I know this is not related to the Australian industry all.
However, the recent developments from Six Flags Magic Mountain about multiple guests suffering really serious brain injuries are alarming.



Rollercoaster at LA’s Six Flags shut after two riders suffered brain injuries, inquiry finds | Los Angeles | The Guardian

Not sure why the Guardian used a photo of Tatsu on an article about X2, but I digress.

I am sure many people here have taken trips to Magic Mountain to ride X2, so I am just curious on the community's thoughts.

I don't believe Six Flags have announced its complete closure, but it's hard to see how the ride can reopen after the current news coverage.

With as much respect as possible for those who have had injuries etc - I would think a handful of reported injuries out of millions of riders over its lifetime would most likely point to the injured person having an underlying or undiagnosed health concern that was impacted by the rides forces. Correlation and causation are very different things

Wasn’t that the similar conclusion for the death on Stardust Racers at Epic Universe?

3 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

With as much respect as possible for those who have had injuries etc - I would think a handful of reported injuries out of millions of riders over its lifetime would most likely point to the injured person having an underlying or undiagnosed health concern that was impacted by the rides forces. Correlation and causation are very different things

The two riders involved in the recent incidents that led to the ride’s closure reportedly had no known pre-existing conditions. Both suffered serious brain injuries involving brain bleeds. One has survived but remains on medication, while the other is still in a coma.

Despite its hype, X2 was a one and done for me because it gave me a concussion in the last part of the ride. It was a rough ride so I had my head forward a bit to try and avoid a headache, but in the last couple of elements the forces of the ride ended up smacking my head into the head rest a few times.

After my trip I saw some comments from fans that say you have to keep your head back to avoid that.

4 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

would think a handful of reported injuries out of millions of riders over its lifetime would most likely point to the injured person having an underlying or undiagnosed health concern that was impacted by the rides forces. Correlation and causation are very different things

I don't disagree, but rough rides I feel are viewed in a different light. I was surprised by the injury on Stardust racers, as our new Mack coasters are smooth as glass. X2 was not!

From a liability perspective, even if with underlying conditions, the machine can't make the issue worse or cause further injury.

If a ride needs to have very specific instructions to avoid injury, then the engineering on the ride should be changed to accommodate it, for example leg braces on floorless coasters.

Classy headline.

@TV15 I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest you didn't read the last few pages on this 🙃🫠

I did, just found that headline to be typical news outlet 'slop'.

I agree with @themagician and I find this to be very similar to the Stardust Racers incident, where there was an underlying medical condition. Obviously we don't know the full details but dissapointing regardless, I find Eejanaika to be exceptional albeit with a bit of a jostle.

Edited August 29Aug 29 by TV15

It seems to me based on the evidence available X2 is done

I've been on eejanaika, and as much as i love it that's already a bit of a challenge to ride on an outside seat. Would hate to know how X2 rides but by all accounts it is quite rough particularly on the last raven turn. When the vast majority of people who go to parks don't watch POV'S and have NFI what a ride like X2 does, good chance bad shit is going to happen (and head knocks are pretty fucking scary as anyone who's played contact sport can attest)

X2 is on my coaster most wanted list, no doubt about it, but as much as I'd hate to say it it's probably the end of the road. The industry goes around when there's a promise of safety between the park and the guest. For a prototype 24 years is not a bad innings at all

Edited August 29Aug 29 by Baconjack

10 hours ago, TV15 said:

I did, just found that headline to be typical news outlet 'slop'.

I agree with @themagician and I find this to be very similar to the Stardust Racers incident, where there was an underlying medical condition. Obviously we don't know the full details but dissapointing regardless, I find Eejanaika to be exceptional albeit with a bit of a jostle.

Ah ok, thanks for clarifying your point, no arguments here about that particular so-called "NEWS" outlet 🧐

I recall a former Theme Park work colleague, who's no stranger to big Coasters btw, rode this thing a good few years back, but I still remember her shit-scared face from the ride photo, THAT said enough for me to give it a miss.

Mind you, I love taking a spin on ST Tail whip, will gladly ride King Claw, Hyper coaster & Superman. But recently I rode backwards on Leviathan & tbh not sure I'll muster up the courage to do that again anytime soon.😱

Gold Coaster is glass smooth compared to X2. It's an extremely rough ride. It honestly is ready for retirement. I'd love to see S&S rework the concept using RMC's ibox track. Effectively a 4D free-spin version of it.

The X-coaster concept was never meant to be this big. It was meant to be much smaller more mild rides.

But I'm also going to say that anyone comparing this to Stardust racers is just completely wrong. These incidents are nothing alike.

Stardust racers was a guy who was paralysed from the waist down. He needed assistance to even get into the coaster, could not hold his own body upright and knew with 100% certainty that he had a pre-existing condition.

X2 riders were otherwise healthy and there is zero indication that any of them had any pre-existing conditions. Blows to the head - especially to the back of the head - can cause concussions and bleeds. Given how rough this ride was when I rode it, it is absolutely reasonable to believe that someone hitting their head hard enough at the right angle could be fatally injured by the ride. Honestly, if you were hit in the eye with that much force, you would expect to have a very black eye and bleeding inside the eyeball itself. If some of these people had their heads forward and were thrown back into the headrest, it would not be that different to falling down and hitting your head on the ground.

Just because it doesn't happen with everyone, it doesn't mean that it isn't happening. For me, there have been enough incidents to justify closure. It's sad, but it will pave the way for a new ride.

1 hour ago, wikiverse said:

Stardust racers was a guy who was paralysed from the waist down. He needed assistance to even get into the coaster, could not hold his own body upright and knew with 100% certainty that he had a pre-existing condition.

People’s awareness of whether they have a pre-existing medical condition is often unknown. There have been several documented cases of people dying on roller coasters after experiencing a medical event associated with an underlying condition. It seems like that in most cases, the individual may not have been aware of the condition before riding, with the physical demands of the ride triggering their conditions.

This is what I was more so gearing my response to but it doesn't fully come through as that.

Sometime in the past 24 hours there was an incident that resulted in the injury of a rider on Batman Gotham City Escape at Parque Warner Madrid. I don't know too much about what happened but something happened (apparently more so park operations fault, but time will tell)

Edited August 30Aug 30 by TV15

18 hours ago, wikiverse said:

Effectively a 4D free-spin version of it.

Free-spin 4D coasters need to burn in the pits of hell. Hard pass.

18 hours ago, wikiverse said:

Just because it doesn't happen with everyone, it doesn't mean that it isn't happening. For me, there have been enough incidents to justify closure. It's sad, but it will pave the way for a new ride.

The ride has operated for 24 years, with millions of riders. There's been a few recent incidents but i'd like to hear the outcome of investigations before I treat any incident as justification to close the ride. By all means don't operate it until the outcomes are known, of course.

Rides of this age are typically being closed down, or retracked, am I correct? (Yes there will be outliers).

I've been on this ride quite a few times over the years, with my last ride being around 2016. It may have gotten a bit rougher or more intense since then, but I also think some people might have underlying or undiagnosed health issues and don't realise just how intense these rides can be.

Personally, I don't think I'd be hopping on it these days now that I'm a bit older! 😅

I rode X2 just under a year ago, front row, inside seat, and I really thought I might get injured. And I'm physically fit so heaven help someone with issues or infirmities.

I'm a fan of the coaster and I've had many mind blowing (in a good way) rides, but it's gotten really bad, it was shocking. I wish they could fix it, but six flags has been blowing up rides with much less issues.

Edited August 31Aug 31 by downunder