El Loco!

After the mandatory Double Double (hotel across the street!) My co-worker and I headed over to Circus Circus to check out the new El Loco coaster. What can I say? I was completely blown away by this ride!

Apparently, it was still in the "soft opening" stage, and there was a little bit of down time while we were there. You could still see piles of bolts and some tools (besides us) laying around. But we got 2 rides, both in the front seats.

The ride moves incredibly fast. Perhaps the fastest chain driven lifthill out there, or at least that I've ridden. (or Maverick?) Then it pretty much tears through the first portion. There is a brake run about 2/3 through that slows the ride down, but the last part is my favorite. After some twisted track, it flips you upside down and you hang there for a long time before completing the immelman. This is pretty much my favorite type of inversion, very slow where you hang against your restraints, and El Loco contains 2 of them! The second is much longer than the first.

No, I have not ridden Steel Hawg, but as you know, these are very similar rides. El Loco's first drop is only 90 degrees, compared to SH, which is much more. And the 2nd part of the rides are different from each other, while the first part appear to be very close to mirror images with a few small differences. I'm going to go on a limb and say that even if I rode Steel Hawg, I would prefer El Loco. My reasoning is that it has 2 of the long, drawn out, hanging upside down sections of track, vs Steels Hawg's 1.

We also rode Canyon Blaster.

In addition we drove behind the strip and up as close as we could get to the new Linq Ferris Wheel. While not open, the lights were operating and it is quite a sight to see. Since I will be in Vegas all the time with my new job, I will keep my eyes open and hope to ride it very soon.

I guess I should go back in another year or two. I wish the other Ferris wheel complex hadn't stalled and that they'd rebuild speed like they wanted to.

I dunno, I think one giant Ferris Wheel is probably enough, especially at $30 a pop, but I do miss Speed. I'd like to see *someone* rebuild it.

Tommy, bout how much did it cost to ride El Loco? (Just curious, and not that it matters, I'll be doing it anyway, right?) But we arrive in Vegas this Saturday for an overnight on the way to Hawaii. (don't feel sorry for me) We get there round noon and are staying at TI so I'm hoping to make it down to Adventuredome for a ride. We're seeing a show that night so I'm hoping they have late afternoon hours.

Speaking of wheels, in Orlando last week I went to I-Drive for Fun Spot to see it and try the coasters. It was Wednesday and a terrible storm came through that evening and about ruined my fun. I got the two credits, just not as many laps as I had hoped (or paid) for. Anyway, on the way I caught a glimpse of the Orlando wheel from a distance and yikes! The hub and supports are there and it's already the tallest thing anywhere around. I wanted to go back and see it but by the time I got out of Fun Spot it was raining so hard it was no use.

I was so stranded I couldn't even make it over to Sweet Tomatoes. :(

Doesn't the Steel Hawg version have those painful stubby shoulder restraints? From what I can tell from this POV there only seems to be a lap bar, which sounds like a big comfort improvement to me.

That thing looks like zany fun. And I don't use the word "zany" lightly. In fact I don't really use it at all. Ever. But I can't think how else to describe El Loco.

Would you look at that?...

It's $10 each to ride the big coasters. A little steep if you ask me. Or you can pay $30 for an all day pass to the 'dome. (which seems fair) My friend and I shelled out $20 each for one ride on each coaster. (He hadn't ridden Canyon Blaster before) We liked El Loco so much that even though we were planning on spending minimal time there, we wanted more rides. We went to the booth and asked if we could apply our $20 of used tickets towards an all day for $10 more. She said sorry, no. We then told her how pleasantly surprised we were by El Loco and how much we enjoyed it. Well, she must have been a manager because she then wrote on our used ticket stubs "good for one free ride." We thanked her profusely and took a 2nd ride.

And yes, Jonnytips, lap bars only. Very nice restraints and comfortable, despite hanging upside down.

That looks awesome! It just goes to show that it doesn't have to be excessively big to get the job done.

Trucked it up from TI to Circus Circus for El Loco today. There's an odd phenomenon in Vegas where the nearby resorts seem closer than they really are. It was a little bit of a walk on a warm day, for sure.
The place was jammed, stunk to high heaven, and was hotter'n hades. I bought one ten dollar ticket and waited for about 20-30 minutes to ride, maybe. And that was after I found it, mind you. I hadn't been there in a number of years and forgot the coaster(s) are located on a mezzanine level up some stairs.
I thought the ride was fun, certainly very zippy with not a lot to slow it down. I was by myself and took the back seat on the left, forgetting that it was the scary side for the reverse bank turn. (which caused me to hold on tight). I think over all I like it better than Steel Hawg.
They really did a great job fitting the ride into the space, and the custom layout makes it interesting and unique. I'd like to go back sometime when it's less busy, then I can buy the more economical arm band and get multiple rides. The flats there aren't bad, I'd take a spin on a couple, and I remember from my last visit liking Canyon Blaster a lot, so I'd like to try it again too. But we had tickets for a Cirque show and I didn't want to spend the time fighting the crowds. Next time.
And in the meantime another one for my list. I've managed to score 4 new coasters so far this year, and it's still early.

LostKause said:

That looks awesome! It just goes to show that it doesn't have to be excessively big to get the job done.

For some reason I'm reminded of Ocean Motion... not sure why...

That's what she said x2.

Tommytheduck said:

It's $10 each to ride the big coasters. A little steep if you ask me. Or you can pay $30 for an all day pass to the 'dome. (which seems fair) My friend and I shelled out $20 each for one ride on each coaster. (He hadn't ridden Canyon Blaster before) We liked El Loco so much that even though we were planning on spending minimal time there, we wanted more rides. We went to the booth and asked if we could apply our $20 of used tickets towards an all day for $10 more. She said sorry, no. We then told her how pleasantly surprised we were by El Loco and how much we enjoyed it. Well, she must have been a manager because she then wrote on our used ticket stubs "good for one free ride." We thanked her profusely and took a 2nd ride.

And yes, Jonnytips, lap bars only. Very nice restraints and comfortable, despite hanging upside down.

At least it's not as bad as paying $14 to ride the piece of crap down at New York New York!

Anyone who wants to spend the money for that thing, is always met with my offer:

Save yourself the money, I'll charge you $5, and hit you about the ears a few times with a baseball bat covered in towels.

Boogie still needs the NYNY credit. When he gets out there to ride, I'm not sure if I'll go with him as a "sympathy credit" or let him go alone. It's been 13 yrs or so, and I hear it's only lapbars now, so how bad can it be, right? (somewhat of a rhetorical question)

I may be the only one on the planet, but honestly, I didn't mind that ride. The scary part was that I rode it at night, it was a little chilly, and I was the only one in the train. But the whole time I was braced for the assault and it never came. Now, I wouldn't call it the best design or configuration I've ever seen, that's for sure, but at least I didn't find it particularly rough.

I thought it was one of the most fun coasters in Vegas. Granted, I lucked out with a front seat ride which probably mitigated much of the headbanging.

I rode in in 2003 and didn't think it was anything too horrible either.

We go to Vegas often, but haven't ridden the NYNY coaster in many a year. We bought the on-ride picture the last time, because it perfectly captured our faces in total agony. And that was on a straight section of track.

I'll admit I haven't been on it since new trains/re-track/exorcism or whatever else has been done to it in the last decade. Not interested in trying it again.