TR: Las Vegas July 12-16, 2009

[rcdude]

Over the past several days, I have been away on a trip to Las Vegas. This trip was a big family trip involving a grand total of thirteen people (me, my brother, my sister, my mom, my stepfather, my grandparents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, and 2 cousins). For the most part, we all did different things. Since I don't know what everyone did, this report is about what I did.

 

During the trip, I rode at least one roller coaster on three of the five days. Unfortunately, since I do not have a camera I didn't take any pictures. Hopefully I'll have a camera sometime in the near future. Anyway, I'll break this up into days, with Sunday and Monday in this post and Tuesday-Thursday will be posted tomorrow.

 

Sunday, July 12th, 2009:

 

This was the day for everyone to travel to Las Vegas. My grandparents drove with an aunt and uncle and met up with my immediate family (me, brother, sister, mother, stepfather) along the way. The rest of our group had flown in from San Francisco (more on them later).

 

We left at about 9:15 in the morning so we wouldn't get to Las Vegas too late. After a rest stop, lunch stop (Taco Bell), and a stop at Alien Jerky, we arrived at Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino. Here we met up with everyone else that drove. While a few people gambled, the rest of us went off to do rides. Even though I was told I only had about an hour for rides, I bought an all day pass for $30, while my brother and sister just got one ride on the log flume and one on Desperado. My mother and stepfather decided to ride the log flume, so they bought a ticket for it.

 

Adventure Canyon Log Flume-Back when this ride had guns, I ranked it as my second least favorite log flume. However, I believe it is now my least favorite. Without the guns, it is definitely not worth the $6 ticket price. The ride is short and only has one drop that is probably about 30 ft. (the sign said 45 ft., but it felt smaller than the drop on Knott's log flume). I do not think I would have rode this if I didn't get an all day pass, especially since it was the only ride with a wait.

Desperado-Since I had an all day pass, I rode this ride three times. After trying it in different seats, I can say that it is best in the middle seat of a car. If you aren't directly above the wheels, the ride is rough but not too bad, especially if you hold on and lean forward. In the wheel seats, however, it isn't a very fun ride. Still not as good as Magnum XL-200, but worth the $8 ticket.

Turbo Drop-I've never been on this ride before since it is usually closed when I have visited. Today, however, I rode this ride twice since they let me stay on. It is a fun ride, but isn't worth $6, especially if you have been on a taller S&S drop tower (this one is 170 ft.). My brother was going to ride, but decided not to buy the ticket because he would rather use the money in the arcade.

 

After an hour and forty five minutes, we all went back to our cars and headed off to Las Vegas, arriving at the Excalibur at about 4:45. The rest of our group was at the hotel to greet us since their flight had come in around noon. After unpacking, we got dinner in the food court (Quizno's, Mcdonalds, Pizza Hut) and went down to the arcade to play some games, then went up to the rooms and played around. Since we had six rooms, I don't know what time everybody went to bed, but I know I was asleep by midnight.

 

Monday, July 13th, 2009:

 

Today was the main amusement park day of the trip. I had told everyone they had to be ready to go at 10, but since everyone was up by eight we went down and had breakfast in a sit-down restaurant (Sherwood Forest Cafe).

 

After breakfast, our group split up. My brother, sister, mother, stepfather, aunt, uncle, cousins, and I all decided to go to the north end of the strip for the day while the rest of our party gambled. Due to a wrong turn, it took us a half-hour to get to the Adventuredome.

 

In case anyone doesn't know, the Adventuredome is the only actual amusement park in the state of Nevada (that I'm aware of) and is located inside a dome behind Circus Circus. We all went inside and bought wristbands for $20 each (we had a coupon). My uncle, mother, and stepfather decided not to get a wristband because they aren't ride people. During the three hours we spent at the Adventuredome, I did eight attractions (with seven of them at $7 each, I definitely got my money's worth).

 

Merry-Go-Round-I only rode this because my younger cousin wanted to. It was pretty boring.

Slingshot-This is a launch/drop tower. It takes off really quickly, stops about ten feet from the top, then slowly moves up to the top and drops. This was a fun ride, but isn't anything special. It is also likely to cause back issues if you are prone to them because of how quickly it accelerates/decelerates.

Disk'O-This had been added since I last visited the Adventuredome. It is a standard flat ride, but is quite fun. A couple of us rode twice, but I only went once so I wouldn't make myself sick. Definitely the best flat ride in the Adventuredome.

