So... I've had the (un?)fortunate opportunity to have lived in California twice while serving in the Navy. My first long stint of time was up in the Lemoore area, about 35 miles southwest of Fresno. The ONLY redeeming quality of living here was its relative close proximity to Yosemite, the Sequoia's, Monterey/Santa Cruz/San Luis Obispo/Pismo Beach, and lastly, Magic Mountain. Between 1994-2000, my friends and I would probably hit MM about 3 times a year, Universal maybe once, but never one visit to DL (why you ask? Because I grew up going to WDW and thought DL was on built on a city block and didn't have enough to do to warrant a visit (I know, I know, we all learn the truth later).
MM was our 'go-to' for thrills, and the 90's were an awesome time to visit the park. It brought the birth of Batman, Superman, The Psyclone, Riddler's revenge, Dive Devil (if you want to pay), and Goliath. Annual Tickets were about $45 with a can of pepsi, lol. You can't beat that. when you're in your late teens and early 20's, you could care less about the heat and were more focused with the thrill rides. I still love Viper to this day, probably one of the top 5 coasters in the world for me.
HOWEVER....
I moved away from Cali in late 2000 to Arizona, so naturally my visits out there got more sporadic. The 2000's started bringing a couple of good rides, but the ride systems seem to break more often, prices went way up, attendance seemed to go up as well making longer lines. Paying for a fast pass was not an option for me either, so my frustration with the park only grew over time. The parks numerous bankruptcies also left the place pretty much in disrepair all the time. The miniature chollo gangs wandering the parks with their skank hooker 16 year girlfriends wearing stiletto's and tube skirts and drawn on angry eyebrows only added to the parks lackluster appeal (although DL is gaining on them somewhat).
Couple all that with the fact that I was now going to DL about once a year and WDW about every 2 years (I still can't stand Universal Hollywood, it's pretty much awful all the time), and that my tastes were growing as a human (I was becoming a theme park snob, like all of you, lol), justifying a trip to MM got harder and harder.
My second stint of time in Cali was in San Diego, from 2009-2015. My wife and I made it to MM ONCE. The place was more of a sh!-t show than we had remembered. Up charges for everything, deteriorating rides and scenery, blah blah blah. We did, however, visit DL about 5 times a year during that timeframe.
Now we're stationed on the east coast, so WDW has been our go-to park again. We've only been once (Dec 2016), but we plan to visit there about every year and a half while we're stationed out here. And perhaps Busch Gardens (I always liked BG growing up, haven't been to one in 15 years or so though). And while I can saw that WDW needs A LOT of work, Disney has got their crap together when it comes to running a theme park.
All that said, we're in Cali next month and are hitting DL/DCA the week of the 24th, and we can't wait. MM/Universal/Knotts can suck it. lol
