the park… We looked at the line for Goliath, but we said, “Well, it's most important for us to go on Colossus,” and I think that was it. We said, “Well, okay. Let's go see what the line is for Colossus.” That's what we did. We said, “If we can't go on that, we'll go on the swings in the pirate ship.” 

But then we got on the ride for the Twisted Colossus. The sun had just set, and it was a person working, Jocelyn, running the ride at this point, who was very efficient. So the line was moving, because Jocelyn was running things in a very efficient, clear way, giving instructions to all the staff. And we rode that ride, and again… Oh, boy. What a ride. Again, confirmed the greatness. Then we went and exited the park. It took a while. We left with everybody. 

And that was Ray and Scooter's day at Six Flags Magic Mountain. A nice little day we had. Yeah, so going forward, if you go to one of these parks, just allot an hour a ride. That's the easiest way to do it. But don't go into it… Get there when it opens; maybe you can go on one or two rides fast. But again, it kind of depends. These ones, it's not run like clockwork. It kind of depends on the crew working. So don't get your hopes up that you're going to get a lot done in the first few hours, be rushing around. Also, the park is more spread out. This one, go into it planning on waiting in line, bringing something to do, and just saying, “Okay, instead of rushing and taking a break, the whole day will be a leisurely thrilling day.” 

So that's your friend Ray. Thank you so much. It's so good to be in your ears. Good night.