Six Flags Magic Mountain vs Six Flags Great Adventure

In this video, I put the two parks often considered the best in the Six Flags chain, Magic Mountain and Great Adventure head-to-head to see which one I think is the better park!
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[@Starlit43]

I love how hidden great adventure is behind the trees. It’s unique. Not a bad park battle video. I would’ve went more in depth with the rides but really good👍

[@ColiwoodStudios]

To me, this comparison came down more to the other aspects of the parks. The coaster collection opinion is pretty subjective depending who you ask, but the other categories are where I feel the answers are much more clear (some more than others of course).

[@GavHern]

in my opinion, magic mountain has the better physical park but fumbles on turning that into a good guest experience.

[@weskelley1906]

Another excellent vid, Colin. (Too bad the operations sucked when you were at Magic Mountain.) One thing we liked back in the day, was how many coasters MM had. That was what they were about - and it sounds like they still are. We wanted more coaster rides, versus flat rides, so we drove an hour to MM. For the flat ride experience, we’d drive an hour to Knots or Disney.

[@seanlewis1148]

Cool video. Magic Mountain my home park, near and dear to my heart. But, Great Adventure is definitely the better of the two(rollercoasters and home park bias aside).

[@iankendall75]

"Wudder rides"... "Wudderfalls"... yeah, definitely from Jersey ;) nice vid, sub'd

[@SFR_07]

Six flags magic mountain has good rides and all, even though I've seen POV videos, but I just prefer great adventure as it's a home park to me. Six flags magic mountain is a bit too pricey for me to visit.

[@FAFO4wisdom]

It used to be my home park, but now SFOG is and it costs a FORTUNE to get MM. 😭😭😭

[@SFR_07]

@FAFO4wisdom damn... That's six flags tho... I wouldn't expect anything to be cheap.

[@princeerick11]

Magic Mountain Wears The Crown👑👑 Let's Keep It Reall💯👏🏻💯👏🏻💯👏🏻

[@JJJJ-he8bz]

Great Adventure was by far the most difficult trip for me. Closet Airport is over an hour a away closet hotel is 20 minutes away then you have to pay for lockers for most of their top rides. It was hard to find an Uber back to my hotel when the park closed because the area is so remote. Magic Mountain might be a much further distance and longer flight but once you get there it’s cake. Then you got Knotts and Universal Hollywood not to far away and plenty of decent hotels and restaurants all within walking distance from Magic Mountain.

[@Amazing_Italian]

I know magic mountain has the view of all the coasters at the entrance but, New Jersey is tree LAND, I line in NJ and I know it, the way great adventures is hidden throughout the trees gives it a mysterious look, and I like it.

[@oregoncoasterenthusiast8564]

Personally, I think Magic Mountain is quite a bit better but I have visited that park more. I think Great Adventure is a tad better with operations and flat rides but I have found Magic Mountain to be a lot prettier surprisingly. Both are on the prettier end of the Six Flags parks though, and I have been to all but Frontier City. I think for me the biggest thing is I find Great Adventure's lineup a bit overrated as in there are usually only 4, maybe soon to be 5 coasters I feel the need to ride with each visit whereas Magic Mountain has a good 8 or so. Overall great video, you brought up some good points!

[@djbronzed]

You hit just about everything spot-on. Only thing I’d disagree with here is the park appearance. I love Great Adventure but the entire tent area is beyond dated and feels tacky. With the location of the tent-looking area being in such an unavoidable, main area of the park, it really detracts from the park looking more elevated than Magic Mountain. That area is an eyesore within Great Adventure that hopefully Cedar Fair will get rid of if or when things begin to change.

[@thisoldcub100]

Great Adventure is by far the better park. Tragic Mountain is a line jumpers paradise. The Park is horribly mismanaged. Great Video pointing this all out.

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

The coaster lineup holds the park up really well though

[@dougronald561]

Magic Mountain also has a year round calendar. Great Adventure needs to be closed in the dead of winter after HitP. Great Adventure has a huge safari. MM does not. It’s not completely true that the food at GA is always better. MM has much better tacos. They’re delicious there. MM also has hotels and decent sit down restaurants nearby outside the park. GA does not. Each park has a totally iconic coaster that is found as a number 1 on a lot of enthusiasts’ rankings: El Toro and X2. At GA, you can bump into cool people like Colin, Dad, Tom, and Ace. At MM you do not (although I met lots of other cool enthusiasts there).

