What park has seventeen thrilling coasters, is featured often on the Discovery Channel, and is open practically all year? It's Six Flags Magic Mountain, southern California‘s “X-treme Park!”. This park has not always been the park with the mega thrills it's famous for. The story begins way back in the late 1960’s; 1969 to be exact. A small town just outside of Los Angeles was looking for a way to attract people to live in the newly-formed town. The town, Valencia, was owned by the Newhall Land and Farm company, and decided to take a strategy from nearby Anaheim, California. The strategy? Build a theme park.

Anaheim, California was home to the world famous Disneyland. When Disneyland first opened in 1959, it was built in a small town outside of Los Angeles. If it worked for Disney, it would hopefully work for the city of Valencia. Newhall, working alongside designers of SeaWorld San Diego, designed and began building the park in 1969 at the cost of twenty million dollars. Two years later, Southern California’s extreme thrill park, opened on May 29th, 1971. Opening as simply "Magic Mountain", the park had just two roller coasters; the classic Arrow Dynamics Mine Train, Gold Rusher, and the kid-sized Clown Coaster (Now, Magic Flyer). Other major attractions included a restored 1912 Grand Carousel, Metro monorail (SBNO), Log Jammer log flume, and the iconic 384 foot high Sky Tower attraction. The park then closed around Thanksgiving for renovation.

Over five million dollars were spent renovating Magic Mountain for the 1972 season. Gold Rusher was repainted to its current scheme of yellow and a new thrill was added to the park, the world’s first Hydro Flume, Jet Stream. The year 1972 brought the park’s unique and short lived mascots, The Wizard and his trolls named Bleep, Bloop, and Boop. With the new mascots came a new attraction in the kids section of the park, Wizard’s Village. Next year came around and a new roller coaster was added, Mountain Express (defunct). The coaster was a portable Wildcat coaster coming from Schwarzkopf and was removed in 1982 to Magic Landing in El Paso, Texas. Then, to where it now resides defunct as Montaña Rusa (Spanish for roller coaster) at Bosque Mágico in Nuevo León, Mexico. Also added for 1973 was the Swiss Twist flat ride. The next year brought four more flat rides to the park, Electric Rainbow, Himalaya, Dragon (now known as Orient Express), and Tumble Drum. 1975 brought another transport ride, the Grand Centennial Excursion Railroad (defunct).

But 1976, America’s 200th birthday and the park’s fifth year, would bring the Mountain its first huge record-breaker. It had to be something different, thrilling, and iconic. Magic Mountain went back to Herr Achterbahn, Anton Schwarzkopf, for the next big thrill and engineering marvel. Schwarzkopf, along with Intamin AG, decided to resurrect the concept of Coney Island’s Loop The Loop coaster, by bringing back the feeling of going upside-down on a coaster. May 8th, 1976 came around and the Great American Revolution (or plain Revolution), opened to the public. With a twisted terrain layout, the world’s tallest and fastest coaster record, and a single vertical loop, rave reviews and landmark status, Revolution would be the first thrill that would plant the seed of the Magic Mountain tradition of “X-treme”!

After the revolutionary year of 1976, the year after was slow. Another new flat ride was added, Enterprise. But 1978 would bring another major and iconic thrill to the park. The park’s first wooden coaster and the worlds tallest and fastest coaster was added. Colossus opened up on June 29th, 1978 as the iconic racing wooden coaster. Dubbed as one of the most intense experiences on the planet, at the end of the year, Colossus had to be redesigned and toned down due to forces.

But 1979 would bring even more big news to the park, Newhall Land and Farming Company sold the park to Six Flags for fifty-one million dollars. The previous owners of the park only made a small profit of $250,000 on the park. Under the ownership of Six Flags, the park now had the Six Flags name to its current identity as Six Flags Magic Mountain. Under the first year of ownership, 1979 brought the removal of El Bumpo and Galaxy. Six Flags then got down to new additions the next year as another decade began. 1980 brought an Intamin Bounty thrill ride called Buccaneer. 1980 also brought the closure of the Tumble Drum flat ride as well. The park’s first major addition under Six Flags ownership occurred in 1981, one of the world’s first River Rapids rides called Roaring Rapids. The ride takes riders through a soaking excursion through rapids, waterfalls, and waves. This addition gave the park a full circuit and a new themed area, Rapids Camp Crossing. 1982 brought another new flat ride to the park, Freefall, an Intamin 1st Generation Freefall ride. The ride takes riders to heights of one hundred feet and intimidates riders by holding them in midair before falling down. The ride suffered from severe downtime though. 1982 also brought Baile de Las Flores, a new tilt-a-whirl flat ride in Revolution’s area.

