I'll be riding this at the press review tomorrow (Jan. 10), and I'll post a report tomorrow evening. I'll also be at the park Saturday morning (Jan. 12) for the official public opening.
Anyone else gonna be there? (I'll be reviewing it for The Times, and be talking to folks in the crowd on Saturday, so if you're gonna be there, let me know, and I'll look for you.)
What kind of ride is it? Is it a coaster?
Why is it called 'X'?
Is it Malcom X themed?!!!(just a joke, folks...don't get your feathers ruffled!)
What's the scoop?!
You don't sit on top of the track, or suspended underneath it, as on traditional coasters. Instead, you ride on an axis at the side of the track, in rotating seats.
To be honest, when I first heard this concept, I envisioned an experience akin to riding in a clothes dryer on a roller coaster track. But X isn't like that at all. The seats do not rotate randomly, but in conjunction with what's happening on the track.
The result is surprisingly smooth, with the rotations creating the effect of switching between a backward coaster and a traditional front-facing one, without jarring stops or momentum changes.
I'd recommend it, for the unique experience of riding a backward and forward coaster in the same ride. But once I got the hang of X, after a few trips, it lost its ability to really thrill me quicker than other, top-shelf coasters have.
I'll have more to say in next week's L.A. Times, and have video of the ride on latimes.com. (Watch Robert try not to hurl!) I'll link to the review and video from this thread when they're ready, too, of course.
(Malcolm 'X' -- classic! Throw a few Denzel Washington audio-animatronics on there, and you're good to go. There's a cross-promotion in there with 'Ali,' too, I'm sure.)
X is just another example of how the industry and growing and changing. I applaud this new move.
X has been in "soft opening" for annual passholders only since just before Christmas.
My experience with "new" styles of coasters is that they are usually not so great. Everyone involved seems solely focused on the "new" and little else. Like the first flying coaster, which is at Paramount's Not-So-Great America. That thing is fairly lame. X-Flight, at SF's Worlds of Adventure (What is UP with every theme park having adventure in the title? Isn't there some other word we can have at a theme park?), is an expanded version of that same exact ride and is getting raves. This site has it rated as a 9... from SIX WHOLE PEOPLE! Okay, that's sarcasm, but I have heard it is very good elsewhere.
So I see SF installing a modified X in one or more of its other parks and that/those will be the ones to ride.
It's a good ride, just not... great. The initial drop is epic, but there are too many elements in the rest of the ride for how short it is (about 45 seconds from first drop to the end.) There's only one place where you can rest for a moment and anticipate what's coming.
The result is exhilirating, but, ultimately, it's the roller coaster equivalent of that stereotype about Chinese food: Half an hour later you've forgotten exactly what you had and you're hungry again. Do a couple of these in a row, and you'll be looking for some "steak."
How X Factors in the Equation -- http://www.calendarlive.com/coaster.
The video report is at http://www.latimes.com/la-xcoster011702-video.realvideo.
But anyhow, I read the article and thought it was good, and hope to read more.
I'm hoping to do reviews for each new attraction in Southern California. Unfortunately, this doesn't look like a great year for a lot of new stuff around here.
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/news/response.cfm?ID=533
