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Ultimate Rollercoaster > Roller Coasters > Where to Coast™ > Six Flags Magic Mountain > Flashback

Flashback

Six Flags Magic Mountain

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This "Space Diver" roller coaster was one-of-a-kind and advertised as the world's only hairpin drop roller coaster. Flashback had a stacked design featuring six steeply banked vertical 180-degree dives, each entered from the top. Fast steel switchbacks traversing the structure end-to-end connected the turns. This innovative design was to produce a powerful freefall experience as the train plunged through each turn. The ride's finale was a lunge into a gravity-defying 540-degree upward spiral. To increase the diving sensation Flashback used trains with four-abreast seating widening the width of the train.

There is a valid reason why this has remained the only roller coaster of its kind&ndash it sucked! Flashback was built for a compact footprint, but the ride experience was painful, uneventful, and boring. Instead of screaming in joy, riders were more often screaming from the discomfort of having the over-the-shoulder restraints taking alternating jabs at your head. Good riddance.

See related: Flashback Review for pictures.

Roller Coaster Stats

Year Track Type Designer
1992 Steel Space Diver Intamin AG
  • Height
    86
    feet
  • Length
    1,900
    feet
  • Top Speed
    35
    miles per hour
  • Ride Time
    2 minutes
    minutes : seconds
  • Ride Capacity
    1100
    riders per hour
  • Number Of Trains
    3 - 20 passenger
     
  • Train Designer
    Giovanola
     

Flashback Facts & History

1985 – Built and operated at Six Flags Great America under the name Z-Force.

1998 – Relocated to Six Flags Over Georgia where it operated through 1990.

1991 – Z-Force is placed in storage for a year before its move to California.

1992 – Relocated to Six Flags Magic Mountain and renamed Flashback.

2002 – Final year of operation. It remains standing, but not operating (SBNO).

January 2007 – The park announces that Flashback will be dismantled and removed to make room for future expansion.

Opening date: April 25, 1992

Estimated cost: $4 million

Train has five cars with one row each, seating four abreast per row.

Height requirement: Riders must be at least 48 inches tall

Where to Coast

Visit Six Flags Magic Mountain to ride this roller coaster.

Find Where to Coast with Ultimate Rollercoaster® Database