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5:53 p.m. - 2006-09-19
Viva Las Vegas
Tuesday, September 19, 2006

We are back from Las Vegas.

We stayed at the Stratosphere hotel & casino. We did go up in the tower about 1800+ feet for a gorgeous view of the area.

The Big Shot blasts off on top of the Stratosphere Tower.

High Roller Coaster Review "Taking Fear to New Heights" From Arthur Levine,
Big Shot at Stratosphere Tower, Las Vegas Tower rides are popping up at theme parks and amusement parks everywhere these days.
But, one of the most unlikely spots for a freefall ride is atop the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas.
At over 1000 feet in the air, it is, by far, the world's tallest thrill ride. And it is both terrifying and
exhilarating.
About Guide Rating (0=Yich!, 10=Wow!): 8.5
Thrill Scale (0=Wimpy!, 10=Yikes!): 10
Fairly standard tower ride, but at 1000 feet above Las Vegas, the psychological thrills are very intense.
Attraction type: Tower ride (Space Shot)
Stratosphere Tower Thrill Rides
Las Vegas, NV
888-236-7495
Just getting to the Big Shot is an adventure. You must first enter the Stratosphere's casino.

If you manage to hang onto your money, you then head upstairs to the second level and walk through the resort's mall. If you've still managed to hang onto a few bucks, you purchase your Tower and ride tickets, and board the elevators, which travel an ear-popping 1800 feet per minute, or three floors per second, to the stratospheric levels of the tower.

Before you brave the rides (the Stratosphere also features the High Roller coaster and the Project X Sky attractions), you may want to hang out on the observation deck. Its panoramic vistas of the Strip, downtown Vegas, and the surrounding hills are incredible.

You could also check out the Top of the World spinning lounge and restaurant or the sky-high wedding chapel (only in Vegas!).

Then it's a short elevator ride up to the Big Shot...which is essentially the world's scariest elevator ride. Like many tower rides, S&S Power built the scream machine. It is a fairly standard 160-foot version of the manufacturer's "Space Shot." The Big Shot uses compressed air to blast riders from the base up to the top of the tower. Did I say it was fairly standard?

Well yes, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT THE BASE OF THE RIDE SITS ATOP THE 921-FOOT LEVEL OF THE STRATOSPHERE TOWER!

Yeahhhhhh!
The ride attendants help you buckle the over-the-shoulder harnesses into place, give you and the ride operator the thumbs-up sign, and leave you for a few agonizing moments to ponder what in the world made you think about doing this. The ride's compressors whoosh as they fill with air, the seats release and slightly rise, and then--yeahhhhhh--you are blasted with incredible force to over 1000 feet above Las Vegas' terra firma.
It's 2.5 seconds to the top (perhaps the longest 2.5 seconds of your life). The seats momentarily hang as you experience some delirious zero-G airtime floating incredibly high above Las Vegas.

The ride then freefalls down and bounces a couple of times for some less intense doses of negative-Gs before it mercifully stops.

There are many psychological factors conspiring to scare the daylights out of you. The sheer height is positively terrifying. The ride leaves you completely exposed with your legs and arms dangling. Facing away from the tower, it's just you, the seat, and the ether above Las Vegas.

The force of the launch gets you thinking: What if this seat just rocketed off the top? For that matter, will the safety harness really tether you to the seat?

If you can manage to get past these not-inconsiderable concerns, the view is captivating.

If possible, you might want to hold out for seats on the side of the ride that face the Las Vegas Strip. You may also want to try Big Shot during the day and again during Vegas' neon-soaked night.

WE DID NOT GO ON THESE RIDES NOR THE RIDE WHICH IS A ROLLER COASTER THAT GOES OUT FROM THE TOWER....IT WAS TOO WINDY.....LOL, thank goodness we can use that as our excuse!!!!

We did visit the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. We posed with Lucille Ball, Tiger Woods, George Clooney, and several more.

"Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum Strike a pose and dazzle the paparazzi. Sing live at the American Idol Experience. Forecast the weather with Al Roker. Or make Jennifer Lopez blush! In a city with millions of things to see and do, there is only one place where over 200 of the world's top celebrities provide you with an interactive experience of a lifetime."

We went into several casinos that we had not visited before including the WYNN. There is always construction going in and currently there are at least two more new casinos going up on the strip, the COSMOPOLITAN and THE TOWER AT THE BEACH.

The best casino for visual beauty inside and out is CAESAR'S PALACE in my opinion. I love all the sculptures, the costumes and the talking statutes....

BELLAGIO AND THE MIRAGE have beautiful fountains and water falls too. The Bellagio dancing fountains are very awesome when the water shoots up with the music.

The best thing we found was a new slot machine. We always played the nickel slots but now.....

THERE ARE 1 CENT SLOT MACHINES!!!! I won $17.00 on one....but of course, I played it all back into the casino's winnings.

We rode the Deuce I and II (which is the bus system) It cost $2 per person per ride or $5.00 for a 24 hour pass. We rode the tram between 3 casinos for free, We took a couple of trolley rides back and forth to the Hilton Casino for a few $ and we had a delivery to and from the airport as part of our package deal. And we walked and walked and walked and walked some more.

One of the last times we visited Las Vegas, we stayed at Sam's Town which we would highly recommend. It is about 6 miles from the Strip but they provide a bus back and forth and they have an atrium and have a laser show during the day and night.

The only time that was annoying was going back home. We had to be at the airlline for a 7:15 A.M. flight. We got up at 4 AM, got the shuttle at 5:15 AM, arrived at the airport about 5:45 AM and were still in the security check line at 7:00 AM. Fortunately several thousand other travelers were also struck in the lines. We got to our gate at 7:10 AM and were the second people to board. Our takeoff was delayed about a half hour so the rest of the passengers could get to the gate.

Nice to be back home and now we are putting our traveling things away until November when we go on a cruise for 5 days.

More later in the week....

analysis - new appointment

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