Canyon Blaster-This is the largest indoor roller coaster in the United States. I only rode once, but my brother, sister, and older cousin rode 2-3 times. It is not that rough, at least for an Arrow, but it is probably my least favorite coaster in Vegas. The ride has one drop followed by four inversions, and is over too quickly for me. For an indoor coaster, it's great, but it is not as good as similar outdoor coasters.

Lazer Blast-This is the laser tag attraction at the Adventuredome. I like this arena, as well as the set-up they use (every man for themselves). All six of us enjoyed it, and I ended up coming in second place (behind my aunt). We also decided that my sister shouldn't join the military, as she ended with a score of zero.

Marvin The Martian 4-D-This was new, so we decided to try it out. Unfortunately, it was pretty lame. I would say it is at the bottom end of theme park 3-D movies.

Spongebob Squarepants 4-D-This is the park's simulator ride, and it isn't in 3-D here. I had seen it before and decided to give it another try since I didn't remember it too well. I would have been better off not waiting 20 minutes for it, because it was just as lame as the Mavin the Martian show.

Chaos-My brother and older cousin rode this while I watched the Spongebob Squarepants movie. They both liked it. I don't like these types of rides as they make me sick.

Rim Runner-This ride didn't open until about a half-hour before we left, and it had a 25 minute wait due to one boat operation. It is a little bit better than most splash boats rides, but it still isn't excellent. I would have been fine with skipping it had it not been open or had a longer line. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it, with my younger cousin saying it was her favorite ride.

 

If you live within an hour of Las Vegas or have never been to it, the Adventuredome is a good place to spend half a day. However, after four visits in the last decade, I think I am getting tired of the park. It no longer seems as fun, and Canyon Blaster is really the only ride there worth the $7 ticket price (Rim Runner maybe but it's a stretch). In future Las Vegas visits, I do not think I will visit the Adventuredome. Now, if they get a new roller coaster or some other major ride, or I am showing people around Las Vegas, I would visit it again. But for now, I think I am done with the Adventuredome.

 

We left the Adventuredome at about 2 because everyone was getting hungry. We went to Mcdonalds for lunch, then our group split again. I went with my brother, older cousin, aunt and uncle to go over to the Nascar Cafe while everyone else went back to our hotel.

 

Once we got to the Nascar Cafe, my brother, aunt and I all got an all day ride pass for $20, even though we only had forty five minutes. My cousin had decided to just play in the arcade, and my uncle just wanted to see the place. Anyway, we had plenty of time for a couple rides.

 

Cyber Speedway-This was a fun ride. It wasn't that great, but it was fun. This is a motion simulator where you get in and drive a Nascar stock car. It takes a little getting used to, so none of us did that well in the race. My brother and I both damaged our cars, but I was the only one who got my car repaired. My aunt totaled her car so she didn't finish the race. Anyway, I came in third overall out of five racers, so I don't consider that too bad for a first race.

Speed-This is the only roller coaster in Las Vegas that I hadn't ridden before, as I had never been to the Nascar Cafe. My brother had come over on our most recent visit, but I decided not to since I didn't want to pay ten dollars for Speed. BIG MISTAKE. Speed is the best coaster in Vegas. It is short, but good. So far, this is the only ride I have been on that has a mid-ride launch (Revenge of the Mummy doesn't count), and that combined with the unique layout definitely made the ride for me. In addition, the ride is smooth and doesn't ever have much of a wait. We rode twice since we had an all day pass. My only complaint about the ride is that the restraints aren't very comfortable, but that can be overlooked. It isn't a world class coaster, but if you only want to ride or can afford one coaster in Vegas, this is the one.

 

As a side note, Speed was a special ride for me for a different reason. Speed became my 100th credit! Woo hoo! Anyway, back to the report.

 

We left the Nascar Cafe around 5:30 and went back to our Hotel. After a dip in the pool (I didn't participate since the waterslide pool closed at 6 and the other one is boring) and dinner at Baja Fresh, we returned to our rooms. I played Yu-Gi-Oh with my older cousin until about 10, then returned to my room and went to bed early (11 p.m.). I had advised everyone to go to bed early, because we would be getting up early and staying up late the next day. Unfortunately, nobody took my advice.

 

I will post part two of this report tomorrow afternoon. It has much less amusement park stuff in it, but it still has a little bit.

[Guest]

Good Article. I looking forward to reading your part two. Thanks for your efforts !

[rcdude]

Time for Part Two.

