Magic Mountain

On Tuesday we took Mason and Amanda to Magic Mountain (Rainer stayed with his Grandma because he would not have had any fun just watching everyone else go on rides). Palm has a program that if the kids read for 6 hours in a given time frame, then they earn free tickets to Magic Mountain. We love this program. We found a deal online that allowed Robert and I to get two tickets for less than the price of one ticket. So, four of us went to Magic Mountain for less than the price of one adult ticket--how awesome is that?

It was a beautiful day--not too hot and as we walked around, it felt like we were the only people there. The longest time we waited for a ride was 40 minutes and that was for Revolution. Within the first hour of being there, we went on five rides. We started on the Terminator roller coaster (which is a blast in itself) and went on it three times in a row without even getting off because there was no one else in line. Finally on what would have been the fourth time we had to get off because other people were there.

One of my favorite rides is Superman the Escape. Last year neither Mason or Amanda went on it, but I was able to get them to go on it with me this year.

They were really nervous about going on it because it is so high and it goes so fast. Amanda was hoping that she was too short, but we double checked her height at the start of the ride and she was more than tall enough.
This picture doesn't do the ride justice as to how tall it is. It is over 400 feet tall and you go from 0-100 mph in less than 7 seconds. What a thrill! After we went on it once, the kids were hooked. It is now one of their favorite rides too.

When the day got hot enough, we went on the water rides. We started off with Roaring Rapids and we got soaked.
I don't think you can see it in this picture, but Mason and Amanda were so wet that water was dripping from their pants. And everytime they stepped, they felt a small ocean in their shoes. We did all of the water rides while it was hot: one, so that we could cool off, and two so that we would have a chance to dry off before the day started to get cool. At Tidal Wave, the kids stood on the bridge overlooking the ride and this was the result...

But it didn't stop there. They stood there and got splashed two or three more times.

Needless to say, they were pretty cooled off at the end.

We also went on Colossus, because nothing says Magic Mountain more than Colossus. It really isn't as smooth a ride as I remember it being growing up, but it still is a great ride. Towards the end of the day when Robert and I were just too tired to go on any more rides,

(the batteries in our camera died just as Robert was going to take a picture, so he had to use the camera on his phone which doesn't have nearly the same shutter speed so that is why the picture is blurry, but Mason and Amanda are in the last seat in the last car.)

the kids did another round on Colossus without us.

The kids also like the carnival type rides that were there so while Amanda was on the Scrambler

Mason went on the bumper cars.

Mason doesn't like the Scrambler and Amanda doesn't like the bumper cars, so it worked out great.

Since our trip last year, Amanda has talked about Goliath. Neither Robert, Mason or I went on it last year. Robert and Mason were on another ride and, for the first time in my life, I felt my age--I felt old. So, this year we told her that we would definitely all go on it with her. All day long she kept asking us to go on it, and to tell you the truth, I was a little bit nervous to ride it. The ride starts off with a 250 foot drop at 85mph. That's no small ride. I had resigned myself to going on the ride, but it wasn't until we were strapped into the car and on our way up that my nerves really got the better of me. I think at one point I screamed out, "NO! NO! NO! What have I gotten myself into?" But by then it was too late and before we knew it, we were speeding down the roller coaster. And the thrills don't stop there. It has some turns that are so powerful, you can feel the g-forces pushing you into the car. It is a GREAT ride, and it is one of our favorites now. In fact, we ending up riding it four times that day, and I think we went on it three times in a row.
Goliath ended up being the last ride of the day for us because what better way to end a day of thrills than plunging down a 250 foot drop? =)