Las Vegas rides

[Gazza]

I've never been to Las Vegas before, but a family visit in Late February and early march gave me a chance to finally check this destination off the list.

It's better city than I thought it would be, but carries a similar feel to many other touristy places in the US I felt.

I did all the main rides in Vegas itself. I wouldn't have minded riding Desperado either, but that is only open Friday/Saturday/Sunday, which didn't work with my dates.

First off Adventuredome

https://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Las_Vegas/Adventuredome

It is located a the back of Circus Circus, which is pretty seedy feeling (But hey, I won $175 there so not gonna be too harsh on the place). The park itself is clean and tidy, the building looks a bit 80s (But was completed in 1993), it was fairly quiet (Many rides I was the only person onboard) and arcade machines take up all the spare floor space.

 

It has a few standard flat rides, such as a Chaos, pirate ship, dodgems, frog hopper, carousel etc etc.

 

There was also a drop tower called Sling Shot, which reminded me a bit of the one at Adventure World, with a fast launch up, and a controlled descent that wasn't that intense.

Canyon Blaster is a large model loopscrew (The next size up from Sea Viper) so for that you get an extra loop plus a helix at the end. It ran the same trains that Cyclone had, but it wasn't that rough at all really. The thing really got moving, despite the first drop looking quite small. It was kinda cool how the whole floor of the theme park vibrated a bit every time the thing ran. Did about 3 rides.

The only other thing I rode was El Loco, which is, you guessed it, an S&S el loco. Compared to green lantern, it felt a bit quicker, but definitely did bang around a bit more at a couple of points. The trains had speakers, but no onboard audio was working.

The first part of the ride was similar enough ) to Green Lantern up until the 2nd block brake. (Same elements, but the first drop crosses diagonally under the main structure, and the first curved incline is banked a bit better.

All felt very familiar, but I literally do not know what they were thinking when they did the dive loop on this one. Surely it could have been more flowing:

The last bit of the ride is completely different, and sort of runs off away from the compact first part. Theres a bit of an outward banked turn, and another little banked section, and then another dive loop, but the bottom of the dive loop has brakes, so as soon as it finishes you are back at the station.

Overall, It was a really good little coaster! I did 4 laps.

 

 

[mickey_079]

OH NO! You didn't get to ride Desperado!? Lucky you.  I made the mistake when driving to Vegas from LA to stop in and give it a go. Absolutely horrible. Give me a SLC over that any day.

I'm a little shocked for you Gaz that this is your first trip to Vegas.

[Santa07]

6 minutes ago, mickey_079 said:

OH NO! You didn't get to ride Desperado!? Lucky you.  I made the mistake when driving to Vegas from LA to stop in and give it a go. Absolutely horrible. Give me a SLC over that any day.

Honestly surprised that Desperado is the Vegas ride that you mention first when using the term "absolutely horrible".

[mickey_079]

I'm not the person to really complain about roller coasters being rough, it's part of the experience on some rides. However Ghostrider did something strange to my back two days before (mind you I love that ride but I rode it just before it closed for it's retrack) and Desperado did the same thing to me on the first drop. IMO it isn't worth the drive out there, only worth it if driving to Vegas or LA.

I did read after riding it though it is recommended to sit somewhere in the middle, front or back will destroy you... which I was in the front. I just assumed it would give a similar ride to Magnum 2000 at CP.

[Gazza]

As for the rest of the rides.

At New York New York

https://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Las_Vegas/New_York_New_York_Casino

 (Which is actually pretty well themed, similar standard to DC villains I thought in terms of finish) is the Big Apple Coaster. No, its's not a shity Pinfari, it's a shitty Togo instead.

 

Thats actually a bit harsh on two counts....The Togo stand ups were good, and it wasn't as bad as people say, but still not great.

You walk through an endless arcade to reach the coaster, and hand over your $15. There are paid lockers to put your stuff in, but they are too small to fit a carry on sized bag (And no larger ones are available) for the benefit of anyone who has come straight from the airport via a breakfast buffet with your luggage (Very specific, I know)

The ride only runs with 10 people minimum, so I gave up on waiting for the front seat when told and sat somewhere in the middle. The trains are quite well detailed, with chrome taxi doorhandles etc (No pics since no cameras allowed in the station)

After you dispatch the train exits outdoors onto a long straight and slow lift hill.

The first drop is big, but not very steep (kinda like Cyclone) and there are a couple of big hills and drops, so it feels a bit like a quasi hypercoaster.

Eventually you reach the main bit of the coaster, which is on the roof of the casino and the track turns back and forth in a fairly tight area, like a turd that refuses to flush. It had the potential for greatness, with a vertical loop and dive loop, a steeply degree banked helix, and several bunny hops, except it bangs its way through, and the hills dont deliver any airtime.

Eventually you reach a sloped brake run that drops down through the roof and back into the building.

I didn't take them up on their half price re-ride offer.