 

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009:

 

On this day, I got up at 8 along with my brother, aunt, uncle, and two cousins. We all went to Krispy Kreme for breakfast, then left the hotel for Hoover Dam. I had been to the dam about ten years ago, but my relatives hadn't been before (except my uncle, but he didn't remember it). We went on the dam tour, which is the more expensive tour at $30 per dam tourist. After watching the dam movie, we went to look at the dam exhibits. Our tour started at noon, but we got to the waiting area fifteen minutes early. There, we met our dam guide, then took a dam elevator to a dam tunnel, where we saw a diagram of how the dam worked. Afterwards, we went and looked at the dam powerplant, then took another dam elevator into a dam inspection corridor, where we could see out of a dam ventilation grate. We then looked at a dam staircase, then returned to the surface. We then got lunch at the dam cafe, which served dam dogs and dam burgers. After a stop at the dam restroom, we got in the car and returned to Las Vegas (sorry if that got old, but we were joking around like that during the whole trip and the guides actually call themselved dam guides ).

 

It was about 3:30 by the time we got back to the hotel. My younger cousin and my sister were going out to dinner with my aunt and uncle that night, and they had dinner reservations at Rosemary's (a fancy French restaurant) at 6:45. This meant that we didn't really have much time to do anything except go down to the arcade. I spent another $5 on games.

 

After everyone left for dinner, I went with my brother, older cousin, and grandparents over to the Luxor. We ate dinner here (Nathan's and Little Caesars) and looked around a little bit. We then went back to the hotel and played videogames until about 9:30, when we met my mom and got ready to go out for the night.

 

Tuesday Night/Wednesday Morning:

 

My mom, brother, older cousin, and I left the hotel at 10:00 p.m. to walk over to the UA Showcase 8 theater. My stepfather had planned to come over with my sister and younger cousin once they returned from dinner, so we didn't expect him for another 30-45 minutes. Anyway, once we arrived at the theater, we got in line for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This had been the condition that my brother agreed to go on the trip, that we had to see the midnight showing of this movie. He was all freaked out, thinking there would be a massive line and he had made us buy tickets two weeks earlier. Well, when we got to the theater, they still had about a quarter of the tickets left and there were ten people in line. I guess people don't see midnight showings in Las Vegas. Anyway, we got into the theater about forty five minutes before the movie started. I went with my stepfather to wait in the twenty minute concession line. At 12:01, the trailers began. After nearly twenty minutes of trailers, the movie rolled.

 

Since this isn't the movie thread, I will keep my review of the movie short. I have to say that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is definitely one of the better Harry Potter movies, though probably not the best. It is certainly better than the other one David Yates did (Order of the Phoenix). If I remember correctly, Half-Blood Prince is pretty close to the book, but not the closest one in the series. It may be my favorite movie of the year so far, but if it isn't then it is second to only Star Trek. I think I need to see it again before I decide for sure. If you are going to go see a movie, this is the one to go see. However, if you are not a Harry Potter fan, you can live without seeing this one. 8/10

 

After the movie, we walked back to the hotel and went to bed at 3:30 in the morning.

 

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009:

 

On Wednesday, I slept in until 11. Once I got up, I got together with everyone else and made a list of what we were going to do that day. I hadn't been to the waterslide pool yet, so I wanted to do that. Since nobody else cared, I went down there with my aunt for about a half hour. The waterslide at the Excalibur is pretty good for a hotel pool, but isn't waterpark quality. It is a body slide that is partially enclosed. I rode it five times or so, trying something different each time to go as fast as I could. I found that laying on your back with your legs crossed and arms spread out goes fastest.

 

My brother wanted to go visit the Venetian, my sister wanted to see the Fashion Show mall, and my aunt wanted to see the Bellagio fountains. I didn't go with them, but convinced them to wait until nighttime for this trip. I know that they spent a long time at the Mall, not enough time at the Venetian, and skipped the Bellagio.

 

During the day, we decided to go over to the Showcase Mall. There are two main places we visited here. First, we visited M&M world. This is a four story shop with every M&M related thing in existence. Since I'm not a huge M&M fan, I was bored. Everybody else liked it, however. The other store we visited was the World of Coke store. We didn't do much shopping here (except for my younger cousin, who spent more money on souvenirs than everyone else combined). Instead, we went to the second level to try something I had read about on this site before.

 

On the second level of the Coke store, they have a soda counter. You can buy pretty much any Coke product here. We decided to get the Tastes of the World. This is $7 and gives you a glass of 16 different sodas. We were thinking of getting two, but after finding out that one tray was good for 6-8 tasters, we decided we only needed one (there were only six of us). The sixteen sodas included were:

 

1. Inca Cola (Peru)-None of us thought this was that great.

2. Sunfill Mint (India)-I liked this one. Everyone else just thought it tasted like mouthwash (they didn't like it).

3. Stoney Ginger Beer (South America)-This was okay. I think I liked it about the same as everyone else, but I'm not sure. My younger cousin hated this one.

