Two Hours of Santa Monica + Twenty Hours of Vegas: My Bodacious ACE Coaster Con XXXVII Trip Report - Part IX

Hello. :}

You didn't think we were done yet, did you??

After a day of recuperation and sleep at my aunt's house following my 9 consecutive days of theme parks and travel, it was time to embark on possibly the wildest coaster trip tail-end imaginable! 

Things started out innocently enough with this local culture credit. :}

At the pier's entrance was a troop of exotic pets and their humans!

This kind gentleman offered his Ball Python (?) to everyone in the crowd, but everyone backed away...

…except for me!!

"GIVE ME THE CHILD!" I said! :}

After being forced to give the python back to his owner, it was time to spring into action!

CREDIT TIME! :D

Also, there is an ocean here.

Bruno loves roller coasters. Bonnie does not. I explained to Bonnie that she had to ride so that I could take pictures of her and Bruno. Because I'm a good cousin. lol

They seem to be having a good time. 

Bonnie is somewhere between rapture and horror.

After one circuit, the Santa Monica West Coaster takes you around again!

Bonnie was apprehensive about the second ride, but I left her with no choice. :}

I think she liked it even better the 2nd time!

As for the ride itself, I found it surprisingly potent! You get a nice little pop of air as you fly into the station. 

See Bonnie, that wasn't so bad! Besides, you knew exactly what you were getting yourself into when we agreed to come here. :}

Thank you Bonnie and Bruno for escorting me to this great coaster/culture credit! 

Now here's where things get interesting. My SoCal time was split up between two of my aunts and families; after a few days with Aunt Catrina and fam, I was passed over to Aunt Sarah and fam!

As soon as Aunt Sarah and I were in the car together, we had this conversation:

Sarah: What do you wanna do?

Me: I don't know. What do you wanna do?

Sarah: Do you wanna go to Vegas?

Me: LOL. (sarcastically) Sure, sounds great. 

Sarah: Ok great! We'll leave in an hour.

Me: …wut?

I thought Aunt Sarah was joking. She wasn't joking.

I booked us the perfect rooms for a screamin' deal, and soon a majority of the fam and I set off for Vegas!

This is all happening so fast.

Thank you, Aunt Sarah, for having a sense of adventure matched only by that of an ACEr!

The 4-hour drive went by quickly, and we made it to Vegas before midnight! :D

Before we even got to our hotel, the fam dropped me off for a ride on NYNY Hotel & Casino's Roller Coaster, formerly known as the Manhattan Express! 

I told the fam that Manhattan Express is one of those "ride at your own risk" kind of coasters. I didn't know this from personal experience, but the testimonies would suggest as such. Everyone in the fam agreed that I should go ahead and go this one alone, which was probably for the best. Manhattan Express's "passable" performance at $14 a pop was really only appealing to me, and everyone else was just as happy to drive in a circle around the hotel until my ride was over.

The NYNY Roller Coaster is mostly a prop to bring people into the casino, but truth be told I was pleasantly surprised by the overall experience. "Comfortable" isn't really the first word I would use to describe it, but the layout is excellent and it still rode better than Revolution. Woohoo for a midnight credit in Vegas!

Let's continue our jaunt down the strip, shall we?

Can you guess which hotel we're staying in? It's definitely not Paris.

It's not the Venetian, either. Do I look like I'm made of money?

The rooms we got were $24 and the hotel has roller coasters in the lobby!

That's right! We're in Circus Circus, one of Vegas's hokiest and most charming hotels.

Not only are there 3 roller coasters on property, but Circus Circus positively reeks of the 1990s. There was no other option.

Wes and Greg agree:

Not a bad room for the price of a so-so dinner on The Strip!

Circus Circus's location at the far end of The Strip provides nice views of a majority of The Strip on one side, and nice views of the Stratosphere and a handful of other hotels on the other side. There's a ton of development going on on this end of the Strip, so in just a few years this view will look a lot different!

Circus Circus has 4 separate casinos of varying levels of gaudiness. 

More importantly, they have a Krispy Kreme! :}

Rather than go to bed, the boys and I decided to embark on an all-night casino-hopping endeavor down The Strip! First Stop: The Venetian and The Palazzo!

You really can't go wrong with scenery like this. The best part was it was 2 in the morning and the place was refreshingly serene. 

And by "the place," I meant just the Grand Canal. The casinos themselves never close, and are therefore never serene! 

The plan of action was this: Hang out in the casino, play some penny slots, get a free drink, migrate to the next casino, repeat. It was a pretty good strategy; $10 in slot money ended up carrying us through the entire night, and we had all the drinks we wanted! This is how you win in Vegas right here! ;}

As a shameless tourist and a bright, flashing light enthusiast, Vegas was a dream come true for me. And, just like me, Vegas has no sleeping schedule. :}

Stop #2: Harrah's!

Squished between Harrah's and Casino Royal is the Linq, which is home to the now-famous High Roller ferris wheel. We decided to skip the wheel this time; $20 just didn't seem worth it. 

Can you guess where we are now? :}

That's right! Caesar's Place! Home to naked man statues and Celine Dione!

Caesar's is huge. We got lost. If I didn't know any better, I'd say we were still trying to find an exit from the casino. 

For me, nothing says Vegas like the marquee of the Flamingo. :}

Like Circus Circus, Planet Hollywood just drips with 90s glitz. Unlike the Circus Circus, however, it's safe to say that PH has had a remodel recently. ;}

It's 3:45AM, which means it's time for fourthmeal! Fortunately we found a great NY-style pizza joint selling some solid grub by the slice! We were starving and it was excellent. :}

My Hard Rock Cafe senses are tingling! We'll be back for this later. :}

We're back!!!

