What's your favorite ride thats not in a theme park?

My fav coaster is at Primm, NV, the Desparado. :)

Originally posted by MonorailMan
What's your favorite ride thats not in a theme park?

My fav coaster is at Primm, NV, the Desparado. :)

(BTW, they have 2 (free) Monorails there too!) :)

I have a few, best ride......

Big Shot on top of the Stratosphere Tower

Best themed attraction....

Star Trek : The Experence at the Las Vegas Hilton

Best Nostaglic Roller Coaster

The Giant Dipper at Belmont Park in San Diego

Best Steel Coaster...

Desparado at Buffalo Bill's, Primm , NV

"Desparado at Buffalo Bill's, Primm , NV"

I have only been able to ride this once but it is the most intense coaster I have ever been on!

I love the Log Ride at Knott's.

I also love the hay wagon ride up to the Cook's Camp at the Ponderosa.

Yes. I do not get out much. :D

Originally posted by MonorailMan
What's your favorite ride thats not in a theme park?
The motion simulator that used to exist on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center was pretty neat. Before walking inside, there was this nifty scale model of Manhattan you could look at which sort of reminded me of the old Progress City model now residing in the Magic Kingdom. The simulator itself was crude compared to Star Tours (or Wild Arctic for that matter) but it still provided some very nice views of Manhattan Island with flybys of the landmarks and what not.

Now that I recall, the elevator ride up to the 107th floor was pretty cool, too. It felt sort of like I was in the Great Glass Elevator, about to burst through the ceiling of the Wonka factory. Anyway, I'm just glad I got to see it all when I did, because three months later it was gone. :(

Helicopter tours of Kauai - basic tour goes up through the canyons where there are hundreds of waterfalls on the north slopes of Mt. Wai'ale'ale, then turns around the south to fly over the Alaka'i swamp (world's highest swamp), then on through Waimea Canyon (Grand Canyon of the Pacific was Mark Twain's description) and then over the top of some razor-thin mountains to reach the Na Pali coast (the place where they take the pictures of the mountains falling directly into the sea).

Best ride on the planet ...............

San Fransisco Cable Car.

Deperado and Big Shot are definately up there (pun only slightly intended). Also like Speed. My wife would vote for Manhattan Express.

I also have a soft spot in my heart (I said HEART!) for the trolley that used to run through the parking lot to the chicken dinner restaurant at Knotts. Probably because that was about the only thing I got to ride most of the time (it was free). Also the train that runs on weekends at the Old Poway Park, where one of the Knotts trolley cars also resides - SBNO (standing, but not operating), to borrow a coaster acronym.

I have to throw my vote to Star Trek: The Experience in Vegas. It tells a fun story in a very themed environment. They did a great job with this one.

Originally posted by MonorailMan

My fav coaster is at Primm, NV, the Desparado. :)

I remember going on a slow day, buying an all day pass, and staying in the same spot from 3pm-10pm. Rode it like 40 times, man was my back sore! :)

I like the Maliboomer at that carnival by Disneyland. ;-)


Just kidding.


It depends on what you call not a theme park, I guess. I love DisneyQuest a lot, and Magic Carpets over Agrabah and Ride the Comix are both great (horrible names aside).


Star Trek: The Experience is the best non-disney themed entertainment anywhere.

We rode Desperado during gale force winds, the entire ride was swaying back and forth. I was not overly impressed with the ride. Same trip The Hubby made me ride the roller coaster inside Circus Circus 3xs in a row to "get a good picture." There was no one around so we never even got off the ride. A small word of advice, roller coasters and hang overs do NOT mix.
I finally rode the Manhatten Express last year. I would have enjoyed it more had the girl (not what I usually call her) no placed her entire body weight on my shoulder harness as we were pulling out. It took 2 full months for the bruises in my chest to heal.
I wanted to go thru Star Trek The Experience, but The Hubby is not the Trek fan that I am so we couldn't justify the expence.

Originally posted by mousey_girl
We rode Desperado during gale force winds, the entire ride was swaying back and forth.

They normally won't do this, any winds more than about 30MPH it closes. :)

They did the night we rode it. The winds in Vegas were so bad they had to shut down the show at Treasure Island. My little car was getting pushed all over the rode that night. On the news we heard that they were clocking gusts around 70mph.

All right, I'm a boring guy, but I still love the red and yellow train in Balboa park. Just to the left of the zoo's entrance.

Originally posted by tikiboy
All right, I'm a boring guy, but I still love the red and yellow train in Balboa park. Just to the left of the zoo's entrance. YEAH! And the carrouse - carolss - merry-go-round, too! I really like grabbing for the brass rings, even though it's hard to throw the non-winners at the clown's face if you're a southpaw.

The Giant Dipper and the Carosel (sp?) at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Normally I stay away from coasters, but there's just something about the Dipper.... The Carosel still has the brass rings (I once got one into the clown's mouth :D ) and the old fashion music thingy- you know where little hammers hit different bars to make the notes. Anyways, the SC Boardwalk is my other favorite amusement place. I spent many summers in Santa Cruz, Capitola, Boulder Creek, and everywhere else in that area.....good times, good times. The bumper cars are pretty cool too. :D

I love the double decker carosel at Paramont's Great America. Not much else there for me now.... :( Anyone who's been there lately know if Fiddler's Fling is still there? It seems like they've ripped out all the stuff I loved to ride to make room for more "thrill rides". :mad: :rolleyes:

SB: What about the flying coaster at Paramount? And how come nobody ever writes much about PGA? Is it simply the old NoCal versus SoCal thing where each pretends the other doesn't exist?

The Durango & Silverton Railroad. Now there's a thrill. Ride through history on a train from the 1800's on track literally blasted into shear rock walls in a river canyon. Truly breathtaking!

Yeah, I noticed that the parks up here don't get much attention. I haven't been to PGA in, oh gosh, I guess two or three years. :eek: I used to have a season pass, but I can't afford it now (my best friend and I used to go almost every weekend). I don't think I've heard of the flying coaster.... I absolutely love the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, and I'm hoping to go sometime soon. I love those Pepsi can discounts. ;)

I have to put my vote in for Star Trek: the Exprierience as well. I also loved Canyon Blaster at Circus Circus (it doesn't look as cool as it is), Desperado and Speed: the Ride at the Sahara. I thought Manhattan Express was terrible. It was horribly bumpy and slow. It also cost $10 and had a huge line. Total dissapointment.

Is Desparado even running these days?

I have been back and forth to Las Vegas 3 times on I15 in the last two months and have never seen it running ............

Originally posted by tinkfreak
I have to put my vote in for Star Trek: the Exprierience as well. I also loved Canyon Blaster at Circus Circus (it doesn't look as cool as it is), Desperado and Speed: the Ride at the Sahara. I thought Manhattan Express was terrible. It was horribly bumpy and slow. It also cost $10 and had a huge line. Total dissapointment.

Whatever you do, do NOT let the person you are with talk you into riding Canyon Blaster until you get a good picture!!

Originally posted by coronamouseman
Is Desparado even running these days?

I have been back and forth to Las Vegas 3 times on I15 in the last two months and have never seen it running ............

Maybe it too has to have a rehab? Or maybe you've just been passing by at the wrong times. I pass by Knott's X-celerator every day on my way to work and I've only seen it going once in what, two months of operation and one of testing? Off subject, I recently had the oppurtunity to ride this one :eek: holy crap it was scary! I'd do it again, though.