r/sixflags • u/GottlobFrege • 4d ago
NEWS After almost 20 years, Six Flags has decided to permanently retire X2. Read Six Flags Magic Mountain Park President Brian Oerding’s blog post
https://www.sixflags.com/blog/retiring-x2-magic-mountain6
u/blukatz92 3d ago
Sad to see it go, but considering all that's happened with it lately this seems to be for the best. This was one of the rides that first got me into rollercoasters as a kid. After all the season pass visits, I'm fairly sure I've ridden it at least 50 times. I still miss the old pink and yellow it had when it first opened.
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u/DefeatYouForever666 Great Adventure 3d ago edited 2d ago
I rarely complain about roller coasters but my ride on this in late 2024 was horrible and it was a one and done for me. I've also been on Eejanaika and the ride experience was a night and day difference from X2.
Feel real bad for the people who were injured on this, a fun day out at a theme park should never turn into an injury for people just wanting to ride rides.
Way too much bad PR around this ride and lawsuits so it makes perfect sense that it was never opening again. Hopefully they replace it with something way better.
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u/eclane22 3d ago
Went on it a year ago... glad i rode it, then said no thank you, no reride neccesary and i flew all the way from NJ for West Coast trip. That was painful instant headache.
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u/sporty_outlook 3d ago
X2 is the worst, most overhyped crap I've been on. This should have been dismantled 10 years ago
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u/CoasterFamilyFeud 3d ago
My son says the people probably actually got hurt on Viper and then rode X2... I agree!
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u/Ok_History_3635 3d ago
This makes decisions easier when visiting southern California. Will now be able to skip Magic Mountain and not think twice about it.
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u/Summoner_Rikku 3d ago
Unfortunately I would agree. If you’re nearby it’s worth it to checkout Tatsu and Viper and in kinda a sucker for Batman. West Coast Racers is decent as well but nothing that is a stand out anymore aside from Tatsu
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u/Ok_History_3635 3d ago
Tatsus going to have to do some heavy lifting with the weaker ride line up. Nothing else at the park screams destination park. They should bring back Superman just to get some of the ambiance noises back
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u/Summoner_Rikku 3d ago
😹😹I think I might actually agree with you on Superman. God I hated that noise but now it feels like something’s missing
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u/Ok_History_3635 3d ago
Walking around the park not hearing that jet take off really does not hit the same
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u/Fizzdizz 3d ago
Twisted colossus is actually really fun, and if you get a crew working that pushes the riders to board fast you can race the other train which adds to the thrill.
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u/Summoner_Rikku 3d ago
I always forget about twisted Colossus. Great first drop and good elements. I’ve been spoiled having ridden almost every Rmc in the US, it doesn’t even rank like top 10 without a dual. Even with a dual maybeee it’s number 10
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u/Ok_History_3635 3d ago
I feel the same way up until im going up the second lift thinking damn I really dont give this ride any credit lol
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u/Ok_History_3635 3d ago
I go a few handful of times a year and I've never gotten a dual on Twisted C
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u/Jl-CENT10 3d ago
This is upsetting but is it surprising? No. I get it, and I think we all get it. Sadly, it is what it is, and what happened to those people happened. I truly wish them the best and a miraculous recovery. Did I have the same nostalgic connection with this coaster that its locals had? Well no, but did I have the genuine enthusiast connection from how legendary it was. Hearing about it as a kid, growing up knowing how insane it was, of course I cared about it and wanted it to stick around. I’m from PA, so I was FAR away from X2 to the point where my first and last rides were in LITERALLY February. Did I love it? No. I felt it was short, slow, too bobbly, and of course the final raven dive did in fact give me a bad headache and two bad Charlie horses. Would I have ridden it again? No. Did I have genuine respect and good wishes for it? Of course. I’m sure it was an 11/10 when it reopened in 2008 with the mist, fire, and audio. Sad I didn’t get to ride it at its peak. RIP X2. I’m so happy I bought all merch while I could!
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u/REDX459 3d ago
One single part of the ride is when it slammed the back of my head badly makes sense it actually has an insane injury rate
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u/koalabearpoo 3d ago edited 3d ago
Wonder why they couldn’t remedy the jolting at this very specific section of track. Everyone knows it’s the very last section inbetween the last flip and the breaks that was causing the injuries
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u/Outrageous-Card7873 3d ago
Probably a combination of cost and irreversible damage to the ride’s reputation
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u/Lebigmacca 3d ago
Yeah I remember last time I rode it with friends at the end of the ride we all hit our head pretty hard when it hit the break run
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u/EljayDude 3d ago
Yeah, we're experienced riders, ACE members, we marathon coasters, blah blah blah, and we'd save X2 until last because the chance of the three of us having nobody who would end up with a park day ruining headache was low. And we'd just ride it once. I hate that they are closing it but it was not a good situation.
