When Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) debuted Goliath, the park didn’t just add a new coaster, it quietly redefined what it thought “success” looked like. Goliath was tall and was fast when it opened. It certainly dominates the skyline, still. What it didn’t, and still doesn’t’, do is deliver the core ride experiences that coaster enthusiasts like myself consistently reward across our rankings like floater, ejector airtime, pacing, or a meaningful first‑drop payoff.
On the date of February 11, 2000, Goliath opened to the public with the best coaster entry gate that stands the test of time… everything else is a letdown outside of smoothness.
Historic Posts for Reference in this Blog
- My New 100 Point Coaster Rating Scale
https://www.lifecycle365.com/my-new-100-point-coaster-rating-system/ - Re-rating My First 100 Rollercoasters
https://www.lifecycle365.com/re-rating-my-first-100-roller-coasters/ - FUN Is Still Trimming the Fat and I Think the Coasters Tell the Story
https://www.lifecycle365.com/fun-is-still-trimming-the-fat-and-i-think-the-coasters-tell-the-story/ - Coaster Confusion
https://www.lifecycle365.com/coaster-confusion/
Background of the Legacy
Re‑rating where Goliath sat in my coaster rankings at #57 of 100 by scoring 59 points on my scale still feels wrong to me. It appears to sit squarely in the middle of my list despite its size and prominence, which actually do not matter. That ranking does matter, because it illustrates that raw stats alone are no longer enough and perhaps never were.
And by valid criteria, Goliath fails decisively:
- It provides no meaningful floater airtime moments.
- It has no expected or unexpected ejector airtime experience.
- It lacks a true pre‑drop, which has caused the ever-long-and-boring cresting of the lift hill.
- Its lift hill transitions into a shallow ramp rather than a committed and thrilling drop.
- Its layout prioritizes sustained speed over engagement.
- It has no double up or double down on its first turnaround.
- It stops (and I mean to zero MPH) the train at the mid-course break run.
These deficiencies are not inferred, they are why, Goliath lands closer to a legacy fillers at the park than modern standouts for SFMM.
The Most Telling Comparison
My Top‑10, especially after re‑rating, makes the contrast impossible to ignore. Coasters like Twisted Colossus, Iron Rattler, and Leviathan succeed because they deliver sensations, not because they just exist at scale. The fact is that size matters but it is the size of elements, not the amount of raw steel weight that built the coaster.
Coaster Enthusiasts repeatedly call out the following as things that matter on a rollercoaster.
- Ejector airtime
- Floater airtime
- Flow
- Pacing
- Cohesive layouts
- Repeatability
- Re-rideability
- Inversions
Goliath offers none of those as defining traits and yet it remains Magic Mountain’s nominal “hyper” anchor. This mismatch matters because, as my park‑retention analysis shows, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (FUN) has increasingly used hyper and taller coasters as a sorting mechanism for corporate priority of their parks. Magic Mountain technically qualifies, but only because Goliath exists, not because it excels.
Goliath Created a False Signal of Strength
My “Height Is Policy” thesis is key here in the false messaging for SFMM and Goliath. I show that parks with landmark skyline coasters retain executive attention, receive further investment, and have perceived importance. SFMM remains on that list of 10 major parks because it can point to Goliath as a hyper coaster.
But the problem is structural: Goliath communicates power externally while delivering mediocrity.
That disconnect explains why Magic Mountain simultaneously does the following.
- Looks dominant on paper
- Continues to stockpile coasters at a rapid pace
- It still struggles with identity, cohesion, and guest satisfaction
In effect, Goliath trained the park, and later the chain, to chase optics instead of outcomes.
The Long‑Term Cost: Quantity Over Quality
After Goliath, Magic Mountain leaned harder into accumulation of more coasters, more variety, more records (and now near‑records). My rankings show diminishing returns and a large portion of SFMM’s lineup clusters in the 70s, 60s, and below of my first 100 coasters. That includes rides that should, in the theory of the old Six Flags, be anchors of any park.
