An indoor roller coaster or enclosed roller coaster is a roller coaster built inside a structure. The structure may be unrelated to the ride, or it may be intended solely or primarily for the ride. Many indoor coasters are custom made and placed in amusement parks or shopping malls. LaMarcus Adna Thompson, who pioneered the construction of the first simple roller coasters, initially built "scenic railway" rides including "indoor tableaux, panoramas, and biblical scenes illumined by car-tripped switches and flood lamps".[1] A "completely enclosed roller coaster" called the Twister was built as early as 1925.[2] Walt Disney World's Space Mountain was one of the first rides considered to be an indoor roller coaster,[3] and was "the first indoor roller coaster where riders were in total darkness for the length of the ride so they couldn't tell where the drops or turns would occur".[4][5]

Canyon Blaster inside the Adventuredome indoor theme park, Las Vegas, US
Mindbender and Galaxy Orbiter at Galaxyland in the West Edmonton Mall.
Space Mountain, in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom, in Walt Disney World Resort is one of the most well-known enclosed roller coasters. When technical problems occur, work lights turn on, as seen in this photo taken from the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. Normally, riders are immersed in almost complete darkness.

List of indoor roller coasters

edit

Inside structures purpose-built for the ride

edit

Asia

edit

Europe

edit

Australia

edit

North America

edit
United States
edit

Inside structures unrelated to the ride

edit

Asia

edit

Europe

edit

North America

edit
Canada
edit
United States
edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Terence G. Young, Terence Young, Robert B. Riley, Theme Park Landscapes: Antecedents and Variations (2002), p. 246.
  2. ^ Robert Cartmell, The Incredible Scream Machine: A History of the Roller Coaster (1987), p. 145.
  3. ^ Life Magazine Editors, LIFE Inside the Disney Parks: The Happiest Places on Earth (2018), p. 82.
  4. ^ Wade Sampson, "The Secret Origin of Space Mountain", MousePlanet.com (August 8, 2007).
  5. ^ Priscilla Hobbs, Walt's Utopia: Disneyland and American Mythmaking (2015), p. 43.
  6. ^ "HONG KONG RIDES A WAVE OF WONDERFUL WHIMSY | Journal of Commerce".