Magic Mountain

We came.
We rode.
We laughed.
And screamed.
Man, did we have fun!

Michael and I rode the Collosus together. It's one of the original coasters at Magic Mountain. One of the classics, really. All wood. No looo-de-loops or backwards mojo like some of the other crazy rides, but still brings the thrills and screams and leaves a little bit of your stomach behind. I loved it all over again. I was laughing so hard as I kept trying to snap a picture of Michael and I during the ride, but we were shaking so much my finger kept slipping off the button. Finally, I got this one on one of our drops.

Riding with Michael on this one brought back a flood of memories from my youth. Remember the old National Lampoon's Vacation movie with Chevy Chase? It had to have come out in the early 80's if memory serves. In case you've forgotten it, the Griswald Family makes a road trip trek out west to go to Wally World. They have all kinds of setbacks along the way, but finally, finally...they make it to Wally World (which was filmed at Magic Mountain). Much to their dismay, the park was closed when they got there and Chevy just about lost it. The movie is hilarious.

Well, in our family, we always referred to Magic Mountain as Wally World. We tried hard to make it an annual tradition to include a day at Wally's place during our summer beach trip. Most years, we succeeded. Good thing my folks are crazy thrill riders like us. We all loved it.

It's been several years since the last time we rode - probably seven or eight, actually. Such a travesty. So we told our kids that as soon as Afton was 54 inches (the magic height to be able to ride all the rides), we'd take both the older girls for a day of screaming and smiles at Magic Mountain.

And it did not dissapoint. Seriously, we had so much fun. And they have so many new crazy fast coasters it's incredible. Their latest, X2, is by far the scariest thing I've ever done. And I loved it!

Tanner and Afton getting ready to ride - maybe the Goliath? I can't remember. So many rides, so little time....Oh, by the way, I've got to figure out how to upload our Goliath movie to this blog. Ryan video-taped us the whole ride and it is so stinkin' hilarious. Oh my goodness....our whole crew was busting up last night as we watched it. That's on my to-do list for tonight.

Our kids (and Ryan and Michael) rode the Tidal Wave over and over. There was no line and it was the perfect way to cool off in the middle of the day.

Tanner, Barrett, Randi & Afton getting ready for Riddler's Revenge.

Grandma Cindy, Randi, Ryan and Afton on the Ninja.

Me and Dad - riding the front car of the Ninja!

Ok, the Tatsu is probably my favorite ride. So stinkin' scary, but such a rush. You ride up the coaster face down...up, up, up, up...and just keep climbing while you are literally facing straight down looking at the ever disappearing earth below. Then take off at incredible speed doing all sorts of twists and loops and drops and...it's amazing fun. I can't wait to go back! Maybe we'll do it again for Fall Break instead of waiting until next summer. Oh, that sounds like fun.

We're glad that we decided to do Magic Mountain on our first day of the trip when the beach weather wasn't so great. We had checked the forecast and saw that it was supposed to be cloudy and cold that first Thursday, but then warming up every day after that. It turned out to be a great decision because we heard from our family back at the campsite that the beach was windy and too cold for fun the day we were lovin' the coasters. (Thanks, by the way, to Jayme and Grandma Cheri for letting Rowan and Easton stay at camp and play with the young cousins while all of us 54 inch and taller folk rode the big ones. We really appreciated it!) And thanks to Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Steve for sponsoring the tickets. You sure didn't need to do that, but we really really appreciated and loved every part of that day. We're so glad that you guys love to ride!

So, yes, Day 1 of the Beach Camping Vaca was a huge success. Lots of smiles and screams. As it should be on a perfect day at Wally World!