MAGIC MOUNTAIN THROWING A BIG FLING : NEW RIDE PUTTING A LITTLE SPRING IN SUMMER.

Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff Writer

If you're a roller-coaster fan, unless you've been living under a rock, the word is out: Superman The Escape, the new high-tech ride at Magic Mountain, promises to break the 100-mph barrier when it finally opens next month.

But perhaps lost to thrill seekers in the comic-book hero hoopla is that the Valencia park is debuting another new ride this season. And while it doesn't fly faster than a speeding bullet, it comes close enough.

Taking an opposite tack from Superman The Escape, which employs computerized magnetic propulsion, is Dive Devil, which relies on pulleys, cables and good-old gravity to nearly stop your heart.

It's signature, a 173-foot steel arch that resembles St. Louis' famed monument, the ride provides a unique experience best described as a combination sky dive, bungee jump and giant swing - but the kind you won't find in just any playground.

The ride is distinctive in two other ways: Reservations are required and it costs a minimum of $15 on top of park admission. That is unprecedented at the park but required by the ride's low volume, according to Six Flags officials.

No more than three riders can ride one of Dive Devil's two dive swings at a time, or they can be ridden solo. Here's how it works.

Riders are individually outfitted in heavy, synthetic ``flight suits'' that nearly wrap around your entire body and are equipped with a rip cord - something that almost gave the ride its name until Dive Devil was settled on.

Encased in the tightly bound suits, riders are lead over to a hydraulic platform. There a second set of handlers employing carabiners - the same devices climbers use to secure themselves to mountains - connect your suit, with you inside it, to a nearly 170-foot cable hanging from the arch.

Riders are then hooked into another cable that connects them to one of two 153-foot tall towers standing a few hundred feet away from the arch.

The hydraulic platform drops, and suddenly riders find themselves hanging by their backs face down as a motor slowly pulls them to the top of one of the rear towers. Operators just keep on getting smaller and smaller.

After a few moments at the top of a rear tower, an operator in a loudspeaker intones: ``BRAVO, three, two, one'' - at which point riders pull their rip cords, releasing them into a 50-foot free fall.

The result? Pure terror, or pure rush. Take your choice.

Within seconds, riders reach 60 mph as the cable bottoms out 6 feet from the ground. They then swing out on the cable from under the arch, over the heads of nervous patrons waiting at the ride entrance, creating a loud whoosh in the process.

The swing climbs about 100 feet, before dropping back toward the launch tower. It takes several swings in a wide ark before riders can slow down enough to reach and grab a special hook that stops them.

``People get nervous when they first get out here, but then they want to go back again,'' said one ride handler. ``They love it.''

It takes about 10 minutes for a patron to be set up for the ride, take the fall and then get out of the flight suit. That means that only dozens of visitors ride each hour vs. thousands for some coasters.

It also means that a solo ride will cost you $25, while a pair can ride it for $20 each. It's at its most economical for a trio, at $15 each.

If you like to fly, it's far cheaper than renting a Lear jet for the day, and far safer than a parachute drop. You just need to put your faith in those steel cables, which park officials say are strong enough to lift heavy equipment.

However, if you don't feel like shelling out extra money for your thrills, you may just want to wait a few more weeks for Superman The Escape.

The ride was at first scheduled to open by the end of May, but technical ``fine-tuning'' has now pushed that back to next month with no firm date as of yet.

Using the kind of magnetic technology that is employed in Japan to operate the bullet trains, the ride launches a car down a 900-foot track before sending it up a 41-story tower - with riders experiencing an unprecedented 6.5 seconds of weightlessness at the top.

The track and tower have long been completed. It's the speed that's slowing things down.

The ride is supposed to accelerate the cars to 100 mph in seconds, but so far engineers have only managed to get them up to 70 mph. Each magnet, spaced out along the tracks, must push the cars forward at exactly the right moment.

``It will get there. It's not going to be a problem,'' said park spokesman Palmer Moody. ``They are just fine-tuning it right now.''

Also new this year at the park, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, is a daily evening parade that celebrates Bugs Bunny and a cavalcade of Looney Tunes characters.

The parade, which includes three floats and the Batmobile, begins at the Gotham City Backlot at 9 p.m. and concludes at the park's entrance about 20 minutes later with a fireworks show.

Along the way, Batman and Robin, Wile E. Coyote, Foghorn Leghorn and a host of other cartoon characters entertain the kids.

And starting July 5 is an ice show at the park's Golden Bear Theater performed by a Russian troupe and choreographed by Igor Shapovlov, whose credits include shows at the Moscow Olympics.

The park is open daily through Oct. 31. Gates open at 10 a.m. Closing times vary. A general admission ticket is $32, children under 48 inches in height can sneak in for $15.

For a far cheaper tack, try a $55 season pass, or never grow old. Children 2 and under are free.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color only in Conejo edition) Riders swing by as they take a trip on the Dive Devil at Six Flags Magic Mountain on Wednesday. The attraction has a separate charge.

(2--Color only in Conejo edition) Orkum Sami, left, and Omer Dolman of Turkey react as they go soaring through the air.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily NUews