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X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain - Future?

JJLehto said:
Anyway we have confirmation of the worst, the injury was a fatality. Already bad and I guess we'll find out if there were any unknown conditions that contributed BUT seems the cause of death was head trauma and LA County medical examiner believes the violent jolts of the ride likely contributed. Family seems to be suing.
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What's your source for this? All I'm seeing are reports of the July 2026 incident (unconscious rider) mixed with references back to the 2022 fatality (Christopher Hawley).

Edit: yeah the lawsuit for the 2022 fatality is coming up next month which I think caused the confusion. The 2026 incident is still under investigation with no details of the person's current condition, or cause of unconsciousness etc
 
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The fact they went through with the huge solar panel parking lot implies they mean to stay. I don't think they would have gone forward with that investment if they were just planning on selling the land.
 
rideguy70 said:
The fact they went through with the huge solar panel parking lot implies they mean to stay. I don't think they would have gone forward with that investment if they were just planning on selling the land.
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Don't listen to the doom and gloom. SFMM is getting alot of capital thrown it's way. It's one of the company's core parks and has almost unlimited potential that has never been fully realized.
 
Newtrek5 said:
Don't listen to the doom and gloom. SFMM is getting alot of capital thrown it's way. It's one of the company's core parks and has almost unlimited potential that has never been fully realized.
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I don't mean to be a downer. And maybe it's getting more resources than most other SF parks. I just see an opportunity that if the company doesn't put its foot on the gas, the park can be left in a bad spot. Los Angeles is the second biggest city in the country and MM is a year-round park. I know everything costs more in CA, but I find it strange that the parent company would make more major investments in parks in Ohio and to a lesser extent, Texas. But that's what's happening and so it raises questions. It should be a destination park like Cedar Point is but it's nowhere close to that.
 
SeanC said:
I don't mean to be a downer. And maybe it's getting more resources than most other SF parks. I just see an opportunity that if the company doesn't put its foot on the gas, the park can be left in a bad spot. Los Angeles is the second biggest city in the country and MM is a year-round park. I know everything costs more in CA, but I find it strange that the parent company would make more major investments in parks in Ohio and to a lesser extent, Texas. But that's what's happening and so it raises questions. It should be a destination park like Cedar Point is but it's nowhere close to that.
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Well you're not completely wrong, but I guess I'm trying to stay positive. The company as a whole is not in good shape. That should be the bigger worry .
 
Newtrek5 said:
Well you're not completely wrong, but I guess I'm trying to stay positive. The company as a whole is not in good shape. That should be the bigger worry .
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I agree. I don't know much about companies other than Comcast and Disney in the theme park industry, but are any park companies doing well? Not sure if another company would acquire it. The other thing that comes to mind with Magic Mountain is that if X2 closes, its three most eye-catching attractions -- Superman, the watch tower, and x2 -- will all be permanently closed. If someone's going there for the first time not knowing anything about the park and sees that they can't ride ANY of those, it's a terrible look.
 
Peet said:
What's your source for this? All I'm seeing are reports of the July 2026 incident (unconscious rider) mixed with references back to the 2022 fatality (Christopher Hawley).

Edit: yeah the lawsuit for the 2022 fatality is coming up next month which I think caused the confusion. The 2026 incident is still under investigation with no details of the person's current condition, or cause of unconsciousness etc
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The source I saw must've been wrong or I misread it, it was indeed the 2022 incident is what was being referred to with the young man who died. So my bad on that one. That said we do now have news about the July incidents, 2 separate cases of people having brain hemorrhage within in a week. One is recovering, other remains in a coma. Several sources can be found Im picking the first one (that wasn't paywalled) but any search will easily find it.
www.29news.com

2 women suffer life-threatening brain injuries after riding famous Six Flags coaster, report says

A CNN investigation reports that two women suffered life-threatening brain injuries after riding X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California.
www.29news.com www.29news.com

Not good. Especially with its growing list of injuries and I know not all can be like, legally proven "X2 caused this" but yeah no way this ride can reopen. Esp with its age and downtime, the bad press, and surely one if not both of the women injured in July will sue.

