New York New York: Manhattan Express

My mom and I went out to Las Vegas for her convention for work. We would be staying Wednesday thru Saturday. Her conventions were different hours during the day, so at night we would go out and walk the strip.

On Thursday night, we made our way down to New York New York. After asking the man at the front desk where to go, he told us that it had been down the past week because of loose screws found.This would later prove to be a big lie, trying to scare us. We went thru the arcade, and arrived at the coaster. After paying $12.50 (frown), I was in the station, first car second row. We made our way our way out, and quickly started our way up the lift. The lift appeared high, I guess due to the size of the buildings surrounding it.

All and all, it was a good coaster with nice drops. It was fun going along the strip, although the coaster had a little bit of head banging. Rerides are $6.

I also checked out Speed or whatever it's called at Sahara. It looked too short (45 seconds) for my $10. I didn't get to check out Circus Circus, but had fun anyway. NyNy was my main objective to get to.

Too bad you missed out on Speed- that is the best coaster in Vegas IMHO. It's short but it does a lot for a shuttle. Then again, I think that ANYTHING is better than Manhattan Express- that coaster and I just don't get along!

Did you actually ride Speed at Sahara. I thought between it and Manhatten Express that Speed was the better ride by far.

Either way I am glad you enjoyed it. My one ride on Manhatten Express was enough for a lifetime for me.

Speed is the best coaster in Vegas, IMO. Yes it's expensive at $10, but you get to ride all day for that price.

Riding ME is like getting mugged. Once was enough. I got to ride Speed as much as I wanted for $10, and I really liked it.

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Jeff said:
Riding ME is like getting mugged. Once was enough.

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Thats what you get out of a TOGO. I have never been out there but I have a feeling that I would ride it once for the coaster count credit and move on.

Speed The Ride @ the Nascar Cafe in Sahara is definitely NOT Vegas' best thrillride - this is coming from someone who makes more than three yearly trips out there and hits up the rides every time. The city's big thrillride secret and most underrated at that, is the Adventuredome Canyon Blaster (suprise!). Funny how a double-loop, double-corkscrew Arrow coaster in an indoor park could pack so much intensity, airtime, strong laterals, and a SMOOTH experience in one. Anybody that's in Vegas and is looking for some thrills, you MUST visit Canyon Blaster. You don't even have to pay a full entry admission price to get into Adventuredome, you can just buy wristband for one or two of the indoor park's major rides, and you'll be set - 'cause besides Canyon Blaster, Rim Runner (shoot-the-chutes style flume), Sling Shot (Space Shot tower ride), and a Chance Chaos, there's really nothing special there.

I had a little head banging but not alot on Manhattan Express when I rode it in January. Did you get a chance to ride X-Scream or the new swing that swings out over the edge of the Stratosphere hotel? I thought Star Trek:TE was pretty good also.

/\ I have. Insanity and X-Scream do nothing more than terrify its riders with the sole help of the height of the tower they are installed on. They are nothing more than ordinary flat-rides that otherwise would be extremely tame on ground level.

Manhatten Express epitomizes what TOGO means. Try Once Get Off.

The prices for these rides completely amaze me. Last time I was in Vegas (about a thousand years ago before there were any roller coasters) everything was cheap as it was all pretty much designed to get you in the door and to throw all your money away in the casino. I guess they started to offer too much to do and it ended up drawing people away from gambling.

I'll stick with the $1.80 for Phoenix :)

I agree, millrace. Plus I go on weekdays when I can buy $10 worth of tickets for $9.

I was in Vegas a few weeks ago for a conference as well, and made it to Manhattan Express, Speed, and the rides at the Stratosphere.

I was expecting the worst on ME, but it was actually okay. Not too rough, but hardly smooth. It would definately be above some of the more painful rides I've encountered like Ninja at SFoG or any of the SLC's. The loop and the other inversion (hang 'n' dive?) were pretty fun, and the scenery was very cool at night. I had heard such awful things about it, I guess my expectations were way low, and the ride was better than that.

Speed was awesome, I must say. I got to ride twice because there was nobody else there and the ops were bored silly. Nice launch, turns, banking, inversion and then the second launch - woo! I am a launch ho anyway you slice it, so I was in nirvana.

The Stratosphere was pretty cool, with Big Shot totally taking the prize. I agree that the other three are tame, even at that height. Once you get over the initial shock of the height, they're pretty tame.

Circus Circus closes the Adventuredome at 6pm. My conference had me busy until 7 each night, so I never got the chance to ride Canyon Blaster. Stupid Circus Circus.

After all that, I found Las Vegas as a whole to be very meh. I guess since I'm not that into gambling, the city doesn't really have too much to offer for me...

I thought $5.xx for the coasters at Wildwood were expensive (if you didn't go for a wristband), but that sounds cheap comapared to the Vegas rides. $12.50 for 1 ride on a coaster and a re-ride for $6? Seems like a huge ripoff but I would probably ride it once if I ever get to Vegas just to get the credit.

Las Vegas is a crazy place, where tons of people people line up to pay $12.50 to ride ME, because it's big and looks cool. Too bad it's a piece of $hit.

When I was in town in August, I rode all the coasters in town. My personal favorite was Speed. For $25, we got a ride-all-day ticket plus a good photo. We rode it several times, but the night rides were the best.

A close second was Canyon Blaster at Adventuredome in Circus Circus. It was very smooth, and the tunnels and terrain-huggin curves really added a lot to the experience. For $6, it was also the cheapest.

I went on Canyon Blaster and found it to be horrendous. I don't get why people say it's a smooth Arrow because my head and shoulders were under constant attack. Actually, the whole Adventuredome park disappointed me. Once I got over the fact that all the rides were indoors, the park was really cramped and drab.

The prices for many Vegas attractions are ridiculous but I believe Speed also has a ride-all-day wristband for something like 20 bucks, which is the price of two rides. The Dania Beach Hurricane is one of those bad deal/good deal coasters- one ride is $6 but the ride-all-day is $10. It never ceases to amaze me how many people buy tickets for TWO rides and then leave... go figure.

Saying that a ride on Manhattan Express is like getting mugged is putting it very nicely- I can think of a few more descriptions but they're not very clean!

Is it strictly the headbanging that makes M.E. so bad? Just wondering how much better it would be if it didn't have OTSRs.

- Aaron K

A lack of OTSRs might help but I think it's a POS any way you look at it.

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Jeff said:
Riding ME is like getting mugged. Once was enough....

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Jeff..that's called theming....the ride is set in NEW YORK ya' know.....LOL

I think the summer heat in Nevada doesn't do much for the coasters age (referring to Desperado growing rough as well). *** Edited 11/15/2005 9:02:32 PM UTC by SVLFever***

I didn't know that it was $10 for alll day... :( I would have done it then.