After an action packed day on Thursday, we opted to take things a little slower on Friday, only hitting some of the major rides we wished to re-ride before heading out in the early afternoon from Six Flags Magic Mountain to head to the Santa Monica Pier. After that we were hoping to stop in at Knott’s Berry Farm for an hour or two to knock out a few rides in the event that we would have to leave early for our flight home Sunday.

The morning started off by me winning a free souvenir cup good for free refills during the day. I did this by partaking in the pre-opening quiz game that games employees do to pass time for the waiting crowd before opening.

Since we rode X2 three times the previous day, we decided to skip the rush to that ride, and rather get in another ride on Tastu. This ride again was awesome. In my opinion, it is right there with Manta, and despite their similarities, they are still completely different. Tatsu soars above the trees and around the mountain, while Manta features its awesome water element.

On the way down the hill, we rode Ninja since there was literally no one there. I still think Ninja is a hidden gem at the park that many people overlook. It is a very fast, exciting ride that uses the surrounding trees in a way that would make the Big Bad Wolf proud. The uninterrupted ride is a unique feature that makes the ride seem much longer than it actually is thanks to the lift hills being at the start and end of the ride.

We then rode Apocalypse again, and the speed and smoothness of this ride along with great tunnels and maneuvers vaulted this ride into my top ten list of wooden coasters. As I mentioned in my last blog, Riddler’s Revenge impressed me very much. It was smooth, fast, and didn’t put unnecessary strain on my legs during the ride. It also didn’t share some of the roughness that other rides of its type have.

The last of the rides we wanted to do again that did not have large wait times was Goliath. This time sitting in the front, I thought the front gave a little better ride just because the first turn and airtime hill was a bit better in the front as opposed to the back. Goliath is a good ride, but I just don’t think it quite compares to rides like Nitro, Apollo’s Chariot, and Bizarro just because it lacks the airtime that hyper coasters usually possess.

At this time, we had decided that we had done everything that we wanted to do, so it was sadly time to say goodbye to Six Flags Magic Mountain and head for the Santa Monica Pier. There, we paid a quick stop to Pacific Park and the Santa Monica West Coaster, one of Morgan Manufacturing’s smallest coasters. Despite its small size, I actually liked this ride. Sitting in the back seat will give you a few pops of air in the bunny hills, and the two helices are pretty fun for a ride of its size.

After some standard pier fare, and a Kobe Bryant look-alike, we decided to make the short jaunt to Knott’s Berry Farm to see if we could knock out a few rides in order to make our Sunday a bit more relaxing and easier. We got to the park around 6:30PM, and with the park closing at 8PM, we had about 90 minutes to knock out a few rides.

First was a short five-minute wait or so for Montezooma’s Revenge, the Schwarzkopf shuttle loop that still packs a great punch. I opted for the back seat, hoping for the reverse spike to be a bit more intense and more pull through the loop. It is a great ride and it is also a shame that more of these aren’t still around.

With Silver Bullet only running one train, I wanted to try and get a ride in since the wait didn’t look too bad. It ended up being close to an hour, but I did get on it Friday night, which ended up being very good because a maintenance issue saw it closed all day on Sunday. It is not the high force, intense ride that many other B&M inverted coasters are, but it is still very fun. The overbanked turn is a rare feature for rides of its kind, and is a great lead in to the cobra roll. The ending corkscrews and helix over the lake reminds me a bit of Talon at Dorney, and while this isn’t the best coaster from B&M, it certainly is not the worst.

With just a few minutes before closing, I hopped in line for the Sierra Sidewinder, knowing that the line would probably grow on Sunday with only one train running. Thanks to some imbalanced weight, my car spun a pretty decent amount, and the forces on this ride are actually very surprising. I really liked this ride and would not call it a kiddie coaster by any means. It serves as a nice transition coaster from the smaller rides to the bigger coasters.

Friday was jam packed with doing as much as possible to maximize the day’s time. We turned in early at the hotel after some pizza knowing that we needed to get up early for an 8AM opening the next day at the Disneyland Resort. Stay tuned later in the week for the fifth part of my blog series regarding our amazing Saturday at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.