What is: Thunder Dolphin
Thunder Dolphin is a steel roller coaster located at Tokyo Dome City, in Tokyo, Japan. The ride has
become an iconic amusement attraction in Japan for multiple reasons. Firstly, it’s located in the
heart of Tokyo, amongst the dense city skyline. Secondly, it features two distinctive and unique
elements. Part way through the experience, riders of Thunder Dolphin weave across the roof of LaQua,
a spa and shopping centre, before plummeting towards the ground through a hole in the side
of the building. At this point, they then climb into the sky and thread through the
centre of the Big O, the world’s first hubless ferris wheel! But how did a building surfing,
ferris wheel threading, roller coaster come to exist in the heart of Tokyo?
The amusement park in which the ride is located, Tokyo Dome City, originally started its life as
a small collection of attractions outside of a popular baseball stadium. In 1937, the Korakuen
Company built a 50000 seat complex located in the centre of Tokyo, which served as the home of
the Yomiuri Giants until 1987. Over the course of its lifetime, the stadium was home to a range of
events, including the first American Football Game outside of North America, as well as many concerts
from artists such as Madonna and Michel Jackson. The popularity of the complex led to attractions
being built around it to accommodate the crowds. These included restaurants, bowling alleys,
skating rinks, and cinemas - similar to the things that can be found within LaQua now.
Though, at the time, the owners wanted to expand the offering further. As a result,
the small park featured a Ferris wheel and one roller coaster - Giant Coaster. Later named 2
Way Coaster, the ride opened to the public as the world’s longest steel roller coaster,
measuring 1500 meters (4,921 ft.) in length. The entire layout circled the perimeter of the park,
a unique concept that was later revitalised with the construction of Thunder Dolphin.
In the years following, Korakuen Amusement Park continued to grow. New rides and roller
coasters were built, often as replacements or upgrades of older attractions. Then in 1987,
the baseball stadium built by Korakuen Company was closed and demolished to make way for Tokyo Dome,
a modern 57000 seat indoor stadium built adjacent to the plot of the old stadium. Tokyo Dome became
the new home of the Yomiuri Giants, and continued to host other events too. Upon construction,
it was nicknamed “The Big Egg”, due to the shape of the air supported flexible structure that makes
up the stadium’s dome. The new stadium only caused the amusement park to expand further.
By the late 1990s, the park was even at the forefront of roller coaster innovation.
In 1998 they debuted Linear Gale, the world’s first Intamin Impulse coaster. This innovative
ride used magnetic launches to accelerate guests multiple times through U shaped track. Unlike
other launch coasters of that era though, the ride suspended guests below the track. In fact,
Linear Gale opened as the world's first inverted launch coaster and featured the most launches on
a roller coaster at the time. The company that built the ride, Intamin, continued to innovate.
They built their own modernised version of the hyper coaster, a roller coaster that measured
over 200ft 61m tall in 1999 with the debut of Superman: Ride of Steel at Darien Lake. Then,
a year later, they introduced the world to Millennium Force at Cedar Point,
the world’s first roller coaster to break the 300ft 91m height barrier, being dubbed a ‘Giga’
coaster in the process. To lift guests up the colossal incline quickly, Intamin also developed
a cable lift hill. This enabled the trains to climb a far steeper incline, much faster, while
remaining nearly silent during normal operation compared to the traditional chain counterpart.
With these large developments within the amusements industry, Korakuen Amusement
Park was ready to be upgraded and modernised. The section of the park now home to Thunder
Dolphin was completely levelled. In its place, a big redevelopment plan sprung into action.
Instead of a traditional amusement park, the owners decided to turn the park into a leisure
facility in which people can “enjoy refreshment in the middle of Tokyo”. The redevelopment came
in the form of three major additions. Firstly, LaQua, a spa and fitness club that is also home
to multitude of restaurants and shopping outlets as well. LaQua was built against the northern edge
of the plot, leaving room at the opposite end of the land for the 2nd attraction, the Big O.
Opening as the world’s first hubless Ferris Wheel, the Big O stands a huge 80m 262ft high.
