X2

X2 is quite simply a spinning wheel of death. When you see the ride, and watch its speed and rotation from afar, you may be tempted to say, “Hey, that doesn’t seem so bad. I can do that.” For those who don’t know me, let me be the first to tell you how stupid I am.

Jake had warned me. In fact, he told me exactly what the ride would do to me. And still, I sauntered up to it like a veteran cowboy mounting his horse. My horse was mean.

First off, you climb into the seat, pull down the harness, pull down the lock-down harness, buckle yourself in, and get rotated to face the ceiling. At this point, you’re on your back, going backwards along the track. Oh goodie.

Next you then begin the ratcheting process, oh so common to coasters, where you get to slowly examine how incredibly high up you are. After this comes the drop at 76 mph, 216 feet toward the ground. While you drop, your seat suddenly rotates you from facing the sky, to facing the ground. You don’t see the car, or the people ahead or behind, just THE GROUND. This gives the sensation of skydiving, while not having signed up for lessons (or having climbed into an airplane, for that matter).

So, while you’re dropping, twisting and looping, you’re also rotating up down and around. You grip the seat, white-knuckled, while your body is punished beyond reason. I cannot stress enough how disorienting it is. It’s like strapping a rocket to one side of a tire swing and hanging on for dear life.

Try it. It’s fun.

-Nate

I did warn him. Several times. As he mentioned, the thrilling aspect of X2 isn’t the height, speed or force of the ride. It’s the seat. The seats on X2 move independently of the train, being capable of spinning 360 degrees either forward or backward. They accomplish this by having four rails on the track. Two running rails, and two that control the way the seats spin.

My favorite part of the ride is the initial drop. They ratchet you up facing skyward, then right when the drop begins, spin you towards the ground. You then proceed to fall under the ratchet climb. Yes, under. The whole ratchet climb/fall leg of the ride looks like the blade of a huge chainsaw, albeit a blunted one. You climb the top and fall down the side and bottom.

After that, the ride is just too disorienting to remember any one part of it. Except the fire. Yes, they actually shoot fire at the riders. That’s pretty memorable. And it’s LOUD. Not because of terrified passengers, but because of the expensive stereo system built into the already unique seats.

Only in California.

-Jake