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2010 Best Theme Park Attraction nominee: Six Flags Magic Mountain's X2

By Robert Niles
Published: January 20, 2010 at 8:07 PM
Our daily attraction spotlight turns today to Six Flags Magic Mountain's Arrow 4D coaster X2, which joins the 2010 Best Theme Park Attraction Tournament at the 10th seed in the Best Roller Coaster bracket.

We might have written more on Theme Park Insider over the years about X2 - and its initial version, X - than any other roller coaster. X opened to great expectations in 2002, only to suffer repeated downtimes that eventually closed the ride and helped sink its manufacturer. In 2008, Magic Mountain tried again, installing new, lighter trains with on-ride music and renaming the ride X2.

Perhaps the most popular coaster at Magic Mountain (and still with often-nasty wait-times, as a result), X2 plays like a "best of" reel from a variety of coasters. You start with a dive coaster's 200-foot, face-down drop, then your seat rotates, heels over head, through turns, twists and inversions, creating far more effects than one would think possible on X2's 3,600-foot track. At one moment, you're riding forward, then - boom - you're riding backward.

Take a ride with me:

The seat rotation is coordinated with track elements, so it's not like you're spinning in a blender here. But the variety of elements here can be too much for some riders... and roller coaster heaven for others.

Which side are you on? Tell us your thoughts about X2, in the comments. Voting begins for the Best Theme Park Attraction Tournament in March.

Readers' Opinions

From Nick Markham on January 20, 2010 at 9:18 PM
This is my number one favorite roller coaster. The ride is absolutly amazing and the music, fog, and fire just add to the expeirence as a whole.
From Lawrence Smith on January 20, 2010 at 9:44 PM
I loved this roller coaster. I heard so much about it, when I was in Las Vegas last year, I made the drive to SFMM just to check it out! It was a great first-time riding experience & I can't wait to make it back out to the West Coast to enjoy this coaster again!
From Scottland Jacobson on January 21, 2010 at 12:37 AM
No other coaster frightens me as much as this one. It is so intense, I cannot enjoy the ride because it never gives me enough time to get my bearings before twisting me into a pretzel again and again. It's an amazing creation - but I much prefer the thrills, speed and drops of Goliath and Tatsu at SFMM.
From Joshua Counsil on January 21, 2010 at 10:11 AM
This is on my list to see. I always admired the designers for taking such a gutsy risk. Intuitively, the coaster looks like it should knock you unconscious at parts. The physics and ergonomics consideration alone is impressive.

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