1983 brought the removal of the park’s Mountain Express coaster and two major additions were added. The first was Mystic Lake, a water-ski stadium that entertained guests, and the second addition was Swashbuckler, a Chance Yo-yo ride. The year after brought the park a new, yet short lived, thrill ride. Sarajevo Bobsleds, an Intamin Bobsled roller coaster, was added. The ride takes riders through a twisted course that simulates the thrill of the sport of bobsledding. The ride wouldn’t last long due to Six Flags’ Ride Rotation program, in 1986, the ride was removed and moved to sister park and current residence at Six Flags over Texas as La Vibora. 1984 brought the start of a park tradition, every year during Halloween, one side of the park’s famous Colossus coaster is turned backwards. The tradition became a hit and it continues to this day during the park’s Fright Fest event.

In 1985, the Wizard and his Trolls left the park for good as the Looney Tunes become the parks mascots. The Children’s World section is transformed into Bugs Bunny World and the Clown Coaster is renamed and rethemed to Wile E. Coyote Coaster. In late 1985, Sarajevo Bobsleds is removed and left space for the park’s next big thrill. In 1986, Shockwave, an Intamin Stand-Up coaster, was built. The ride became an instant hit as the layout consisted of a single vertical loop and numerous twists and turns. The ride was short lived at the park though, removed in 1988, it was then moved to Six Flags Great Adventure and then to its current residence at Six Flags Astroworld as Batman: The Escape.

In 1987, another new flat ride was built at the park, Z-Force (defunct) opened up at the newly themed Beat Street section of the park. Z-Force was an Intamin Space Shuttle flat ride that flipped riders around upside down and swinging at the same time. Rides residing in the new theme area were renamed as well. In 1988, the black belt of coasters came to the park, Ninja, an Arrow Dynamics Suspended coaster, was built. Ninja held the record of being the west coast’s only Suspended coaster at the time. Along with Ninja came the new section, Samurai Summit. Also added to the park was another short lived ride, Condor, the ride only lasted for one season at the park before being removed.

The 1980’s came to a close in 1989 as Tidal Wave was built. The ride is an Intamin Shoot the Chutes ride that plunges riders down fifty feet and creates a giant wall of water. To make room for this ride, the electric car ride had to be moved to Bugs Bunny World. The nineties came and another iconic thrill was built at the park, Viper. Made by Arrow Dynamics as one of their mega-looping coasters, Viper held the record for world’s tallest looping coaster at the time and was the first coaster to use an On-Ride photography system. The next year brought yet another coaster to the park, this time the park’s second wooden coaster. Psyclone, a Dinn wooden coaster recreating the Coney Island Cyclone, opened up in the newly themed Cyclone Bay section. The wooden coaster was known to have been rough and contains the only wooden coaster trains made by B&M. But the early 1990’s would anger enthusiasts, first, Colossus’ “Double Dip” element was removed for a block brake and second, Revolution’s trains were modified to have over the shoulder restraints.

The mountain kept adding coasters every year, in 1992, the park built Flashback. Originally, the coaster operated at Six Flags Great America and Six Flags over Georgia as Z-Force. Flashback is the world’s only Space Diver coaster from Intamin and as of late has been standing but not operating. In 1993, the park took a break from adding major thrills and added the first major Warner Brothers ride at the park, Yosemite Sam’s Sierra Falls. The ride is a 760 foot long waterslide that was sure to get rider soaked. With the addition, the area surrounding the ride was renamed High Sierra Territory and also brought a 140 foot tall fake Redwood tree as an icon. In late 1993, the Back Street section of the park was removed , which included a few flat rides. Southern California’s first inverted coaster would take the place of the area, Batman: The Ride. Coming from B&M, this ride was a clone of the version at Six Flags Great America and also brought a new section, Gotham City Backlot. Some of the flat rides were spared from removal and became rethemed into the Gotham theme. 1994 would rock the park as well, the infamous Northridge Earthquake would damage the park and result in the removal of one ride, the Eagle’s Flight sky buckets. Also in 1994, Mystic Lake was removed and replaced with the park’s water park, Hurricane Harbor.