The third and final addition was Thunder Dolphin - a brand new hyper coaster from the company
that had been innovating only a few years prior, Intamin. Also standing 80m 262ft tall,
Thunder Dolphin dominated the perimeter of the park; similar to the park’s previous ride,
2 Way Coaster, which was removed in 2000 to make way for the modernisation. Combined,
the three new attractions were designed to be a spectacle. LaQua and the Big O stand across
from another, with Thunder Dolphin threading through both during its thrilling journey.
With their development complete, Korakuen Amusement Park was ready to open. In preparation,
the park was renamed to Tokyo Dome City in 2002; before debuting all the three of the
new attractions in 2003. Including such a large scale roller coaster in the plans of the expansion
was certainly a challenge for the design and construction teams. Firstly, to match the height
of the ferris wheel, Thunder Dolphin had to climb high, quickly. Intamin’s cable lift technology was
used, which both saves space and reduces noise pollution. As Tokyo, and Japan in general, is
a region prone to earthquakes, measures also had to be taken to ensure the new ride was earthquake
resistant. The narrow space Thunder Dolphin was constructed in also meant that additional supports
with a unique design were required. The solution came in the form of vertical tubes, connected via
horizontal steel supports, and braced by a series of steel cables. The final challenge came in the
form of LaQua. Part way through the ride, guests aboard Thunder Dolphin climb onto the building’s
roof. To combat the additional stress placed on the building, the supports for the ride were built
into large concrete foundations separate from the building's roof. At this point, the ride
had been designed and built, but what would it be called? The name Thunder Dolphin was in fact
inspired by the ride itself. Due to being a spa, LaQua’s design has taken inspiration from water,
specifically the wave-like formation of the building’s roof. This, combined with the
motion of the roller coaster across the roof and through the centre of the Big O, led to designers
comparing it with a dolphin swimming and leaping in the ocean. Thus, Thunder Dolphin was born.
But, what’s a ride on this unique roller coaster actually like? Visitors first enter the ride’s
station, located at the foot of the Big O. Once they’ve traversed the queue, riders then board one
of the attraction’s vehicles. Each one features 6 cars, with guests seated in 2 rows of 2.
This leads to a total of 24 visitors per train, and a maximum theoretical capacity of 1025 riders
per hour. Once ready, guests leave the station and immediately begin the climb. The trains ascend the
45.5 degree lift hill to reach the maximum height of 80m (262ft) above the ground. Once at the top,
riders stare down the 66.5m (218ft) tall drop. They then quickly plummet towards the ground, at
the maximum vertical angle of 80 degrees, reaching the top speed of 130kmh (81mph) in the process.
Immediately after, the trains climb up the side of the building and bank right onto the roof. Guests
traverse a single airtime hill, before climbing into a second right hand turn. At this point,
they then dive through the side of LaQua and fall towards the floor. The train then begins a second
right hand climb, this time through the centre of the Big O, narrowly missing one of its supports.
A small airtime hill later sees riders climb up the side of the building for a second
time. They then bank right and begin a series of small hills, twists and turns along LaQua’s roof.
The ride then comes to an end with a second right hand dive off the side of the building, leading
guests into the final break run. During the entire experience, guests navigate 1,067 meters
(3,500 ft.) of track, most of which takes place within roughly 52 seconds of actual ride time.
Upon opening, Thunder Dolphin stood as the world’s tallest hypercoaster and the fifth
tallest coaster in the world. But unfortunately, it’s operation hasn’t been problem free.
In December of 2010, a bolt from one of the train’s wheel assemblies was damaged
and fell from the ride, hitting a child on the ground, resulting in minor injuries.
After this, the ride was closed, and renamed closed until the 31st July 2013.
Upon its reopening, the roller coaster’s layout was fitted with nets to minimise the chance
of any objects falling into the busy paths below should they come loose during the ride.
Thunder Dolphin is by definition a unique roller coaster. Few attractions traverse the roof of a
building, or dive through the centre of a ferris wheel; let alone both. Despite offering a quirky
and uncommon layout, Thunder Dolphin is enjoyed by many for purely being a large white knuckle ride
near the centre of Japan’s capital, Tokyo. Let us know what the most unique roller coaster you’ve
ever ridden is in the comments down below. Thank you for watching, and we’ll see you all next time.