Bugs Bunny World Gives Kids a Mountain of Thrills

A pint-size version of the 41-story Superman ride zips park patrons a mere 25 feet up in the air before gently dropping riders on a cushion of air. A new roller coaster with the explosive name of Canyon Blaster is just jerky enough to be considered a mini-thrill ride. It’s Magic Mountain lite--and a potential training ground for thrill seekers of tomorrow.

Bugs Bunny World, the redesigned children’s area that reopens today at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, is no longer a passive zone where parents watch their little ones have fun. The six-acre site is geared toward helping parents and children from 2 to 7 have fun together.

“As a family theme park, we recognized that our younger guests deserve their share of thrills as well,” says Andy Gallardo, a park spokesman. “With changing demands on leisure time, parents want to share more active time with kids, not passive. We’ve created an area where you don’t have to sit and watch your kids, you can do it with them.”

The centerpiece of the kid zone is the 6,000-square-foot Looney Tunes Lodge, a two-story whir of bells and air-powered ball-launching devices. Thousands of foam balls dot the floor while children and parents quickly learn to use the various gadgets meant to harmlessly shoot, drop or send the balls bursting into the air.

Cannons can be filled with balls and blasted upward. A fireplace-like fountain on a timer erupts with balls every 10 minutes. Another gizmo that looks like a spaceship can be fed balls through hoses that vacuum them up. Push a button, and it too spews balls everywhere. Once they are filled with about 1,500 balls apiece, two boats that hang from the ceiling spill over onto unsuspecting guests.

“It’s one gigantic ball-moving facility,” says Mark Aragona, vice president of SCS Interactive Inc., the Albany, N.Y., company that designed and built what it refers to as an “interactive fun factory.” It is the fourth such facility the company has installed at Six Flags parks across the country.

The second floor of the lodge is filled with “blasters” (the official term for the gun- and cannonlike contraptions) and targets. Hit the right light and the Tasmanian Devil goes crazy or rocket fuel pumps into a spaceship and it starts to take off. Old-fashioned slingshots are part of the landscape, as is a pulley system, meant for parents to send reloaded “ammo bags,” which look a lot like small laundry bags, up to their harried children--assuming their parents haven’t started getting in on the fun.

Two attractions from the old children’s area survive. The carousel, part of the park since it opened in 1971, was completely rebuilt. Tweety’s Escape was kept because of its popularity--children ride around inside one of several hanging bird cages--and strong association with the park. The cages have been featured in several movies, including “Encino Man” and “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” Gallardo says.

Many of the attractions are traditional theme park rides. At Taz’s Trucking Company, the trucks are big enough for the kids to drive and a parent to sit in back. Yosemite Sam’s Flight School features two-seater planes with controls that can make them “fly.” Daffy’s Adventure Tours takes tourists on a bus trip about 20 feet up into the air. Elmer’s Weather Balloons are teacups in the sky. There is also a standard teacup ride and a six-car railway on a small track.

Filling out the area are “meet and greet” spots, where Looney Tunes characters will hold court in areas such as Bugs Bunny’s house, built in a faux dirt-finished Greco-Roman style, complete with carrots as columns. Carrots are a recurring architectural theme--they frame the entrance to the area’s Carrot Club Theater, where shows are held that feature live animals from the park’s wildlife rescue program.

Nearby, the Canyon Blaster is revving up for its trial run for early visitors invited to try out the rides while a commercial is being filmed. Most of the young riders find it thrilling, but it proves a little too scary for a toddler or two. (Children must be 3 feet tall to ride alone, compared to at least 4 feet for other park roller coasters, but children of any size can ride with a parent.)

Debbie Burkhart, 42, of Newhall, who was at the park with her 8- and 10-year-old daughters, also sees Bugs Bunny World as an area of starter rides that reflect the spirit of the greater park.

“They are pretty good,” she says of the new attractions. “They are kind of teasers for the kids who are almost ready for the bigger rides.”

BE THERE

Bugs Bunny World at Magic Mountain, Magic Mountain Parkway off of Interstate 5 in Valencia. Call for hours. Adults, $36; seniors 55 and older, $20; children under 4 feet, $9.99 through Labor Day; children 2 and under free. Parking $7. (818) 367-5965.