Desperado in Vegas

Manhattan Express is a Togo ride, and has nothing to recommend it whatsoever.

Just get heavily liquored up before riding it. Not because it will be better, but with enough alcohol it won't hurt so much.

I can only assume the fact that Desperado NEVER has a full train does not provide much incentive for ownership to spend top dollar on maintenance. It would not shock me to see this baby removed in the next decade. It is obvious that it never reached the popularity they had hoped.

P.S. Wasn't this thing capable of 3-train operation at one time? I know there were 2-trains for sure, but I believe they might have had a 3rd at one time...

*** Edited 4/25/2005 6:13:35 PM UTC by Jeffrey R Smith***

Poor maintenance at a nonpark scares me. It makes me think of Mindbender.

Desperado is hands down the best coaster in the Vegas area

Actually I'd place it at #3:

1. Speed
2. Canyon Blaster
3. Desperado
4. Dragon Coaster*
5. Dragon*
6. Miner Mike*
7. High Roller
8. Manhatten Express

*Kiddie coasters in Vegas I've never ridden.

lol, but come on Moosh. While I agree the ME deserves to be below the kiddie coasters, High Roller doesn't. While I do find it to be a complete bore, those kiddie coasters appear to be a bore as well. It's not like they're a Rollerskater or HSTC. The fact that High Roller is at the top of the tower will give it just enough to put it above the 3 kiddie coasters.

My list reads as follows:

1. Speed
2. Canyon Blaster
3. Desperado
4. Lightning Bolt (looking at the pictures is more exciting for me than anything below)
5. High Roller
6. Dragon
7. Dragon Coaster
8. Miner Mike
9. Manhatten Express

Just by looking at the pics, I think you've got your Dragons reversed there Moosh.

Could be...I was merely trying to show just how bad ME suxors ;)

Oh common Moosh, you're not that bad. And shouldn't that be, "how bad I suxors"? ;)

Wow...it took less than 2 mins for someone to make that joke. Kudos, RTTD!

mOOSH [knew someone would go there]

You see, I think more highly of Despy than a lot of folk. It rates behind Speed, for sure. But I find CB to be too run of the mill, and short, to be very thrilling. Smoother than Stateline? Yeah. But Despy is way more exciting. Sure, it's somewhat rough. Still way more air than the one at CC...

ME sucks donkey nards. I didn't even notice when we went through the much-hyped heartline twist. I don't care that much about inversions...give me huge lift hills and lotsa airtime and I'm happy.

That being said, Speed r0x0red my s0x0rs! We bought the all-day pass and rode it 6 or 7 times. Seemed like a better value than paying like $9 per ride.

I wanna go back now and ride XScream! I'll pass on Insanity, though, tyvm. That news article freaked me out.

Maybe if Despy weren't located 30 minutes away from the Strip they'd get more business. There's too much action to bother driving there. Now if they built a supadupa coaster ON STRIP...That would rock!

Honestly Rob, I think I prefer Desperado over Canyon Blaster also. I just didn't want to fuss with Moosh's list too much in order to make the points I wanted to make stand out.

Canyon Blaster, the smoothest Arrow I've ever ridden, IS a lot of fun. It's layout is just too vanilla for me. The helix is a nice touch and in the rear of the train you get some great airtime on the first drop, but the ride is so 'been there, done that' in terms of layout.

On the other hand, no coaster has a layout anything like Desperado. IMO the only rough areas are the transitions, add that to the poor trains and you get some unpleasant moments. But nothing that some defensive riding can't help. It's probably my least favorite hyper, but that's not saying much and I'd still take my least favorite hyper over plenty of quality coasters.

But Mike, isn't ME considered a hyper?;)

Well I guess you've got me there. But that just goes to show how much I don't even think about that pos coaster. I mean, what coaster is rough on the straight-aways?

So to rephrase that statement. Desperado is probably my least favorite, full circuit, non-looping hyper, but that's not saying much as it's still better than plenty of quality coasters. Is that better? ;)

---

Incidentalist said:
... what coaster is rough on the straight-aways?

---

There! That's all anyone needs to know about that over-priced hunk-o'-junk.

LB, glad to hear you enjoyed my new stomping grounds.

Mike, give a holler about Farmington; time to start planning! :) *** Edited 4/25/2005 9:23:44 PM UTC by Robocoaster***

How can an alcoholic not enjoy Las Vegas? ;)Especially one who enjoys gambling and coasters!

We still need to meet up at Lagoon sometime this summer!

"...what coaster is rough on the straight-aways?"

Viper [SFGAdv]
SOB
Scream*
Batman Knight Flight*
Dominator [Geauga]*
Cyclone [Williams Grove]
Hercules
Flashback [SFMM]
many Boomerangs and SLCs

...I'm sure I could list more ;)

mOOSH
[*rough by B&M standards]

With the exceptions of Scream and Dominator, that is some great company to be in, isn't it?

---

Incidentalist said:
How can an alcoholic not enjoy Las Vegas? Especially one who enjoys gambling and coasters!

---

Funny you should mention that...I'm a recovering alcoholic and my new vice is coasters! Alas, Vegas probably won't be a vacation spot for us for a while, at least not until I feel safe going there and staying sober.

Yikes! I think I must be the only enthusiast in the world to love Manhattan Express!

If I compare it with the other violent coaster I have done, which is Goudurix at Parc Asterix... Manhattan Express has a nice drop. Goudurix got a ramp. Manhattan Express has the twist n dive... which I felt was the best inversion I've been on. Goudruix got the butterfly, which feels like being tied down to a chair and having 3 heavyweights punching your head. Manhattan Express got a nice helix and airtime. Goudurix got either violent inversions or forceless inversions.

I think the big problem with Manhattan Express are the turns. Just look at the top of the first 2 turns on the ride! If they would get Stengel to redesign those turns and Premier to do new trains with lap bars, it would be a great ride... for everyone, lol.