Rumor Future of Samurai Summit (& Gold Rusher?)
- Thread starter coaster31
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I’m going to go out on a limb and say some enthusiast brainstormed this after seeing last week’s Laughing Dragon demo permits (which are real) and connecting it to Ninja removal rumors (which I presume will eventually happen).
I can understand the logic behind this as that would leave Samuari Summit with diddly squat to do, but Six Flags Magic Mountain is getting large enough footfall to not permanently shitcan a central area of the park. That’s what you’d see happen at Six Flags America, not here.
If anything they’ll rebuild it, factoring it into the huge question of what to eventually do up there that probably includes Superman, Ninja, the Laughing Dragon, and proposed Sky Tower renovation. A big Pandora’s box, really.
Suggesting Gold Rusher will be removed is BS though. I’m led to understand the coaster can be very popular, there’s no good way or need to combine it with Ninja’s site, and some of these moderate Arrow’s cost little to run and maintain. It’s aged well and if SFMM is still trying to downsize their coaster collection then that wouldn’t be a good candidate.
I can understand the logic behind this as that would leave Samuari Summit with diddly squat to do, but Six Flags Magic Mountain is getting large enough footfall to not permanently shitcan a central area of the park. That’s what you’d see happen at Six Flags America, not here.
If anything they’ll rebuild it, factoring it into the huge question of what to eventually do up there that probably includes Superman, Ninja, the Laughing Dragon, and proposed Sky Tower renovation. A big Pandora’s box, really.
Suggesting Gold Rusher will be removed is BS though. I’m led to understand the coaster can be very popular, there’s no good way or need to combine it with Ninja’s site, and some of these moderate Arrow’s cost little to run and maintain. It’s aged well and if SFMM is still trying to downsize their coaster collection then that wouldn’t be a good candidate.
if samurai summit gets replaced, I love to see the tower reopen, a new coaster bearing the ninja name replacing the ninja, replace superman with a mack rides extreme tower coaster (they have to remove lex Luthor drop of doom but build a new one where half of tidal wave used to be) and add 2 flat rides where the magic pagoda & the old skyway station used to be)
Here's what I can say...
Back before the merger happened, there was a plan to completely redo Samurai Summit for 2028 as a major project coinciding with the LA Olympics. Per that plan, following Fright Fest 2025, Ninja and Superman would have both closed down permanently and the top of the mountain would have been closed off to guest access. Everything except the Sky Tower would be removed up there (Gold Rusher and Magic Mover would stay), with the entire area being transformed with a new coaster, several new flat rides, a new full service restaurant, and a new access route by foot from the front side of the park, along with refurbishing and reopening the Sky Tower.
Obviously, the merger significantly altered capital plans at many of the parks, and other economic factors have come into play, so I believe the original Samurai Summit revamp concept to be dead. What I think is most likely going to happen instead is that the mountain top will be revamped in phases, with the northern section (which contains Laughing Dragon and Superman) getting an overhaul first. With the recent demo permit and rumors that Superman's track will be removed during Cyber Cycle's construction (which makes sense as it is directly adjacent to the site), I think it's plausible this smaller section revamp could still be done as a 2028 project, especially if it was just flat rides. The rest of the mountain could then be done in one or two additional phases similar to the way SFGAdv is handling their overhaul of the Boardwalk area of the park.
Also, removing Gold Rusher and Ninja simultaneously would be an idiotic move for the park, as while neither attraction is that popular with the thrill-centric audience SFMM attracts, those are the only two family coasters on the property. I do think Ninja's days are likely numbered as it is on the more expensive side to maintain, but Gold Rusher is reportedly super cheap to keep going (though it would benefit from a restraint change to drop the height requirement to 42"). I also don't think a Werewolf Gorge style attraction would be a wise investment for the park...that'd be much better served as a Jaguar replacement down the road at Knott's while SFMM gets something with a bit more punch.
Back before the merger happened, there was a plan to completely redo Samurai Summit for 2028 as a major project coinciding with the LA Olympics. Per that plan, following Fright Fest 2025, Ninja and Superman would have both closed down permanently and the top of the mountain would have been closed off to guest access. Everything except the Sky Tower would be removed up there (Gold Rusher and Magic Mover would stay), with the entire area being transformed with a new coaster, several new flat rides, a new full service restaurant, and a new access route by foot from the front side of the park, along with refurbishing and reopening the Sky Tower.
