Cedar Point vs Six Flags Magic Mountain; which coaster selection do you prefer?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Ohio’s Cedar Point and California’s Six Flags Magic Mountain are arguably the two biggest and most iconic “coaster parks” in the USA, and quite possibly the world. They’re two of the parks with the most coasters (although Canada’s Wonderland is now joint with CP, and I’ll confess to not knowing Energylandia’s exact coaster count at present), and many of the coasters they have are also icons and really revered rides in their own right. For instance, Cedar Point has a plethora of revered heavyweights like Steel Vengeance, Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force and Magnum XL-200, amongst others, while SFMM has its own plethora of revered heavyweights, such as X2, Superman Escape from Krypton, Tatsu, Twisted Colossus, and Goliath. They fought with each other for years for the highest coaster count in one park, although SFMM appears to have taken that crown in at least the short term, with them now having a 3-coaster lead over CP and CP not appearing to have too much intention of seriously challenging for the title any time soon (their last coaster was Steel Vengeance in 2018, and nothing is rumoured to be in the pipeline).

So my question to you today is; which coaster selection do you prefer out of Cedar Point’s coaster selection and SFMM’s coaster selection? I know it seems odd to ask about coaster selection specifically, but I felt like if I were to ask about the parks overall, it would be an almost unanimous win for Cedar Point, as that place seems to have a level of universal love for it quite unlike any other park on earth, and Six Flags Magic Mountain has Six Flags’ somewhat poor reputation among enthusiasts working against it. However, I thought that if I asked about the parks’ coasters more specifically, it might level the playing field a bit more, as the “overrated parks” thread had a few comments about how Cedar Point’s coaster selection was “mostly filler” and “overrated compared to some others”, so I was curious to know how people felt CP’s coaster selection stacked up in comparison to SFMM’s. And coasters are the parks’ primary USP in the eyes of most, anyway!

I’m not personally going to offer a verdict of my own, as I’ve visited neither, but which coaster selection do you prefer out of these two USA coaster behemoths?

 

[Howie]

In 2010 I preferred Magic Mountain's line up. Out of the two, that was the one I wanted to (and did) visit first. X2, Tatsu and the other B&M's were bigger draws to me than TTD, Maverick and Millie were.
But since then Cedar Point have added Gatekeeper, Valravn, converted Rougarou and, of course, built the greatest coaster on the planet - my boy SteVie.
Meanwhile, the only new ride at MM that really interests me is Twisted Colossus and even that isn't a top priority.
So yeah, currently Cedar Point is the clear winner for this goon.


*Edit: This poll has been conducted multiple times before by the way. Most recently in June '21. Just sayin...

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[Hixee]

Cedar Point. Don't even have to think.

SteVe, Dragster, Maverick, MF are true top tier coasters. Closely followed by Magnum, Gemini, Raptor, Valravn, Gatekeeper, Wicked Twister (RIP). Then there's still like half a dozen other coasters that would be flagship in most European parks.

X2 is spectacular, Tatsu and Riddler are great, I quite liked Goliath. X2 is the only one that sits up there in that top tier though. Batman, Apocalypse, Superman are decent I suppose. The rest are alright, but nothing stand out. (I haven't been back to the park since WCR or TC, mind).

 

[Indy]

Six Flags Magic Mountain.

While Cedar Point certainly has the best coaster out of both parks in Steel Vengeance, I generally find a coaster at Magic Mountain is more often better than its CP counterpart...

RMC
Steel Vengeance is considerably better than Twisted Colossus

400 ft launched coaster
Top Thill Dragster is a little better than Superman

B&M Invert
Raptor considerably better than Batman The Ride

B&M Floorless
Scream is better than Rougarou

Arrow Suspended
Ninja is significantly better than Iron Dragon

Arrow Mine Train
Gold Rusher is significantly better than Cedar Creek Mine Ride

1970's Looping Coaster
Revolution is better than Corkscrew

B&M 6 Looper
Riddler's Revenge is considerably better than Gatekeeper

Hyper
Goliath is considerably better than Magnum XL-200

Early 2000s Monster
X2 is significantly better than Millennium Force

Less Common B&M Varieties
Tatsu is considerably better than Valravn

Maverick is certainly fantastic, but I haven't ridden either of its counterparts at SFMM (Full Throttle and West Coaster Racers). Similarly, I haven't ridden Blue Streak's counterpart, Apocalypse. Beyond that, there is Gemini and a lot of kiddie or family coasters.

Yes, Maverick and Steel Vengeance are great, but I'll take SFMM's collection every day of the week.

 

[Hyde]

You want to think SFMM has a competitive/comparable lineup. You really do.

But as @Hixee nailed, SFMM has 1-2ish true crown jewels, with a lot of coaster count that quickly gets lost in the noise. Cedar Point's quality truly shines as you move into their Tier 2 coasters, which deliver simple, solid rides - aside from also having one of the best 1-2 combos in the world between Maverick and Steel Vengeance.

However, I also humbly submit that you really never have a choice between either/or parks - they are literally a country apart. If given the chance to go to either park - just do it!