1995 brought Hurricane Harbor to the park. With this expansion, the park became a complex known as Six Flags California, with the theme park (Magic Mountain) and the newly added water park. With the addition of the water park, nearby coaster Flashback had to close during the summer due to the noises distracting the lifeguards. 1996 came and the park decided to break the scream barrier again with taking back the record of world’s tallest and fastest coaster. Superman: The Escape was built, but didn’t operate due to troubles with the new technology of LSM’s (Linear Synchronous Motors). When the kinks were fixed, Superman began to soar and launched riders to speeds of over one hundred miles per hour and heights of 415 feet. Also added in 1996 was the Dive Devil sky coaster attraction.

In 1997, Hurricane Harbor expanded and resulted in the renovation of Flashback. 1998 would bring another tallest, fastest, and longest thrill to the park. In 1998, Riddler’s Revenge was added as the centerpiece of the new Movie District section. Coming from B&M and containing six riddling inversions, a height of 156 feet, and speeds of sixty five miles per hour. With even more heavy theming, Riddler’s Revenge became a hit at the park. In 1999, the park’s Bugs Bunny World was renovated and included sixteen new attractions for pint sized thrill seekers, which included the addition of the Canyon Blaster coaster.

The new millennium came and an addition of Goliath sized proportions was built. Goliath, a Giavinola Hyper, opened on February 11th, 2000. Holding the record of being the first coaster to open in the new millennium and consisted of a sheer height of over 200 feet and a drop of 255 feet long. Goliath was a part of the park’s four new millennium thrills. In December 2000, the park announced their transformation into the “X-treme Park!” with the announcement of three new thrills in 2001.

The first of these new thrills was the prototype fourth dimension coaster known as X.Coming from Arrow Dynamics as their last coaster and one of the park’s largest expansions. The ride takes riders on a crazy course as riders are sitting in an inverted position and spinning around as they go through a layout full of Raven Turn’s and an intense height of 200 feet. But due to design flaws, the opening of the ride was bumped back to August 2002 and resulted in a lawsuit at Arrow. Six Flags Magic Mountain won and Arrow went out of business.

The second X-treme addition to the park was Southern California’s only Giant Inverted Boomerang coaster, Déjà Vu. A clone of the ride also found at Six Flags Great America and Six Flags over Georgia, the ride suffered the downtime the other two versions had. Déjà Vu has been known for being one of the most unreliable coasters made. But the ride takes riders on an intense journey of a layout of three inversions and a 177 foot long vertical drop and reversing spike.

The last addition was the giant amongst kiddie roller coasters, Goliath Jr. Nothing more but a modification of the Wile E. Coyote coaster, the ride received new supports to make it look like a miniaturized Goliath.

In 2002, Revolution was given landmark status by the American Coaster Enthusiasts with a plaque added out front giving the history of the coaster. Along with landmark status, two new upcharge attractions were added, Turbo Bungy and Virtual Quest. In 2003, the Mountain screamed a new thrill as Scream! Southern California’s only floorless coaster, was built. Coming from B&M, as the park’s third coaster from the company, the ride was nothing but a clone of Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure. 2004 brought a Hurricane Harbor expansion, Tornado, a giant funnel waterslide cloned at Six Flags parks that takes riders half-piping through the course.

With no major additions for 2005, a new Batman stunt show following the recent Batman movie, Batman Begins, opened. But the next year would end up drastically changing the face of the mountain again. In November 2005, Six Flags Magic Mountain announced their next white knuckle ride. Climbing 170 feet in the sky, speeds of sixty five miles per hour, and numerous elements designed to interact with surrounding rides. Only one beast could make you fly at the speed of fear, that beast is Tatsu, a custom designed flying coaster by renounced Bolliger and Mabillard. Becoming the park's seventeenth coaster, Tatsu will take riders on a mad rampage throughout the terrain of the mountain and give a much needed facelift to the Samurai Summit area.

Thrills galore at Southern California's "X-treme" Park, Six Flags Magic Mountain. With over seventeen thrilling coasters, who wouldn't call this an enthusiasts paradise? With innovative rides and world's firsts, the magic of the mountain can ensure a fun time for all.