Even historically important attractions like X2, Tatsu, and Superman: Escape from Krypton land far below where their messaging and stats suggest they should.
That pattern mirrors what is describe in my park retention analysis here: https://www.lifecycle365.com/fun-is-still-trimming-the-fat-and-i-think-the-coasters-tell-the-story/
Parks that chase scale without cohesion become balance‑sheet assets, not creative ones. They justify their existence through skyline stats, not guest experience. Eventually, they require constant additions just to keep pace with expectations.
Goliath Started Magic Mountain’s Problems
This makes Goliath the root cause and it continues to drag down the other Goliaths that actually matter in the world and to coaster enthusiasts.
- Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia is 200-foot-tall, steel, reaching speeds of 70 mph, has a 175-foot drop, and multiple floater airtime camelback-hills.
Overview: Goliath is a hypercoaster located in the U.S.A. section of Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell, Georgia. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, it opened on April 1, 2006, replacing the Great Gasp and Looping Starship attractions. The ride cost approximately $20 million and has been recognized as one of the top steel roller coasters in the U.S., earning high rankings in the Golden Ticket Awards. - Goliath at Six Flags Great America is a thrilling wooden roller coaster, known for its record-breaking height, speed, and steep drops, providing an adrenaline-pumping experience for riders.
Overview: Goliath is located at Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Illinois and opened on June 19, 2014 after being built by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) and designed by Alan Schilke. - Goliath at Walibi Holland is a steel roller coaster located at the in Biddinghuizen, Dronten, in the Netherlands, described as “the fastest, highest, and longest coaster in the Benelux” since 2021 being a Mini Hyper Rollercoaster from Intamin
Overview: With a maximum height of 47 meters (154 ft), the train travels at speeds of up to 107 kilometers per hour (66 mph) along 1,214 meters (3,983 ft) of track.
This isn’t an argument that Goliath is a “bad ride”, it is mediocre. My ranking doesn’t place it anywhere near the absolute bottom because it is smooth, has excellent trains, and looks impressive. Instead, this represents something more consequential which is the moment Magic Mountain stopped asking what a coaster should be like and started asking how tall it could stand.
Contrast that with parks I praise most consistently:
- Six Flags Fiesta Texas, which lacks a true hypercoaster but delivers elite experiences through Iron Rattler.
- Canada’s Wonderland, who’s top‑rated coasters combine scale and airtime, pacing, and cohesion.
Magic Mountain has flashes of brilliance, but Goliath locked it into a philosophy that values presence over performance.
Maybe It’s Time We Stop Calling It Goliath
At this point, calling the SFMM Goliath “Goliath” feels less like branding and more like historical revisionism. The name implies dominance, intimidation, and a ride so overwhelming that it alters the battlefield. What Magic Mountain actually built was a coaster that looks imposing from the parking lot, crests its lift hill like it suddenly remembered it left the oven on, and then politely asks the train if everyone is ready before doing anything at all.
All of that describes something that is not a Goliath, it is a very large David wearing too much steel.
If the original biblical Goliath had behaved this way, the story would’ve ended with him stopping mid‑stride, checking his footing, and asking a Roman-era safety engineer to confirm trim settings. The irony is that the name “Goliath” has been earned repeatedly elsewhere in the Six Flags ecosystem, by rides that actually deliver scale and consequence. Magic Mountain’s version, meanwhile, has spent over two decades redefining how little you can do with that much height, speed, and real estate. Renaming it “David” wouldn’t be an insult; it would be honesty and honesty is exactly what this coaster has been missing.
How to Fix Goliath (In the Order the Ride Layout Happens)
If Goliath were redesigned with modern thinking, but without changing its footprint or purpose, the problems aren’t mysterious. They’re sequential, mechanical, and almost entirely front‑loaded. Here’s how the original and worst Goliath David could be fixed, element by element, without changing its identity as a hyper coaster to make it a Goliath again.