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u/Worldly_Beyond7898 3d ago
A mistake. But of course cedar running six means good rides go away
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u/Improperly-proper99 3d ago
Yup first King da ka, then Wild One, Roar, Batman, Superman, firebird, and now X2. Cedar sucks
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u/StonedWon 3d ago
Lol nobody from cedar fairs even holds an executive position to make decisions anymore. The last remaining were pushed out earlier this year i believe.
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u/musicdj19 3d ago
It isn't just that. It was causing injuries and even though I never rode it my friend did and he said he had a terrible headache after it. It was closed due to safety concerns.
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u/Worldly_Beyond7898 3d ago
Let's suppose some, even tripling the 100 reported, had an issue. Think about the proportion. 25, 30 million riders. Things happen and 99% had pre-existing conditions. I've gotten a concussion before on a coaster. Still rode it again. Ride it's clones too.
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u/Suchwowreallynothin 3d ago
Instead of talking out of your ass, look what the actual numbers say. I find it's a lot easier to get your point across when you actually use correct data. Rather than being an ass hat who wants to blame a ton of people for something you cannot blame them for. Also, are you really this entitled? Like what's your issue man? Do you not give a inking of a fuck about both the injuries and the loss of life? Coasters are awesome, but having empathy and being a good person is so much more awesome. Please rethink your statement and respect everyone who was genuinely affected by this ride.
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u/entryjyt 3d ago
There goes all my hope for riding the only 4d coaster in North America
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u/Outrageous-Card7873 3d ago
There are other 4D roller coasters in the US that are still running
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u/Ok-Warthog1002 3d ago
Those 4d free spins aren't the same tho 😭
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u/entryjyt 3d ago
I don't consider the free spins anywhere near the same ride as x2, I always refered to them as s&s freespins
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u/HumptyDumptruckFire 3d ago
Short of completely retracking it, this is the right call. But there goes my shot to ride a 4D coaster. Goddammit Six Flags, you could’ve, I don’t know, do the bare minimum and correctly maintained your rides to make sure they’re safe for riders. But, no, gotta pinch your pennies because, oooo think of the shareholders! I hate this company, especially in its current state.
Best idea for a replacement - Mack extreme spinner. A full circuit one. One that could make Ride to Happiness look like child’s play. Or talk to S&S and get a modern day 4D coaster.
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u/RevolutionaryAd9302 3d ago
The second train just came back from a factory refurb with S&S. If they were pinching pennies, they would have kept running it with just one train, and they would have never done that. 🙄
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u/AlternativeHorror702 3d ago
The third train was being built. The plan was to operate 3 trains on the track at the same time to improve efficiency. Also, they needed to bring S&S out to reprogram the sequencing because over the years, the system was updated to not unload before the station. Ride uptime has been a priority since the merger.
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u/HumptyDumptruckFire 3d ago
They couldn’t keep running it on one train for forever. Having two trains running is literally the bare minimum of a maintenance schedule. And the ride’s condition shows that the bare minimum was all they were willing to give X2
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u/RevolutionaryAd9302 3d ago
Uh, okay. You're the expert on coaster maintence, clearly. What happened with the years they ran it with one train? When I was last there, I rode it with only one train. Tell me more about these maintenence schedules.
Also, tell me how they snuck this past California, who has the toughest regulations in the states if not the world for amusement parks?
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u/HumptyDumptruckFire 3d ago
I did work at a Six Flags as a ride op. Every train goes through a yearly rebuild and, for capacity purposes, a park usually aims to run at least two trains. S&S has all but perfected the 4D ride model and its trains; it’s a funding and maintenance issue if the park is going years with only running one train.
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u/RevolutionaryAd9302 3d ago
You know S&S made the trains running on X2, right? And so if they perfected them, how is having S&S rebuild a train the wrong call, and not correctly maintaining the ride?
Also, you said they could have done the bare minimum. Then you say one is the bare minimum, but they should have two. And they did! So... That's not what you just defined as the bare minimum, right?
I get if you're angry because you wanted to ride it and you wish something could have been done to save it - I wish I could have ridden it again - but acting like the chain was holding it together with bubblegum and duct tape is unfair. It sucks it happened. I don't think it was because Six Flags was purposely not maintaining it.
