Adventuredome (formerly Grand Slam Canyon) is a 5-acre (2.0 ha) indoor amusement park located at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Las Vegas Strip. The park is connected to the hotel inside a large glass dome, and currently offers 25 rides and attractions including the Canyon Blaster roller coaster, rock climbing wall, 18-hole miniature golf course, a video game arcade, clown shows, Xtreme Zone, Pikes Pass, Virtual Reality Zone, Midway Games, and carnival-type games. Because the park is enclosed, it is not affected by cold, rainy, or windy weather, unlike most theme parks, and is open year-round. Every October since 2003, the Adventuredome is changed to Fright Dome as a Halloween-themed theme park.
The Adventuredome opened on August 23, 1993, in the west parking lot of the hotel. It sits on a reinforced 18" thick deck elevated 18 feet (5 m) above ground. The dome itself consists of over 350,000 sq ft (33,000 m2) of pink tinted, insulated glass over a teal green space frame (to minimize structural poles inside). Each pane of glass weighs approximately 300 lb (140 kg).
Previous owner of Adventuredome was Mandalay Resort Group, formerly known as Circus Circus Enterprises (1993-2005)
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
History
The park began construction in 1992 as a $75-$90 million project to introduce a family-friendly amusement park to Las Vegas. The building's dome design was created entirely out of pink tinted glass, with each pane weighing approximately 300 lb (140 kg). The dome itself consists of over 350,000 sq ft (33,000 m2) of pink insulated glass placed over a teal green frame. Construction took a little over a year to complete, and the park was finally opened on August 23, 1993, as the "Grand Slam Canyon", a dinosaur-themed amusement park. Grand Slam Canyon originally featured four rides: the Canyon Blaster roller coaster, the Twist 'N' Shout water raft, the Rim Runner shoot the chutes, and the Hot Shotz Lazer Tag arena, now known as "Lazer Blast". The dinosaur theme consisted of eight large animatronic dinosaurs spread throughout the park, with visitors being able to read the informational placards in front of each one. Though visitors could not ride them, the dinosaurs often "interacted" with the visitors, with some spitting water on guests. Grand Slam Canyon, as indicated by its name, was also inspired by the Grand Canyon and originally featured river-rapid rides, two lagoonlike pools, a lazy creek and a re-creation of a pueblo.
Grand Slam Canyon was initially popular, but visitors often expressed their desire for more things to do. Tom Nolan, the vice president of theme park operations at Adventuredome, suggested that "it was a [matter] of what people wanted versus what they could do" and added that "there were a lot of animatronics, a lot of theming, but people said there weren't enough things to do." Following the feedback, the park was closed for 45 days beginning in April 1994 to remodel. During the remodeling, several family-friendly attractions were added, such as Midway shows, Canyon Cars (bumper cars), Sand Pirates (a swinging pirate ship), Miner Mike (a mini roller coaster), Thunderbirds (a mini airplane ride), and Drifters (a mini Ferris wheel). The Twist 'N' Shout water raft ride was removed to make way for several of these rides, solely due to its size, and the animatronic dinosaurs were removed to move away from the dinosaur theme (although remnants of the dinosaur and grand canyon themes still remain). After the remodeling, as space became available, rides were added to the theme park one or two at a time every few years. Near the laser tag arena, for example, management added a rock climbing wall and a miniature golf course. Though initially hesitant to add the golf course out of concern for the park's glass dome, as of July 29, 2014, there has not been a single golf ball incident.
The park was renamed "Adventuredome" on May 1, 1998. In 1999, management tried to keep up with the latest developments in the industry by consulting visitor surveys. This resulted in the addition of several dynamic thrill rides across the next few years, including the Inverter that same year, Chaos in 2001, the Frog Hopper in 2002 and the Sling Shot in 2004. On February 3, 2013, the Rim Runner was permanently closed to make way for a newer roller coaster named "El Loco". El Loco officially opened on February 18, 2014. Adventure dome became a $75-$90 million project.
Attractions
The current and former attractions at the amusement park are provided below.
Current rides & attractions
Coaster Rides
Premium Rides
Large Rides
Junior Rides
Family Rides
Former rides & attractions
In popular culture
- In the 1999 film Baby Geniuses, the Adventuredome makes an appearance as the fictional "Joyworld" theme park. Sly starts the Canyon Blaster ride with two scientists on board and restraints still open. Both fall from the ride.
- In the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the Adventuredome can be seen under construction as the game takes place in 1992, the year the park was being built.
- In the season 3 episode "Rollercoaster Thru Criss" from the TV series Criss Angel Mindfreak, a train "goes through" Criss' body while he stands on the track of the Canyon Blaster ride after the corkscrews, and Criss ends up in the front seat.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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