In 1996 the highest roller coaster in the world opened. Located 900 feet above the
ground it would offer breathtaking views over Las Vegas, the only problem was, that it was
basically a family attraction in the sky and would become just another - extinct - Vegas coaster.
“Are you insane enough to experience the high point of adrenaline rushes. You’ve never ridden so
high, so close to the edge, on top of it all, seek thrills, the tower, the high point of Las Vegas.”
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The idea for the Stratosphere in Vegas began as a 1000 foot tall,
neon sign tower to promote the Vegas World hotel and casino. After submitting plans for the sign,
casino boss Bob Stupak withdrew them to be revised to include an observation deck.
The new plan would include a 50 million, 1012 foot observation tower designed by the same architect,
Ned Baldwin, who had worked on the CN Tower in Toronto. This new plan would
create the tallest structure in the state of Nevada. The early plans included an idea
for the worlds first indoor african lion park. This was luckily scrapped.
In February 1992 construction began on the tower, it would be located directly
north of the Las Vegas Strip in a not so great neighbourhood. Originally planned to open in 1994,
multiple issues forced it to be delayed such as a fire and financial difficulties. While
it was under construction Stupak decided that he wanted to make it even taller and beat the
CN Tower by 10 feet. This plan was rejected but they were given a height of 1149 feet.
On April 30th 1996, The 550 million dollar Stratosphere complex
opened to the public after a grand celebration with 8000 invited VIP Guests.
“It’s like a spaceship sitting on a launch pad. And the countdown for the
grand opening of the tallest building west of the Mississippi is t minus 6 days and counting.
One look at the Stratosphere Tower and resort and it brings out the Ooos and Ahhhs.
I’m excited i’m going to be the first ones up there. Cant wait!”
This brand new observation tower,
would be the tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States.
On top of the landmark tower would be two unique attractions,
though initially there was supposed to be three.
King Kong would scale the tower with riders on board.
Seriously. A 70 foot replica of the giant ape would scale 600 feet up
the side of the stratosphere carrying 48 riders. Planned to open in December 1996,
Kong would have arms and a head that could move left and right along with being able to roar.
After climbing the tower Kong would continue to slip back down
30 feet at a time offering a free fall element to the attraction. When this was announced however,
HOW this would happen wasn’t fully thought out but all that was said was that Kong
would climb out of a cage at the base of the tower, climb up and slide down into smoke.
In may a month after the resort opened the idea was delayed because the design
and engineering of the attraction was taking longer than expected.
They promised, it would be worth the wait and not just an elevator ride
in a gorilla. They also stated the attraction would cost 6 million dollars.
By July 1996, the attraction was scrapped. It was unsurprisingly, determined to be un feasible.
When asked about the project, they said it was an engineering challenge
to say the least. Especially since the resort was operating at a huge loss in its opening year.
Two rides would open though. Firstly
Big Shot, a 160 foot tall, S&S Space shot that was located at the top of the tower on its needle.
At 1081 feet above ground, it was the highest thrill ride in the world.
The second highest in the world sat on top of the tower's observation pod and would be
the worlds highest roller coaster. The Let It Ride High, Roller or just High Roller.
Situated at the 909 foot mark of The United States tallest free standing tower
was a 865 foot long family roller coaster. Designed by guru of roller coaster design
Werner Stengal, in collaboration with Italian ride company Structures and Machines Construction who
were formed from former workers of S.D.C who had built many family coasters before going bankrupt.
S&MC USA would be the independent sales arm of the Italian Company,
who would help finish High Roller. This new attraction would be the new company's
second coaster after Hurricane at Playland Park in New York.
Dubbed the furthest coaster from dirt, The Let It Ride High Roller would encircle the top of
the observation pod. Executive Vice President of the Stratosphere promised it would be one of the
scariest coasters in the world. Paul Witkins director of the cities building inspection
department said if i was a roller coaster rider I would ride it with no concerns.
“We might mention there are a couple rides up here 1000 feet off the ground,
the highest roller coaster in the world,
and the world's highest thrill ride. That takes you 160 feet up in just 2 seconds.
The attraction would originally be sponsored by the Let It Ride card game which is based on Poker,
combining the world's highest coaster with the world's richest table game,
according to the hotel.
Opening with the resort it was not without its fair share of issues. In the first week a cylinder
fell off the coaster and cracked the window of the glass observation deck located below.
The ride was closed and it was deemed the flying object was not a safety issue.
With 9 carriages in the train, using overhead restraints,
high roller only reached around 30 miles per hour on its relatively short track, if this ride was
on the ground it would essentially be a wacky worm. No offence to wacky worms of course. This
ride wasn’t on the ground though it was 900 feet up in the air. Wrapping around the pod
three times, charging 5 dollars per person to ride you, would go around the track twice per cycle.
While it did not go over the side of the observation pod, it did offer incredible
views during the ride, High Roller was really only around three stories above a concrete landing.