[@ColiwoodStudios]

All very fair points!

[@dougronald561]

@@ColiwoodStudios I’m going back to MM in April. Hopefully X2 reopens by then after undergoing some cable work. I need rerides.

[@mitchellries256]

I haven't been to Six Flags Great Adventure yet, but I have been to Six Flags Magic Mountain ten years ago, and I'll be returning for the second time this upcoming summer. I am also planning on going to San Antonio and hopefully Cedar Point this summer as well, so now I am curious to see if Magic Mountain or Fiesta Texas will be my favorite Six Flags park, as well as whether I'll like Magic Mountain or Cedar Point more. Regardless, I have got to visit Great Adventure now.

[@FAFO4wisdom]

I love Magic Mountain for the coasters. I love Great Adventure for the coasters and everything else.

[@realnga10]

Magic Mountain has been fumbling on everything but coaster additions. Trust me. The guy who lives 5 minutes away from the park

[@Starlit43]

Even if you say magic mountain has a bit better coaster lineup (I don’t) these parks are close not anywhere else. MM is run poorly and really lacks in the flat ride department. Great adventure also has extra experiences with the safari and new resort coming this year.

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

I don't get how people can prefer great adventures lineup to fiesta Texas let alone magic Mountain

[@Starlit43]

@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3odfiesta’s lineup isn’t anything amazing imo.

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

@Starlit43 isnt anything special? its a pretty well rounded lineup (I do think that BGT BGW Carowinds Etc: Have Better Lineups Though)

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

@Starlit43 I just feel like the only way you can like great adventure's lineup more is if your a huge kingda ka fan

[@Starlit43]

@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od Fiesta has two great coasters but the rest are just fine. If you want the breakdown on how they compare to great adventure then here: El toro>Iron rattler WW>JD Nitro>Superman Ka>Dr diabolical Medusa>Goliath Lantern>poltergeist Batman>boomerang Superman and joker are also points.

[@Coasterthoosie894]

Magic Mountain is my home park and while the coaster lineup is amazing (no good hyper or Giga sadly) but the operations, park cleanliness, and the food (some good locations but very basic) is horrible and contrast that too Knott’s and Universal, those parks are so much more well maintained where as Six Flags seems to give Magic Mountain rides and that’s it. Great park but needs a LOT of improvements. A GIGA amount

[@Paolo8772]

I visited SFMM in late Nov. 2019 and SFGA N.J. four days on the cusp of May/June 2022. I also visited SFGA Ill less than a week later. The only top 4 American Six Flags park I haven't visited yet is Fiesta Texas. Having said that: my favourite Six Flags park I've so far is SFGA New Jersey from my late spring 2022 visit; my 1st visit since August 1981 (yes, you read that correctly) I was 11 then and now I'm 54. I also visited when I was 7 with mom and we rode the log flume and Runaway Mine Train during a storm. I just like Great Adventure better than SFMM because it has El Toro, Nitro, and Kingda Ka in the same park, and that's enough for SFGA to usurp SFMM for me. Thanks for posting!

[@massachusettscoasters]

Also in a Couple of Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Operations is some of their coasters or the 20 at that park have a strict no preferred seating like Full Throttle,West Coast Racers,Wonder Woman Flight of Courage,X2 (that coaster dose have a No Preferred Seating Sign when you reach the end of the line),Batman the Ride,Etc I think that all.and ride availablity issues too.

[@SpiderWaffle]

When was this? Wonder woman is the only ride where you can't choose your seat now, it does a rolling transfer.

[@OklahomaCoasterFan]

I fortunately have been able to pick my side and row on X2 on all but one ride, when it was busier. I haven't ridden Wonder Woman yet, but Great Adventure also assigns rows on Jersey Devil unless the train is going out with empty seats, which happens often due to the great operations. I have had assigned seating on West Coast Racers except when there was no line. Meanwhile, Full Throttle has always had extremely strict and rude row assignments, even when there was no line. I love that ride, but that aspect is a major buzzkill.

[@SpiderWaffle]

@@OklahomaCoasterFan I've never had that on those rides, except when X-2 is busy they split off the sides alternating every ~60 passengers and you can't choose the side.

[@Nick-xi3sf]

I think great adventure easily gets the win because the staffs are nice and they really care about the park so much like what there during this season for the 50th anniversary to make the park better then ever, and you get a better experience while visiting the park. Even though Magic Mountain has a great coaster collection and a great view of the mountains near by, I feel Great Adventure is doing everything right for being a great park.

