The Roller Coaster

The Roller Coaster or Manhattan Express
The Roller Coaster and the New York-New York Hotel & Casino
Location New York-New York Hotel & Casino
Park section Second Story of the Hotel
Status Operating
Opened January 3, 1997
Cost $25,000,000
Type Steel
Manufacturer TOGO
Designer TOGO
Model Sitdown Looping
Track layout custom
Lift/launch system Chain lift
Height 203 ft (62 m)
Drop 144 ft (44 m)
Length 4,777 ft (1,456 m)
Max speed 67 mph (108 km/h)
Inversions 2
Duration 2:40
Max vertical angle 55°
Height restriction 4 ft 6 in (137 cm)
The Roller Coaster or Manhattan Express at RCDB
Pictures of The Roller Coaster or Manhattan Express at RCDB
Amusement Parks Portal

The Roller Coaster is the name of the roller coaster at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. It first opened in 1997 as the "Manhattan Express". The ride's trains are themed to New York taxicabs.

Ride

The ride begins with a 180-foot (55 m) lift and a 76-foot (23 m) drop, followed by a hill and a 144-foot (44 m) drop. The train then traverses two inversions, a standard vertical loop and a dive loop (twist and dive element), where the train performs a 180 degree spiral and then performs a half-loop maneuver. This element is found on one other coaster: the "Mega Coaster" at Hamanako Pal Pal Park in Japan RCDB link. The rest of the ride is executed on the roof of the casino, and features small hills and a helix. The ride's station is themed to a New York subway station. Built by TOGO, it had a reputation in the past for being a rough, even painful roller coaster. Some riders have gotten bruised on the shoulders from the old trains due to the roughness of the ride and negative G-force.

In 2004 Premier Rides installed magnetic brakes on the ride. In August 2006, Premier also installed new trains to replace the original TOGO trains. Since the Premier train installation, the ride has been noticeably smoother, as opposed to when the TOGO trains were in use.

References