Vegas coasters

It seems my mom wants to goto Vegas in February... and have me go with! Predictable as I am, I've already started looking at which coasters are around there. For those of you who have been there and ridden them, I have some questions.

How much do they (or the park) cost?
Are they worth taking time to go on?
Which ones are open in February?

I want to ride Desperado the most, and Canyon Blaster. Next on my list include Speed.

I don't know yet, but should I try to get to Manhattan Express? If you've ridden it, whats your opinion on it? I'm not sure if I want to convince my parents to go to it because it is TOGO, and how many of you talk about those things... well, you know.

I don't need to know much about Stratosphere. It's basically no matter what we are going there, my mom really wants to see the view from the top of that thing.

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Hi! I'm Hungry, whats your name?

Well Desparado is not in Vegas, it's on the NV/CA border.  So you'll have to rent a car, but it's not that far of a drive.  As far as the ride goes, rough is the first word to come to mind.  I like almost all coasters, this one included, but it really does jar you around because of all the poorly designed Arrow transitions at high speeds and the poor seat design.  It's kind of neat to leace the AC of the casino and go up into the desert heat.  This one will take the most planning to get to.  Don't remember the price for many (if any) of the coasters but I think it was around $7 bucks a ride (I went twice).  My third favorite coaster in Nevada, close to Canyon Blaster.  Would be my favorite if it was smoother.

Speed is the best coaster in Vegas IMO.  I bought an all day pass for like $15.  ell worth it, especially since I'm of age to gamble and drink, so I could space out my day.  This coaster is the only Premier I know of that really wouldn't need to replace the OTSRs.  Only one moment of extreme lateral movement (exiting the building) the rest is smooth as silk.  You MUST ride this coaster (lots).

Canyon Blaster was a nice surprise.  It is smooth, a modern generation Arrow looper.  Don't remember the price, but the Adventuredome has the most to do (Shoot the Chutes, Chaos, and some others).  orth the price to ride it and I do believe there were all day passes available (I again rode this one twice).  Probably my second favorite coaster in Nevada.

Manhatten Express, I really don't know what to say about this one.  I enjoyed it but yeah, it was bumpy.  The restraints are odd but they didn't bother me too much.  I rode once in front and once in back.  Big difference between the two since you can better see the transitions from the front.  Definately the most unique hyper I've ridden and it does have a really cool inversion.  If I remember correctly, this one is the most expensive.  Maybe not worth the money for this one, but I always like to try every coaster I can.  Only High Roller is worse IMO in NV.

There's one at MGM Grand that I didn't know existed when I was there.  Family steel coaster.  Don't know what to say, can't be too great but I would have ridden it if I realized it existed.

I know you said you're going to the Stratoshere, but you have to ride Big Shot.  The best location of any ride in the world.  hat a view, and rush.  High Roller on the other hand, waste of time but unique.

I don't know about which coasters would be open, but I would guess they all would (definately Canyon Blaster as it's indoors).  One thing to note is that some of them have weird running times.  I think Desparado only left if they had half a train full or every 15 minutes.  Speed was similar.  Those are the worst waits ever, you're in the train just waiting for people to walk up the ramp.  Enjoy.

*** This post was edited by Incidentalist on 11/14/2001. ***

There is a bus that leaves from the MGM to go to the stateline (actually goes to the outlet mall, which is right next to Buffalos Bills and Desperado).  I beleive it costs $10 but we found a coupon book that had free coupon for it so that is something you might wanna consider.  Buffalo Bills also has a drop ride, if you are interested.
Desperado -- $6/ride, $30 for all day pass (included Despy, log flume, Turbo Drop)

Speed -- $8/ride and one re-ride, $12 for all day pass w/coupon (so worth it it's unbelievable).

Strat admission -- $6, then $3 for High Roller...don't buy your Big Shot ticket until you get to the top of the tower, then it's just $3 for a "re-ride" coupon.