4. Aquarius Citrus (Taiwan)-I really liked this one. However, everyone else thought it was just okay.

5. Delaware Punch (Honduras)-I really liked this as well, probably because it had an unusual taste. I don't think anyone else really liked it much.

6. Vegitabeta (Japan)-Everyone except me thought this was the best one. I didn't get it.

7. Red Flash (USA)-I didn't like this, and neither did anyone else in our group.

8. Kinley Lemon (England)-I thought this was like Lemonade, which I don't really like. Everyone else thought it was okay.

9. Lift Apple (Mexico)-None of us really liked this much.

10. Fanta Kolita (Costa Rica)-I didn't like this, but everyone else thought it was an unusal taste, but was okay.

11. Krest Gingerale (Mozambique)-I didn't really like this. I think it went over well with most of us, however.

12. Bibo Kiwi Mango (South Africa)-None of us liked this much.

13. Bibo Pine Nut (South Africa)-This was worse than the Kiwi Mango.

14 Smart Apple (China)-This was better than the other Apple drink, but none of us cared for it much.

15. Beverly (Italy)-See below.

16. Mezzo Mix (Germany)-This was my favorite, but I don't think anyone else liked it too much.

 

It was fun trying all the sodas. After we were done, we headed back to the hotel.

 

The Beverly: Beverly is good. No, it isn't good, it's awesome. In fact, it's so awesome that I'd give it an award. Beverly gets the award for the worst soda I've ever tasted. We all decided that this soda was horrible. Worst soda ever. Anyway, my brother decided to go get a small Beverly once we were done. The server thought he was crazy, but gave it to him anyway. It got a lot of laughs from people near the counter who had tried it. We took this Beverly back to the hotel and had everyone who didn't come on the soda tasting trip try it. My grandmother believed us when we told her it was the world's best soda, but then looked ready to vomit after she tried it. My grandfather didn't think it was that bad. My mom thought it was special Italian water and hated it after she tried it. My stepfater tried it and then went back for seconds. However, that wasn't the best part. My brother left the Beverly in my mom's room. In the middle of the night, she got up to get a drink of water and accidentally drank the Beverly. Of course, she tossed it after that. Still, the Beverly was awesome because it got so many laughs out of those who watched others try it after they had tried it themselves.

 

Anyway, enough about Beverly. As I see it, there is one major coaster I haven't talked about in Las Vegas yet, and that is THE Roller Coaster.

 

THE Roller Coaster-First off, this is worse than any name Cedar Fair has come up with. Okay, I rode this ride with my brother, older cousin, sister, and aunt. My sister and aunt only rode once since it was $14 a ticket, while the rest of us got all day passes for $25 each. My cousin rode twice. My brother rode three times. However, I was crazy enough to ride FIVE times throughout the day (once in the morning, twice in the afternoon, and twice at night). I do not understand the negativity this ride gets. It is my second favorite ride in Vegas (after Speed) and has one of the coolest inversions I have experienced. People say the ride is insanely rough, but I didn't find it any worse than a standard Arrow. Everyone I rode with thououghly enjoyed it, with my cousin saying it's one of his favorite roller coasters. However, five rides is enough as my head didn't feel like another beating. Unfortunately, I do not believe I can justify paying $14 for this ride in the future. The price has gone up by $4 since I last rode it, and I thought $10 was about the ride's value. In the future, I do not think I will take the time to ride this unless I am right by the hotel and can make use of an all day pass. I also think I will limit myself to three rides during the day.

 

Oh, one other thing I noticed. This ride is called THE Roller Coaster, but a lot of the signage says Manhattan Express. Is New York New York Hotel & Casino too cheap to change the signs, or are they thinking of returning to the old name? I have no clue, but I doubt it matters.

 

Anyway, I went to bed at around one in the morning since I had to pack before going to bed.

 

Thursday, July 16th, 2009:

 

This was the last day. We had Krispy Kreme in the morning, then left at about ten. With only a stop for gas, a lunch stop at Carls, Jr., and a rest stop, we made it home at around four in the afternoon.

 

Overall, this was a good trip. I got to do everything I wanted to do, although I would have liked to have done the Stratosphere Tower. Oh well, it gives me something to do next time I go. My grandmother says that she'll take me to Las Vegas when I'm 21, which will be in less than three years time. That will be my next trip to Las Vegas, unless something happens to get me out there before January 2012.