Thanks to reader Thomas O’Sullivan, I have added eight more pictures to the Magic Mountain section. Included are three “now” pictures taken from the point of view of vintage shots of

as well as a picture of the Metro Contempo Pavilion station and some vintage ticket stubs from the Sky Tower museum.

Thanks Thomas!

I finally got caught up on the frequent, and informative, Magic Mountain park updates on Theme Park Review the other day and had a listen to their very short interview with Mark Shapiro, current Six Flags president and CEO.

First, I have to point out I am a Six Flags stockholder, so I am literally putting my money where my mouth is. That said, I have mixed feelings about what Shapiro said about the state of the park and the future.

On the one hand, there’s no question that current management is under a mandate to undo years of neglect and balance out extreme thrills with family fare. Despite Shapiro’s seemingly defensive tone and slams on Six Flags’ previous leadership, I have to give him kudos for realizing that besides the coasters “the rest of the park wasn’t being loved.” This shows he gets it.

On the other hand, I am still concerned with the strategy. Knowing the reputation the park has built up over the last two decades, Shapiro sounds naive when he talks only of family rides and improved park infrastructure as the cure to Magic Mountain’s woes. I worry that Thomas Town does not a family park make.

We need to acknowledge the fact that families may be afraid to bring their young children to the park. There are no airport-style metal detectors at Disneyland. Legoland does not suffer roaming packs of gang members. Changing the course of the park is a wholesale shift that will likely take ten years or more. When TPR interviewer Robb Alvey asked Shapiro where he saw Magic Mountain in five years, it would’ve been encouraging to hear how they plan to address the park’s image in these terms.

In Shapiro’s defense, it might just be that he was speaking to an audience obviously most interested in rides. It could also be that he was a little put off by the number of times that the Tilt-A-Whirl was brought up. I mean, really, Tilt-A-Whirl? With the loss of so many unique rides (e.g. Swiss Twist and Spin Out to name only the most recent) why dwell on a run-of-the-mill carnival ride? I think Alvey lost a little credibility there.

It will be interesting to watch this story unfold. And as recently as a year ago who knew we’d even have this chapter in Magic Mountain’s saga?

“We have the teen-age franchise locked up,” say Dan Howells, general manager of the Valencia park, “but we have been weak in things for an adult to do. We are trying to attract the entire family.”

Sound like just one of many recent statements by Six Flags officials on the dearth of families at Magic Mountain? Would you be surprised to learn that the above quote is from the Los Angeles Daily News, June 5, 1981?

That’s right. 1981. In an article in the local paper about the upcoming summer season at the park, recently purchased by Six Flags from Newhall Land & Development, park management pushed family fare over thrills. The article continues:

…Magic Mountain is now emphasizing sedentary attractions in its Spillikin Corners section. Six Flags… also installed an aquatics show last year and hopes to attract a broader audience with its puppet shows, animal petting area and its Americana show in an air-conditioned, 1,300-seat theater.

The rest of the article is focused on the final construction of Roaring Rapids, already “successfully introduced last summer at Six Flags Astroworld” and the fact that opening that attraction will finally allow guests to loop around the south side of the mountain.

Obviously, the fact that Six Flags is still, 26 years later, having trouble spinning Magic Mountain as anything but a thrill park is sad. But I have to say that recent efforts to shift focus away from steel girders and toward fresh paint is a welcome change.