Mr Stratosphere

Stratosphere Tower 2002-Present I operate High Roller, Big Shot, X-Scream and Insanity. I mainly operate Insanity though. Its a unique job working at the world's highest amusement park!

^ I understand that one, on the main lift at the end of the ride the boost wheels make alot of noise. Freaks some people out, but its always done that. I am deaftly afraid of Ferris Wheels, for some reason i really dislike them there is a flimsy feeling with them that i dont like. I guess I feel too voulnerable riding them. I will ride them with others, but never on my own, they just freak me out.

Be sure when you get into your hotel room check out the "What's On" Magazine because there are many many cupons for rides and attractions around Vegas. This is a little known secret because many people dont look in their room before heading out.

I was wondering had anyone ever felt extremely unsafe on a rollercoaster, or any other ride? When I was little i felt unsafe on Kamakaze a flat ride found at most fairs. Maybe this would be an interesting topic.

High Roller at the Stratosphere is in dyre need of a paint job. It is supposed to be red but looks orange and some white... Not the best ride but hey its there and it should look good right?

^ Should come to Vegas < Live here for 14 years

Before the construction resumed, inspections were done to the legs. Lucky the fire was not burning for a very long time. Hey I still love the place. Even though people think that Bob Stupak set the fire, he no longer owns the tower. DUH! But hey the place is great and having a great time working there and riding the rides. Its a shame this incident happened with the fire. I know there is a huge amount of rebar in the tower, there has to be for structural integrity. We would not have been allowed to put rides up there if it wasnt safe. Like X-Scream and Insanity. The city would not have allowed it, again before the construction of X-Scream or Insanity the building was inspected again. Luxor sank and they built 2 new hotel towers for support to it. Mandalay bay also sank about 5 feet in the middle mid construction.

The fire is something that in the towers history has had many people saying things about it. During Construction there was a fire where all of the scaffolding burned. The area that was torched was demolished after the fire and the area rebuilt. It is a concrete structure, all that burnt was wooden support holding wet concrete to dry. So that area doesnt even exist anymore. No damage. All the fire was lmited to the external part of the structure

Family Of Girls Stuck On Insanity Ride May Sue Stratosphere Here is an article about the Girls and Insanity. Anyway Insanity is open again and a big hit just like it has been since it opened in March. It is still my favorite ride EVER! Hope some of you come out and ride it. http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3258902&nav=15MUUi4B They were stuck on the Insanity ride for over 80 minutes. They say they didn't plan to sue at first, but now they might. News 3's Maria Silva tells us why the family may be having a change of heart. They say one reason is to make sure this never happens again. While it was in part her father's decision to consult the family's attorney, today it was 19-year-old Erica McKinnon who was doing all the talking, and she says she wants answers. For 19-year-old Erica McKinnon, listening to that 9-1-1 tape is still difficult. "I just imagine how I was feeling at the time. My voice was completely different from what it is right now." Dealing with the ordeal is even tougher for her 11-year-old cousin, Gabriela Ceniceros. "There's times she just stares at it, quiet." While McKinnon acknowledges some stratosphere workers did things right, "They were really helpful, really comforting at the end," others weren't as helpful, ""There were a couple girls and two guys where they control the ride, and they were just looking at us and laughing." And she also says her father also didn't get much help. "When he was on his way, he called to talk to security, and they hung up on him three times." Its because of situations like those that the McKinnon's hired the law firm of Myers and Gomel. "The Stratosphere apparently has taken the position that things happened according to plan. The Stratosphere needs a new plan." Among their biggest complaints, "I can tell you that as of the present day, the Stratosphere has not so much as offered an apology to the girls." As for how Stratosphere executives feel about being faced with a possible lawsuit, the resort's Vice President of Marketing, Randy Fine, had this to say. "I'm sure it's a very stressful situation and we understand." Stratosphere executives also tells us that soon after the incident, McKinnon's father contacted the resort's general manager to thank him for what Stratosphere workers had done for his daughter. They say it was at that time the GM did offer an apology. The attorney, who will represent both girls, says if they do pursue legal action they hope to settle out of court.

Well here are some pictures from my trip this march. I will have a review later on, but now i will have photos and captions to those photos. Fantasmic! my favorite show ever at Disney The great Tower! On ride photo Tower of Terror im on the left front row On ride photo on Rockin' Roller Coaster Stitch! took over the Monorail Trains! OMG whats that no people here, scary!!!!!!! Look at the Castle as it looms over the park. WOW such a difference than Disney California! Wow first one in the Park with Disney Magic Hours because we were staying at the Resort. 7 AM and the first one at the gate. Whats wrong here no mob of people?! Me and my Dad at the CASTLE! Look not even Walt and Mickey could block the castle. I was so shocked being able to see it at the end of Main Street USA!!! LOL Illuminations is a great show and a great way to end the day at EPCOT Mission Space, it really is a great simulator ride, i love the barf bag touch. Thankfully no one needed it on our ride. We went to all 4 parks. Even to EPCOT where "Every Person Comes Out Tired" or "Employees Paycheck Cashed On Thursday" Our First Ride Tower of Terror 4! My Favorite ride at the WDW Resort First morning waking up at Disneys Pop Century Resort

