There are four thrill rides and attractions atop the Stratosphere Tower these days. One of them, appropriately enough, is called Insanity, and this ride is pretty extreme.
You are strapped into a seat (in pairs of two) suspended from one of five arms dangling from a spider-like arm. Once the ride is fully loaded and everybody is strapped in, the arm pivots out over the edge and the seats spread apart. The ride then begins to spin – getting up to 40 miles per hour. Here’s a video of the ride in action.
What’s hard to see in the video is that the ride is actually suspending people far off the edge of the tower, with nothing but 900 feet (240 meters) of air beneath them. This makes the spinning ride all the more terrifying.
And here is a view from on the ride itself, filmed by one of the passengers. It gives you a decent idea of what you will experience on this ride (although, to be fair, it is actually much scarier in person, when you are actually sitting there dangling over the edge, spinning at 3 Gs).
This ride is probably the tamer of the two that dangle you over the edge, the X-Scream being the other. It’s scary, but more fun scary rather than simply terrifying, like the X-Scream.
It’s the type of ride you can go on a number of times and enjoy it even more on subsequent rides. The main issue for some people is the spinning. If you get sick on any spinning type rides, you might want to skip this one and opt for X-Scream or the tower-top ride, Big Shot.
This is a great ride for adults and teens, with the minimum height being 54 inches. The great thing about the stratosphere is that any kids or others in your party who don’t want to get on the rides can always head down to the indoor observation area and get some snacks while you ride. (Or they can get a drink at the Airbar and try to summon up the courage to join you on the next ride).
{ 0 comments… add one now }