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". A "completely enclosed roller coaster" called the Twister was built as early as 1925. Walt Disney World's Space Mountain was one of the first rides considered to be an indoor roller coaster, 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".
Canyon Blaster inside the Adventuredome indoor theme park, Las Vegas, US
The Mindbender with the 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.
The Mindbender was an Anton Schwarzkopf looping roller coaster at Galaxyland, a theme park in West Edmonton Mall, in Alberta, Canada. The ride officially opened to the public on December 20, 1985 at a cost of $6 million. At 44.2 m (145 ft) in height, it was the tallest indoor roller coaster in the world as of 2020.
The Mindbender with the Galaxy Orbiter roller coaster in the foreground