http://norman.walsh.name/2004/12/13/107stories 7 208 2004-12-13T05:55:56-05:00 $Date$ Norman Walsh 2004 Norman Walsh There's a roller coaster? Up there!? #banner { background-image: url("images/panorama.jpg"); color: black; } #banner a { color: black; border-bottom: 1px dotted black; } #search { color: white; } Yes, there is a roller coaster up there, at the top of the Stratosphere. The roller coaster is about 109 stories up, I think. If you saw the end of last season's CSI, you saw Grissom riding it. And I wanted to ride it too. Unfortunately, it was closed the day I went to the top of the Stratosphere. Too rainy. Too windy. I bought tickets to the other rides instead. A short elevator ride later, they're strapping me into X-Scream. The very front of it. Alone. It's at this point that I realize I have no idea what the ride actually does. Or, more precisely, it's at this point that I become acutely aware that I have no idea. All I can see is a steel beam extending over the edge of the tower. Let me tell you what it does. It does this: The flash obliterates the background. It looks more like this: The steel beam is the little tiny spike on the left side. The ride consists of a gentle slide to the end of the beam, a gentle tilt so you can see all the way down, and a gentle slide back. Then they raise the beam to about 45° and drop your ass to the end of it. That's when they take the picture. In case your heart is still beating, they shake the car around a bit before pulling you back. The other ride, Big Shot, is a freefall-style ride. You start on a platform 112 stories up. You go up another few stories at four gees. Back down again at zero.