Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Goodbye to Speed: The Ride at the Sahara (Vegas)?


Recommended Posts

According to Las Vegas news reports this morning, the Sahara Hotel is closing on 5/16 with no plan in place to re-open (although they are saying it *might* re-open down the road if economically feasible, but it looks pretty bleak).

 

Wonder what will happen to the coaster... I love that ride, would be a shame to see it go down with the hotel - hopefully it will be saved in the event that the Sahara is taken down or any new owners decide not to keep it.

 

I read this on the Las Vegas Sun website (as well as a few others). Didn't want to post a link since I'm still under 50 posts, but the articles are easy to find.

Edited by robbalvey
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 282
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Here's an article on Bloomberg

 

Didn't care for the hotel much but Speed is a great coaster. Hopefully an amusement park operator will step in and purchase it. Better yet, for a small donation I can rent a couple Uhauls and transport it somewhere to rebuild it.

Edited by DJeXeL
Link to comment
Share on other sites

NOOOOO

 

 

I LOVED Speed: The Ride! I rode it back in 2007, and it was great! I can't stand to see another Premier ride abandoned!

 

 

Hopefully when I go to Vegas in 2 weeks, I can hit it up one last time. That ride, along with the rest of the NASCAR Cafe, is a well-themed area and it'd be a shame to see it go...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speed is a fun little ride. I've only ridden it a couple of times, but it's definitely worth saving. The only catch is that it's designed specifically for the spot it's in, so rebuilding it elsewhere could be a challenge. Hopefully someone will find a way to do so.

 

Eric

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't surprise me. Speed was a good ride and I'd like to hope it will get saved...but let's be honest, Chiller was a BETTER ride, and even had the train retro-fit...and there were no takers.

 

And when you have brand new coasters sitting in crates at parks that never became a reality also not getting bought up, I'd prepare to say goodbye to Speed: The Ride forever...

 

--Robb "Just thinking worst case, and unfortunately a realistic scenario here..." Alvey

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An architect once said "Las Vegas is the place where you have the most expensive, and most luxurious temporary structures in the world"

 

Here, it's right on the button. I went to the Sahara right after the 'renovation' that brought us Speed- and it was STILL a dump. Speed made the trip very worthwhile- as it's a great little coaster- not the BEST coaster, but you get the idea. I always enjoyed it's lack of lines for the most part- and that it was one of the cheapest thrills on the strip (Far cheaper than me dumping money in the slots- that's for sure.)

 

However, the Sahara is from another era. In a place where you measure the lifespan of a building in 30 year segments, it was well-overdue.

 

I'll hope for the best for Speed- but sadly, I don't see it being around in another park.

 

R.D.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like I said, luckily I'm heading to Vegas in two weeks for a Monster Jam show. If I have a chance on the days leading up, I'll conjur up as many rides as I can on Speed...Shouldn't be a problem considering the ride NEVER has a line...

 

 

And perhaps I'll also take a spin on the TOGO death machine that lurks only down the Strip... ..That's the ride that TRULY needs to be obliderated from existence! Manhattan Express is fun, but only good for one ride. After that, the roughness becomes incredibly apparent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like I said, luckily I'm heading to Vegas in two weeks for a Monster Jam show. If I have a chance on the days leading up, I'll conjur up as many rides as I can on Speed...Shouldn't be a problem considering the ride NEVER has a line...

Except that more often than not, they only run the coaster once every 15 minutes. Even when people are waiting! Not joking! Last time we were there we brought a group of 30 people. The first 24 rode, then they made us wait 15 minutes, then the next 6 rode.

 

Great ride...beyond terrible operations.

Edited by robbalvey
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every time I've gone to Vegas I've gone in the summer - last time was 2009 - and on that trip, and the couple years previous to it, they always waited about 15 min. between launches. Not sure about hotel guests complaining about noise, but the ride ops explained to us that it was due to the heat since in July and August (when we were there) it tops out around 100 during the day and still around 80-90 at night... Don't know if year-round they do the 15 min. wait, but every time I've ridden it in the summer months, there's been space between rides.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And perhaps I'll also take a spin on the TOGO death machine that lurks only down the Strip... ..That's the ride that TRULY needs to be obliderated from existence! Manhattan Express is fun, but only good for one ride. After that, the roughness becomes incredibly apparent.

