When Sayla Johnson visited Six Flags Magic Mountain for the first time this summer, she was disappointed to find that its famous ride, X2, was closed.
“There were a lot of people at the park who were upset that it was closed because they thought it would just be closed for the first few hours of the day,” said Johnson, a freshman majoring in communications. “It was definitely big talk at the park that day.”
X2 is now permanently shut down after lawsuits alleging more than 100 brain injuries and two deaths.
“While X2 consistently passed a multitude of safety tests, we have decided to close the ride because we believe it’s the right thing to do,” Magic Mountain President Brian Oerding wrote in an official statement.
For many USC students, a trip to Magic Mountain is a rite of passage, and X2, known as the world’s first “4th Dimension” roller coaster, was one of its main attractions.
“X2 and also Goliath are the top two that Six Flags is known for,” said Maya Alcagin, a sophomore majoring in political science who grew up visiting the park every summer.
Aiden Lim, a junior in USC’s themed entertainment program who has ridden nearly 70 roller coasters, said the closure didn’t surprise him.
“My friends used to joke about it and say that it’s a car crash to ride, because you genuinely feel like you are in a car crash,” Lim said.
Lim said he only rode once – and after he and his friends got headaches, it was also his last ride.
Lim, who is also studying engineering, said that “it’s not the best ride in the world, but it’s really impressive in terms of the technology.” The ride turned 360-degrees and went 72 miles per hour, about 200 feet in the air. It also featured two “raven turns,” described as half loops that become sheer drops and used to shoot pillars of flame into the air.
Andre Movscsyan, a sophomore majoring in neuroscience, rode everything on a recent visit except X2. “When I found out they closed, I was like, thank God I didn’t, because I had a feeling.”
Despite the closure, none of the students said they would stop going to the theme park. Margarita Vardanyan, a sophomore majoring in political science, hopes Six Flags replaces X2 with “something safer.”
Lim, who hopes to design rides himself, said the industry will learn from X2.
“Safety is the first thing that theme park designers and engineers put on as the design requirements,” he said. “This is a very important lesson for us to keep in mind and design better coasters and experiences in the world. So please go enjoy theme parks.”
Edited by Lindsay Augustine