Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

With X Scream, Stratosphere teeters on success

Let alone dangle hundreds of feet from Earth on a thrill ride.

So it was with great trepidation Wednesday that I found myself being securely fastened into a front-row seat on X Scream.

X Scream is the newest thrill ride in Las Vegas. It opens to the public, appropriately enough, at 10 a.m. on Halloween.

This is one scary experience.

Simply being perched atop the observation deck on the Stratosphere Tower, the eighth-tallest building in the world, is intimidating enough. But, as is the case with the extreme enthusiasts movement, the ride goes one step further.

Or, actually, 27 feet. That's how far the arm of X Scream stretches out over the edge of the tower.

X Scream is built like a high-tech teeter-totter. Thrill seekers are loaded into an eight-seat car, hoisted high into the air before the track dives at a 30-degree angle, taking the car and your nerves with it.

Reaching speeds of 30 mph, the car jerks to a sudden halt at the end of the track, with nothing but 900 feet of air between you and the ground.

"We wanted to build one of the most intense attractions in the world," Mike Gilmartin, public relations manager for the Stratosphere, said. "X Scream is a new generation of extreme thrill rides. We feel that it's a very imposing ride and also a very psychological ride. It plays on a passenger's primal fear of falling before it pulls you back from the edge.

"It all depends on how well you do with heights."

As I said, in my case, not very well. So I'm probably not the best reporter to cover the ride. Or am I?

I'm told that prior to the ride's launch there have been several passengers who freaked out on the ride. So, at least I'm not alone.

But what if someone loses their lunch?

Gilmartin laughed.

"We should have a mop standing by," he joked.

Actually, I'm later informed that the vomit would never make it to the ground, that it would disintegrate midair. Plus, the ride is over the casino structure, so ground traffic is safe.

The floor beneath the ride begins to drop -- along with what's remaining of my courage. The track starts to elevate.

I've already been assured time and again that X Scream is safe. There are four independent locking mechanisms on each chair. The restraining bars are made of titanium. The car has been tested with 300-pound dummies in each seat to ensure it can handle a full load.

Even if the power inexplicably goes out, the ride can be returned manually.

But none of those assurances matter. Not as I'm being raised 20 feet in the air, ready to speed forward into what must surely be death's cold embrace.

The ride suddenly stops. I'm momentarily suspended before the car lurches forward.

A passenger next to me screams in enjoyment. I have no idea why.

The car stops at the end of the track. I look down -- not at the scene below, but at my right leg, which is shaking uncontrollably.

Just as I start to take in the scenery, the track is hoisted up, sending the car sliding to the other end of the ride's 65-foot arm. Before I can catch my breath, the track drops down and the car again zips along to the edge. My leg starts shaking again. I look over at a small crowd on the observation deck pointing at me.

I know they're laughing, wondering what did it take to get me out there. I'm wondering the same thing myself. What good is a paycheck if your body is splat on concrete?

I look away and back to the ground. The air is heavy with smoke from the wildfires engulfing Southern California. Still, I can make out traffic on I-15. I can see pools in nearby apartment complexes and hotels. In the distance I hear a siren. I can only hope it's not in anticipation of some impending disaster on my ride.

And just like that: The ride shoots up again and the car returns to the end. It's over. I've survived. I've conquered the beast.

The track drops mercilessly for a third time. The car lunges to the brink again. How many times can I cheat death? I'm about to find out.

I hear the passenger urging me to raise my arms in defiance. Reasoning the car is going over the edge whether I'm gripping the restraint or not, I half-heartedly raise my left arm, my right hand gripped firmly to the safety bar.

As we reach the end, my leg quivers even more as we reach the end. This time I opt to focus on the smoke. It's as if God dropped a cotton ball on Las Vegas. The mountains are nonexistent to the eye, as is at least half of the city.

This view would be something else if not obscured.

We dangle for what seems to be forever. Then the ride begins to raise. Thank God this is it. A second later the ride stops and drops again. There must be a malfunction because the ride only rose five feet before the car was dropped violently down again.

I guess I shouldn't have cheated on my high school geometry exam. I shouldn't have snuck out of the house all those weekend nights as a teenager. I wish I'd eaten that piece of chocolate cake a few weeks ago.

But it doesn't matter now. We stop for a bit and then are lifted up again. My leg is shaking so hard I wonder if it will ever stop.

The car slides to the front of the track and we are lowered down to the base of the tower. Exactly one minute after the ride began, it's over.

I gladly climb out of my seat and get to my feet, nearly kissing the ground in the process. My legs are weak.

Clay Slade, the president of Interactive Rides Inc., the North Logan, Utah, firm that developed X Scream -- along with the Big Shot -- asks me how I'm doing.

I tell him my leg won't stop shaking. He smiles.

"Then the ride worked," he said.

The next few minutes I ask Slade the basic questions about X Scream.

It was conceived 2 1/2 years ago. While no one will divulge numbers, I learn it cost less than the Big Shot, which cost $2.7 million.

Construction of X Scream began on the ground, as various pieces were put together. The parts were lifted via helicopter where they were assembled on top of the tower earlier in October. The entire process of lifting the pieces and building the ride only took two hours, including a 40-minute refueling period for the helicopter.

Having a ride assembled that quickly is a bit unnerving, but Slade assures me nothing but the latest technology was used in the construction phase.

The total weight of the ride is 50,000 pounds, but nearly that much weight in the form of concrete and steel was removed to make room for the attraction.

I ask him about the rumors that the tower was never properly completed, that money ran out, corners were cut and the structure is unstable.

"The tower was going to fall down the day it was built. Yeah, I've heard 'em all," Slade said. "But I'm not concerned about it."

Listening to his confidence, neither am I.

Slade tells me the keys to a thrill ride involves height, speed and G-force.

"We made very good use of heights to make you aware of that. And the speed let's you know you are going off the edge," he said. "Most importantly, we let you know where you're at, so you move around on this. Your upper body has free movement, so you have to question if you're really restrained.

This isn't the first type of X Scream ride Interactive Rides has attempted, Clay said.

The firm has built two "kiddie" versions of the rides in California and New York for parents to ride with their children.

But nothing they've ever built comes close to X Scream, both in ambition and logistics.

"It's definitely the most encompassing project we've ever done," he said. "I believe it's definitely the ultimate thrill ride in the world."

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