Best Time To Visit Magic Mountain?

[CoburnJason54]

Sorry if this has already been asked. I was wondering what month/ time of year is the best to visit magic mountain when lines will be the smallest but you can expect for most of the rides to be open. Living on the east coast I am not use to parks that can operate almost year round, so I don't know how busy the parks are during winter months. I know sometimes the park can have multiple coasters closed at one point (cough cough X2). I know weekends in the spring or rainy days are good at any park, but I'm in New Hampshire and I have never been and can't go often. I don't really trust the flash pass either. Is there a good time to go? I would spend about two days. I've never been and I know lines can get ridiculous.

 

[tomahawk]

April and May during the week, as long as it isn't the week before or after Easter. They open daily in March I think, just avoid weekends if at all possible.

 

[insanecoastervids]

When I went earlier this month for the first time we had like no time but we still knocked out a good amount of Coasters so that might be a good time to go.

 

[CanobieFan]

I've been twice and had no real issues (and you can always get a Qbot/Flashpass)
My first visit was on a Saturday in the middle of summer with an in-park event going on and I still managed to get on..... X2, Déjà Vu (2), Terminator Salvation, Ninja (2), Superman The Escape (left), Tatsu (3), Gold Rusher, Revolution (2), Riddler's Revenge (2), Batman The Ride, Colossus (left), Scream!, Goliath (2), Canyon Blaster, Viper and I spent like an hour at the top of their skytower and rode both log flumes, the splashboat, and their funicular annddd didn't even stay till closing! As long as you hit X2 at opening.. you'll be fine. My second trip I didn't care about riding everything but still managed to do everything I wanted but Tatus. Its a big park.. but its extremely manageable, at least in both of my experiences.

 

[Hixee]

I went twice last year, once mid-January and once mid-June.

In January the park was DEAD. Had ridden all the coasters and Lex Luthor by about 3pm, so had plenty of time for rerides and stuff too. In June it was busier, but still didn't stop us getting everything we wanted to do done. If we'd have wanted to, we could have again easily ridden everything once in the day.

Maybe I just got lucky, but just avoid peak season and you should be fine.

 

[D1993]

I was about to ask the same question ....
even if it was busy, how well does the flash pass work at magic mountain?

 

[CanobieFan]

It works well, if you pay up for the GOLD version. Just check the ride list for the day. The first time I went every single adult coaster BUT Batman (and X2, offered as an upcharge) was on the pass, as well as the 4 water rides. When I went last fall... Only about half the coasters were on the pass

 

[CoburnJason54]

I am going here during the last week of April, like the 28 to the 30th or something like that. Does anyone think a flash pass is necessary? Is there an average wait time I can expect? One last question is does the 5 min early entry work with a gold pass that I got at Six Flags New England or only the home park?

 

[Hyde]

I visited SFMM a number of times in 2011 and 2012. Fewest crowd I had was during the winter months (i.e. now). Still, crowds were take through March and April. We also managed to ride every roller coaster at the park throughout the day without a Flash Pass during every visit, even with a few rerides.

One tip I do have is to ride Tatsu first thing in the morning. Otherwise the line can become pretty vile. SFMM also geniusly uses single rider queue on select rides, such as Riddler's Revenge and Green Lantern. This drastically cuts down on wait times, and is not a real inconvenience for not riding with your group (honestly, how much does it really matter to be sitting next to someone you know on a roller coaster?). We also always saved X2 for our last ride at night. The line would always be 2+ hours, even immediately in the morning. By saving it for last, you know you will be able to ride, while spending those 2 hours on other attractions.