Magic Mountain

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Breakfast was lovely, the waffles seemed to taste better, also had scrambled eggs and some delicious sauté potatoes. Drove to 6 Flags Magic Mountain which was only 5 minutes up the road. The park looked small from the side of the road but was huge when you got in there. It was laid out like all other theme parks. Turned right when we got in on the advice of the attendant and got on the first 4 rides with no queues at all. Passed a theatre which said JLS was on at 6 o’clock, i spent all day not quite believing it but sure enough they were, more of that later. Went on the Batman ride which was ok, then Riddler’s revenge, which is the only stand up roller coaster in the world. It had quite a few twists and turns and made me feel a bit sick. Went on the tidal wave which got us quite wet but as it was a really hot day it was a welcome relief. Next we went on Tatsu which was the newest ride and the tallest and fastest flying roller coaster. You actually flew round head first. Everyone loved it but I hated it and felt ill for the next hour and a half! Nick went and got a souvenir drink bottle which cost $12.99 and the refills were $0.99, which seemed a bit much to me. I asked a lady in the queue and she gave me a ticket which she hadn’t used, which gave us $2 off and free refills all day. What a good deal that was when the average drink was $4 in all the places. When i felt better we went on the Roaring rapids for which we queued for about an hour. We got chatting to some people in the queue to while away the time. It was a great ride, in big boats like the ones at Thorpe Park. Got absolutely soaked through. Went and got some chips and onion rings and sat in the sun to dry out. Watched a show- Matt Hoffman’s Dare Devils which was great - Motorbike riders doing amazing things and a skate boarder and BMX riders doing various jumps. The boys were not bothered about doing anymore rides although there were loads we hadn’t done. Went to the theatre and met an English family who had come to Magic Mountain especially to see JLS, apparently they are doing a tour of all the 6 flag parks in an effort to break through in America. The show started with JLS and another American group judging three contestants for a 6 flags talent contest. Watched the support band first which Steven liked and the rest of us thought were OK. JLS came on about 7.45 and were brilliant. We were about 6 rows from the front and had to keep pinching ourselves as we couldn’t quite believe what we were doing. The English girls were going mad but there were only a few of them there! There were only about 100 people in the theatre - obviously JLS were not a big deal to the Americans, most i spoke to had not heard of them. After the show they came out and signed autographs and spoke to us and had their photographs taken with us, they were so nice, it was surreal. All Nick could think about was how much the signed photo was going to make him on eBay! Left the park and raced back to catch a late swim and a burger at In and Out Burger which the receptionist at our hotel said we have to try while we are in California. I must admit it was delicious. There were only three things on the menu - burger, cheeseburger and double cheeseburger! The area just across from the hotel is food heaven. It was a shame we were not stopping longer to make the most of them. Just about got 15 minutes in the hot tub in the hotel before it closed at 10.00. It was fun listening to all the Americans chatting. This seems to be the holiday destination for a lot of Americans.

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