Newtrek5 said:
Don't listen to the doom and gloom. SFMM is getting alot of capital thrown it's way. It's one of the company's core parks and has almost unlimited potential that has never been fully realized.
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Yeah I have no concern for the overall park, it'll be fine. As noted all parks are kinda hurting but yeah it's Magic Mountain its one of the flagship parks! They arent gunna sell it/its not going under. Agreed btw it never quite lived up to its name imo so if anything the investments coming its way will make it better in the long run
 
Didn't someone recently (in the past couple years) get a spine injury on Dinoconda? I don't recall if they had a pre-existing condition or not (you're not supposed to go on roller coasters if you have musculoskeletal disorders, at least they post it on signage here) but assuming they didn't and that's the newest 4-dimension, is there just something about this model?

I mean, when the seats rotate they do often shake pretty violently when you look at mounted POVs of all of them, X2, Dinoconda and Eejanaika. Although Eejanaika hasn't had any (rider) injuries, has it? At first I thought that also did, but those were on Do-Dodonpa actually and I misremembered.

Of course that violent shaking of the cars while rotating is the most pronounced on X2 it being the oldest and made by Arrow (and maintained by Six Flags). It's kind of shocking to me honestly that the tolerances are that loose on the rotation that it's allowed to shake that much.
 
Newtrek5 said:
X2 probably should be been of equal priority as Kingda Ka and TT2. Either major renovation or removal for another headline grabber.
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Absolutely! It will be hard to find a worthy replacement but it can be done. I’m a huge supporter for this coaster, however even I can admit it can’t be operating like this any longer after these 2 latest injuries. I would rather see a huge refurbishment rather then a new coaster, what does everyone in here think?
 
Two months ago I would have easily said, go for X3. But given how much money has been blown on this coaster (including the lawsuit settlement), I think the park has exhausted it's ROI potential and is probably ready to move on from the nightmare of this ride.

I think they saw how popular and infamous the ride was and kept it around about 3 years too long .

Unfortunately, my gut tells me it's going to be replaced by some giant monstrosity from B&M as an over correction.
 
Yeah, I'm starting to feel perhaps the tide has turned and that Six Flags's appetite for the risk and hassle of both maintenance and legal cases may no longer be worth the reward. It'd be unfortunate if so, but it does kind of feel like something they're probably at least actively considering at this stage.
 
After reading the above article and the descriptions of the injuries that the ride caused, I am in full support of X2 never operating again. I'm of the strong belief that the ride should have closed when the new train was required.

Here's the thing. If they do decide to reopen X2, what *will* cause them to close it? Are they just going to wait for the next person to die as a result of the motions of the ride?

Right now, Six Flags has been enjoying going for the cheaper version of something. Would they sink $50 million into rebuilding a ride that is making mainstream news over how unsafe it is, or will they spend 25% of that money to ensure that liability can never hurt someone again by giving it the bulldozer?

The new Six Flags trend is them deciding not to replace most rides that close. There's a lot of recent examples with this. And with the park currently building a new first-of-its-kind roller coaster anyway, in spirit, that can be seen as the replacement.

"It's iconic!" is not an excuse to keep a ride that hospitalises people with no pre-existing conditions during standard operation. One time is a freak accident. Two times is suspicious. Three, four, five times is a dangerous and unsafe ride. Reopen it and the next person to board could become a statistic.
 
Rob Coasters said:
"It's iconic!" is not an excuse to keep a ride that hospitalises people with no pre-existing conditions during standard operation. One time is a freak accident. Two times is suspicious. Three, four, five times is a dangerous and unsafe ride. Reopen it and the next person to board could become a statistic.
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To be fair, do we actually know that these people had no (diagnosed) pre-existing conditions, and that X2 directly caused these issues? Whilst it's clearly a much stronger trend than we've seen elsewhere for quite some time - from what I remember of reading the article a couple of days ago - ultimately there have been no convictions or charges, the state has cleared it to operate time and time again, Six Flags has kept it running all this time, and whilst there have been a couple of out-of-court settlements, that doesn't actually prove guilt either - particularly in a country as litigious as the USA.

