It was designed and will be built by Arrow Dynamics, the company that designed and/or invented such fave amusement rides as the Log Flume, the Mine Train, and the world’s first roller coaster to go upside down twice (the old Knott’s Berry Farm Corkscrew). They built Disney’s Matterhorn. They built the first 200-foot-tall coaster (Magnum, for Cedar Point, Ohio). They built the first modern suspended coaster (The Bat for Paramount’s Kings Island).
Now, for the first time anywhere, at Six Flags Magic Mountain, near Los Angeles, comes “X.” Also known as “4th Dimension,” this coaster has two sets of rails. The seats are located outside the vehicles, outside the rails. The layout will have several inversions. It will be over 200 feet tall and reach 70 MPH. And the seats will rotate 360 degrees!
I didn’t understand the first two pictures… is that thing a model of the enclosure the coaster will be in? Is it part of a car? what is it?
I tried the company website but it was so horrible I couldn’t find anything. Lousy navigation… I had to wait while the long, slow list of their rides scrolled by to see if this one was listed, and even then I couldn’t click on them to get more information… I dunno… I mean it’s fancy and all but it doesn’t provide the information that a person is looking for… arg.
Seats on the outside? “Batman, The Escape,” at Six Flags Astroworld has that. It also has plenty of loops and inversions. You ride it standing up, with a seat raised in between the legs. I am trying to visualize what this new ride is like.
Opal, that is one of the actual cars of the train, which will consist of seven cars altogether, for a maximum of 28 riders. The first photo is the view of the back of one car. The second photo shows the front and left side of that same car.
You had trouble with the Arrow website too, huh? And here I thought it was just me.
cooldude: What’s different about this ride is that there will be no track above you or below you. Click on the photo links I provided in the OP to see one of the cars. Those photos are part of a website with its own Message Boards so you can ask questions of other Six Flags Magic Mountain fans.
Current speculation is that the ride will be built over the entrance road. If true, every visitor will walk, ride or drive beneath the tracks as they enter.
Satan, I’ve ridden every type of roller coaster currently in operation, more than 70 at last count. (Steelies, woodies, loopers, inverted, suspended, wild mice, racers, electro-magnetically-launched…) You name the type of coaster, I’ve been on it.
This looks like a mixture between those “Zipper”-type rides from carnivals and a roller coaster. Mr. Tamex thinks it looks cool. I think it looks like it would make me sick with the spinning around. I’d hate to get vomited on while walking, riding, or driving in. I’m also surprised that the cars don’t need some sort of cage around them like the ones in the “Zipper” rides have to keep loose articles from spilling all over the place (I’d hate to be pelted with pennies, too.)
At Six Flags over Texas, the Mr. Freeze (a very fast, jerky ride which WILL mess your hair up) has baskets mounted to the division between two tracks right next to where you board, so you can put any and all loose articles in there. Perhaps this “X” will have something like that also. I’d hate to think not, especially with shoes.
Yay! I love rollercoasters! The first one I rode as a kid, I puked afterwards and then wanted to go again and again.(Poor Dad). Mebbe this one will finally knock it out of me!
warning * When you download the video, the first minute or so is a statement from the park owners. If you are patient, then you get to see a computer animation of what the ride looks like.
Purd, Paramount’s Kings Dominion, in Virginia, is getting the very first Thrust Air 2000 coaster. They will call it “Hypersonic XLC.” Powered by air pressure, it is distinguished by its vertical rise and drop. The same company responsible for “TA2K,” S&S Power Inc., also built those vertical tower rides (Cedar Point’s Power Tower, Knott’s Supreme Scream, Disney’s MaliBOOMer) that lift people up and drop them with air pressure.
Go to: http://www.thrillride.com/2001preview/sfmm/sfmm.html for more info on “X” (including an artist’s conception) and the TWO other coasters Magic Mountain is building. (One is a kiddie coaster called Goliath Jr. The other is an inverted looping shuttle coaster of unusual size and speed.)
That’s right, SFMM is building THREE coasters in one year. Why? So they can claim they have more roller coasters than anyone else in the world, taking the title away from Cedar Point.
About three years ago, Cedar Fair (which also owns Valleyfair!, Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun, Dorney Park and Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America) purchased Knott’s Berry Farm from the Knott family. Knott’s is located in the Los Angeles area, about 30 miles southeast of Downtown L.A. in Orange County, and less than five miles from Disneyland. However, their customers are more interested in thrill seeking than most Disneyland fans. This means KBF’s biggest competitor in the L.A. market is actually SFMM, seventy miles away. Trying to one-up their corporate competitor (and getting an entry in Guinness), Six Flags decided to open three coasters in one season.
I’m reviving this thread because there is a new picture of “X” on the Magic Mountain website.
There are actually three coasters on that page. “X” is the second one. Deja Vu is a variation on an already-existing ride, Vekoma’s Invertigo. Deja Vu opens on May 25th. There is still no announced opening date for “X.” My guess is sometime around July 4th.