Obviously, the merger significantly altered capital plans at many of the parks, and other economic factors have come into play, so I believe the original Samurai Summit revamp concept to be dead. What I think is most likely going to happen instead is that the mountain top will be revamped in phases, with the northern section (which contains Laughing Dragon and Superman) getting an overhaul first. With the recent demo permit and rumors that Superman's track will be removed during Cyber Cycle's construction (which makes sense as it is directly adjacent to the site), I think it's plausible this smaller section revamp could still be done as a 2028 project, especially if it was just flat rides. The rest of the mountain could then be done in one or two additional phases similar to the way SFGAdv is handling their overhaul of the Boardwalk area of the park.
Also, removing Gold Rusher and Ninja simultaneously would be an idiotic move for the park, as while neither attraction is that popular with the thrill-centric audience SFMM attracts, those are the only two family coasters on the property. I do think Ninja's days are likely numbered as it is on the more expensive side to maintain, but Gold Rusher is reportedly super cheap to keep going (though it would benefit from a restraint change to drop the height requirement to 42"). I also don't think a Werewolf Gorge style attraction would be a wise investment for the park...that'd be much better served as a Jaguar replacement down the road at Knott's while SFMM gets something with a bit more punch.
With the coaster being delayed two years, makes you wonder if the new rides or coasters after this are also getting pushed back!
The park's next big project after Cyber Cycle was a Samurai Summit revamp for 2028. Based on happenings at the park, I suspect there is still a plan to do something up there for 2028, but it is likely significantly scaled down from what was planned prior to the merger (or perhaps is being split into several smaller projects rather than one massive one). Whatever was originally scheduled for 2026 and 2027, if anything, probably got cancelled entirely as those were likely smaller projects that hadn't bee locked in before the merger occurred.
So before the delay and merger.....another coaster was being planned for 2028?
A major overhaul of Samurai Summit was planned that most likely would have included a coaster along with several other attractions. Historically Six Flags Magic Mountain has generally added a new coaster approximately every three years, so if Cyber Cycle had opened in 2025 as planned then 2028 would have been about right for the next one. However, my hunch is that if part of the Samurai Summit project still happens in 2028, it will not be the portion involving the coaster as I just can't see new Six Flags doing back to back coasters.
And the removal of Jet scream and possibly Ninja? Had the full plans came to fruition.
Ninja would have closed at the end of Fright Fest 2025 had the original plan remained in place. As it is, that ride is on borrowed time and is probably headed for retirement in the next 2-3 years regardless. While not the least popular coaster in the park (I want to say it's around 10th out of 15 non-kiddies), it doesn't draw enough people to justify the higher than average maintenance cost of the attraction, and of the four Arrow suspended coasters in the chain it's the one Six Flags is most willing to sacrifice to prolong the longevity of the others.
Jet Stream is a little more ambiguous. While an older attraction, it is actually more popular than many of the coasters (especially during the summer months) and it got quite a bit of money thrown at it fairly recently for some pretty comprehensive touch-ups. While the attraction does cut across the hillside, it does not clog up enough of the real estate to prevent a new coaster from being built in that area (Ninja was built around Jet Stream, after all), nor would removing it free up that much extra space (you'd get about 20k additional sq. ft. from the area occupied by the station and maintenance building). Given that it's not a Samurai Summit attraction, my guess is it would have stayed unless a new flume ride was in the works as part of the project.
What are the bottom 5 least popular coasters? Were there any rumored/proposal coasters that might of replaced Ninja/the area it occupies?
This is starting to diverge enough it probably should be continued in a different thread, but...
Gold Rusher, Scream, and Viper are the bottom three in terms of popularity (not sure what order they go in). I would guess Viper is the true bottom as the park has started only operating it for the second half of the day in the past couple years to save on staffing costs, which is probably something they wouldn't do if the ride had guest demand.
The next group above those includes Batman The Ride, Great American Revolution, Ninja, and Riddler's Revenge. Again, I'm not 100% certain on the order and am guessing Ninja is #10 based on the lines I typically see for those rides, but it really could be anywhere in the 9-12 spots.
On the high end, X2 is the park's most popular coaster, with Tatsu and West Coast Racers in the second and third spots (I believe in that order).
I definitely saw wishful thinking on what would/could/should replace Ninja, but I don't think there was ever any rumor with any real credibility behind it because everyone was too focused on what Cyber Cycle actually was at the time.
my idea is adding flat rides where the old skyway station and that abandoned restaurant next to sky tower is, reopening the sky tower, replacing superman with a new coaster like the one coming to six flags great adventure and removing ninja with the station replaced by a flat ride (the ninja name will instead be given to the new coaster)