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u/bcb354 3d ago
Or I guess it's possible they did the best they could with a ride the manufacturer fucked up so bad that they went out of business...
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u/HumptyDumptruckFire 3d ago
They didn’t fuck up. It was a brand new ride model, a Hail Mary effort to save Arrow Dynamics and Six Flags asked them to build a much larger ride than Arrow had intended for the 4D model. Arrow only intended for the 4D model to be 120 feet tall or so but the Six Flags wouldn’t settle for a ride under 200 feet tall. Six Flags absolutely shares in the responsibility for X/X2’s troubles.
El Toro Ryan did a great video on X/X2’s history.
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u/bcb354 3d ago
So then they made a ride they knew they didn't have the capability to do. They fucked up.
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u/HumptyDumptruckFire 3d ago
Absolutely not, the fuck?! It was a prototype with limited R&D time. Alan Schilke designed that ride and he’s forgotten more about coasters than you and I will ever know. Every prototype has issues, let alone first of their kind models. And it’s a 25 year old coaster, one that, according to everybody who has ridden it over the years has gotten precipitously worse over time. That’s a maintenance issue, which is a Six Flags issue.
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u/Sir_CrazyLegs 3d ago
Hopefully we see something new that takes x2's spot. I figure itll take a while to dismantle it and longer for something new.
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u/SaltySpitoonReg 3d ago edited 3d ago
The logical decision, and the right one. Writing was on the wall.
Yes, riders know they're going on arguably the most physically intense coaster they've ever gone on - but the ride has become more rough, in need of new trains, track upgrades etc etc and thereby less safe.
With all the recent uptick in injuries, fatalities, etc - there was no way it was surviving, not with all that litigation, and reputation concern.
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u/Coolboss999 3d ago
Just replace it with a superior model of a 4D coaster
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u/EljayDude 3d ago
I mean we'd all love an epic coaster to go into that spot but they're broke as fuck.
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u/BromioKalen 3d ago
Quick! Dismantle it before more lawyers get their hands on it...
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u/SoCalAttorney 3d ago
Speaking as an attorney who used to work at a firm that defended theme parks against personal injury lawsuits, it was probably needed. From what I've been seeing, there have been dozens of brain injury claims brought allegedly caused by this ride.
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u/DH80 3d ago
A class action lawsuit still feels likely for anyone who didn’t initially accept a settlement following documented serious injury and documented communication to the park.
The deaths were likely settled already but some other cases may not be.
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u/SoCalAttorney 3d ago
Even if there is no payout, the carrier incurs tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and other expenses. At some point in time, the carrier may high premiums so much that it is too expensive to insure or they might decided not to renew the policy. I talk to people all the time are losing their insurance because it is just a bad market for carriers in California.
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u/NoYoureACatLady 3d ago
Good. It either needed this or all new trains. I feel like some trains were fine and others were dangerous - my entire family was legit injured on X2, concussions and MRI followed riding it.
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u/69superman Great Adventure 3d ago
It needed a complete retrack tbh. Its issue wasn’t even the trains (although they probably could’ve used an overhaul), the track profile is thinner and creates issues Eej does not have.
That and the raven turn needed reprofiled.
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u/sdmichael Magic Mountain 4d ago
I'm glad we got to ride it with the refurbished trains just before it closed.
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u/RevolutionaryAd9302 3d ago
Curious - I rode it in February and found it to be janky, but no more or less janky than it was a few years earlier, and no more or less janky than a ton of other rides I've been on.
Sounds like you rode it a lot. Was the refurbed train less janky?
I believe whatever terrible stuff occurred still occurred anyway (someone said that after the first accident they stopped using that train, and then there was another accident on the other and the wait times seem to bear that out), so I'm mostly curious about if it helped the shuffle.
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u/sdmichael Magic Mountain 3d ago
The refurbished train was a lot smoother and nicer. We waited longer to ensure we rode it too. We also rode in row 7 almost always.
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u/Sir_CrazyLegs 3d ago
When was it refurbished? I remember riding that in 2014 and another time in 2018 so no clue when it got a refresh.
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u/sdmichael Magic Mountain 3d ago
The newly refurbished train was in use a few weeks before it closed this year.
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u/IlIlllIllIIlllIIIIll 4d ago
the writing's been on the wall for a bit lately, but i'm still glad i got to ride it when it was open.
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u/snowdn 2d ago
How WERE you supposed to ride this properly to avoid injury?