1. Add a True Pre‑Drop at the Crest of the Lift Hill
The first failure happens just as the lift hill ends and “the ride” even starts. Adding a proper B&M pre‑drop would eliminate the need to slow the train to a crawl at the top because it is putting stress on the chain. More importantly, it would restore tension, sightline misdirection, and anticipation which are three things true-hypers rely on to make their first drop matter.
2. Increase the First Drop Angle to About 85 Degrees
The current drop feels like a ramp designed by a safety committee. By steepening it to approximately 85 degrees and pairing it with the pre‑drop, riders would experience near‑ejector airtime right as the train tips over the top. This single change would instantly transform the ride’s reputation, because the first drop is where hypers declare their intent and mark their territory.
3. Add a Double‑Up Before the First Turnaround
As the train bottoms out from the first drop, the ride wastes speed on lateral positioning instead of vertical force. A double‑up heading into the turnaround would introduce true ejector airtime while preserving momentum which is something the ride currently refuses to do despite having every opportunity.
4. Replace the Standard Turnaround with an Overbanked Inverting Turn
The first turnaround should not just redirect the train to the right; it should do something thrilling. An overbanked turn exceeding 90 degrees would effectively introduce an inversion without betraying the hyper coaster format. This would add variety, visual drama, and a modern design language completely absent from the current boring-layout.
5. Add a Double‑Down Exiting the Turnaround
Coming off the turnaround is another long, boring, and squandered moment. A double‑down here would capitalize on sustained speed and deliver aggressive ejector airtime instead of dumping riders into another neutral transitionary moment.
6. Split the Existing “Camelback-like” Hill into Two Floater Hills
The single camelback-like hill currently present is under-profiled and underwhelming. Replacing it with two consecutive floater airtime hills would improve pacing, create rhythmic flow, and finally give the ride a signature “hyper moment” that doesn’t rely on raw speed alone.
7. Reprofile the Approach to the Mid‑Course Brake Run
Few things kill a ride’s energy like seeing the brakes coming and feeling nothing beforehand. By adjusting the approach with a small airtime pop or downward transition, riders would at least get one final moment of weightlessness before the train is unnecessarily brought to nearly zero MPH.
8. Finish the Ride, Don’t Apologize for it
From the mid‑course onward, the goal should simply be to maintain flow and dignity. The ride doesn’t need more gimmicks at this point; it needs to stop feeling like it’s embarrassed by its own size. Clean transitions, sustained speed, and purposeful elements would be enough would be enough to continue to have riders gray-out in the helix.
When Height Stops Being the Point
Goliath David stands today exactly as it was designed to: tall, visible, smooth, and largely unchallenging. That is precisely the problem, and it is not a failure of engineering, nor is it a ride devoid of merit. It is, instead, a monument to a decision point and one where Six Flags Magic Mountain began prioritizing what could be measured from the freeway over what could be felt from within the train on the layout. In doing so, it willingly traded sensation for silhouette, and experience for optics.
What makes Goliath David so important to dissect is not that it is mediocre, but that it normalized mediocrity at scale. By existing as a “hyper” that does not meaningfully behave like one, it sent a quiet but lasting signal to all that height alone was sufficient, and that ride quality was optional at best. The park spent the next two decades chasing records, stacking steel and filling gaps which was often brilliantly done, sometimes recklessly, but always under the shadow of a coaster that looked elite and rode inert.
Magic Mountain’s best attractions prove that this philosophy is not inevitable. The park knows how to create intensity, cohesion, airtime, and re‑rideable excellence when it chooses to. That makes Goliath David less a relic of its era and more a warning label as it marks the moment the park stopped asking how a coaster should make you feel and started asking what number it could print on a sign.
Whether Goliath David is ever retracked, reprofiled, reimagined, rethemed, renamed, or merely renamed, its real legacy has already been written. It isn’t the skyline it dominates, it’s the mindset it introduced and until Magic Mountain fully abandons the idea that presence equals performance, it will remain exactly what it has always been. That is not a disaster, not a triumph, but the tallest argument for why size alone is never enough for coaster enthusiasts and myself.