 

I think I'd book a trip to Vegas just to watch that thing be taken down!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1.) I also recall the 'timed' launches- I think it was more of complaints about running 'empty' trains- which, in turn, resulted in people NOT riding the coaster as they thought it was closed...

 

2.) For those of you in the LA Basin, now is the time to get -beyond- dirt cheap airfares: Spirit Air has fares starting at $1.00 each way- and that's NOT a joke- You will end up (after taxes, fees etc.) getting it (at it's lowest) around 36.00 r/t. This fare may not be matched by ALL carriers- but take advantage of it- it's hard to find most fares for under $100.00 in that market anymore.

 

3.) Imploasions: If you REALLY want to get a good seat, start looking at when they might be getting ready to 'bring down the house'- The best reccommendation I can give (Having seen one before- On New Years Eve, no less) is to find the hotel that's not too far away- and book a higher-floor room facing the site: I'd not reccommend being in a hotel NEXT to the site- but since there's not much really around there, the Stratosphere might be your best direction to see it go down- or a higher-up room at Circus Circus for that matter. The Hilton Las Vegas (aka the International) would give some good back-side views, but if they're going to put on a 'show' you'd probably miss it.

 

R.D.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting. When I went to Vegas I actually decided to stay in the Sahara on the grounds that it had a monorail stop and was the cheapest. Don't remember much from that trip at all, but I'm sure I'd have remembered if the hotel was in any way unpleasant...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it worth making a 6-hour drive to ride it before it disappears? What else in Vegas is worth riding besides the stuff at Stratosphere?

 

We've been to the State Line and ridden Desperado. That was pretty decent, but it was hot and rattled us around quite a bit. Not sure we'd pay the money to ride it again. Speed is significantly better, right? Hopefully?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I personally like speed. Not as good as Mr. Freeze @ SFStL or SFOT however still a quality coaster nonetheless. I mean where else can you be launched immediately after exiting a vertical loop?! 6 hours is a long drive though......

 

Desperado is a little rough for my taste and I don't even like walking by RollerManhattanExpressCoaster, let alone riding it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, that sucks, but it's reality I suppose. I still remember staying at the campground at Circus Circus when Wet-N-Wild was between the Sahara and El Rancho. Not too many of the old casinos left on the strip from my youth. Circus Circus, Caesars, Imperial Palace, Ballys, Sahara, Hiltons...that's about it. I kinda wonder how much longer Circus Circus has left in the tank...that looked pretty ghetto when I was there in 2009.

 

Speed was a cool coaster and as many have said, the best coaster in Vegas (which isn't saying much). But I agree with Robb in that I don't see another park picking it up when no one wanted Chiller.

 

I had no clue what was with the excessive wait before launch...I just figured they were trying to fully load the train. But I do remember commenting on the horrid ride operations because they never really made any attempt to tell us why we were kept waiting so long and perhaps I missed a sign that may have posted this? The ride ops were texting & goofing around while all of us that wanted to ride all had puzzled looks on our faces!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't surprise me. Speed was a good ride and I'd like to hope it will get saved...but let's be honest, Chiller was a BETTER ride, and even had the train retro-fit...and there were no takers.

 

And when you have brand new coasters sitting in crates at parks that never became a reality also not getting bought up, I'd prepare to say goodbye to Speed: The Ride forever...

 

--Robb "Just thinking worst case, and unfortunately a realistic scenario here..." Alvey

Robb, I believe Chiller was bought! I remember hearing awhile back that a company had plans to pick it up on the cheap after Gadv announced it's removal, refurb it and sell it somewhere in the world, although, from my understanding, the project was cancelled and Chiller is rotting in a field a few miles from the park.

 

Speed was a great ride. When I was in Vegas, it always looked closed as I would stand there and wait for the launch for 5 minutes and walk into the hotel only to find that it's open

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/