| Las Vegas 1/7, just Big Shot
Made a short trip to Vegas earlier this month. I wanted to ride some of the coasters, but alas it did not come to pass. anyway on our second day, my group of four hit up the Stratosphere Tower, to ride Big Shot.
Paid our 13 bucks for 'admission' (guess we have to pay for the PRIVELEGE of riding an elevator) and one ride on BS. Getting to the tower, once you've paid for admission, is a pretty big hassle. You have to (get used to this in Las Vegas) walk through their depressing little mall to go through their 'security' checkpoint. The clowns who were working the metal detector were basically bored teenage kids (like everyone else who works at ST). I can't say I don't sympathize with their situation--it must suck to be on detector duty all day. But at least have fun with it. ("Sir, we must perform a full cavity search on you. GLOVES!")
The designers of the Stratosphere were kind enough to design what would normally be a breathtaking ride to the top with a windowless elevator. I understand people get scared of heights, but just tell 'em to close their eyes for the short 30-40 second trip.
You exit on the observation tower level of the tower. It's a nice view. to get to the loading level of Big Shot, you take another elevator (they loves them some elevatas in Las Vegas) up a floor or two and exit. A nice attendent took our tickets and we stepped outside onto a rather narrow walkway and a glorious chain link fence to impede any nice view. There wasn't much of a crowd the day we went, so we walked past the tiny queue area, up a flight of stairs, and got on board pretty much right away.
It was quite windy and chilly at the top--almost felt like you could be blown off if the wind blew hard enough. We all hopped into 4 seats on one side, and pulled our restraints down. Only I could buckle myself in (this would be the great downfall of S&S OTSRs--they are hard to buckle if you're in them!) I was the only one in our group who had been on another S&S (Dr. Doom) tower set. They had no idea what they were in for. I knew what to expect as far the ride went, but I was anxious to see the ground over 1,000 feet below me quickly getting even further away.
Our attendent hit the cycle enable button and we began to float. This is the part that concerned me. After we began floating, he checked our restraints. It's a little late for that, buddy. If he had his hand around a seatbelt when it launched, we would have taken him (or his appendage) with us for the ride.
Ride Start
What can I say about this ride? There really is nothing like it in the world. I love the abrupt stop at the top. There's nothing like being launched up into the wild blue yonder, and then being jerked out of your seat because the seating ring stops and you don't. Plus, the S&S restraints leave a lot of 'play' for riders (at least for us). Then we bounce up and down a few times. The people below us on the observation deck watched us (you are the center of attention at the top).
After deboarding, two older women stopped and asked how crazy we were for riding it. At $3 for a reride, we quickly took advantage of that and offered to buy the two ladies a ride, and they politely declined. We had just as much (if not more) fun the second time around. I was the only one in the group who did both launches 'hands free.' The others attempted to hold their hands out but the milisecond the seating ring began to accelerate, their hands when straight over the restraints. (Wusses.)
The Stratosphere is a dump as far as casinos, malls, and hotels in Vegas go, but riding the Big Shot simply cannot be missed.  | 
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