Getting Wet Isn’t a Threat--It’s a Guarantee

Magic Mountain’s newest ride, Tidal Wave, lasts about 70 seconds. A flat-bottomed boat filled with passengers travels up a steep incline, then promptly turns and plunges into a man-made lagoon.

The resulting splash drenches everyone aboard, and the ride is over.

They might as well push you into a pool.

And if that’s not enough, they’ve built a bridge over the lagoon where bystanders can be battered by a 20-foot wall of water created by the plummeting boat.

It’s like having someone douse you with the garden hose.

“No matter what, you get soaked,” said Juliet DeAndrade, 12, of Pasadena, who attended the ride’s opening last week. “It’s fun because people like to get wet.”

At least, that’s what Magic Mountain is banking on. The Valencia amusement park is billing Tidal Wave as its top attraction this summer.

The amusement park refuses to release attendance figures, but an official said the ride ran at near capacity in its first three days. Tidal Wave can soak 1,200 riders per hour, so as many as 38,000 customers emerged dripping wet June 2, Saturday and Sunday.

Water thrill rides are in vogue this season. Splash Mountain was supposed to make its debut at Disneyland months ago, but Disney executives worried that riders got too wet.

“The tradition at Disneyland is that nobody is ruled out,” said Tony W. Baxter, the ride’s executive producer. “It’s a negative if somebody says, ‘You guys go. I don’t want to get all wet.’ ”

Thus, Disney delayed the opening until midsummer for some costly re-engineering.

No such timidity at Magic Mountain, where the park’s two other water rides are among its most popular. Officials there have long contended that while Disney must cater to out-of-state tourists, Magic Mountain specializes in pleasing locals.

“Eighty percent of Magic Mountain’s attendance comes from Southern California,” said Courtney Simmons, a park spokeswoman. “We look at the Southern California mentality. Our guests like getting wet because they feel they have participated. “If our guests love to get wet,” Simmons said, “we don’t question it.”