Once upon a time, long before the Coaster Wars of the 1990s took thrill ride innovation to new heights, there was Arrow…
Okay, so the California-based Arrow Dynamics was far from the only roller coaster manufacturer in the game, but for as long as the concept of a steel roller has existed, Arrow was there. That’s because Arrow developed the first – Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds. The idea of using tubular steel rails rather than stacked wood (as in every roller coaster prior) made Matterhorn a landmark, and put Arrow on the map.
And even as new coaster manufacturers arose throughout the ’60s, it was still Arrow who owned the game. A wave of their “mine train” steel coasters swept the continent, becoming mainstays of modern amusement parks. Arrow was responsible for the first modern coaster with an inversion (1968’s Corkscrew at Knott’s Berry Farm). That gave way to the ’70s seeing any self-respecting park race to build their own Corkscrews, then Double Loops. In 1978, Arrow built the first coaster over 100 feet – Cedar Point’s Gemini.
That was nothin’. In the ’80s, Arrow advanced. Pushing the boundaries of thrill and technology, parks raced to build increasingly-gargantuan “Arrow multi-loopers;” Arrow pioneered the swinging “suspended coaster” model; then, in 1989, they did the unthinkable, shattering the 200-foot record with Cedar Point’s Magnum XL-200.
What Arrow couldn’t have seen coming was that the whole game was about to change. The ’90s saw the emergence of serious competition as Swiss manufacturers Intamin and Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) burst onto the scene, introducing dynamic new models, cutting edge technologies, and – worst of all for Arrow – increasingly comfortable, smooth, computer-modeled, and cutting-edge ride layouts that Arrow couldn’t match with lumbering, head-banging, clumsy, and naive loopers.
The industry had moved on. And Arrow bet the house on one big, audacious, extreme last gasp: a project that would either propel the company forward into a Coaster Wars contender… or bankrupt them… They called it…
X
By the New Millennium, Six Flags Magic Mountain near Los Angeles had already been selected as a major player in the Coaster Wars. Online discussion boards churned with debate about whether Magic Mountain or Cedar Point would ultimately “win,” with each park battling back and forth to claim or retain the crown of “most coasters on Earth.” And there, in the valleys of Santa Clarita, Arrow would take its last stand.
Today, there are very few comparisons you can make to explain what X is. In 2002, there were none. The world’s first “4th Dimension” coaster, X looked like nothing that had existed before. Riders were positioned neither on the track nor suspended beneath it. Instead, the wing-like trains positioned riders inline with the track, cantilevered off to either side. But unlike today’s B&M Wing Coasters, the first “Xtreme” coaster allowed those cantilevered, winged seats to rotate, flipping riders forward and backward in a “4th dimension” of motion.
Here’s where the complication comes in. The winged seats on X don’t flip freely like the seats on modern S&S “4D Free Spin” coasters, influenced by weight distribution, magnetic fins, and chaos theory. Instead, this groundbreaking, pioneering, transitional prototype is surprisingly… analog.
While the wide, winged trains ride along tubular steel rails – like all steel coasters – there’s a second set of outer rails that rise and fall relative to the running rails, physically adjusting a rack and pinion gear rotating mechanism that determines the positioning of the seats.
What that means in practically is difficult to describe… But on the next page, we’ll ride into the wonders of X and reflect on this unthinkable prototype – including its highs and lows… Read on…
It’s pretty impossible to accurately convey a play-by-play of X, or to express in words how this radical coaster’s ride system works.
But to paint the picture, imagine: riders exit the station backwards, lying on their backs and staring up at Southern California’s perpetual blue skies. As the trains climb the lift hill, the seats pivot down, providing a view outwards as riders climb backwards.
At the top of the hill, the trains dip and plummet down a near-vertical 88.5° 215-foot plunge… but now, the seats pivot, turning riders to face straight down. Halfway down the drop, the seats themselves plunge forward, somersaulting riders head over heels. As they pull out of the parabolic drop, the seats face riders straight out, giving everyone a 76-mile-per-hour rising view of the drop they just conquered.
Then, the trains remain sky high, rotating riders into a flying position. X tears forward, dipping down. The track ahead rises, but as the trains climb, riders flip.
In one of the most unique and compelling maneuvers on a coaster – maybe ever! – the track itself undergoes a “fly to lie” (with the train going from suspended to riding above the track)… but the seats themselves rotate in sync with the maneuver, causing riders to go from forward to backward without actually inverting. It dips into a raven turn, then reverses the maneuver (a “lie to fly,” again changing riders direction without flipping them fully upside down)… It really has to be seen to be believed…
X was unthinkable… a pioneer for its time, introducing controlled rotation that is – quite literally – built into the ride’s track. This is mechanical programming. It’s physical. And it’s fascinating. Pulling a shocking 4Gs of force, the ride is considered by many to be among the most extreme roller coasters on Earth. It’s wild, weird, and often wonderful. But did it work for Arrow? Well…
Fallout
X was planned to debut for summer of 2001. It… didn’t. Significant issues plagued the ride, causing it to miss its entire summer season. The ride finally opened in January 2002. To make matters worse, just five months into its much-hyped debut, X was closed “indefinitely” thanks to a “design flaw” noted by the park’s maintenance team – that one of the train’s wings wasn’t rotating smoothly. In other words, X missed its second high profile summer season, too.
But by then, Arrow Dynamics was bankrupt. The company acknowledged that it had lost “millions” on the projects, allegedly because Six Flags continuously upped the ride’s scope until it far outsized Arrow’s prototype plans.
Arrow’s assets were acquired by the Japanese ride manufacturer S&S (who, today, creates the much-cloned “4D Free Spin” rides, which might be imagined as compact, lower-risk evolutions of the concept first prototyped by X). S&S would also go on to oversee that opening of “Eejanaika” at Japan’s Fuji-Q Highland amusement park – a nearly identical, mirror-imaged sister to X, but with some modifications to the ride’s layout and seat positioning. That second attempt at the model by Arrow’s successor would come in handy…
In 2007, the ride’s significant downtime, limited capacity, and increasingly-awkward ride experience forced Magic Mountain’s hand. The ride closed for a transformation into “X2.” Especially in the 2000s, Six Flags made a habit of repainting a ride, renaming it, adding on-ride audio and flamethrowers, and marketing it as new.
In X2’s case, at least the upgrade introduced brand new trains by the new S&S Arrow – lighter weight, and thus, more nimbly able to navigate the sometimes-awkward, shuffling, mechanical process of track-guided rotation. The transformation allegedly cost $10 million all on its own. (It’s also when the ride switched from its iconic pink-and-yellow coloration to gray and maroon.)
X2 remains one of the world’s weirdest rides. It’s a bucket list ride for many coaster enthusiasts, and for good reason. It is, truly, indescribable. In a way that few coasters can claim, it must be ridden to be believed. The last Arrow was a “Hail Mary;” a last gasp of a dying manufacturer who desperately sought a foothold in the modern Coaster Wars. For better or worse, they found it. X is a legend. A weird, divisive, and downright strange ride… but in the end, a legend nonetheless.
Have you experienced X or X2? What did you think of the unique experience of analog, mechanical seat rotation, and the strange experience of riding something so uniquely pioneering? Better yet have you achieved the legendary duo of Arrow’s first and last coaster – Matterhorn and X2? Tell us your story in the comments below!
