These rides may be history from Magic Mountain, but they still live on in the memories of those who enjoyed them. As I acquire more old photos, I hope to see this section of my site really become a showcase of past attractions.
The first is a picture of one of the old Eagle's Flight cars. In it's original days, Flight had three stations. There was one where Freefall is now, one by what is now the base of the Superman tower, and the one at the top of the hill which served both of the other stations. The Freefall side was the first victim, when they installed Freefall. And after the Northridge quake, the rest of Flight never operated again. Now the buckets sit useless. Without it, and without Disneyland's Skyway, SoCal is lacking in this type of ride. But with earthquakes looming over us, how many people would want to be on Flight when another 6.8 hit? Not me....
The second is a Z-Force picture. I really liked this ride and hoped it would be moved, not RE-moved. Too bad. It is also known by many other names in other parks. The generic name is the Looping Starship. It a bounty ride gone mad, building up to 2 complete 360 degree revolutions before coming back to the ground and settling in. It has some fun, though painful restraint systems. Fun because lowering them always resulted in a laugh as people gasped for air. That only made the things tighter because they were drawing air out of themselves and the harnesses came down tighter. Anyway, thanks to mrobss@aol.com for the (original) picture, I'll have some more soon.
Anyone for El Bumpo? A bumper boat ride, located where the Batman Action Theatre is now. Pretty standard stuff, really. Just a bumper boat ride with a great name. Magic has always had cool water rides, and this was no exception.
This is a picture of Magic Mountain's answer to the Mad Tea Party, the Crazy Barrels. The Crazy Barrels did similar things when compared to the Mad Tea Party, but with one big difference:the whole ride platform raised up on an angle. So you got to spin at an angle instead of flat on the ground. After being taken out, a game opened in it's area. The game was a lazer-tag type game where you shot robots. Lazer Maze lasted a few years, and then was removed. The land has remained vacant ever since. Could be space for something cool. I apologize to anyone who appears in this photo without knowing it. It was the only Crazy Barrel pic I had.
Next is a photo of an old Magic Mountain attraction, the Galaxy. I think the generic name under which you might still find one of these is the Triple Wheel. It stood where Buccaneer and Swashbuckler now are, next to what is now Sierra Twist.
Speaking of funky paint, check out the next 2 pictures. I know the rides still exist under another names and different theming, but I thought it would be interesting to show you what the Himalaya and Electric Rainbow looked like back "in the day." Before Subway, long before Acme Atom Smasher, lived the mighty Himalaya! Give it up for the Electric Rainbow! Viva 70's!
Another ride that is still around but in a different form is the Grand Prix. Before the version that exists today, there were gas-powered cars that ran along the track back where Freefall and Tidal Wave are now. This is a picture of one of those cars.
Another example of our "recycling" program at Magic Mountain is found in Bugs Bunny World. Before it was changed to BBW in 1985, Children's World had many of the same rides it does today but with different vehicles and/or names. The very popular Tweety Bird Cages of today were once the Lunar Lander. Same idea, though I think today's version is slightly more humorous.
And now, the Dragon. For those who don't know, the Dragon was a ride that existed only to take people to the top of the hill without walking. In those days, people *flocked* to the top of the hill to go to such attractions as the Four Winds restaurant, the Magic Pagoda, and the Sky Tower. Now, the Dragon performed it's job admirably I suppose, but was so slow that once it was dark, all sorts of shenanigans were said to have taken place. Not the least of which was the people getting frustrated and getting out of their dragon to walk up the hill. Now when I hear people complaining nowadays that we should have an escalator to bring people up to the top of the hill it just makes me chuckle. Once the Dragon was removed in 1981, the land was vacant until the park began to work on Ninja. Now the Ninja station sits atop what was the top Dragon station ( on a side note, doesn't it seem like MM had a lot of rides to take you somewhere in it's early days, but nowhere to get to once you rode them? Think about it--Funicular, Metro, the Dragon, the train, Eagle's Flight, Sky Tower, etc....hmmm). Anyhow, the Dragon was removed in 1981 and the bottom station has been vacant ever since. Check out my conceptual art page for a drawing of what the Dragon car was to look like. ( conceptual art page) You can see some of the surrounding areas in the second picture, along with Jet Stream on the left of the Dragon.
And to wrap things up, here are 2 vintage bobsled pictures sent to me by Victor Ireland. You can see the Canada bobsled on the left. While in Magic Mountain for their illustrious 2 years, they were referred to as the Sarajevo Bobsleds. That means 2 rides at Magic Mountain had the Olympic theme (counting Swiss Twist and it's lovely Olympic theming).I know this ride exists at another Six Flags park now, but I don't know what it's called.
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