They should have called it Vertigo. Seriously.
My whole life I’ve been a huge fan of amusement park rides - roller coasters, especially - and all of that
sort of thing. I loved it so much so, in fact, that it’s particularly odd that I still have never ridden a ride here in Las Vegas - well, at least not until last weekend. That probably stems from my basic idea that Las Vegas is an adult playground and the whole Disneyfication thing from the early 90’s is still hanging around in a few very minor ways, including amusements that were originally designed to occupy the kids while Mom and Dad spent their college tuition funds at the craps table and slot machines. That having been said, roller coasters aren’t just for kids! I went to the Strat to take a friend who had never been up to get a glimpse of the view from 1,100 feet.
Before moving on to the story about the ride, let me just share this little nugget of cheap-but-cool Las Vegas 411: It used to cost $10.95 just to ride the elevator up to the top of the Stratosphere and walk around. There was a little benefit, though, if you paid attention to your ticket - a stub offered you a free drink in the lounge or at your dining table for the Top of the World Restaurant. Since the drinks cost $10-12 dollars in the lounge, it made your ticket price a wash, minus your time of actually getting it.
I bought our tickets to go up to the top of the Stratosphere before realizing that there are actually two ticket booths and the ticket I had been given had no free drink coupon. I wasn’t surprised they’d gotten rid of that, but I also considered it possible that it was a special promotion when I’d gotten it before, which was at the tower’s ticket booth, not the main hotel ticket booth that sells show tickets and everything they have to offer at the Stratosphere . With that in mind and not much of a line around I decided to cruise by the other ticket booth to ask about the free drink.
As it turned out, they do not give those coupons out anymore but he said all you really need to do is get a refund for the tickets all together and go to the Top of the World/VIP entry line, tell them we want to go have a few drinks in the lounge, and they will let us go right up. He refunded my $22+ dollars for two tickets that would have had me waiting in a line to be taken to the top. With my money back securely in hand we were whisked through the VIP line and onto the next elevator going up while the people who had paid stood around waiting. Nice. That’s how I roll.
We had a couple of drinks in the lounge and somehow the view was all the sweeter since I’d successfully hacked the system there for the sake of the convenience of both myself and my readers. When you go to the lounge in the Strat I’d try the Razzmopolitan, but tell them to go easy on the Chambord or it will be too sweet, like mine was. I mean, I’m sweet enough as it is - come on guys! *sizzle sounds*
The view is always just unbelievable, really. I love the way that the street lights lining the major roads in the Las Vegas Valley show you the curvature of the land going up towards the mountains in all directions. It looks so peaceful, the soft, quiet twinkle of the lights from that far up. You can see the interconnectedness of everything from a perspective that you just don’t get to indulge in very often.
After drinks we walked upstairs to the open-air roof and enjoyed the light, cool breeze and the view a bit more before getting on Insanity, the ride. By the way, the ticket booths down below the tower are not a necessary stop in order to ride the rides. You can purchase your tickets on the top of the tower in the gift shop after having a drink in the lounge or perhaps a coffee at the world’s highest Starbucks. Yep. They have one all the way up there, too.
Insanity is based on the old school amusement park ride that speeds up and uses centrifugal force to push
the riders further and further outward from the middle resting position. The difference with this version of an old ride concept is that it is around 1100 feet in the air and before the ride starts to spin a huge crane type of motor moves the entire ride out away from the roof of the Stratosphere so that you are suspended with one hell of a drop straight down to the ground. The other unique feature is that unlike most spinning rides, all of the riders face each other in the middle. The reason for that becomes apparent as the ride spins faster and faster. You’re facing straight down to the ground! Mind you you are spinning facing the ground 1100 feet away and the swirling of all the street lights, et cetera, create the very reason I suggested they should have named it Vertigo - by the time the ride starts to slow down even I was feeling the effects of that motion, and I’ve spent a lot of time in small aircraft flying on bumpy days. It was exhilarating! Keep the ride, change the name, just my $.02.
All in all, taking the ride up to to the top of the Stratosphere is definitely worth your time. You can have a lot of fun without spending too much, provided you don’t have too many drinks in the lounge 
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Stratosphere Hotel
What the hell is a Doodlebop? Is it some new form of mind-altering drug ruining our youth? Does it make you dress in painfully-colored clothing and frolic like it’s Pride Parade Day in San Francisco? Why do I keep hearing about how “huge Doodlebops are” when I’ve never personally experienced a Doodlebop. I mean, let’s face it, if something’s “huge” around here… I’d know about it!
Perhaps the least well-known member of the Rat Pack, Joey Bishop passed away last week at his home in Newport Beach at 89 years old. I had meant to mention his passing but it was a hectic week for me, but I wanted to make mention here now. I’m always a bit sentimental when I think about Old Vegas, Classic Vegas, and what it must have been like back then. I rather think I would prefer some things to be how they used to be. I would love to step into the storied Copa Room at The Sands Hotel to hear Dean Martin on a night when the Sands Hotel’s sign read “Dean Martin” and in small letters “Maybe Frank - Maybe Sammy.” It was those iconic images of Las Vegas that really solidified the legend of this place I call home. You have to respect that sort of thing…