Race for Atlantis set to make debut

Friday, Jan. 16, 1998 | 10:49 a.m.

The 200 kids from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada that took the first rides on the new Race for Atlantis motion simulator got more than just a joy ride Thursday.

They got an education as well.

When administrators of the Imax 3D attraction invited pint-size guests from clubs in Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas to be the first racers, organizers also set up an interactive expo to teach them a little about motion-picture production, computer animation, physics and mythology.

With some fact-based background to lead them in and a celebrity host -- actor Aaron Jackson -- to walk them through, the young riders gave the ride in the new wing of the Forum Shops at Caesars 200 thumbs up.

Today, the attraction opens to the public, with tickets costing $6.75 for children under 12, $8 for Nevada residents and students, $8.50 for seniors over 55 and $9.50 for adults. Same-day second rides are $4.50. The first-of-its-kind 3D motion-simulator ride is the latest draw for the shopping center acknowledged as one of the most successful in the world.

It'll be open daily during regular mall hours, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and from 10 a.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday.

"This is really incredible film-making," said Jackson, star of the Saturday-morning teen show "California Dreams." "The 3D images are so realistic. I had seen several motion-simulator rides in California, but this beats them all."

Jackson rode the attraction with some of the Boys and Girls Club guests and interacted with them in an informal parade between the educational expo and the Race for Atlantis lobby where a 30-foot statue of Neptune battling a sea dragon greets visitors.

Another guest at the early opening -- Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren, who greeted the children and was anxious to see the show and don one of the electronic headsets. The gear houses a personal sound system and goggles that use a synchronized infrared signal from the Imax projection system to enhance the special effects.

Thursday night, Imax and Caesars played host to an invitation-only gathering at the attraction, giving VIPs a look at the high-tech ride.

About 150 people attended the evening kickoff, where Hammargren proclaimed the attraction as "the ride of the future" and Caesars President William Hornbuckle made a direct reference to his battle with competition with Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton by calling his ride "a place where no man has gone before."

Star Trek opened Jan. 4 and has been playing to big crowds.

Created by the team that developed Back to the Future: The Ride in Southern California, Race for Atlantis takes guests on a high-tech chariot ride though a surrealistic landscape. After queuing through a fog-filled 6,000-square-foot chamber called the "heavens room," riders are equipped with the electronic headsets and loaded onto one of four 27-passenger simulator bases.

The four-minute film blends the famed large-format Imax film, state-of-the-art computer animation and six-degree-of-motion simulators.

The film images are 10 times larger than a 35mm frame and three times larger than 70mm. The size of the film frame is key to the clarity of the projected images.

The entire theater is dwarfed by an 82-foot diameter dome, the largest ever built for an attraction.

The theater can handle about 1,000 riders per hour.

Officials with Toronto-based Imax and Caesars World have not disclosed how much it cost to build the attraction.