[@OklahomaCoasterFan]

Before arriving at Great Adventure, I met one of their ride managers over at Sesame Place, as he was getting some laps on Oscars Wacky Taxi before going to work. A few days after my Great Adventure visit, I ran into an El Toro ride op at Great Escape, and we rode those coasters together for most of the day. The people that work at Great Adventure seem to enjoy visiting parks and riding rides as much as the guests, which really helps.

[@OklahomaCoasterFan]

No home park bias here, as I am right in the middle of both parks, a 2-day drive from either. For me, Great Adventure easily wins the overall battle, in great part due to maybe the best operations of any amusement park. Even though I've had short lines at Magic Mountain as well, they also will have many rides shut down on any given day, including Twisted Colossus being closed just because they didn't want to pay for staffing. It took me 3 multi-day trips to get on all the coasters (that I'm allowed on) at Magic Mountain. Meanwhile, I had ridden every Great Adventure coaster within my first 4 hours there on my first day, and on all 3 visits, every coaster has been running, weather permitting. Great Adventure feels like the Kings Island of Six Flags, a park that seemingly should be a step down from the premier coaster park of the chain, but it's actually a major step up. However, Fiesta Texas does remain my favorite Six Flags park, as a more complete experience.

[@SpiderWaffle]

MM has improved the ops, cleanliness, and food being open (still not good food, and Twin Charged Tacos, the best food, still usually closed). A lot of rides we undergoing refurbishment and/or needed refurb/retrack last summer. Batman and Scream got some new trains, really smooth now. (I think still 1 old train for batman)

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

Still not better then great adventure in all of those categories though

[@SpiderWaffle]

@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od true, but at least they closed the gap here at least, was a gapping weakness.

[@hellowill]

Never been to Six flags... haven't been to the US before. Would you recommend these 2 + Cedar Point? That would give me good coverage of the country as well (East/West/Central). I'll probably add Universal Orlando as well.

[@ColiwoodStudios]

The 3 parks you mentioned (GADV, MM, Cedar Point) have some of the best coaster collections in the country, I’d definitely include Hersheypark and Kings Island, as they also have phenomenal coaster lineups. Universal is great, focuses more on the theming, which it excels at.

[@lemonlimez1999]

great adventure would almost always win cleanliness for me. ive never been to any other park or high traffic area that consistently keeps the entire property + all of the bathrooms as clean as they do

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

I personally prefer........ **drumroll** Fiesta Texas And Great America

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

In all seriousness though great adventure is better than magic Mountain because of operations

[@SurflinerBoy455]

The Food at Magic Mountain isn't really good, the chicken strip and wings is okay, Johnny Rockets is hit or miss, the rest is basically super market food overpriced such as food etc, the Pizza Slice tasted more of a pastry than a pizza, however the only good thing about the food is the Funnel Cakes which is good, I've never went to great adventure yet, but i'm heading there this summer hopefully it's good food there

[@ygor745]

I had som e pretty bad experience with the operations at Magic Mountain! The Lines were pretty bad and in some rides i waited 5 minutes sitting on the coaster train waiting for it to dispatch. Pretty bad operation costed me about 3 or 4 coasters I could have ridden :(

[@JD.778]

Why did you delete the Congo video? Are they actually rethemeing it or is it just a name change?

[@ColiwoodStudios]

It was requested that I remove the video until further notice

[@aliensallaroundus1126]

Cleanliness is all about the public and pride GO EASTCOAST

[@xbiker321]

Great adventure operations and employees are definitely some of the best in the country.

[@ssuuss539]

Medusa was the first floorless

[@just-dashin]

Watch, he’s gonna say Six Flags is better.

[@josephmoore5949]

Well, you can at least see Kingda Ka before you go into SFGA. 😃

[@edt-ze3ke]

How does Magic Mountain get their way of having so many coasters and can’t even find a way to get them open or do their precious one train ops on the majority of them that are open and have horrible management at the same time

[@Braggy_2012]

Magic mountain is better in my opinion and most of us know that magic mountain should be taking the dub

[@FAFO4wisdom]

There was a lot of garbage all over the park ... I see whatvyou did there 😂😂😂😂😂 the focus on superman has me 👀💀 Its high speed hot garbage

[@alexandlucassfunworld1444]

Hi I love Six flags great adventure I am going on opening day

[@ssuuss539]

How’s flash coming along?

