Volume 2, No. 1. January 11, 2002
It's a roller coaster!
Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, announces the arrival of
X, January 10, 2002. Measurements: 200 feet high (60 meters), 3,600 feet
long (1,090 meters), 76 mph (121 km/h) with 28 passenger trains featuring 360-degree
of motion in the seats independent of the track. Delivered by Arrow Dynamics.
In an industry where hype is endemic, it is sometimes difficult to cull out
the truly revolutionary. X is.
For the first time a manufacturer and a park can legitimately claim to have
the ultimate amusement ride, if only because X is a hybrid of two ride
types: a coaster, with tracks that drop, loop and corkscrew, and a flat ride,
with seats that rotate and spin. This, however, is not just a coaster with spinning
seats. The seats are attached through gear mechanisms to another set of rails
on the track so that each rotation is calculated to occur at certain points
in the ride, making for a balletic maneuvering through air, and an experience
that kicked up the thrill quotient among even the hardiest coaster enthusiasts
Thursday.
And so launches 2002 for the industry, a timing that Six Flags Magic Mountain
arrived at rather inauspiciously. Though never formally announcing a projected
opening date, the park had hoped to get X open by last summer. But as
both Deja Vu and then X experienced technological problems, the
two prototype rides' openings were pushed back to late summer. Deja Vu
finally opened in August (THE
LOOP, September 21, 2001), but X continued to languish through the
fall. When the park deemed the ride ready to debut in December, officials decided
to give season pass holders exclusive ride time and push the public and media
coming out to the New Year.
The result was a buzz-building few rides enjoy, the most Magic Mountain General
Manger Del Holland had ever seen. By Thursday, when, under a cloudless sky and
intense sun, Holland narrated for a live audience and a worldwide satellite
video feed the first official public circuit of X, the coaster had already
attained a legendary status. Now with the media on hand along with members of
the American Coasters Enthusiasts, regard for X rose even higher.
"Most of the guys, after riding it 10 or 15 times, still cannot tell you exactly
where they are on the track," Holland said. "We wanted a ride experience to
be different, we wanted it to be fun, and above all we wanted it to be thrilling.
And this thing delivers. You're in that seat and it starts rotating and you
go down that drop and there's nothing like it. Have you ever jumped out of an
airplane? It's a feeling like none other in the world."
It also provided Six Flags Magic Mountain an event to complete its transition
from being an amusement park to an Xtreme Park. Not only was this part of a
new marketing thrust, it dictated X's placement at the highway entrance
to the park. "We wanted to make a statement: We're the extreme park," Holland
said. "And if there's any doubt after pulling into our toll plaza that we're
not, heh-heh, this is the best billboard in the world, right here." He pointed
to X behind him just as another train of splayed-armed-and-legged riders
cascaded straight down the 200-foot first drop face first. "You just have to
try it," Holland said.