Trip Report: The Coasters of Sin City
by: Niki Kapsambelis
Bright lights, vacationing tourists, replica facades of famous landmarks—there are some who say Las Vegas is the ultimate amusement park. If you’re over 21, love to gamble, and don’t mind stepping around a few misplaced, passed-out conventioneers, I’d tend to agree.
The addition of two high-powered roller coasters at either end of the Strip illustrates how Sin City has embraced its Disneyland-for-adults image with gusto. There are countless other rides in between and, if you’re willing to hike up to the Stratosphere, a few thrill rides poised at the top of a 1,149-foot tower. But it’s really Speed – The Ride at the Sahara and Manhattan Express at New York-New York that define the Las Vegas roller coaster experience.
Speed — The Ride
The Strip, as Las Vegas Boulevard is affectionately known, has evolved over the years into
two distinctly different cultures. Somewhere north of Treasure Island begins the sharp
decline in property values. Sure, there are gamblers, tourists, and seedy-looking guys
handing out flyers for escort services, but the theme park atmosphere is gone. By the time
you hit the Sahara, you’re strictly in the Vegas of yesteryear, meaning people are swilling
their adult refreshments out of paper bags instead of souvenir cups shaped like the Eiffel
Tower.
The track for Speed runs outside the hotel, so as you walk past, you occasionally get the amusement park sensation of a rushing car and screaming passengers. But once you step inside, and walk through the NASCAR Café to get to the coaster boarding area, the overall effect is more like Chuck E. Cheese.
Surprisingly, there was no wait for the ride, which means either the novelty of this coaster
has worn off, or people are discouraged by the $10 admission price, or both. You can purchase
a ride-all-day pass for $20 – more than you’d pay for ride-all-day admission to some parks –
but I’m not sure multiple rides on Speed are enough to hold anyone’s interest for long in
Las Vegas. This is the North Strip, after all, where the typical patron would rather blow
$20 at a slot machine or a few rounds of Pai Gow instead of a 45-second ride.
Speed starts out with a fairly thrilling super-fast launch. If nobody’s waiting, you can choose your seat. The loops and corkscrews are especially effective at night because you’re blowing past all the lights of Vegas. There are no really huge dips by the coaster fanatic’s standards—enough to give you butterflies, not make you lose your all-you-can-eat buffet. You do go backwards through the entire track and maybe it’s just an illusion, but it seems slower that way. Expect to know what’s coming since you just went through it forwards, but it is a nice touch.
Overall, Speed is a good ride, though rather short considering the hefty investment. Like Daniel Negreanu on a bad beat, it busts out just a bit prematurely.
Manhattan Express
At the opposite end of the Strip, where hotels are built to represent famous cities and
sprawl out over just about the same square footage, lies Manhattan Express. From the
sidewalk outside, gawkers can look up and see the coaster rocketing past a faux New York
skyline against a clear Nevada sky. Next door are the cartoonish spires of the Excalibur
hotel; across the street is the emerald glass monolith that is the MGM Grand. It doesn’t
get much more theme park than this.
In contrast to Speed, Manhattan Express benefits from an entrance befitting a coaster. Ever vigilant to find new ways to part you from your money, the casino has built a midway complete with carnival games that get riders into the coaster spirit as they walk a line painted on the floor to draw a path to the ride’s boarding area.
There, however, lies the rude awakening. This coaster is so expensive, they actually accept
major credit cards for admission to one ride. At $12.50 a pop ($25 to ride all day), I was
expecting to see cocktail waitresses bringing me complimentary drinks at the end of the ride.
Instead, I was told that all loose articles—in my case, a small purse and sunglasses—had to
stay behind. Of course, the casino will happily rent you a locker for a fee.
By now, Manhattan Express would have to be truly spectacular to make up for the price and the hassle. Unfortunately, it didn’t fit the bill.
The skyline makes a beautiful backdrop as you climb the track, but—if you’ll pardon the expression—it’s all downhill from there. For a metal coaster, the track is remarkably rough. Getting knocked around on a wooden coaster is par for the course; on metal, it’s unusual and unpleasant.
Beyond the rough ride, Manhattan Express was remarkably slow. It’s billed at 67 mph, but it felt more like 30. I’m not sure how a coaster can manage to be simultaneously slow and rough, but perhaps the design team was looking to replicate the New York subway system experience. This coaster’s trademark feature is supposed to be a 540-degree spiral that allows riders to feel negative Gs. I hardly noticed it. By the time it was over, the overall lasting impression was that it felt more like a pumped-up version of the Wild Mouse.
Bottom line: Though glitzier in appearance than its North Strip rival, Manhattan Express will simply leave you shaken, not stirred.
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