Taking A Spin on El Loco at Vegas' Adventuredome

A couple months ago I happened to be in Las Vegas, and knowing that a new coaster had recently opened there meant I had a mission:  to ride it.  Of course!  The last time I was in Vegas the ride was partially built, but it opened last February to riders.

El Loco is at the Adventuredome, the giant indoor theme park adjacent to Circus Circus.  Seen above, the ride is packed into a small area at the park, where real estate is a premium.

El Loco is a custom designed roller coaster from S&S, who's line of these roller coasters is also named El Loco.  It utilizes small cars with four seats that are able to navigate tight turns, drops, and inversions.  That ride system made it a perfect fit for the very condensed Adventuredome, which removed the shoot-the-chutes ride that opened with the property in order to bring in El Loco.

Above is the ride's first drop, which is nearly vertical.  The cars climb the lift, move through a tight turn, then quickly fall toward the ground.  The drop is sudden, and you can get some nice air-time on the way down.

Speaking of El Loco's trains, here's a close up photo of one of them - #5 according to those front panels.  The trains are very comfortable, and feature only lap style restraints that allow your upper body to be totally free, and give you a great view.  There is also on board audio, you can see the speakers built into the back of the tall seats.  I also love the light up front panel that has the ride's logo on it!

El Loco is somewhat similar to the other El Loco rides that S&S has manufactured, though definitely a custom ride overall.  After the first drop the cars head back up to a wild mouse-style section of track that is the same as the previously produced coasters.  There are outward banked turns followed by a 180 degree roll that then drops to the ground once riders have hung upside down for a second or so.

After another climb the coaster hits the more unique section, which was necessary in order to utilize the former water ride's station for the coaster.  After another block break (there are several due to the individual style cars) there is a wacky outward banked straight section of track (seen above), and then one more roll/drop inversion.  The trains are quickly slowed on the brake run, then move back into the station.

I hadn't been on an El Loco prior to this one, with only one other one located in the U.S.  The ride was fast and comfortable, even during the inversions.  The little kids that I saw riding El Loco certainly seemed to love it!  It's nice to see Adventuredome get a major new attraction, since the days of rides seem to be over on the Vegas Strip.

Here's a short video of El Loco in action:


I also noticed this "History of the Roller Coaster" display that Circus Circus had near one of the resort's entrances:

It was hard to get a good shot of this, but I think that ACE featured it at last year's IAAPA show as well.  Nice of Circus Circus to help spread the word of our favorite rides!

El Loco Now Open at The Adventuredome

© The Adventuredome

Las Vegas' newest roller coaster is now open to the public! As of last week El Loco at the Adventuredome has been thrilling riders with its wild inversions and twisted track.  The roller coaster is nestled under the giant pink dome and replaced the park's shoot-the-chutes ride.  El Loco is the park's second adult roller coaster, joining Canyon Blaster, an Arrow Dynamics designed looper that opened in 1993.

Adventuredome released some nice footage of El Loco in action:

El Loco is a creation of S&S Worldwide, which has opened several other El Loco coasters around the globe.  The unique location of the one at Adventuredome required some layout changes to make everything fit, adding to the unique quality of the coaster.

As for statistics, Adventuredome created this infographic about El Loco, and since infographics are fun, here it is!

© The Adventuredome

I love some of the elements listed here, such as "doughnut roll" - that's one I haven't heard of for a coaster before.  Now everyone has a reason to head back to Vegas - to try out El Loco! 

El Loco Close to Opening at Adventuredome

© Adventuredome

It looks like the grand opening of El Loco at The Adventuredome in Las Vegas may be just around the corner.  The park has released a teaser video of the ride, featuring two segments of point of view footage:

The clips are short, and leave a lot of the ride unseen, but do manage to show off both of the inversions that are featured on El Loco.  The coaster is a custom version of S&S Worldwide's El Loco design, happening to share the same name. 

A recent post by the park gives a bit more information about the soundtrack that will be featured on the coaster, saying that a mix of "latin, reggaeton, hip hop and rock" will be played.

No official opening date has been released yet, but with a contest to select some of the first riders complete, and plenty of testing going on it can't be too far off!

New Photos of El Loco at Adventuredome Construction

One good thing about work travel is you occasionally get to bump into the site of a large new coaster being built.  Such was the case for me when I was able to check out the progress of El Loco at the Adventuredome in Las Vegas (located at Circus Circus).  The park 'under the dome' is currently building an S&S custom designed El Loco, with much of the track and supports already in place.

This wide view of the main part of the ride shows off just how far along they are in construction.  The ride is being built in the former home of the Rim Runner shoot-the-chutes, now just a memory at Adventuredome.

The twisted layout somewhat resembles the previous El Loco rides that have been built around the globe, but also has plenty of elements all its own.

