Six Flags Magic Mountain’s salvation has arrived in the form of Terminator Salvation: The Ride. This GCI (GCII?) woodie packs a punch both on-ride, off-ride, and in queue that is unmatched throughout the rest of the park. With better than Batman theming, better than X2 soundtrack, better than Revenge of the Mummy queue, and better than Roar! track, Terminator is the full package, and exactly what the park needed.

You start off walking underneath the entrance sign (which looks really neat at night) and enter the queue area, which looks like it may have been an old Skynet “fortress”. While you go through the queue you see broken down cars, lots of dirt, etc, that really sells the experience. And it’s not completely ruined by the in queue tvs (which I will admit, did help pass the time).

There are three sets of switchbacks, each with something slightly new and interesting to look at, such as a Jeep, gaurd towers, or even just new sections of the ride to watch.

Terminator Salvation: The Ride, sponsored by Jeep! Alright, so it’s at least mostly discreet. 

Once you have reached this truck, it’s about time for you to enter the first pre-show rooms. 

Here’s how the rooms work, for those that are curious. You enter the first room which has a large bank of monitors and one large tv, which all show the same video. After this video has been displayed you move into a hallway which has another monitor, which continues the story. 

This is the exterior of pre-show building one. I call it, awesome.

The ‘S’ stands for SkyNet, I believe. Yeah, the kid wouldn’t move. 

After the hallway (I didn’t get a good picture) you enter the last room before the stairs that lead to the station. This is probably the best themed room, and these guys (pictured below) would be why.

At a point in the video they light up and move along the conveyor belt, which is a neat touch, if not completely plausible. The “graffiti” that you see is the mark of the Human Resistance (You wouldn’t know unless you have seen the movie, or can figure out that it’s DNA). 

Now is the moment we have all been waiting for. One more flight of stairs (You have been indoors this entire time, which I think will be great during our brutal summers) and you will be inside the station.

You are then assigned a seat (I was lucky enough to be given the front row on my night ride) and board the trains. After your restraints are checked by the lightning fast crew, you drop out of the station, around a little turn and up the lift hill. What follows is a blur of speed, sound “TAKE THE TUNNEL!” and yes, fire.

The course takes you through several hills, the deadmans turn and offers plenty of airtime. The pacing is the ride’s greatest strength, it never lets up the entire ride. And it’s a GCI, so yeah, it’s smooth as butter. My favorite part of the ride was the first airtime hill, and the first tunnel. You enter both with great speed, and the fog inside the tunnel is really a fantastic effect.

In conclusion, you will not be disappointed with this attraction. (The movie.. well.. that’s another story) Six Flags pulled out all the stops to make this not only a good ride, but a great experience that a family can enjoy together. I can only hope that they keep the bar this high for all their other attractions.

On a general park note, my tip of the hat of the day goes to both the Terminator Salvation crew and the Goliath crew. Both blew doors.

However, my wag of the finger goes to the Tatsu crew. Slow dispatches, an unorganized station and a lazy crew led to two bad experiences that were thankfully rectified by a fantastic ride. 

Thanks for reading, and look for Magic Mountain updates to be rolling in this summer!