Six Flags Magic Mountain has permanently retired the X2 roller coaster after nearly 20 years, following lawsuits and more than 100 brain-injury claims from riders.
Park leaders at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, said they will permanently retire X2 after almost two decades in operation. The Sun reported the shutdown followed injury complaints, multiple lawsuits, and a separate wrongful death case tied to the ride.
The park sits about 45 minutes outside Los Angeles. X2 first closed on July 12 with no official reason given at the time. A later press release made the retirement permanent.
Park president Brian Oerding framed the move as a response to shaken guest trust, even while insisting the coaster had cleared repeated safety checks. That stance lands against a hard record of alleged harm: three lawsuits in the last two years covering more than 100 riders, and more than 100 additional riders coming forward in a recent two-month stretch with varying brain-injury claims.
X2 was marketed as a “fourth-dimension” coaster with a top speed of 76 mph, a peak of 200 feet, and seats that rotate 360 degrees. Lawsuits tied to the ride allege that design left people exposed to violent forces. Surgeons whose email was seen by CNN described the pattern as “a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride.”
Pamela Guillen, 40, said she fell unconscious after getting off the coaster and needed emergency brain surgery. She has had to relearn walking and talking. Long-term effects include headaches and a seizure risk that requires daily medication. Her account was given to CNN and carried in the same reporting that tracked the park’s closure decision, including earlier coverage of how Six Flags retired X2 after injury claims.
Guillen recalled the moment before she blacked out.
"I was confused and disorientated, and I remember seeing the fear in my daughter’s eyes and how scared she was,"
She added:
"Everything went blank. My next memory is waking up in the hospital about two weeks later."
Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 26, also fell unconscious after riding X2 in July. She underwent emergency brain surgery and remains in a coma. Those cases sit inside a broader pile of claims that attorneys have pressed while hundreds of other would-be plaintiffs were turned away for lack of medical proof or because the statute of limitations had run.
Christopher Hawley was 22 and a new college graduate when he rode X2. A wrongful death lawsuit filed in March 2025 alleges a sudden, violent jolt near the end of the ride injured him. After stepping off, he was seen stumbling and holding a rail. He complained that his head hurt, fainted, and was rushed to a hospital. He died the next day, June 24, 2022, after a subdural hematoma that the suit ties to the coaster. Reporting on that filing has tracked how the family sued after the 22-year-old’s death.
Hawley’s death is described as the only fatality alleged to have been caused by X2. The suit is separate from the trio of cases filed over the last two years on behalf of more than 100 other riders. Those filings accuse the park of “willingly gambling with people’s lives.” Liability remains contested; the public record in hand treats the injuries and the death as claims under active litigation, not final courtroom findings.
Still, the volume is hard to ignore. More than 100 riders stepped forward with brain-injury complaints in a two-month window alone. That pressure, stacked on top of the earlier suits, is the backdrop against which Magic Mountain finally pulled the ride for good. Parallel reporting has detailed how lawsuits alleged severe brain injuries while the coaster kept running.
Oerding’s press release struck a careful balance: defend the coaster’s test record, then concede the trust problem.
"After almost 20 years, we have decided to permanently retire X2,"
He continued:
"While X2 consistently passed a multitude of safety tests, we have decided to close the ride because we believe it’s the right thing to do."
And:
"Ride safety is a cornerstone of our business, and when we see guest confidence affected, we take it seriously,"
Those lines matter because they admit the operational reality parks cannot spin away. Guests vote with their feet. When confidence cracks, a ride that “passed” internal checks can still become a liability the business will not carry. Coverage of the shutdown has also noted the coaster’s link to traumatic injury claims as a safety probe continued around X2.
No government order or criminal charge appears in the available record. This was a civil-pressure and reputation problem that ended in a corporate decision. The park closed X2 on its own timeline after the July 12 pause and the later permanent announcement. For families already living with surgery, coma, medication, and grief, that sequence is late by definition.
Six Flags as a company has faced other guest-injury headlines at different properties, including a separate incident in which a falling tree limb injured two children in Georgia during severe storms. Different facts, same baseline expectation: paying customers are entitled to leave the park in the same condition they entered it.
X2’s nearly 20-year run is over. The lawsuits and medical claims are not. Riders who say a few minutes on a rotating coaster left them with brain trauma, long rehabilitation, or a funeral will keep pressing those cases in court. Parks sell thrills. They do not get to treat catastrophic neurological injury as an acceptable cost of doing business once the pattern is on the table and guest trust is gone.
When a flagship ride becomes a magnet for brain-injury claims and a wrongful death suit, shutting it down is the minimum duty, not a favor.
