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Ninja (Six Flags Magic Mountain)

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Park section
  
Samurai Summit

Opening date
  
May 21, 1988

Type
  
Steel – Suspended

Address
  
Valencia, CA 91355, USA

Max speed
  
88 km/h

Opened
  
21 May 1988

Status
  
Operating

Cost
  
US$6 million

Manufacturer
  
Arrow Dynamics

Height
  
18 m

Height restriction
  
1.07 m

Ninja (Six Flags Magic Mountain)

Similar
  
Viper, Goliath, Green Lantern, X2, Scream

Ninja is an Arrow Dynamics steel suspended roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. It is the fastest roller coaster of its kind in the world, joint with Vortex at Canada's Wonderland, both with top speeds of 55 mph (89 km/h).

Contents

Roller coaster

The coaster is located in the Samurai Summit area of Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia. Ninja was built in 1988 as the fifth of the ten original Arrow suspended coasters. It is somewhat unusual in that it uses two lift hills — one at the beginning of the run and a second one just before the end, to return the train to station elevation.

Ninja's station building previously served as the upper station for Magic Mountain's dragon tram. The tram carried passengers up and down the hillside until its closure in 1981, and its abandoned lower station can still be found near the Jetstream water ride and Ninja's final brake run.

Ninja is the only Arrow Dynamics suspended swinging coaster west of the Mississippi River. The other three suspended swinging coasters in North America (Vortex at Canada's Wonderland, Iron Dragon at Cedar Point, and The Bat at Kings Island) are all east of the Mississippi.

The station building is designed to resemble elements of Japanese architecture, and features several large renditions of classic Japanese woodblock prints of popular Kabuki actors of the Edo period, mostly by Tōshūsai Sharaku.

Soon after Six Flags Astroworld was shut down in 2005, the trains from their suspended XLR-8 were brought to Magic Mountain to be used on Ninja.

Ninja received a fresh coat of paint for the 2007 season; the ride was repainted with bright red track and white supports.

In 2008, Six Flags Magic Mountain installed a new control system for Ninja.

Incidents

  • On August 30, 2008, at approximately 4 p.m. PDT, 20-year-old Michael Rohrer of West Hollywood, California was struck by a coaster vehicle passing overhead after he entered a restricted area below the ride by scaling two 6-foot perimeter fences to retrieve a lost hat. He was treated at the scene by park first aid, then airlifted to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles in comatose condition. He was pronounced dead on August 31, 2008 at approximately 2 a.m. PDT. Cause of death was attributed to blunt force trauma.
  • On the evening of July 7, 2014, a pine tree fell across the coaster's track, causing the first car of the next train to derail, stranding the riders aboard. Four people were injured in the accident and two were treated in the hospital, all for minor injuries. Twelve days after the incident, Six Flags Magic Mountain reopened the coaster on July 19, 2014.

    • References

    Ninja (Six Flags Magic Mountain) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA