Magic Mountain, January 1979
It's time for the last of my Magic Mountain slides - I'd love to find more, but they are not that common. Check out some other views HERE and HERE.
First up is this photo of a roller coaster train on the "Revolution", or as I just learned, the "Great American Revolution" (how did I not know it had that longer name until now?). With the opening of Great American Revolution in 1976, Magic Mountain became the first park in the world to have a modern, 360-degree steel looping coaster (though previous roller coasters with loops had been built and dismantled elsewhere due to safety issues). When it was built, there was very little in the way of surrounding brush. Now, the tracks are surrounded by trees and bushes, which prevents the riders from knowing the track layout beforehand. Universal then filmed a major movie at Magic Mountain with the Revolution as its centerpiece called Rollercoaster in 1977.
This looped 'coaster sure seemed amazing to those of us who experienced it back around the time it originally opened! While it has undergone some changes, it is still at Six Flags Magic Mountain to this day.
The Galaxy was a double Ferris wheel with cable pulley that looked like a V-shaped beam. The ride was removed and was located where Buccaneer and Swashbuckler are now sitting. It was there when the park opened in 1971, and provided many wonderful views. When it was removed in 1979, it was scrapped. Notice Colossus in the distance.
Here's one of those views! You can really get a sense of the way that Magic Mountain was built on a combination of flat ground and hillsides. A bounce house that resembled one of the troll mascots ("Bloop", in this case) is to our left, and the Revolution is in the distance.
And here's another view. "Wizard's Village" is below us, a series of shops and activities that might be compared to Tom Sawyer Island. Notice the suspension bridge in the upper right quarter. To be honest I'm not sure what was beneath that tent-like structure, but I know one of YOU will know!
15 comments:
I don’t think THE GREAT AMERICAN REVOLUTION name lasted very long … eventually a series of guests shelters were built to accommodate the very long lines and they were themed to old Mexican Adobe structures like “(Mexico) Revolucion!!!”.
My family wasn’t really much of a Magic Mountain family and we only went every few years …. But I remember the hoopla over the opening of The Revolution “watch your socks fall off” . The commercials showed guests on a viewing platform below the loop… as the coaster came in and went upside down … socks rained down on the people on the platform … presumably from the passengers on the coaster. There was no explaining why their shoes didn’t come off!
And here we are, back with the SENSURROUND! As mentioned a few days ago, Rollercoaster was shown with the gimmicky Sensurround speakers. The sub-bass rumbling was unnecessary for that film IMO. But hey, we got to see Magic Mountain!
The first pic is excellent! You just know that the photographer stood and waited for the right moment to snap this photo; I'm sure I would have done the same. Wonderful lighting! Wonderful angle! Deep blue sky! I'm keepin' it.
Love the twilight lighting in the second photo. Dark enough to give it an artsy look, but we can still see lots of detail. The coaster train is picking up speed as it slides down that long ramp heading into the loop.
Wow, the Galaxy photo is so crisp and colorful! And again with the perfect lighting! Only, there doesn't seem to be anybody in it. Also, it was a quad Ferris wheel, not double (to whoever wrote that description that Major quoted). Hard to believe it was scrapped. Plenty of TRE to spread around, I guess.
Mike, that's quite an accomplishment, for riders to lose their socks but not their shoes. Sounds like a fun commercial; perfectly suited for our GDB family with its absurdist humor. :-)
The closest I ever got to Magic Mountain was in 1975, when our family passed it on our way to Disneyland. I could see it up on the hillside from the I-5 freeway. Thanks for these very nice Magic Mountain photos, Major.
Yay! I love vintage Magic Mountain! (Before they ruined it!) Mike, I remember that slogan! It was actually, "It'll knock your socks flat off!" They used it for a while and in their commercials, the letters spelling "Magic Mountain" were animated, and moved so that they went through a "loop," while little animated socks went flying everywhere. Here's one version. I'm not sure why it's in black and white. Didn't they have color TV, in 1976?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpyXHrqcYR4
Those first two pics were taken from that viewing platform, which Mike mentioned. It was on top of the "Trollhouse" cookie shop....sponsored by Nestlé, of course, and you had to climb a staircase to get up there.