The ride starts with a left turn out of the station and a quick trip up the lift hill.  From there a tight turn around takes place, then the extremely steep first plunge down toward the floor of the dome.  The track at the base of the drop is not yet installed, but once it is it will connect to the upward turn you can see in the foreground of this shot.

After a quick block brake the individual cars navigate and outward banked turn, and then head into a dramatically banked turn that sends them into a heartline roll, well really just half of a heartline roll to be accurate.

Once the trains are upside down then dive downward, a clear shot of that can be seen above.  Sorry for the foggy nature of the shot - it was taken from inside a window that looks out over the area!  As you can see the element is all kinds of twisted, though this angle makes it look less smooth of a transition than it really is.

Here's a zoomed in look at the roll followed by the inverted drop.

After the trains zoom down toward the ground once again they climb up and are ready to cross over to the final portion of the coaster.  The section that climbs upward is not in place yet - at least no track - so don't look for that on the photos above.  The ride is actually a giant L shape - something that was lost on me until seeing the work in person.  The area above is not finished, obviously, but is how the section we've seen so far connects to the finale.  From the perspective above the bulk of the ride we've seen would be located to the left.  Eventually the track will cross directly over this bridge.

Panning right from the previous image you can see that the final part of the ride has its supports up, but only a few pieces of track.  I'm not sure what will take place as the ride crosses this bridge track-wise, but I'm confident it is not an inversion.

One more to put this area into perspective.  Here we can see the bulk of the assembled ride in the background, and the support structure seen in the previous photo from the other side.  That's also the ride's station you can see in the left of the photo, with the ride's final inversion starting to take place on top of it.

As the track crosses over the station it begins another twist-and-dive, inverting fully before plunging downward.  Just so happens that only a part of the twist is in place and the 'dive' has yet to be assembled - but these supports are ready and waiting!

Here's another look at the track rolling over, just because it looks cool!  The web of supports should provide some great visuals as the trains head through here.

Once the trains dive down that final time they hit the brakes and will eventually head into the station, which you can see in the photo above.  So to recap, while most of the El Loco coasters have a twist-and-dive and a full heartline, Adventuredome's has two twist-and-dives along with other similar elements, like the extremely steep drop and outwardly banked turns.

One final shot I thought was neat - check out just how close the ride's supports come to the neighboring buildings!  Talk about tight clearances!

No word on when El Loco at Adventuredome will open, but at the current pace it would appear as though it might not be until the new year.  We will stay tuned into the project until then!

El Loco Rising at Adventuredome in Las Vegas

© Adventuredome

The Adventuredome at Circus Circus has started to build El Loco, the park's new S&S Worldwide designed roller coaster.  The ride is one of the manufacturer's creations that shares the same name, known for its crazy overbanks, steep drops and hairpin turns.  El Loco's are a bit like a Wild Mouse only with inversions and exaggerated elements like outward banking turns and heartline rolls.

© Adventuredome

At the Adventuredome the ride is going to have a unique layout, different from the standard El Loco design we've seen at other parks.  The park removed the Rim Runner shoot-the-chutes in order to make way for the new coaster.

The second photo here shows the start of a twisting dive that will end the ride.  After the track inverts it drops, making for quite a finale to the coaster.  El Loco is going up quickly so hopefully we'll get to see a full look at the custom layout soon!

Adventuredome Announces New El Loco Coaster

Instead of another roller coaster being removed from the Las Vegas strip, a new one has been announced for the Adventuredome Theme Park at Circus Circus.  Replacing the park's Rim Runner splash boat ride, the new coaster will be an S&S Worldwide El Loco aptly named El Loco.

Adventuredome is touting the new coaster as one of only a handful of its kind in the world, and only the second one in America.  The above concept art of El Loco makes it appear to be the standard layout used on the other rides, but there will be a few differences for sure.  Existing El Loco rides stand just under 100 feet tall, and Adventuredome's is listed at 70 feet.  Perhaps there will be other changes, too, once a final layout is revealed.

From the park's press release on the coaster, additional details are offered:

"Accompanied by a customized soundtrack, El Loco will deliver new and unique coaster elements that drop, turn and twist the rider in ways not previously experienced. Riders will ascend 70 feet before diving over and under in a backwards motion, delivering a negative 1.5 “vertical-G”. The ride’s unique elements, including a 45-degree outwardly banked turn, a greater-than-straight-down diving drop, and a 180-degree turn that races over the edge into a barrel roll, will provide guests with an extraordinarily thrilling adventure. Offering one of the smoothest rides in the business, El Loco’s innovative, four-person cars feature an open design which will give riders the feeling of flying during the 75-second ride along 1,300 feet of track." 

S&S used some new cars on the recent Green Lantern coaster at Movie World, seating four across in two rows with lap bar restraints.  Hopefully these new cars will be utilized in Vegas, at least the mention of a customized soundtrack seems to indicate that.

The El Loco at Adventuredome will open in December.