X2 (formerly known as X) is a steel roller coaster operating at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. It is the world's first 4th Dimension roller coaster and was the final roller coaster conceived and installed by ride manufacturer Arrow Dynamics. The ride is unique in that the trains' seats pitch 360 degrees forwards and in reverse independent of the main chassis. The coaster initially opened to the public on January 12, 2002; numerous malfunctions delayed it from debuting in 2001 as was originally anticipated. On December 2, 2007, the ride closed for its transformation into X2. It was completely repainted, received new third-generation trains, and featured new special effects including a sound system, fog effects, and a pair of flame throwers. The ride reopened on May 24, 2008, following the upgrades.
History
On December 19, 2000, Six Flags Magic Mountain announced that it would be adding three roller coasters for the 2001 season as part of a $30 million expansion: Déjà Vu, Goliath Jr. and the original X. This would bring the total to 15, beating the world coaster capital, Cedar Point. X was a prototype 4th Dimension roller coaster by Arrow Dynamics.
The ride was planned to open in the summer of 2001, but the opening was delayed when it suffered design flaws. X opened for passholders on December 24, 2001, and officially opened on January 12, 2002. A month before opening, Arrow Dynamics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to the ride's misjudged costs stemming from Six Flags asking for a much larger ride than Arrow had successfully prototyped (This is covered in the 2016 documentary The Legacy of Arrow Development). The manufacturer had lost millions of dollars on the project.
X was closed indefinitely in June 2002 due to issues with the trains. It was discovered that one of the coach seats that flipped riders was not moving smoothly. The ride reopened on August 13, 2002 after modifications were made to make it reliable.
On February 8, 2003, Super Bowl MVP Dexter Jackson took a ride on X as part of a victory celebration of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team.
On November 1, 2007, Six Flags Magic Mountain announced a redesign. X closed on December 2, 2007, to be redesigned including new trains with a pneumatic restraint system (an improvement over the original mechanically operated restraints that would frequently jam), a new color scheme of red track and black supports (originally pink track and yellow supports), and an all-new, innovative state-of-the-art visual, audio and sensory effects. In a projected $10 million investment, X reopened on May 24, 2008, as X2. Six Flags Magic Mountain hired S&S Arrow to build new trains for X2. The new trains are lighter to reduce the amount of wear and downtime. X2 also took on a new load/unload method and third train to increase the ride capacity by 50%. Testing of the trains began on March 6, 2008.
The attraction was closed in 2013 due to a broken chain lift. It reopened in January 2014 with only a single train.
Ride experience
The long layout features two inversions including a skydive, two "raven turns", one backflip, and a twisting front flip. Each car on the train spins on its own independent axis 360 degrees forward or backward, which is being controlled by the outer rails of the track. Unlike traditional roller coasters, 4th Dimension roller coasters like X2 have four rails.
Layout
After departing from the loading station, the ride makes a 180-degree turn traveling over the queue and onto the lift hill. After ascending , the train enters a pre-drop and then ascends an additional to a maximum height of . During this lift, riders are facing backwards. The first drop is and is sloped at 88.5 degrees, at the base of which ride vehicles attain a maximum speed of .