Insanity is our newest ride added to the top of the tower 866ft above the Strip. Insanity is what we call an inverted centrifuge. where 10 riders on 5 arms swing 64ft over the edge of the tower, at a 70 degree angle, 40mph, at 3 G's. The ride is about 4 Minutes long and a great ride at that. find more out at http://www.insanityride.com/

This is a pic of me at work standing on the Big Shot, favorite place of mine. and 2 pics of Insanity.

10/10^ great name i love MF

^Likes hash browns (McDonald's maybe) < Going to work at 909ft above the strip

The ride was not shaking out there, it was just sitting there not moving.

Insanity has reopened, and if you are in Vegas tonight or you live here, each of our 4 rides are free until midnight tonight. Insanity, High Roller, Big Shot, and X-Scream are all free until Midnight Tonight!

We should be reopening the ride again tonight.

^ What ride was that on?

Well the ride was still, the seats were not tilted, just sitting there level. I've been stuck on it and to me its not a big deal because i know what is going on. We offered them a years worth of passes to the rides and they declined it. Elissa was right great reporting was done by reporters calling Insanity the new "Roller Coaster" I didnt know that we built a roller coaster!? I just cant wait to get back on it, its my favorite ride of all time

Since the Breakdown of Insanity earlier this morning, I was wondering has anyone have an Interesting story about a time they were stuck on a ride, and what happend, Did the ride start up again, or did you have to be evacuated? My most interesting one was being evacuated from the top of the Desperados Lift one windy day, the train had assended to the top of the hill and then it just stopped. It was nearly 15 minutes till somone came on a loudspeaker to tell us what had happend. They said someone will be coming up to let us out and we would have to climb the stairs back down. People began to freak out, but i was cool with it (im not afraid of heights) and i wish i had my camera on me (Darn!) but it was interesting getting to climb down 205 ft of stairs. (Gasps for breath)

Ack! i just remembered the restraints that are on Phantoms Revenge, I do like them, but they sure are different

Lucky this time because it was mother nature and not human or mehanical error. This is just something we are looking into so this doesnt happen again.

Vegas of course is my closest park, the Adult Disney World (if you will) but anything in California i would consider my real close park.

Here is a news report from our local news station about the New Insanity Ride plus my own imput at the end. http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3238702&nav=15MUYuTr It is an attraction built to scare people, but overnight the fear factor on the Stratosphere hit a terrifying new level. News 3's Steve Crupi reports a pair of local girls got stuck on the new ride called Insanity! The folks at the Stratosphere are apologizing for the mishap, but they say what happened up there early this morning had a lot more to do with mother nature than any kind of mechanical or human error. Shortly after midnight, the twirling high rise thrill ride, appropriately called Insanity!, came to an abrupt halt with a pair of terrified passengers on board. "I didn't think I was going to make it. It was shaking because the wind was so strong." When high winds caused the ride to shut down, the 18 and 11 year old girls were left dangling for more than an hour, 100 stories above ground. "When we sent the passengers out there, everything was okay, but then the winds spiked and they just stayed up, and up, and up." On the top level of the Stratosphere, there are devices that check the weather. One monitors wind speed, and last night it measured a top wind gust of 61 miles per hour right at the time the girls were stuck on the ride. The Stratosphere apologizes for what happened. "Absolutely. We're sorry they had the experience that they did." We're told the ride behaved exactly as it was designed to, but since the wind just kept blowing, technicians finally had to manually crank the ride back toward the tower, and that took a whole lot longer than anyone expected. The Stratosphere says it will continue to develop the system that controls the ride so that passengers will not be left hanging like that again. My Imput: This occured last night around 1AM the last ride before the tower closed for the evening. This occured on Insanity. Our newest ride which opened March 10th. The ride was operating normally when A gust of wind over 50mph caused the sensors to shut down the ride as a safety backup. Once the winds receded about 90 minutes later the ride was allowed to move back onto the loading platform. The news reports and comments from the 11 year old i think were way overreacted. The 11 year old said i thought i was not going to make it, but honestly the ride was designed incase something like this would hapen everyone would still be safe, of course everything went as it was supposed to. The automatic shutdown was working fine. Today the ride opened back up after being inspected and reset. For everyones knowledge the ride did not malfunction like the news said, it was a safety feature that shut down the ride. I will have more information about this later on. But Insanity is up and running today!

i actually like the restraints on Tower of Terror at Disney MGM Studios (WDW Resort) for the lack of restraints, just a seat belt? Genius!