Manhatten Express -- $10.50/ride but if you ride Despy first, you get a coupon for buy one get one free on ME.  My friend and I both split the cost so it was $5.25 for the ride, and it was really fun...sit in the front.

Canyon Blaster -- I forget what the single ride price is, but the all day thing was like $18 with the coupon (just look in all the Vegas booklets, they're in there).  Definitely worth the all day pass, they have some cool rides in there.

Hope that helps!  Vegas was awesome!  DO NO MISS THE FOUNTAINS OF BELLAGIO. :)

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"Words are like...funny...you know?"

First of all, Yes, I think you should ride Manhattan Express.  It's a good ride, but as you have probably heard, it's kind of rough.  A smart decision would be to go to ride Desperado first and save your ticket stub because it has a buy one get one free coupon on it.  Also, one ride on Manhattan Express costs 10$, for a re-ride it's 5$. An all day pass is 30$.  Watch out though, these prices might hae gone up.

As far as I know now, the MGM Park can only be rented out to companies.  I went there along time ago and last time I was there half of the park had been taken over by a luxury spa so there is not much left of it.

The Canyon Blaster is worth taking the time to go to.  I beleive the price is like 15$ for an all day pas and they have some other rides too so it's probably worth it.

As far as rides operating, I'm not really sure what the weather is like in February.  The thing to really watch out for though is the Big Shot.  I was talking to the guy running it and he said that the wind couldn't be more than like 15mph or they couldn't run it.  So that's all you really need to worry about.

john peck's avatar
If you are a guest at NY NY or MGM then there is in fact a "free" bus that will take you out to Stateline to the outlets and Buffalo Bills. (The people who Own NY and MGM also own Buffalo Bills) When I was there (Oct 2000), Manhatten Ex had a Buy one get one free coupon which I used.

MGM also owns Lightning Bolt, An Arrow/Intamin family coaster (Intamin designed it, Arrow re-profiled it), but the park, MGM Adventures (I think it's called) is only open for "Special Buyouts"

*** This post was edited by john peck on 11/14/2001. ***


There was a "thrill ride" special on Vegas on the Travel Channel last weekend. Watch the program guides, maybe they'll show it again.

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Current favorite coasters:
Wooden: 1) Beast 2) Raven 3) Son of Beast 4) The Boss 5) Timber Wolf
Steel: 1) Raging Bull 2) Millennium Force 3) V2 4) Wild Thing 5) Mr. Freeze

yeah the guy from the stratosphere said the rides close even if there is a small threat of lightning (and they do have lightning)

the big shot is the best ride ever

CPLady's avatar
We always made a trip in February during "winter break" for our son. The weather is generally pretty nice in February. I only recall being rained on once in 5 years. We took our son a couple years ago (he was 13 at the time) and he had a blast.

Besides the coasters, there are lots of sims that are worth seeing. Definitely get the all day pass at Circus Circus. There are other great rides along with Canyon Blaster, including a sim that was one of the best IMHO, and inverted ride, and a water flume.

Star Trek: The Experience is also fantastic, and if you are a ST fan, the line meanders through a timeline/museum that is really cool.

Journy to Atlantis at Ceasar's was okay, and the sim at the Luxor was also pretty neat.

LOTS of arcades (kept my son happy while we did a little gambling), and a Gameworks. Then there is all the free stuff: Fountains at Bellagio, the Pirates at Treasure Island, the fountain at Ceasar's, the Volcano, and Downtown there is the Freemont Street Experience.

I'm sure you'll have a great time.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dea

Hit Speed and the big shot, manhattan is a headache
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Aughhh look out there are Mice all around
S:TR ROCKZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!! It's glam!
CB, i like that ride, and a single ride is only $4, but the allday pass IS worth it, i got around 80 rides in one day...
Actually its now called "The Park at MGM Grand"

We only run Sky Screamer, Lightning Bolt, and Parisian Taxis right now. But if I'm sure if someone wants to, we can still run Over the Edge and Grand Canyon Rapids.

The only rides that are gonna are the little kids rides.

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