Magic Mountain for ages almost 4 - almost 13?

[happydisneyfamily]

What do you think about Magic Mountain for kids with a big age range? We went to Universal and Knotts Bery Farm on previous trips however never to Magic Mountain. Will it provide enough for an all day trip? We have a car so transportation is set. How far and how long is the drive from Disneyland? The older kids love thrill rides and my youngest loves Thomas. How about food, restaurants and counter service, and other activities or shows? The last time I was there was maybe when I was 10yrs old so I don't recall anything about the place.

 

[cbastedo@sympatico.c]

Magic Mountain is about a 45 minute drive from Downtown LA. It is definitely a day trip lots to see and do. The coaster are great and the food was actually good at all restaurants.

It is my favourite park in SoCal so go and you won't be disappointed.

 

[happydisneyfamily]

Thank you. I was hoping for an all day sort of place with lots of fun and coasters. Glad to hear the food is good too. Any recommendations?

 

[lcasa]

I'm not sure where but I think I read that Thomas was just removed from Magic Mountain.

Magic Moutain is a thrill-ride park. There is very little in my opinion for little ones or non-coaster people - and these are big, wild coasters. You'll probably want to research it online a bit more. There is a small kiddie area - but you're not talking the Walt Disney ideal of the whole family having fun together.

From Disneyland I'd probably allow a bit over an hour depending on day of week/time of day. Entry is usually pretty cheap - you can find discounts usually on coke cans or on line - but lines are slow and long in heavy periods so they sell different levels of add-ons. We went the Christmas before last and paid an extra $40 or $50 for a very clever device where you could basically reserve a spot in line and then it would tell you when your time to go to the ride - pretty much right onto it - was. Much more sophisticated than fast passes, but not free. In our case it was worth it - I didn't get one because I don't like those kinds of rides, but the teens in our party got a LOT of use out of it. It wasn't tied to an individual so 1 time I did borrow one to try a little less scary hanging coaster - you might want to do something like that since someone will have to stay with the 4 year old.

One of my worst parental moments was when I went on Free Fall ( don't think it's there anymore ) with my then 5 year old, who insisted he wanted to do it. Once they pulled us out over the BIG drop he started screaming and there was nothing I could do since we were heavily strapped in - couldn't even hold his hand. but that's just me...........

 

[Huff]

It's about an hour drive from Disneyland although it really depends on time of day. It's easily a full day park. There are some shows but that changes each year and usually the shows are only during the summer or other peak times.

There is a kids area with all the typical small child type rides. Small kids may also like Scrambler (spinning type ride), merry go round, or bumper cars. The rest of the park is mostly large coasters. There are also a few log flume type water rides as well as a water rapid ride similar to Grizzly Rapids but does not have any drops.

It is not a Disney type park. I'd say its closer to Knotts although much larger. I really don't know much about the food they offer as we just grabbed snack type stuff. There is a Johnny Rockets burgers and milkshakes counter service there thats very good.