The only other thrill rides to do in Vegas are the three at Stratosphere, which is basically like centerpoint tower in Sydney, but with three rides on top.

https://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Las_Vegas/Stratosphere/

For $35 you get access to the top and three rides, which I thought was good value. Plus your ticket is good all day, so you can go up again at night (But I didn't do this)

First off I did Insansity, which has 10 inward facing seats (Kinda like that "hard rock" ride at the show) except its on a crane arm that swings out over the edge of the tower, so you are 250m in the air spinning around looking down. It's a bit of a bum clencher to start with, but the worst part is probably just the spinning. A cool ride.

 

Next was XScream . Imagine a see saw of coaster track, so when the track tilts, the train rolls to one end, and when it tilts back it rolls backwards. There are mag brakes and buffers so the train cant run off the end.

 

What makes it crazy of course is the way it runs off the edge of the tower, so you get that terrifying moment of feeling as if you are going to run off the end and fall to the ground.

I sat up front. The train design is such that the front rows hang off past the end of the track when they reach the end. It looks cool off ride, but on ride, once you reach the end of the track, you are just staring out into thin air and the view beyond, so with no immediate frame of reference nearby, its hard to tell that you are rolling beyond the end.

In videos of this ride they show the track tilting, and when the car is stopped at the end it tilts again a bit more just to really scare you, but it never did that on my cycle (And seemed to tilt to a lesser angle in general). Again, a really cool ride...Is there anywhere Scenic World could put this on their site?

Finally, Big Shot is a space shot ride, but it is something else because it is at the top of the tower, so you get an immense view. Naturally i sat looking straight down the strip.

I think all the rides are worth a shot. With the stratosphere ones, it's probably better to jump on without watching them run

Despite its poor quality, everyone should give Big Apple Coaster a go, just so they can understand it's place in coaster folklore.

[jack.c]

The best thing I did in vegas was jump off/bungy the stratosphere. An amazing experience which I highly recommend!

[MickeyD]

Thanks for the update @Gazza. Must say I am quite surprised to hear this was your first visit to Vegas!

I hope you made time to enjoy the incredible themeing and free mini shows featured at the big Casinos such as the Ancient God's show at Caesars Palace.

[rappa]

Geeze I dunno Gazza to say Vegas has a similar feel yo ANYWHERE I think is a bit of a stretch. 

How did you find big shot? I find it has a lot more kick and a freaky bit of 'air time' at the top where the gondola leaves the cable so to speak that no others have. 

[Gazza]

Quote

Geeze I dunno Gazza to say Vegas has a similar feel yo ANYWHERE I think is a bit of a stretch. 

I probably should rephrase that, obviously Vegas has a lot of one of a kind type places, the corridoors of the Wynn, inside the Bellagio, the amount of huge replica stuff along the strip, and the utter vom stuff like Excalibur.

At the same time, when I mention touristy places, I thought as a pedestrian, particularly on the southern end of the strip it felt like being in a really big version of Citywalk.

 

[rappa]

Dunno, I just feel like Vegas, every part of it is its own special version of fkd up that really can't be compared to anywhere else on earth. 

Its every indulgence coupled with beyond excess bringing the absolute worst of mankinds existence together with the awesomeness of mankind at the same time

[Gazza]

Yeah, it pretty much sums up the consumerist side of America in a nutshell.

I regret not getting one of those alcoholic slushies you see on the street every 50m.

[MickeyD]

1 hour ago, Gazza said:

Yeah, it pretty much sums up the consumerist side of America in a nutshell.

I regret not getting one of those alcoholic slushies you see on the street every 50m.

I had a half sized one (about 50cms long with about a quarter of a bottle of tequila in it)..  I also remember the ones that people drag behind them at about waist height. Seriously wtf!

Edited March 24, 2017 by MickeyD

[pazzap]

On 3/22/2017 at 10:02 AM, Santa07 said:

Honestly surprised that Desperado is the Vegas ride that you mention first when using the term "absolutely horrible".

Desperado is equally bad to the big apple coaster (and i rode it when it was called manhattan express! A long time ago). There are no redeeming qualities whatsoever.. They both cause long lasting back ache and head ache and are hazardous to your health.. I'm all for riding something once to say i've done it, but in this case, those two are so bad, i would rather have skipped them. If one's idea of fun is literally getting beaten up, then sure, you'll like them.

The best roller coaster that was ever in Vegas is the one that no longer exists - speed the ride. 

Canyon blaster and the el loco are fine and worth a ride if you happen to be there.. but not worth going TO vegas to ride.. there are so many other parks and rides in the US worthy of your time first.

All this is just IMO of course  

 

oh and PS.. stratosphere is fun enough and worth doing the insanity and big shot.. but vegas does not have any "first class" coasters whatsoever.

Edited April 3, 2017 by pazzap

[SuperV]

I really liked Desperado! It was rough but I was expecting worse.

[pazzap]

what seat were you in?

[SuperV]

5 hours ago, pazzap said:

what seat were you in?

I don't really remember, mid back? I think