I've ridden Eejanaika many times. Clearly, X2 is older and has a reputation for being rougher - but I do take some of what this article is saying with a pinch of salt, although it's pretty well-researched and evidenced.

If it really is found to be at fault, then I'd agree - it needs closed or renovated to no longer cause these problems. But I don't think we have enough from a couple of articles to definitively conclude on that. If it's not at fault, then maybe Six Flags will take the opportunity to pull the plug on it either way at this point. Either way, I think it'd be a shame for such a well-loved and relatively unique attraction to close its doors - and you'd hope Eejanaika and Dinoconda could continue operating safely even if this were the case.
 
That CNN article is damning. Reads like a Netflix documentary script.

Shame to see it close as it's an iconic rollercoaster but so was Kingda Ka and that never killed anyone.
 
Settlement has been reached: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/magic-mountain-ride-manufacturer-reaches-203922877.html

Not to make light of this situation because no one should ever have to question their safety when boarding a roller coaster, but the details of an incident often determine how much negative publicity a ride carries over time.

Historically, there is only a loose correlation between a serious injury or fatality and a ride being permanently closed or significantly modified. Meaningful action is more likely when there is an ongoing media narrative, a highly publicized government investigation, or regulatory scrutiny that could jeopardize a ride's certification and continued operation. Since states are responsible for overseeing ride safety and annual recertification requirements, that level of involvement tends to put additional pressure on operators.

Absent sustained public attention, parks will often keep a ride closed temporarily, conduct inspections or repairs, and then reopen it once it has been recertified. TTD and KK are good, recent examples that met different reasons for their demise, despite years of incidents involving launch cable failures, damaged brake components turning into shrapnel, hydraulic fluid leaks on riders, and other well-documented maintenance/injury challenges. We did not see major redesigns or operational changes for either ride until there were either severe injury (TTD) or substantial financial consequences associated with keeping them running (KK, which was believed to cost $1M annually to run).

It feels uncomfortable to say, but large park operators often respond most decisively when safety concerns become a financial risk. Whether that pressure comes from legal exposure, regulatory action, lost attendance, or negative publicity, meaningful changes frequently happen only when the cost of maintaining the status quo exceeds the cost of fixing the problem.

Back to X2 and SFMM, I will be curious how the State of California responds to this, and if there's more formal investigation launched to the ride before it reopens. The timing of the new Vekoma flyer also airs in SFMM's favor, as it will change focus and media attention, and take eyes off of X2.
 
I wouldn't be shocked but I would be surprised if X2 ever operated again. A CNN article that reads like a longer expose makes the park sound negligent. Most people who go aren't coaster enthusiasts, and these people -- if they do even a cursory google search -- now think the park doesn't mind putting guests lives at risk. I have ridden x2 several times. I enjoyed it but can totally see it messing somebody up. If it opened again, I might ride it, but I wouldn't let my kid ride it. Look at this way, if Kumba only had 8 more years than X2, I'd say X2 operated for way longer than I'd think it would. Time to move on.
 
SeanC said:
That's sad. Wouldn't that be the second person who died of head trauma in less than 5 years? If that's the case, the ride should close for good.

If they wind up opening the vekoma thing next year and it's decent, they can demolish both X2 and Viper and replace it with a thrill coaster that's better than both. Maybe a giant tilt if the vekoma relationship is good. Or a giga dive. It would need to have that eye-catching element as the first thing you see when you drive to the park.
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Farias had a pre-existing brain abnormality and that the forces of the ride may have caused it to rupture.
 
GeminiOP03 said:
View attachment 43262
Farias had a pre-existing brain abnormality and that the forces of the ride may have caused it to rupture.
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Sure, but that's a liability issue. I'm saying that it might be more damaging to the park's bottom line to operate a ride that has killed and injured people -- pre-existing conditions or not -- than to not operate it. SF may reason that it will discourage potential guests from coming if those guests believe the park doesn't take guests' safety seriously. Those guests won't care if the affected x2 riders have pre-existing conditions. They'll just think MM is unsafe. And I'd reckon that they're more people like that than there are roller coaster enthusiasts.
 
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