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 I’ve increasingly been seeing a fair few comments online about how Cedar Point’s coaster selection is “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?

 

[Skyscraper]

(although Canada’s Wonderland is now joint with CP, and I’ll confess to not knowing Energylandia’s exact coaster count at present)

When the two newest coasters open later this year, Energylandia will have 19 roller coasters, which is the same as Magic Mountain. Cedar Point currently "only" has 17.

 

[Matt N]

When the two newest coasters open later this year, Energylandia will have 19 roller coasters, which is the same as Magic Mountain. Cedar Point currently "only" has 17.

Ah right; thanks @Skyscraper! It’s hard to keep track with the rate Energylandia currently builds coasters at!

I’m intrigued to see how long it takes Energylandia to gain the world coaster record. SFMM currently still narrowly holds it (Flight of Courage opening this year will bolster them up to 20), but I’m interested to see when Energylandia overtakes them!

 

[Plastic Person]

The coasters at SFMM and CP are significantly more varied than those at Energylandia, which arguably has currently has one world class coaster and then eighteen others, all of varying quality. A few are objectively worse or at least more tedious than anything at either of its US 'rivals' in numbers.

 

[John]

The best coasters at Cedar Point are significantly better than the best rides at SFMM, though arguably the lower-tier coasters are better in California than Ohio. On balance, I'd say the strength of the top 2 at Cedar Point takes it.

Energylandia is still an irrelevance by comparison - far too many of their coasters are either generic off-the-shelf family coasters or just plain bad.

 

[John_P]

Still need to visit Magic Mountain which has some bucket list coasters but I'll go with Americas Rock n Roller Coast Cedar Point.

Their top line of coasters Steel Vengeance, Maverick, Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, Magnum XL-200, and Raptor are a ridiculous collection.

Then you've got things like Gatekeeper and Valrayvn. The classics like Blue Streak, Gemini, Cork Screw, Iron Dragon, and the Cedar Creek Mine Ride.

The only gaps in the line up are a modern wooden coaster, and a newer family coaster.

Energylandia I thought had a very strong top line of coasters with Zadra, Hyperion, Abyssus, and Formula.
Some of the family coasters whilst being generic, Dragon, Light Explorers, and Boomerang are a lot of fun. Never got people complaining about all the kiddie coasters as at the end of the day their for little kids to go on with the family.

 

[Rob]

As John says, the presence of Steel Vengeance and Maverick at Cedar Point give it an easy win here; they are far superior to the offerings at Magic Mountain. Then you have a more than solid line-up of thrill coasters below those two before you hit the family/kids coasters.

Magic Mountain has some top coasters no doubt; Twisted Colossus and X2 are fantastic. But right now I would rather go and ride all the coasters at Cedar Point as opposed to all the coasters at Magic Mountain.

 

[Benjsh]

I have only visited CP once and I have never been to SFMM before so it's hard to give a fair comparison.

But going off what's at both parks and the POV's I have seen from SFMM.....I think CP is a comfortable winner.

 

[Jb85]

MM for me simply because of X2 and Tatsu

X2 for me is totally unique (I get there are clones but I’ll never go to the other parks) - it was fearsome and took my breathe away from start to finish.

tatsu - I just really enjoyed it. Great ride.

 

[Davezilla]

I haven't been to either so I'm going with Lightwater Valley.