{"id":16973,"date":"2026-05-04T23:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/16973\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T23:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:13:15","slug":"six-flags-magic-mountain-celebrates-revolutions-50th-during-americas-250th-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/16973\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Flags Magic Mountain celebrates Revolution\u2019s 50th during America\u2019s 250th \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 1976 landmark ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain that sparked a half century-long roller coaster arms race will revert back to its original name in honor of America\u2019s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n

Magic Mountain will restore the original name of the 1976 Schwarzkopf looping coaster to the Great American Revolution on Friday, May 8 on the ride\u2019s 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Six Flags reverses course and brings back park presidents<\/a><\/p>\n

The Great American Revolution made history in 1976 as the world\u2019s first modern looping coaster, a distinction that led American Coaster Enthusiasts to recognize the ride as a landmark coaster.<\/p>\n

The Valencia amusement park will celebrate the coaster\u2019s golden jubilee with a historical video that will play in the ride\u2019s queue along with limited edition food, drinks and merchandise.<\/p>\n

Magic Mountain season passholders will get exclusive ride time on the Great American Revolution on July 4 in honor of America\u2019s semiquincentennial.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople ride the Revolution roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Thursday, Apr. 1, 2021. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

The $2 million Revolution was designed and built by German ridemaker Schwarzkopf and billed as the world\u2019s first modern vertical looping coaster. At 113 feet tall, the one-time tallest coaster in the world seems almost sedate by today\u2019s thrill ride standards. Revolution\u2019s 55 mph trek through wooded terrain features an almost comically dramatic long straightaway approach toward a once-imposing 90-foot-tall loop.<\/p>\n

Revolution certainly was not the world\u2019s first looping coaster or even the first modern inverting coaster. An inversion, in coaster-speak, means to go upside down. The 1975 Corkscrew at Knott\u2019s Berry Farm in Buena Park featured a double corkscrew, making it the world\u2019s first modern inverting coaster. The teardrop-shaped clothoid loop on Revolution made the Magic Mountain ride the world\u2019s first modern vertically looping coaster.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Knott\u2019s Berry Farm to open reimagined Montezooma coaster this summer<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cModern\u201d is the key word in the titles bestowed on both Revolution and Corkscrew. The history of the looping coaster dates back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, with the 1901 Loop the Loop at New York\u2019s Coney Island the most prominent example. But those classic coasters featured circular-shaped loops and flat train-like tracks while the modern coasters employed elliptical-shaped loops and tubular steel tracks.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople ride the Revolution roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Thursday, Apr. 1, 2021. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Revolution\u2019s debut on May 8, 1976 sparked a half century-long coaster arms race that still continues to this day. The triple-inversion Corkscrew coaster by Arrow Dynamics opened a week later at Ohio\u2019s Cedar Point with a vertical loop and double corkscrew.<\/p>\n

Cedar Point and Magic Mountain have been battling over the title of Roller Coaster Capital of the World<\/a> ever since. Cedar Point currently holds a slim lead with 18 coasters compared to Magic Mountain\u2019s 17.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Six Flags Magic Mountain is no longer the Coaster Capital of the World<\/a><\/p>\n

The $8 billion merger<\/a> of Six Flags and Cedar Fair means both parks are owned now by the same company. Six Flags officials have said the newly combined company is less interested in chasing coaster records<\/a> and total coaster counts at individual parks \u2014 but tell that to the coaster enthusiasts loyal to Cedar Point and Magic Mountain.<\/p>\n

\"RidersRiders raise their hands while trying out their virtual reality ride on the Revolution roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. (File photo by Nick Agro, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Revolution has endured a series of name changes during its 50 years of service.<\/p>\n

The Magic Mountain coaster started life in 1976 as the Great American Revolution, paying tribute to America\u2019s bicentennial.<\/p>\n

The ride found cinematic fame in 1977\u2019s \u201cRollercoaster,\u201d 1978\u2019s \u201cKiss Meets the Phantom\u201d and 1983\u2019s \u201cNational Lampoon\u2019s Vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Disneyland welcomes a new Star Wars era to Galaxy\u2019s Edge<\/a><\/p>\n

By 1979, when Six Flags took over the park, the ride\u2019s name changed to La Revolucion, transforming the revolutionary reference from American to Mexican.<\/p>\n

In 1988, the moniker was shortened to simply Revolution.<\/p>\n

Magic Mountain removed Revolution\u2019s simple lap bars in 1992 and installed over-the-shoulder restraints \u2014 resulting in head-banging headaches for dismayed riders and making the coaster painfully unrideable.<\/p>\n

\"AA rider of The New Revolution looks up into his Oculus VR goggles during a media preview of the new virtual reality enhanced ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The ride was built in 1976 but with the new goggle technology riders can experience the ride in a new way. (File photo by Nick Agro)<\/p>\n

In 2002, Revolution received landmark recognition from American Coaster Enthusiasts.<\/p>\n

The park mercifully removed Revolution\u2019s universally despised over-the-shoulder restraints in 2016 and replaced them with modern snug-fitting lap bars. The 40th anniversary makeover also included the installation of new trains, an updated station, fresh paint on the tracks and another name change.<\/p>\n

The aging ride became the New Revolution with the introduction of virtual reality headsets<\/a> \u2014 a trendy and ridiculous-looking high-tech upgrade that lasted only a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 1976 landmark ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain that sparked a half century-long roller coaster arms race…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7704,378,379,626,9543,1369,95],"class_list":{"0":"post-16973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-valencia","8":"tag-amusement-parks","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-los-angeles-county","11":"tag-santa-clarita","12":"tag-six-flags-magic-mountain","13":"tag-things-to-do","14":"tag-valencia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}