To attract visitors back to its thrill rides, Six Flags Magic Mountain slashed the price of a ticket and would limit capacity to 15%. That sounded like a good combination to me so with pandemic conditions steadily improving, I felt comfortable enough to make an online reservation.

Of course the necessary health and safety protocols would be in place encouraging people to “Do the Six“:

Upon entry, we walked through a short tunnel that scans your temperature (and apparently any backpacks – in lieu of a physical bag search?). From there it was off to the high-priority coasters – Xander and I agreed that X2, Twisted Colossus and the new West Coast Racers are our top three. Another two favorites – Full Throttle and Roaring Rapids – were unavailable on this day.

We got in 12 rides in seven hours, four in the first hour alone thanks to much shorter lines; divided by the $45 ticket price, that’s $3.75 per ride — unheard of on a pre-Covid visit!

To help maximize your Magic Mountain experience, I highly recommending using the park’s mobile app, which includes useful features such as showing ride wait times and ordering ahead for food. We were able to jump on The Riddler stand-up coaster before receiving a text that our order was ready for pick-up at the nearby Johnny Rockets concession. (*Note: Many of the smaller snack carts are shuttered as are some indoor attractions.)

As the day progressed, it didn’t feel like the capacity was at 15% as advertised. One worker told us that if was actually FIFTY percent so perhaps with CA reaching a new health tier between the point of purchase and the day of our visit, the percentage mentioned could be modified accordingly without any notification?