Mini Las Vegas Trip Report!

Welcome to Sin City! It's great to be back. :}

It might be 115 degrees outside, but that won't stop us from partying our way down The Strip! Let's make the most of our 12 hours here!

The Strip is bookended by several thousand feet of loopy goodness. 

On the south end we have the roller coaster formerly known as The Manhattan Express. 

The Manhattan Express was renamed simply "The Roller Coaster" to help make it 100% clear just what the attraction is. 

The original name, while appealing, just didn't get the point across. 

Now that I live in NYC I can say with confidence that this theme is extremely apt. A ride through Manhattan in a taxi is actually considerably more hair-raising and uncomfortable than this 20 year old Togo looper. 

To be fair, Manhattan Express runs about as well as an Arrow looper. And I love Arrow loopers. Good thing there's one down the street. :}

I love Vegas because it's a great big pissing contest between entertainment giants. 

The lift for Manhattan Express is actually quite far from the bulk of the ride. 

I think the Cosmopolitan looks like a giant air purifier. 

Paris is very French.

Likewise Caesar's Palace is very Grecian. Go figure. 

Over here we have The Flamingo's LINQ hotel featuring the High Roller Ferris Wheel. Which I am never going to ride. Because I will probably never feel like paying $30 to ride a Ferris Wheel. 

Can you guess what I'm going to say about the Venetian?

Yes, it is very Italian. :}

Meanwhile the Riviera is now very dead. 

#endofanera

With the Riviera gone, there are now only 4 remaining pre-1970 Las Vegas casino brands: Flamingo, Tropicana, Caesar's Palace, and...

... my personal favorite, Circus Circus! Home to the Adventuredome Theme Park!

I think there are literally two Chance Inverters left in North America and we've now seen them both this summer. 

Hello you wonderful thing, you. 

Thank you for having better cars and a better layout than the original El Loco coasters. 

The world definitely needs more of these. It's a fabulous ride that's grossly underrated!

Now we can't forget about the Adventuredome's original jam! It's the last remaining attraction from the park's 1993 opening season, Canyon Blaster!

Canyon Blaster is wrapped lovingly around what is believed to be the last remaining Chance Chaos. If you love once-popular-but-now-rare Chance rides from the 90s, you gotta check out the Adventuredome. 

Things change slowly around here. I rode this mini Himalaya in 1994 and it's still exactly how I remember it. 

Nothing brings me back to my childhood quite like the Adventuredome. The place is scattered over with delightfully obsolete arcade games that may or may not be older than me.

After marathoning on the coasters for a few hours, it's time to call it a night!

I just love Vegas, don't you? :}

Hopefully sometime soon Thrillography will land in Vegas with enough time to make the trek out to the CA / NV border to take a spin on the Ron Toomer-desgined legacy Arrow hyper, Desperado! 

Until next time. ;}