Yes, we've made it aaallllll the way back to NYNY! We're at the opposite end of The Strip from our hotel, now!

Willy Wonka gets my vote for most appealing slot machine ornament. :}

It was about 5AM by this point and the boys and I were getting tired.

We wanted the take the monorail back to Circus Circus, but it wouldn't be open for another two hours.

We decided to rest for a while inside the MGM Grand and then make our return trek back to our rooms.

I got a cocktail with RedBull in it while fiddling around with this roller coaster slot machine. My energy was restored in short order! :}

Back outside, the sun is rising on the Manhattan Express!

We made friends with some local musical bohemians. :}

Wes jammed out with the locals to "Polly" by Nirvana! :}

And I took a selfie with Storm! :D

Mmmm. Breakfast sounds great. Let's get back to the hotel!

Back on the Circus Circus side of things, we caught X-Scream testing on the Strat! We'll be back for this one for sure! :}

We regrouped in the hotel when we got back. Aunt Sarah and cousin Juliana were just waking up, so it was time to hit the Adventuredome for more credits! The boys needed to sleep, so it was me and the girls this round!

Here's Juliana and me on Canyon Blaster! Juliana had just said GOODBYE to chemotherapy after 14 rounds, so we were out to celebrate hardcore by riding roller coasters!!! :D

Canyon Blaster, the pink pearl of Vegas's clam-shaped Adventuredome, is running great. And fast! This thing books it!

Here's the Adventuredome's newest coaster, the S&S El Loco!

Just kidding! THIS is the S&S El Loco!

The pink glass cracks me up. Can ya get any more Vegas than pink glass? lol

The Circus Circus Adventure Dome (or "Grand Slam Canyon," as it was called when it opened in 1993) was part of a Vegas-wide push to bring families to The Strip. Wet 'n' Wild, MGM Grand Adventures, the Star Trek Experience, Speed: The Ride, and others were all part of roughly a 15-year family amusement boom in Sin City. All that's left now is the Manhattan Express, the Stratosphere Tower, and the Adventuredome.

The family element of Vegas seems to be making a strong come-back, with giant ferris wheels and water parks both open and under construction, and the Adventuredome and the Stratosphere seeing booming attendance and fresh investments.

In addition to Canyon Blaster, the Adventuredome is full of 90s relics, like this Chance Inverter! 

I'd heard horror stories about these rides, but I really liked it! And it's fun to watch, too. :}

My family went on vacation to Las Vegas in 1994, during which we checked out the then-new Grand Slam Canyon. I don't remember much from that trip, but I do distinctly recall this ferris wheel. :}

I remember the Canyon Blaster, but I was still wayyy too small to ride. 

It's amazing to be back in this place, getting a credit I missed exactly twenty years ago!

You may have noticed that the lighting in here is terrible. Bear with me, here. 

Oh sh*t! It just got EVEN MORE 90s up in here! Can you handle the CHAOS?!!?

I remember seeing these warning labels on the Chaos at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. They gave me nightmares! 

I'm definitely a fan of the green train on the Canyon Blaster. Green and pink don't necessarily sound like they would work well together, but the Adventuredome got it right!

Okay, so I know what you're thinking.

"Alex! You've only had one picture of El Loco!! Where's the El Loco love?!"

Here it is! :D

El Loco is…well…a grand-slam for the Grand Slam Canyon! :D

Great airtime, great drops, great layout, great pacing, and great rolling stock! We rode 7 times. :}

Canyon Blaster may be playing second fiddle now after over twenty years of being the star, but it's still the more fun of the two to take pictures of. :}

The Adventuredome has a lot of potential. After slowly and steadily beefing up their family ride collection, the park is now safely back on the roller coaster radar! Looking forward to seeing what's in store for this funky little park. :}

Oh, now THIS brings back some memories!

This too! Adults aren't allowed to ride Minor Mike, but I have the credit from my last visit. ;}

After 5 rides in a row on El Loco, Juliana and I went to get her head painted!

#vegasglam

Can you guess where we are now? No, I didn't go for another ride on the Manhattan Express. :P

We're at the Hard Rock Cafe, of course! :}

And this is the view from our table!

I had myself a margarita 3-flight with pico de gallo and shrimp fajitas! They were amazing!!!

Just as amazing were the photo ops of the Manhattan Express. :}

Less amazing is Togo as a manufacturer overall.

I can only imagine what a nightmare this ride must've been with the old trains.

Time now for some sky-high fun!

This is the ride that separates the boys from the slightly less timid other boys.

Big Shot and Insanity were down due to high winds. I would've been more disappointed if the wind itself wasn't so remarkable.

The Strip!

*anticipation intensifies*

#fiercewindglam

The windbreakers worn by the employees were in constant danger of being blown right off!

I would've loved to have known what the actual wind speed was. Easily could've blown the make-up off a $2 whore.

Our ride was a blast! It was right up there with the Glenwood Caverns Screamin' Swing!

XTREME X-SCREAM POV!!!

It was close to 6 o'clock by the time we disembarked from the Strat, and it was time to head back on the open road to California! 

At a gas station half way between Vegas and the state line, the strong winds remained evident.

The elephant in the room this whole time has been Desperado.

This, too, was down because of the wind, but that didn't stop us from taking advantage of the photo op. :}

It was a great 20 hours in Vegas! Not one moment was squandered, and I look forward to making a longer return in the future!

Tomorrow we finally wrap up this California adventure with two final parks! Can you guess where we're going? :}