Raging Spirits
| Raging Spirits | |
|---|---|
| Park | Tokyo DisneySea |
| Land / area | Lost River Delta |
| Type | Steel roller coaster |
| Opened | July 21, 2005 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering |
| Height req. | 117 cm (46 in) minimum; 195 cm (77 in) maximum |
| Status | Operating |
Raging Spirits is a steel roller coaster in Lost River Delta at Tokyo DisneySea in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan. It sends riders on a fast, twisting run through the excavated ruins of an ancient ceremonial site, and it is best known for a single vertical loop — the only inversion on any attraction at Tokyo Disney Resort. The coaster opened on July 21, 2005, as the first entirely new attraction added to Tokyo DisneySea after the park's opening day.[1][2]
The ride stands next to Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull, the headline attraction of Lost River Delta, and it borrows much of that land's archaeological atmosphere. Where the neighbouring ride goes underground in mine cars, Raging Spirits stays out in the open, its track woven through scaffolding, stonework and carved idols so that the coaster itself reads as part of the dig site.
History
Tokyo DisneySea opened on September 4, 2001, with no looping coaster. When the Oriental Land Company and Walt Disney Imagineering planned the park's first major addition, they looked to an existing Disney design: Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril at Disneyland Paris, a compact looping coaster whose layout ultimately traces back to a Pinfari looping-coaster design.[1] Raging Spirits reuses that proven layout, mirrored and rethemed, but it is slower and more heavily dressed than its Paris relative.[2]
The hardware reflects the resort's Japanese setting. The coaster was manufactured by Intamin and built by Sansei Technologies, the Japanese firm that has supplied a number of ride systems at Tokyo Disney Resort; accounts of the project describe the two companies collaborating, with Sansei adapting the design for the Japanese market.[1][2] The attraction cost around ¥8 billion to build.[1]
Oriental Land announced the ride with a straightforward set of figures: roughly 600 metres (2,000 ft) of track, a top speed of about 60 km/h (37 mph), and a 360-degree loop presented as the first inversion at the Tokyo resort.[3] Raging Spirits opened on July 21, 2005.[1]
In May 2012 the ride was involved in the first reported rider injury on an attraction at Tokyo Disney Resort, when a guest attempted to leave a moving train whose restraint had not locked and suffered a minor leg injury. The coaster closed while its safety was confirmed before reopening.[1]
Experience
The story is that archaeologists excavating the ceremonial site have disturbed the spirits of two elemental deities, one of fire and one of water, whose carved statues face each other across the ruins. Their anger hangs over the excavation: flames flare from a stone altar, water bursts and steam hang in the air, and the hopper cars carrying supplies — and guests — are caught in the middle of the disturbance.[3]
Riders board trains made up of two cars, each holding riders in three rows of two, for twelve guests per train.[1] After climbing the lift hill, the train works through a series of banked turns and small drops around the excavation, passing the towering stone pillars and the suspended carved face that dominate the site. The centrepiece comes midway through the circuit: the train dives into the vertical loop, the one moment in the whole of Tokyo Disney Resort where guests are turned completely upside down.[1][2]
Two helices follow the loop before the train drops toward a steam-filled cenote — a sinkhole pool — and pulls up through the mist to the final brakes.[3] The full circuit covers about 600 metres at up to 60 km/h and takes roughly a minute and a half of ride time.[1]
Raging Spirits has an unusual pair of height rules: riders must be at least 117 cm (46 in) tall, but also no taller than 195 cm (77 in), a maximum-height limit imposed by the restraint design that very few coasters anywhere share.[1][2]