The south portion of the Strip will welcome a brand new baseball stadium in 2028, and with it an opportunity for the rapid development of previously neglected land across from Mandalay Bay and Luxor.
But first, someone needs to buy the broken down roller coaster that’s been sitting behind the McDonalds for more than a decade.
The ride, which used to fly at Sahara on the other end of the Strip, is losing a battle with time and the elements, but it is still for sale. Portions have been scraped already, so it will never be a real ride again, but who knows what you can do with half a roller coaster.
Speed: The Ride used to reach 70 mph above the Sahara Hotel and Casino.
The Family Era
The broken down coaster is a relic of the Family Era of Las Vegas, which started with resorts like the castle-themed Excalibur in 1990 and the grand opening of Grand Slam Canyon at Circus Circus in 1993.
Grand Slam Canyon, which later became what is now known as Adventuredome, featured Canyon Blaster, the first true roller coaster in Las Vegas. Canyon Blaster is still standing comfortably inside the climate-controlled Adventuredome today, complete with its double-loop-double-corkscrew and a top speed of about 55 miles per hour.
A few doors down at Stratsophere, the High Roller once stood about 1,000 feet above the strip on the observation deck. The ride opened in 1996 with a top speed of around 30 mph, but high maintenance costs shut it down in 2005. New York-New York added the Big Apple Coaster in 1997, and it is still operating today with a 203-foot drop that overlooks the south end of the the Strip.
The roller coaster at NYNY will celebrate 30 years in 2027.
Another piece of the big family push, the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park, also opened in 1993, and it featured an indoor family coaster called the Lightning Bolt. The park closed and took the coaster with it in 2000 as the Family Era of Las Vegas faded away.
Speed: The Ride
Speed: The Ride was one of the later entries in the short-lived Family Era, having opened in the spring of 2000.
The ride was a big part of Sahara’s 1999 remodel, and it started with a 45 mph launch from inside of the NASCAR Cafe. Riders than flew into an underground tunnel in front of Sahara and up through a vertical loop before another launch pushed the trains to 70 mph for a climb up the 224-tower. Trains rolled back down the tower and then ran the same course in reverse before settling back in the NASCAR Cafe.
Speed remained in operation at the Sahara until the resort closed in 2011, and it was dismantled the following spring. Initial plans called for the to be rebuilt across the street from Mandalay Bay, but that never happened. Parts of it were scraped in 2019 and the rest remains nearby in storage to this day.
The Las Vegas roller coaster roster now only includes the Canyon Blaster and the Big Apple Coaster, with a newer ride called El Loco at the Adventuredome. It’s a paltry amount of roller coasters for what is considered the Entertainment Capital of the World, but people don’t come here for thrill rides.
The Family Era was a dud, but the Sports Era appears to have major legs, and the south end of the Strip is going to change a lot in the next few years.
The new A’s ballpark, which sits at the corner of Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd, will open in 2028. It’s the north end of a long block that runs along the airport and extends to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, where its joined by the Pinball Hall of Fame and Bali Hai Golf Club.
The nearby area is primed for a fast-paced redevelopment.
The ballpark is buffered by a large concert venue/parking lot, with other derelict buildings, old hotels, and long dead diners filling in the remaining empty lots. Behind those lots still sit small pockets of apartment buildings and other airport infrastructure, along with the scrapped roller coaster.
Elements are in place for the area to transform quickly as new use cases develop around the ballpark. A lot of the land is newly sold, or in the process of being sold. One can expect the rapid development of new parking options, bars, restaurants, and even a direct route to the airport.
Bids closed on the Diamond Inn plot on October 16.
Regardless — a lot of the area needs to be cleared out to make space for a new era on the Las Vegas Strip, and you can help us get a good start by buying the roller coaster.