My first trip to Magic Mountain wasn't until 1978, when Colossus was brand spanking new. The Galaxy was closed at that time, and the next time I went, it had been removed. But I remember riding the Spilikin Corners train, and seeing the Galaxy's gondolas stacked up backstage. I wonder how long they stored them back there before getting rid of them. They would have made a nice gazebo for the garden.
Rollercoaster is my favorite Richard Widmark film of all time! ;-) I really do like that film.
Thanks Major, for some vintage Magic Mountain goodness this evening!
I don't have much for Magic Mountain although I did go a few times...those few times I don't have too many memories of...even though I was an older teen at the time. I thought I liked roller coasters before I went on them. I do not like roller coasters: at all. Disneyland roller coasters are one thing...these "official" roller coasters do something horrible to me, and I do not understand what. That being said, I do not visit the now. Rollercoasters evoke memories of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBkVV9xxCHE where the rumor was at the time that someone was being murdered during the recording session and they kept it in. Ahh...we kids have glorious and macabre imaginations. The only things that excited me about Valencia were the nearby Golden Oak Ranch (AKA "The Disney Ranch"), and Cal Arts. Alas, I did not get accepted into Cal Arts. Honestly, I just didn't want it bad enough after I went to a college fair and the school reps were just not that friendly...I thought they would be more like Disneyland Employees at that time. I was a sensitive 16 year old. Magic Mountain: where "Wally World is Closed". Thanks for the 70's-Tastic morning Major!
These are great pics, Major!
I remember the Galaxy wheel, but I think these coasters were either after my time, or I never rode them. Anyway I have no memory of them other than the name, which I may have read in Disney News.
I do remember seeing the Colossus from the highway as we drove past. The only MM coaster I recall was the Gold Rusher, fun, but not like these bigger ones.
Thank you!
JG
WOW!!! I love pre-Six Flags Magic Mountain and I remember all this stuff and riding it except the kiddie stuff of course.
I did like it better when The Revolution had open views without the trees.
The roller coaster behind "Big Bloop Troll Bounce" is "Mountain Express" a Schwarzkopf Wildcat 65. You can see the pagoda entrance nex to it.
The other bounce attraction for the older kids was called "Teen Tank".
Wizard's Village and Children's World didn't last long in the Six Flags Era as a lot of other attractions like The Galaxy and Magic Pagoda had similiar fates.
I loved Magic Mountains in the 1970's, but then I think most theme parks looked their best in the 1970's including Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
That photo of the Galaxy makes it look like a toy!
I loved coasters when I was a teen, but nowadays Space Mountain is the most my poor old body can handle.
Mike Cozart, I guess the “Great American Revolution” name was appropriate for the Bicentennial, and once people were done with Bicentennial Fever, it was time to retheme it. We didn’t go to Magic Mountain a lot, but I did enjoy it. We went right after it first opened, and we found it to be pretty charming. No Disneyland of course, but any kid would rather be at Magic Mountain than just sitting around at home! “Watch your socks fall off”, wow, I’d completely forgotten that!
JB, I remember riding the Revolution several times when it was new, and thought it was so exciting! We had no idea that it would someday be considered a very tame and maybe even boring roller coaster. I’m sure that the photographer didn’t have to wait very long for a new train to come along, but it’s still nice that he/she took the trouble. I think the Galaxy photo is my favorite, and it kills me that they just scrapped it. For me it was one of the rides I really looked forward to at MM. I wonder if it was not operating in that photo? Every gondola appears to be empty. The last few times I went to MM, I took my niece and nephew for Spring Break. We had fun, but it’s such a different experience from Disneyland.