[@ColiwoodStudios]

The last we saw, footers are going in!

[@ssuuss539]

Hell yea!

[@theodoretoth2884]

Not even close! Great adventure hands down! Is better! Magic mountain is just not taken care of at all

[@time4coasters]

You’re supposed to compare the coasters side to side lol: Nitro vs. Goliath El Toro vs. Apocalypse The Ride Jersey Devil Coaster vs. Wonder Woman Flight of Courage Green Lantern vs. Riddler’s Revenge Medusa vs. Scream Kingda Ka vs. Full Throttle Runaway Mine Train vs. Goldrusher Superman Ultimate Flight vs. Tatsu Skull Mountain vs. Ninja Batman The Ride vs. Batman The Ride etc

[@ColiwoodStudios]

There's no set way a video like this is supposed to be done haha. Others have already compared the coasters over and over, it's an extremely subjective comparison. I wanted to focus on the other aspects of the parks that can very easily make or break any park!

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

Honestly fiesta Texas's lineup is better

[@phillyfan2113]

Magic Mountain is your average six flags park: great coasters but horrible park management and theming. Great adventure on the other hand has a lot better park management. The big thing is operations. You could have a ton of coasters with one train ops and it won’t be good. You won’t be able to ride every coaster you would like. So operations play a huge roller of great adventure. The staff are friendly too and really passionate about the rides they operate. This is why great adventure is better

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

Dude if you call magic mountain a average six flags park just because of the operations and theming it kinda seems like coasters aren't for you

[@OklahomaCoasterFan]

You really won't be able to ride every coaster you would like when Magic Mountain has 5 or more coasters that will not operate on any given day, just because they don't want to operate them. 0-train ops by choice. Statues are nice to look at, but a better coaster collection is only better if the coasters are open. Six Flags New Orleans < Incredible Pizza. Great Adventure's staff are friendly and passionate because many of them are coaster enthusiasts themselves. I've been able to run into some of them at other parks and ride those rides with them.

[@phillyfan2113]

@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od that is not what I’m saying

[@JD.778]

MM is a lineup full of mid mostly

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

Well same goes for basically every park with a top 5 coaster lineup in the world (cedar point sfmm kings island Busch gardens tampa and especially hersheypark)

[@MCQ-fq6bv]

SFMM by a good margin

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

It depends on whether or not you care about operations cause magic mountain has been getting better but great adventure has the best operations in the chain after fiesta texas

[@MCQ-fq6bv]

@CFanBoY-bx3od My comment was based on rides, I expect everything else at SF parks to be subpar compared to other chains like Cedar Fair, SEAS(United Parks), etc...I have been to every SF park ops are universally pretty poor. The majority of the employees act like they are being tortured to be there. Food service is usually logistically designed to make them fail at customer service, besides the under staffing.

[@CoasterVisuals103]

Magic Mountain destroys great adventure it's not even a contest. Six Flags Mexico and Great America both beat Great Adventure as well.

[@SixFlagsfan-bt7uw]

Me when I lie:

[@Huntbeck33]

For me great adventure wins just because of the state it’s in compared to magic mountain lol California sucks imo

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

California sucks? I think only Florida and Ohio are better for coasters

[@quix9556]

@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3odI think he’s flaming the state in general, not for coasters. And from what I’ve heard, he’s probably not wrong.

[@Tyler63532]

You don’t bring up great adventures biggest problem the lockers. Not surprising

[@ColiwoodStudios]

I didn’t, because the positives of Great Adventure’s operations would outweigh the locker issue. Even with that, Magic Mountain suffered from this at Wonder Woman, and a few other rides, where you couldn’t even leave a souvenir cup in the station, with all the available lockers below being occupied.

[@jpatt9275]

Respectfully, no one cares about flat rides

[@agustdan6599]

Six Flags Magic Mountain is one big ugly park, but the rides are good.

[@Ihatethoosies]

While i think you have some fair points about certain things. I laughed a little when you said Great Adventure has a better park layout. Great Adventure is full of dead ends and there also long walks between rides. I also have had the opposite expirence with Employees i find the operations at great adventure very poor and unwelcoming. The ride operators are much nicer to me at magic Mountain. I live 1 hr from Great Adventure and go maybe once a year. I usually spend 40-50 days a year at magic Mountain even though its across the country from me. It just that much better.