One newspaper states When asked how safe the ride was, ride engineer for the high roller pointed to
the wheels and said you have wheels on top, on side and on the bottom. It isn’t going anywhere.
Ironically later in 1996 two wheels would fall off the ride causing it to slightly derail.
Those onboard were evacuated and given a refund.
While the ride itself may not have been super intense, it certainly looks impressive wrapping
around the top of the tower. The reception to it though was mixed to say the least.
This wasn’t just not very thrilling, High Rollers excitement was said to come from the fact that it
felt like you were hanging over the side of the tower. It didnt really feel like this though
because of the pod being directly below you. Your enjoyment of this coaster really stemmed
down to one thing. How scary heights were for you and how much you enjoyed the view.
“This is one ride, that guarantees to get the adrenaline pumping.
It takes a considerable amount of courage just to climb aboard this coaster, let alone ride it.“
The attraction lasted less than one minute, and while offering a premium view it was just slow
and pretty boring if you were looking for more than just a ride around the top.
It was often ranked as one of the most overrated coasters in the world. In 1997,
just one year after opening, the ride closed for some updates to try and improve the experience.
The trains on the ride were shortened and the seats raised higher to try and
make it more exciting and feel somewhat faster.
Customers for the ride repeatedly told the resort they wanted more speed and a better view
and the resort had tried to do that by raising those seats. It didn’t work.
In the early 2000’s as more rides got added to the top of the tower
such as X-Scream and later Insanity, the high roller became less and less popular. It never
offered the thrills or received the same fan fair as the Big Shot and was considered quite poor in
comparison. If there is such a thing as a tame ride 900 feet in the air, the high roller was it.
After 9 and a half years and nearly 4 million riders, the high roller was closed in December
2005. When asked, the resort said we just felt it had kind of run its course,
there are a lot of bigger opportunities for bigger and better things….
The more indepth reason was that it needed a 500 thousand refurbishment
that the resort deemed was not worth it. The original cost in 1996 was only 900,000.
It needed new hydraulics since they were so old and required a huge amount of maintenance.
To remove the High Roller it would take over three months and a high crane. Rather than this,
they would use plasma cutting to speed up the removal of the coaster and take the track pieces
down in an elevator bit by bit. This also meant that flammable gas cutting wouldn't be used,
increasing safety. 11 workers would do overtime between 2 am and 8 am to cut high Roller into 367,
3 foot long pieces, each weighing 300 pound, the segments were slowly taken apart and removed until
all of the 110,000 pound coaster were gone. It took around 45 days to fully dismantle.
There was one other planned ride for the Stratosphere
that was never made. A 740 foot tall arrow dynamics coaster.
In 2001 Arrow planned and designed a 20 million dollar, tall fish hook coaster that would start
with a vertical elevator for the vehicle before dropping 740 feet and reaching speeds of 122 mph.
The track would then go over Las Vegas Blvd into a 415 foot tall vertical rollback. This idea was
highly opposed, due to it being so close to residents and at one point the design changed
to feature enclosed coaster trains to keep noise low. The stratosphere were not giving up however.
A fierce battle surrounded the ride with the hotel saying it needed it to compete with
other attractions such as the Adventuredome and Speed The Ride.
The earlier King Kong ride had been given city approval with no expiration
and the resort suggested that they would revive that project,
that nobody wanted to see, if the Las Vegas City Council were to reject this new coaster.
They also threatened they would withdraw financial support for the Las Vegas Monorail project if it
was not approved. The Council did not approve the ride and the Stratosphere did withdraw funding
for the monorail, making it take many years until the monorail would stop at the resort.
The heavy opposition caused the coaster to be redeveloped, this time it would be 510 feet tall.
Shortly after however Arrow would go bankrupt, though this did not stop the resort wanting to
build it. In 2002 the hotel took legal action, in an effort to force the ride to be built.
It lost its challenges in court in 2002 and the ride was never made.
In 2014 a new 550 foot tall ferris wheel opened in the city, using the name
High Roller. For many this is what they now think of related to the name.
After the ride was removed, it was not really missed. The attraction had a very mixed to
negative response, and just wasn’t that exciting, even that high from the ground. No matter what
though riding any attraction this high up is definitely a unique experience. The view was of
course incredible. Even from opening many people gravitated towards the Big Shot for a much more
thrilling experience. High Roller wasn’t really a great roller coaster, it just had a good gimmick.
From MGM Grand Adventures, Manhattan Express, Speed The Ride, Desperado…..
gahhhh...Anytime i can put this clip in, i’m going to do it. Ughhh… that was stupid
The attractions at the Luxor Hotel as well as the Adventuredome, Las Vegas roller
coaster and theme park history is extremely rocky and the High Roller is no exception.
It was just another Vegas Coaster that failed to hit the big time.
Thank you so much for watching this episode of Expedition Extinct.
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