Californias Great America
vs
Six Flags Magic Mountain

On a typical day Six Flags Magic Mountain queues less: about 13 minutes a ride against 42 at Californias Great America, a difference of roughly 29 minutes on every queue you join.

See both right now Compare other parks

01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Californias Great America and Six Flags Magic Mountain compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Californias Great AmericaUnited States	Six Flags Magic MountainUnited States
Average wait per ride	42 min	13 min (best of the two)
Rides with recorded waits	13	37 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue	Tiki Twirl78 min	Roaring Rapids41 min
Shortest typical queue	Whitewater Falls6 min	Taz’s Tazmanian Train Tours5 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	Not recorded	94%

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Californias Great America and Six Flags Magic Mountain compared on live queue times
Right now	Californias Great AmericaUnited States	Six Flags Magic MountainUnited States
Average wait right now	-	-
Rides open	-	-
Opening hours today	-	-
Longest queue	-	-
Shortest queue	-	-

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day On a typical day Six Flags Magic Mountain queues less: about 13 minutes a ride against 42 at Californias Great America, a difference of roughly 29 minutes on every queue you join.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Californias Great America if…

You will accept a longer queue - 42 minutes a ride here against 13 at Six Flags Magic Mountain - for what Californias Great America has that Six Flags Magic Mountain does not
Tiki Twirl is on your list - it is Californias Great America's longest typical queue at about 78 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Californias Great America's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Six Flags Magic Mountain if…

You want shorter queues: Six Flags Magic Mountain averages 13 minutes a ride against 42 at Californias Great America
You want more to do: 37 rides here have recorded wait data against 13 at Californias Great America
Roaring Rapids is on your list - it is Six Flags Magic Mountain's longest typical queue at about 41 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Six Flags Magic Mountain's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Californias Great America

California's Great America sits in Santa Clara, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. It's a mid-sized park with a solid coaster line-up: Gold Striker (a highly-rated GCI wooden coaster), RailBlazer (a single-rail raptor coaster), Flight Deck inverted coaster, and The Demon. A Boomerang Bay water park operates on the same site in the summer.

Bay Area locals keep Great America steady year-round, with US school holidays and the WinterFest event driving the biggest crowds. Weekdays in April, May and September are dramatically quieter. Check live wait times for Gold Striker and RailBlazer on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a quieter day - the park has been undergoing ownership and site changes that can affect operating patterns.

Californias Great America live queue times

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, holds the world record for most roller coasters at a single park - currently 20 distinct coasters. Highlights include X2 (a 4-D prototype), Twisted Colossus, Tatsu (a flying coaster), Full Throttle, Superman: Escape from Krypton, Goliath, and Wonder Woman Flight of Courage. The park's hilly footprint gives many rides dramatic terrain-following drops.

Magic Mountain's LA-area weekend visits, US school holidays, Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park events drive peak crowds. Weekdays outside school breaks can be dramatically quieter. Check live queue times for X2 and Twisted Colossus on arrival - they build up fastest - and use our crowd calendar to pick a lower-crowd midweek date if you want to ride all 20 coasters in a single day.

Six Flags Magic Mountain live queue times

05 · Questions

Californias Great America or Six Flags Magic Mountain?

Which is better, Californias Great America or Six Flags Magic Mountain?

If you are judging on queues, Six Flags Magic Mountain: it averages about 13 minutes a ride on a typical day against 42 at Californias Great America, roughly 29 minutes back on every queue you join. Californias Great America has 13 rides with recorded waits against 37 at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Which has shorter queues, Californias Great America or Six Flags Magic Mountain?

Six Flags Magic Mountain, by about 29 minutes a ride. On a typical day Six Flags Magic Mountain averages 13 minutes against 42 at Californias Great America. Queues still move hour by hour, and a midweek day outside school holidays beats the gap at either park. See Californias Great America best time to visit and Six Flags Magic Mountain best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Californias Great America and Six Flags Magic Mountain in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Californias Great America and Six Flags Magic Mountain for the full ride lists.

Is Californias Great America bigger than Six Flags Magic Mountain?

By rides we track waits for, Six Flags Magic Mountain is the bigger day out: 37 rides against 13. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours - and on those Six Flags Magic Mountain is the quicker park.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Californias Great America calendar Six Flags Magic Mountain calendar Compare other parks