After flipping burgers as teen, she’s now theme park boss

LOS ANGELES — Bonnie Weber is president of Six Flags Magic Mountain, the Los Angeles-area theme park that calls itself the “Thrill Capital of the World.” With 19 roller coasters, Magic Mountain has more than any single park in the country. Weber oversees 3,000 employees in a 250-acre facility that includes a water park, Hurricane Harbor.

Every penny counts: Weber doesn’t call herself superstitious, but in her daily strolls through Magic Mountain, she makes a point of picking up any penny off the ground that has Abraham Lincoln’s head facing up.

If the penny is face down, she flips it over and leaves it for the next person to find. It’s about creating a positive outlook for herself. “You have to believe in positivity,” she said.

Starting at the bottom: Weber was a 16-year-old high school student when she started working a summer job at Magic Mountain, flipping burgers at one of the park’s fast-food joints. It was her fall-back job after failing to land a retail gig. She stayed at the park while attending college at Cal State Northridge. By that time, she had been promoted to managing half of the park’s food operations.

Weber’s career goal was to go into marketing. She left the park for brief stints to work in advertising and marketing, but Magic Mountain kept calling her back. “I never thought it would be a lifelong career, and here I am close to 30 years later,” she said. “It’s something that just gets in your blood.”

Theme park nerd: Weber has no problem getting on any of the park’s rides, including the most extreme, G-force pulling, upside-down twisting, neck-snapping coasters. “I get a rush from jumping on a coaster,” she said. “I cannot wait to see and play on a new attraction.”

“The opportunity of a lifetime”: After working her way up to head of publicity at Magic Mountain, Weber left in 2007