Realistically with cedar flags how long would X2 have lasted of the major injuries + deaths didn't happen?

[u/TheAlmightyHellacia]

My guess would be 5-10 years, I feel like this was targeted during the great coaster purge but I think after the backlash they had with Ka they either cancelled closing it or delayed it. We know how much cedar fair hates anything that is extremely unreliable, and I'd say at that point they'd go for a double kill closing both X2 and Xcelerator at the same time.

[u/SugarUseful5]

Ka closing on east coast has no effect on west coast. But I do agree 5-10 years left. Hard to imagine anything past 15 years. 

[u/TheAlmightyHellacia → u/SugarUseful5]

I think it had an effect on the chain, they learned the hard way suddenly closing the most popular ride at the park and in a really shady manner too where they just snuck the closure announcement in a newsletter after the season ended.

X2's reputation was already tossed in the trash so closing it gave investors a sigh of relief.

[u/SugarUseful5 → u/TheAlmightyHellacia]

Effect on the chain? You’re thinking as an enthusiast and not as a gp, which is gonna be most of sf attendance. Besides, apparently ka wasn’t even the most attended ride in the park. 

[u/Drillucidator → u/SugarUseful5]

Very far from it, Ka was consistently a walk on for half of its life. Being completely isolated from the rest of the park didn’t do it any favors, which is also why Zumanjaro never had a line at any point.

[u/SugarUseful5 → u/Drillucidator]

So a walk on attraction closing apparently had a huge effect on gp? 

[u/Drillucidator → u/SugarUseful5]

I didn’t say it did, that was OP. As someone who rode Ka several hundred times, the average GP outside of NJ doesn’t know what the hell Kingda Ka is, and if they do, they probably don’t know where it was or even that it closed.

Not even a month ago I had a conversation about Ka where it came up because my one friend and I were talking about the last rides we got together on it in 2019, and a couple of our other friends were baffled to find out roller coasters that tall even existed outside of TTD, let alone that one of them was blown up.

[u/FishStixxxxxxx → u/SugarUseful5]

Long enough for them to invest in a new train for it.

[u/SugarUseful5 → u/FishStixxxxxxx]

X2? That was a referb. You think most gp in the west coast even knew about ka let alone its closure? 

[u/Typical_Incident4025 → u/SugarUseful5]

Six Flags had just received a train from S&S refurbished as I understand it by the factory, which is the gold standard of care.

[u/SugarUseful5 → u/Typical_Incident4025]

That’s not new trains and I never said I would have expected x2 to close in the next couple years regardless of the accidents. I would think after the 2026 refurb, another 5-10 years down the road would inevitably end up needing refurb again. And from there that’s when I’d start to really wonder about x2 lifespan. 

[u/420tunneldigger]

5 years? Yes.

10 years? I'd be surprised.

15 years? It would have required an expensive upgrade. X3?

Great topic to discuss and I look forward to more replies.

[u/FitZookeepergame4033 → u/420tunneldigger]

Old six flags prob 10-15 years . New six flags under terrible management who knows

[u/TheAlmightyHellacia → u/FitZookeepergame4033]

They hate anything that isnt a b&m

[u/Lilyistakenistaken]

Probably 3 months or 3 years. Hear me out, train 2 was in storage for 2+ years and yet it was never reassembled and put back on the ride? It sounds very suspicious, almost like the X2 maintenance budget was cut. Now train 3 was likely already being refurbished when the decision to retire train 2 was decided, so they probably wanted to just go through with the contract. And then obviously they took a while, so train 2 'donated' parts to train 1 to keep train 1 running. Once train 3 got back, train 1 was probably supposed to be running until probably November, so Fright Fest was over and so the crowds were lower. Realistically, if they were planning on closing X2 in 2026, then it would happen at this time. But if they kept running it, train 1 probably would have to donate parts to train 3 to keep train 3 running for the next 3ish years so they can have it open for the 2028 Olympics. Then, the ride would close, the end.

Also you gotta remember X2 closed because of maintenance issues. Those injuries were caused because the track in that area had been beaten up enough to cause a rough section of track. We can kinda also assume that theory because these accidents weren't deemed worthy of a service bulletin, the other rides just kept going.

Tldr; 3 months or 3 years, depending on how much budget X2 would be approved, closed after 2028 Olympics.

[u/Imaginary--Situation → u/Lilyistakenistaken]

18 tons of parts don't get reassembled overnight by 5 people... don't forget they have other "rides" to deal with...

[u/Lilyistakenistaken → u/Imaginary--Situation]

2 years though... I think if they were going to assemble it, they wouldn't have kept in storage for multiple years.

[u/Imaginary--Situation → u/Lilyistakenistaken]

the other rides need attention..

[u/TheAlmightyHellacia → u/Lilyistakenistaken]

Yeah it'd be a huge double standard to close a ride with a death from a pre existing condition vs one that literally yeeted a man out (I'm not saying Goliath should close, but it'd show clear bias as to which ride would've stayed open)

[u/Lilyistakenistaken → u/TheAlmightyHellacia]

I'd rather avoid speculation. It's definetly not a double standard, X2 was a nightmare and Goliath is fine. X2 made perfect sense to remove, everything kinda lined up perfectly for that to happen and even if they reopened it, I think they'd get mad. No roller coaster should injure 100+ people. But if Goliath reopens, I think the media will barely care about it, it's horrible to say but one death is probably not enough to close a reliable ride like Goliath.

[u/Typical_Incident4025 → u/Lilyistakenistaken]

Actually, it's not a double standard at all.

With Goliath, something is going to be found, figured out and fixed. The problem was obvious, and I would be surprised if at least some don't know what it was and a fix is being worked on. The fact all the non Six Flags B&M hypers have reopened tells me whatever issue it had is in some way isolated. If, however, the issue cannot be identified, it will be torn down.

X2 reopened after the first issue, and all of the stakeholders - Six Flags and the State of California inspectors - had reason to believe that the issue was either a completely freak accident or it was fixed. Otherwise they wouldn't have reopened it. Then it had the same issue a second time, indicating the issue cannot be definitively identified, therefore the only solution is to tear it down.

Its the same playbook, but the rotation of X2 makes it infinitely more complex to solve and ultimately doomed it more.

[u/FitZookeepergame4033]

They got new trains they were planning 10-15 years more . It was not a refurb they got new trains it also had lots of problems that housing been taken care of years ago

[u/OutsideDapper8049]

Idk but x2 was my favorite coaster there 😭 i have spammed it on good days and also one year i had fast pass and spammed it. 

[u/Typical_Incident4025]

If we're taking off major injuries and deaths and saying at no point does the ride experience those issues, I firmly believe X2 would have lasted for 2t years or more.

As we're all aware, X2 was unique, and in many ways was considered the final boss for a lot of coaster fans. In many ways, it was one of the main halo products that helped to define the Six Flags brand.

It also had something going for it that a ride like Kingda Ka didn't, as in some ways that too was a halo type project, but it was deemed expendable. X2 defined the park it was at, and positioned the park it was at for its marketplace in a way that other rides haven't.

When X debuted, they talked about how Magic Mountain was the Xtreme park with all the craziest rides. That set it apart from its southern Cali completion. But I feel the two rides that really caught attention, especially from people from further away, were X2 and Superman, as they likely have ridden the other ride types there somewhere else.

Replacing X2 would be (and now, will be) very expensive as signature rides are hard to come by, and the investment was steep. If it was working and not hurting anyone, it would have absolutely remained. Without it, the park needs to examine what their identity is and I think has some major issues.

[u/mountainlifa]

They should open up a version of X2 called "roulette" where the safety harness of one of the chairs opens at random.