Washington was fun, but now it's time to head to our next stop on this giant summer trip. So far we've stopped at Colorado, Las Vegas, and Washington, but now we're headed back to where the kids grew up. California!
The next morning there's a few things going on. First, we've got to check out of the hotel. Second, we have to get Theresa to the airport because she's flying for work travel, and then third, we've got to drive north to Valencia for a few days full of fun. We're headed to Magic Mountain!
We've been here before, but it was really quick after my Disneyland Half Marathon race. Just for a half day really. This visit, we're getting 3 days in! Let's do all the things!
Our first stop. Well Batman of course! When you see characters with no lines, of course you stop and say hi.
Ian was super excited to see this ride working. It was closed on our previous visit. Lex Luthor's Drop of Doom! And it's a walk-on!
With the demolition of Kingda Ka (the previous tallest roller coaster in the world) and the drop tower that was attached to it, this ride is now the highest drop tower in the world, soaring 400 feet into the air!
You freefall for 5 seconds and reach speeds of 85mph as you dive towards the ground!
Alli wasn't sure she wanted to go on it, since she has always had a thing about that "losing your stomach" feeling. But she was a trooper and went on it anyway.
Ian loved it! Alli thought it was just okay.
Go again? Short lines, so why not? There's two independent sides to the drop tower, offering different views. We thought the second side felt like it dropped a little faster even. Loved it!
Next, Alli wanted to ride Goliath which is right next door.
We're all hungry, so it's a good thing we have the season dining plan on our passes. We bought them back in February when we were here, so we're looking forward to using them.
Wait times were a little longer, taking 20 minutes to get to the loading zone. Once we did though, the kids and I had a good time.
D'oh. There's so many school kids here with vouchers at Food Etc. It literally took 30 minutes to get to the front of this line.
And when we did... our meal passes didn't work. Sigh...
The food is already prepped and in front of us. I spoke with a manager for a while and the kids eventually went to the table to eat. I waited at the counter while we worked through the issues. They took my phone, scanned it, could see that I had the meal plan on their computer, but not at the register. They suggested I head to customer service again to fix it. Ugh. Back in February I spent over an hour dealing with meal pass issues.
Tweety, aren't you a little tall?
Ah, better.
This photo might look like it was taken right after the ones above, but let me assure you, it was 80 minutes later. Yes, for 80 minutes I was speaking to the front-line guest services, then their supervisor, then the supervisor above her! It was a lot of waiting around waiting to hear back from someone while they checked something, and even when I left, I wasn't feeling confident they had fixed it. I kept cool though, never getting angry. It wouldn't have helped and would have probably hurt my chances of getting it fixed.
They gave us a free flash-pass for Tatsu for waiting so long.
I was hungry since I stil haven't eaten. We went to Johnny Rockets and found that it's still not working correctly. I explained my troubles to the manager there and after some back and forth, they wrote down my pass number on a piece of paper to deal with later and let me have the food. Customer Service did say it might take an overnight refresh, so we'll see tomorrow.
Twisted Colossus was a favorite for sure last time. We waited 30 minutes to get to the front of the line, but afterwards, there was an open row and the kids got to ride a 2nd time!
We jumped around the park going on lots of different ride, like Tatsu.
And the new West Coast Racers.
With Twisted Colossus, it's rare that you're actually racing the 2nd train, the way the ride was designed.
With West Coast Racers, it's all built in! You hold for a little while on the 2nd track while the first track loads, then you race together the whole time! It's awesome!
Still having some issues with the food pass at the end of the night for dinner. We got chicken tenders, but had to wait around while the managers figured it out. By the time we got the food to eat, it was cold and hard, nigh on inedible. These "free" but expensive tenders and fries found their way into a trash can.
To end our night, since the park closes at 8, we'll ride Apocalype as many times as we can. Boy is it loud and bumpy!
Everyone was feeling hungry after we left the park, so I drove the three of us to a nearby Chipotle. Yum!
Next, we checked into our hotel and settled in for the night.
While Alli got a peppery Avocado Toast.
We arrived at the park by 10:45am, a few minutes after they opened officially.
6/10/2025
The next morning, we are fortunate enough to have breakfast provided by the hotel, due to Theresa's hotel status. And not just a breakfast buffet, but a nice sit-down breakfast with a menu!
Those are some good looking pancakes Ian.
I got a little bit of everything.
The lines were still pretty great though for being a Tuesday in Summer.
We got to ride Lex Luther, then Wonder Woman twice. Crazanity. Riddler.
We rode SCREAM! 5 times. Front Row, Back Row, Middle Row, eyes closed. So many!
Any time you see us and a picture of the Looney Tunes characters, you can probably guess that we're at member services. The food passes didn't work again. Surprise! I know you're as shocked as I am.
Not wanting to wait around for 80 minutes like yesterday, I let them know that I was still having issues and that I'd like some of the food vouchers give out. In the end, I received a post-it note... Sigh... Another fun thing to explain to the managers at the food places we go to.
We rode the little tram car to the top of the hill. Magic Mountain has lots of hills.
Then had a fun ride on Ninja. The track is above you and you're in swinging cars below. The lady in front of us lost her hat and Ian almost caught it. Almost. Instead it tumbled down to who knows where.
Together we all rode Viper. When it opened in 1990 it set records for the highest and fastest looping coaster in the world. We found it extremely rough though and vowed not to ride it again. One and done.
Full Throttle though is a record setter and we love it!
Then off to Twisted Colossus where we'd ride twice in a row without exiting.
And the kids even got in a third ride in the back! Love that if you can find an open row, you can keep riding!
Don't ask me why, but the kids wanted to do the log ride called Jet Stream. Opened in 1972, it's a bumpy, jerky ride down the flume. I was really hoping not to get wet.
And again afterwards, the kids were still hungry, so we headed back to Chipotle to finish off the night.
Hey Ian. How many times did you ride Twisted Colossus? He said we could count based on the number of bruises on his legs.
The seat belt you buckle goes underneath the restraining lap bar and it hits him in just the right place. You'll notice the bruises are either on the left or the right, depending on while side of the coaster he chose to sit on. Fun!
Alli was really the only one who got a little wet. Not bad.
Dinner was nachos and tacos at Food Etc. Again we got to explain to the manager why our food pass wasn't working and eventually got our meals.
Let's finish the day with a fun ride on Tatsu!
Do we still have time? We do!
We got in line for X2 right before they closed at 8pm for the night. As long as you're in line you get to go! And the fire plume they do on the ride looks even better at night! 
We'll continue from here on the next one.
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