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X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain - Future?

It does feel as though X2 was maybe one of those 2000s rides where we hit the peak of what rides can actually do, and as brilliant as it may have been for many years, we’re perhaps paying the price for that sort of bombast as the ride ages.

I would file the likes of the strata coasters in the same category; some of the boundary pushing of the early to mid 2000s evidently came at a long-term cost, whether that be safety-related, reliability-related or monetary. If we think about X2, a hyper coaster with mechanically rotating seats is definitely quite a boundary-pushing contraption and quite bombastic and maximalist in a way we don’t really see any more. As brilliant as it is/was, that sort of boundary pushing, particularly in the early to mid 2000s, was bound to come with some consequences.

I dare say we’re starting to see why innovation has grown a bit more iterative and, for lack of a better term, cautious in recent years.
 
^ I don't think cautious is the right word. I think considered is a better way to describe how the industry is changing. The industry is still pushing boundaries, and there are way to do it without great mechanical excess in the way X2 or other coasters attempted in the 2000's. The way I see it is modern innovation is more informed by what manufacturers learned from that era. Better modelling, better control systems, track design and so on.

I'd argue that coasters being built now are arguably MORE ambitious, they're just done with a greater level of sophistication. If we lookedat X2, back in the day, I'd be scratching my head trying to imagine how this analogue machine does what it does. Now its all computer controlled and we see that in more modern coasters. Looking at the likes of the new Fast and Furious coaster, or even how fast switch tracks have got over the years, I think we're on par, if not further than we ever were, it just doesn't look 'reckless' anymore.
 
Screaming Coasters said:
The industry is still pushing boundaries,
Click to expand...
For another example see the modern inversions produced by the likes of Mack, RMC and Intamin. We've gone from negative vertical Gs being pretty much exclusive to airtime on hills to being a thing that happens all around the layout on inversions and on rapid directional changes. Imagine seeing Hyperia's giant outerbanks and drops 20 years ago, we would lose our collective minds! How Taiga's first inversion after the launch throws you out of your seat sideways and then hangs you in the air.
 
I would imagine the CF side of the company would like to slowly move past the old technology of the early 2000 rides and update their ride portfolio. And SFMM is the poster child for old Arrows and aging prototypes. So was Great Adventure.

So yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if all 4 SFMM Arrow coaster are gone by 2030.
 
Matt N said:
It does feel as though X2 was maybe one of those 2000s rides where we hit the peak of what rides can actually do, and as brilliant as it may have been for many years, we’re perhaps paying the price for that sort of bombast as the ride ages.

I would file the likes of the strata coasters in the same category; some of the boundary pushing of the early to mid 2000s evidently came at a long-term cost, whether that be safety-related, reliability-related or monetary. If we think about X2, a hyper coaster with mechanically rotating seats is definitely quite a boundary-pushing contraption and quite bombastic and maximalist in a way we don’t really see any more. As brilliant as it is/was, that sort of boundary pushing, particularly in the early to mid 2000s, was bound to come with some consequences.

I dare say we’re starting to see why innovation has grown a bit more iterative and, for lack of a better term, cautious in recent years.
Click to expand...
I agree with this. To take it a step further, every industry has been more cautious in recent years other than the unbridled AI race with no regard for public safety. I really hope Magic Mountain gets it together. It's a laughing stock right now in the court of public opinion. this video had 3/4 of a million views yesterday.
 

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Screaming Coasters said:
^ I don't think cautious is the right word. I think considered is a better way to describe how the industry is changing. The industry is still pushing boundaries, and there are way to do it without great mechanical excess in the way X2 or other coasters attempted in the 2000's. The way I see it is modern innovation is more informed by what manufacturers learned from that era. Better modelling, better control systems, track design and so on.

I'd argue that coasters being built now are arguably MORE ambitious, they're just done with a greater level of sophistication. If we lookedat X2, back in the day, I'd be scratching my head trying to imagine how this analogue machine does what it does. Now its all computer controlled and we see that in more modern coasters. Looking at the likes of the new Fast and Furious coaster, or even how fast switch tracks have got over the years, I think we're on par, if not further than we ever were, it just doesn't look 'reckless' anymore.
Click to expand...
Boodangy said:
For another example see the modern inversions produced by the likes of Mack, RMC and Intamin. We've gone from negative vertical Gs being pretty much exclusive to airtime on hills to being a thing that happens all around the layout on inversions and on rapid directional changes. Imagine seeing Hyperia's giant outerbanks and drops 20 years ago, we would lose our collective minds! How Taiga's first inversion after the launch throws you out of your seat sideways and then hangs you in the air.
Click to expand...
I think cautious maybe was the wrong word, but I think the industry has become more iterative and refining how we use what we already have technologically rather than bluntly mechanically bold in the vein of, say, the strata coasters and the “traditional” 4D coasters. Those 2000s rides pushed boundaries mechanically in a way we don’t really see anymore; parks undeniably still push boundaries, but more in the sense of ambitious element design and better ways of using existing technology rather than in the bold, brash, maximalist technological gimmick sense of the coaster wars era, which arguably peaked with the strata coasters and rides like X2.

The only real exception to that recently has been Falcon’s Flight, and as brilliant as it looks and as excited as I was to see some of that sheer maximalism return to coaster building, it will be interesting to see how that fares long-term!
 
Matt N said:
Those 2000s rides pushed boundaries mechanically in a way we don’t really see anymore
Click to expand...
Like how in today's world I heavily doubt something like the Arrow Fishhook coaster would even be floated as an idea. That almost happened, right? Had Arrow not gone bankrupt making X. Vekoma's thrill lift never happened but would've been even nuttier than it's tilt coaster which did end up happening. S&S's air launches have calmed down significantly in featuring regular coaster track and wheels as opposed to pneumatic tires.
 
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