 

[SkyrushSimp]

CP. SFMM only has 6-7 rides that are worth going for, the rest or clones, unremarkable, or kiddie coasters

 

[Skyye]

Goliath is considerably better than Magnum XL-200

Take that back, now
Haven't been to MM yet, but even then it doesn't look as good as CP. There are so many at MM that just look "ok" with only two that look "good" (being X2 and TwiCo, obviously)

 

[Hutch]

I voted undecided, as I've not done SFMM, but I think the answer here really depends on the top-tier flagship coasters.

All the supporting coasters that have counterpart models are just going to be subjective (the B&Ms, Arrows, etc.) You really just have to look at the Top Four in each park to decide: Vegeance, Maverick, Millennium Force, and Top Thrill Dragster? Or X2, Tatsu, and Twisted Colossus? Cedar Point appears to have that edge there. (Though Wonder Woman will be a big gain for SFMM).

 

[Christian]

Hyper
Goliath is considerably better than Magnum XL-200

I think you rode the one in Georgia. Goliath at SFMM is awful. It's a tall and fast monorail with a weird helix combo at the end. It's only there for decorative and sightseeing purposes. A huge GP pleaser.

 

[Indy]

I think you rode the one in Georgia. Goliath at SFMM is awful. It's a tall and fast monorail with a weird helix combo at the end. It's only there for decorative and sightseeing purposes. A huge GP pleaser.

Call me a member of the GP then.

I like the long drop into the tiny tunnel. I like the sustained floater air on the drawn-out hill after the first turn. I like the strong positive G's. And I love the Giovanola trains. Magnum is so hit or miss as to whether or not it's going to even be enjoyable. It's way too dependent on which row you ride in. I'll take SFMM Goliath every day of the week.

But yes, SFOG Goliath destroys both of them.

 

[Christian]

Call me a member of the GP then.

I like the long drop into the tiny tunnel. I like the sustained floater air on the drawn-out hill after the first turn. I like the strong positive G's. And I love the Giovanola trains. Magnum is so hit or miss as to whether or not it's going to even be enjoyable. It's way too dependent on which row you ride in. I'll take SFMM Goliath every day of the week.

But yes, SFOG Goliath destroys both of them.

I will call you that

That hill is also the only thing I like with Goliath. Maybe the sign as well. Otherwise it's smooth cant complain about that. But the forceless drop, slow turnaround and full stop MCBR really destroy the experience for me. Magnum isn't great but I always prefer riding it. At SFMM I rather ride Scream than Goliath.

 

[Indy]

I will call you that

Fair enough

At SFMM I rather ride Scream than Goliath.

Hey, we can agree there!

 

[Nicky Borrill]

I’ve cast vote as undecided as I haven’t been to either…

But I’m honestly of the opinion I’d be booking cedar point a long time before I book sfmm….

Hell there are many other parks in America I want to get to before sfmm… KI, SFGA, Carrowinds, Dollywood, KF and more….

For some reason I’ve just never been drawn to SFMM, and I’m not keen on the idea of X2 either… I want to visit, it looks great, but I’m just not drawn to it like I am others.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Turns out I'm a Magic Mountain man. I had both grievances and magical moments with both parks, so the only sensible way to settle it is with some coaster wars.

Rather than the usual type vs type comparisons I've opted for a side by side of my personal rankings for each parks, which goes a little something like this:

1. Steel Vengeance	1. Twisted Colossus
2. Maverick	2. Full Throttle
3. Magnum XL-200	3. Tatsu
4. Millennium Force	4. Scream!
5. GateKeeper	5. Goliath
6. Blue Streak	6. Batman
7. Raptor	7. Ninja
8. Valravn	8. New Revolution
9. Rougarou	9. X2
10. Iron Dragon	10. Riddler's Revenge
11. Gemini	11. Viper
12. Cedar Creek Mine Ride	12. Gold Rusher
13. Corkscrew	13. Superman
14. Woodstock Express	14. Road Runner
15. spillover, but Magic Mountain has more creds, so that's a win in itself	15. Speedy Gonzales

That's a fairly resounding 9-4 in favour of Magic Mountain and even if you're less weird than me and prefer Steel Vengeance it still ain't gonna cut it.

More thoughts:
I'm missing Apocalypse, West Coast Racers and now Wonder Woman, which no doubt are all solid entries to further bolster Magic Mountain.
I'm obviously missing Top Thrill Dragster, but having done the rest of the top hat accelerators (and not been overly fussed) it's not realistically going to make waves in that lineup.
I'm always stupidly harsh to X2 cos it ain't as good as the other 4Ds, but more realistically it smashes everything but the top 2 at CP as well.
I much prefer the mountain setting to the lake setting, along with the ride interactions MM has going on when compared to CP.
MM has a good dark ride, CP got nothin'.

Ah go on then, here's a few of the easiest type comparisons as well.

1. Steel Vengeance	1. Twisted Colossus
9. Rougarou	4. Scream!
5. GateKeeper	9. X2
7. Raptor	6. Batman
10. Iron Dragon	7. Ninja
12. Cedar Creek Mine Ride	12. Gold Rusher
13. Corkscrew	11. Viper

Yup, it's a Magic Mountain from me.