X2, which opened as X in 2002 and was relaunched in 2008, has been permanently retired after nearly two decades. Six Flags cited affected guest confidence amid ongoing litigation.
Pamela Guillen rode X2 on a July afternoon as the final attraction of her daughter’s 16th birthday trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain. According to her lawsuit, she stepped off the coaster and everything went blank. She woke in a hospital approximately two weeks later, allegedly following emergency brain surgery, intubation, and a coma. On Sept. 29, 2026, Magic Mountain President Brian Oerding announced X2 would never run again. The ride had been closed since July 12. Nearly 20 years of operation, finished.
What Six Flags Is Saying – and What It Isn’t
The park cited affected guest confidence, not a regulatory failure — and that distinction carries real legal weight.
Oerding said X2 had passed “a multitude of safety tests” and that retirement was “the right thing to do.” The park did not concede the ride caused any injuries. Closing a coaster is not a finding of defect — a ride can be technically compliant and still be the subject of serious lawsuits. Those two realities are not mutually exclusive, and the gap between them is exactly where this litigation lives.
Attorneys representing plaintiffs report more than 100 people have come forward with injury claims — an attorney-reported figure, not a court-adjudicated one. Three lawsuits filed in September allege traumatic brain injuries; defendants reportedly include Six Flags and S&S Worldwide, the company associated with the ride’s design and vehicles. Six Flags previously settled a wrongful-death suit brought by the family of Christopher Hawley, 22, who died after riding X2 in 2022 — a settlement reached before trial, with no admission of liability reported.
“Everything went blank.” — Pamela Guillen, as quoted in her lawsuit
The Human Scope of the Allegations
Three names behind the headlines — and a courtroom proceeding that could produce the most detailed public examination of X2’s design yet.
- Michael Wick allegedly required two brain surgeries after riding X2 and, according to his attorney, can no longer practice law due to disability.
- Naomi Greer-Wilkinson rode X2 six days after Guillen’s reported collapse; her family reportedly awaits her ability to breathe independently.
- Attorney Gary A. Dordick, who represents several plaintiffs, said the closure came too late for his clients and that his firm would continue pursuing accountability.
These remain allegations in ongoing litigation. Courts have not adjudicated causation. The lawsuits claim defective design and inadequate warnings — complaints that allegedly trace back to the ride’s 2002 origins. S&S Worldwide is named as a defendant alongside Six Flags in several of those filings.
What Comes Next in Court
The ride is retired, but the legal proceedings it leaves behind are only beginning to take shape.
A separate lawsuit — from which Six Flags and Magic Mountain were dismissed in 2024 — continues against S&S Worldwide after an appellate court reinstated the manufacturer as a defendant. Trial in that case is currently scheduled for Aug. 16, 2027. The proceeding could provide additional public evidence about the parties’ competing claims concerning design, warnings, and causation — though trial dates remain subject to change, and the case addresses one set of claims rather than every alleged injury.
Closing X2 settles one question: the ride will not operate again. What it does not settle is what happened to the riders who allege they were harmed — and whether the design, the warnings, or the forces involved met any standard of reasonable care. Those questions belong to the courts now, and the next significant date on the calendar is August 2027.
