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SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN
WEST COAST RACERS
California
Six Flags Theme Parks
(1/15/20) Special thanks to Rob for attending and reviewing the new West Coast Racers for Screamscape! Now on to the review!
After years of Apocalypse languishing all alone in its own far corner of the park since the removal of Déjà Vu, the newly opened West Coast Racers beefs up the offerings in the south west corner of Magic Mountain. Located in newly built Underground, a good portion of open space is surrounded by the new roller coaster, from Premier Rides. This newly remodeled corner of the park also has a number of shops and food spots to keep nonriders busy.
The bulk of the queue is inside an industrial garage, a scaled down reproduction of the West Coast Customs facility in Burbank. There are various tools of the trade laying about as well as a number of placards outlining the history of the company and its numerous locations over the years. A full scale mockup of will.i.am's custom Tesla is on prominent display in the front window.
Riders make their way up a wide spiral staircase to reach the boarding level. Boarding is a fairly smooth affair, with both lap restraints and a cumbersome shoulder restraint that really doesn't seem to do anything other than appease lawyers. Each seat has its own zippered pouch for small carry-on items, such as phones or keys.
After boarding and then emerging from the station, two trains line up side by side, awaiting the launch. Magic Mountain missed out on a great opportunity to add some flair to the launch in the form of lighting or audio cues. Alas, there is nothing of the sort, just silence until the launch system kicks in. The initial launch itself is quite mild at first, but then picks up a bit about half way to the first element, though it's not the kind of launch that will flatten your eyeballs ala Top Thrill Dragster.
This is Magic Mountain's second Möbius roller coaster, similar to Twisted Colossus: although a pair of trains race and duel, there is actually only a single track. Riders return to the station to run a similar route that parallels the first one. It's likely that Magic Mountain is the only park in the world with two such layouts. Riders experience a high five element, overbanked turn, helixes, corkscrews, inline twists, and four fairly mild launches throughout a single ride; everything but a kitchen sink. Scratch that, there's one of those in the queue area.
The ride quality is fairly smooth, typical of most coasters from Premier Rides, though there is a good amount of high frequency lateral movement, the effect of which results in knee banging on the inside of train. Not a deal breaker, but not entirely pleasant either. The most notable airtime occurs as the both trains drop down into the water drainage channel on the way to the second set of launch runs. Again, Magic Mountain could have dressed this area up a bit more, as the tracks are flanked by industrial walls that shield this section of the ride from public view.
Which leads me to a small complaint about this one. Much of the ride is installed along the perimeter of this section of The Underground, defining the geography quite admirably. Subsequently, much of the ride is obscured because it sits outside of the publicly accessible areas of the park. Walking through the twisted spaghetti bowl portion of the track would certainly be an attraction for most visitors. Tear down the walls, I say!
It's quite evident this ride is not terribly extreme, though it does contain a couple instances of airtime pops throughout the course. What it is though, is a fun launched looping coaster that most families will enjoy riding together. Oddly, its 54" minimum rider height is higher than it is for Twisted Colossus, a much more intense experience. Unfortunately, that means some younger riders will have to wait to experience Racers.
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