TokyoMagic!, wow, how do you remember things like a Magic Mountain commercial?! Impressive. I guess whoever taped that commercial only had B&W tape? Come on, spend an extra buck or two! Do you remember the insane lines for Colossus when it was new? Everyone at school talked about that ride, it really captured the imaginations of kids of a certain age. You could see why they realized that roller coasters would keep them in the news every year or two.
Bu, I like roller coasters, but my gosh, the last few times I went to MM (on the Spring Breaks that I mentioned to JB), we rode some that were SO intense! And they always tried to come up with a novel way to ride. Standing up, laying prone so that you “flew” kind of like Superman, or hanging from the track in a swaying car (that one hit a tree - not when I was on it, thankfully). My number one fear was either losing my glasses or my car keys/wallet, on occasion I could feel my keys moving in my pocket. The park had a policy that if you lost something on a ride, you could only get it back after the park closed. And we did not want to stay there that long!
JB, there was something similar to MM’s Galaxy Wheel at Hersheypark, though I think theirs might have been just a double and not a “quad”. Still fun though! It’s such an impressive looking ride, but I guess the capacity was just too low? I still haven’t been on the Colossus since it has been redone, and now that my niece and nephew are older, who knows, maybe my Magic Mountain days are over.
COZART, I believe the Schwarzkopf looper is now known as "The New Revolution" since it was reopened with newly designed coaster trains back in 2016, which was the 40th anniversary of the roller coaster.
The Revolucion! name did make sense when it was in the Baja Ridge section of the park, although I think most of the theming at Six Flags Magic Mountain is obliterated or messed up. TokyoMagic! is right. They do ruin everything.
K. Martinez, well what do you know, you left your comment while I was replying to comments. That never happens! ;-) I was super happy that the Gold Rusher, which is an old roller coaster by today’s standards, was still there the last time I went to MM. I loved the way it hugged the hillsides, very unusual. The “Teen Tank”, wow, I don’t remember that one at all. The Magic Pagoda was one of my favorite features at MM, it was weird, and yet somehow fascinating too. And you got to take that funicular railroad up to it, which was fun!
Melissa, it really does look like a big toy. That’s a good thing! I think Disney generally tries to build smooth rides when it comes to roller coasters, though I have heard people say that the Incredicoaster is too much for them
It seems like MM was the go-to park for coaster footage in the late 70s/early 80s. Did it have a seasonal closure like the Six Flags park in NJ that would give them time to film without crowds?
It's when I rode the Revolution opening year and looked sideways to see the horizon do a 360 and felt a strange feeling in my stomach was the first inclination that I was growing up. I was forever relegated to the Colossus which really isn't a bad alternative. KS
"TokyoMagic!, wow, how do you remember things like a Magic Mountain commercial?!"
If I could have back all the space in my brain taken up by decades-old commercials, I could probably rule the world. THE WORLD, I say!
"It seems like MM was the go-to park for coaster footage in the late 70s/early 80s."
I was just looking up to confirm that the "Phantom of the Roller Coaster" episode of Wonder Woman was filmed at Magic Mountain (it was), only to find out that there's a new, Wonder-Woman themed roller coaster at Magic Mountain. How the world does turn! (Also, MM is WW upside-down.)
Melissa, that wouldn't such a bad world to live in. There would, of course, be a lot more "Oklahoma" references, but it could be worse. ;-) Unless all that power went to your head. And since your avatar is literally your head, I guess it wouldn't have anyplace else to go! Says the guy whose avatar is a rat.
We considered MM the budget Disneyland, and it was closer to home in Ventura. The Revolution was awesome in the 70's. The Spinout was always risky after lunch...
My favorite MM memory (MMM?) was being there one day when it started to rain. Most guests left the park, but we were happy to stay with the shortest lines I ever saw. Park staff all had cheap ponchos on and looked miserable. As we ran past one attendant he yelled, "Go home, it's raining!" No way.
My last visit was almost 20 years ago when I rode the new X. It was amazing, yet probably the last major coaster I will ride. Not sure I would want to experience it again now.
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