The Big Plunge

The first drop on Goliath, the new roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, may be the most terrifying moment of amusement since “Jaws.”

As the coaster edges over the 235-foot-high apex of the track, there’s a split-second pause between dread and thrill that feels like eternity.

Then, before you have time to contemplate exactly what’s happening, you’re plunging nearly straight into the ground at speeds of 80-plus mph, tears streaming out of the corners of your eyes, your stomach somewhere just shy of the stratosphere. The coaster races faster and faster toward a tunnel that looks the size of a snake hole.

You duck, you scream, you suck your arms in as the car shoots through the tunnel and up another hill before hurtling down again, a feeling of weightlessness washing over your body.

“What a rush!” said Racquel Decipeda, a Sun Valley resident who was invited this week to a test ride of Goliath.

Decipeda is blind, but she said that not being able to see the track makes the ride even more intense.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen or where I’m going but that makes all the turns and drops more fun,” she said.

And it’s not like Goliath ends timidly--how could it with a name like that? The last 30 seconds of the track are dominated by a series of iron curls spun so tightly that the pressure on your body is nearly four times the force of gravity. You can’t raise your arms or move your head.

Even as you climb out of the car and walk down the platform, the thrill of the ride still rattles inside you.

Goliath, which draws its name from being the biggest and tallest traditional coaster at Magic Mountain, opens Friday. It’s the park’s 13th coaster and is considered a traditional coaster because it’s a sit-down, chain-powered ride, unlike the Riddler’s Revenge, which is a stand-up coaster, or Superman the Escape, a high-tech attraction powered by magnets.

Kids seemed to like Goliath (the height restriction is 48 inches tall and up), with many repeatedly riding the coaster during a recent test “A great coaster provides nonstop action from the . . . first hill to when you return to the loading platform. Goliath has the potential to provide that kind of wild ride.”

PAUL RUBEN

Editor, Park World magazine

day. But the intensity of the ride, and its uncanny ability to make you feel a little sea sick for the rest of the day, shouldn’t be dismissed.

One roller coaster junkie said Goliath may be one of the best rides on the planet.

“The sign of a great coaster is one that provides nonstop action from the moment you drop off the first hill to when you return to the loading platform. You should be out of the control the whole time,” said Paul Ruben, editor of Park World trade magazine. “Goliath has the potential to provide that kind of wild ride.”

The ride is smooth, though, thanks to solid engineering and technological innovations like polyurethane wheels that are softerthan standard rubber coaster wheels. Some roller coasters are full of jerky turns and jarring bumps. Goliath isn’t like that, and it’s also surprisingly quiet. And for the nausea-sensitive, it doesn’t have any upside-down loops.

The decor of the ride is a little mysterious: Romanesque columns, bamboo wallpaper and flute-like New Age music greet ride-goers as they wend their way toward the platform.

But none of the folks on the test day seemed to take much notice.

BE THERE

Magic Mountain is open weekends and holidays. Starting April 1, the park will be open daily through Sept. 10. Hours vary. General admission is $39; seniors and kids under 48 inches, $19.50; children 2 years and younger get in for free. The park, owned by Premier Parks Inc. of Oklahoma City, is located off the Golden State Freeway in Valencia. For more information: (661) 255-4817.