Plans have been announced to build the world's largest ferris wheel on the southern end of the strip. It is to be called the "Voyager". Read all about it in Tuesday's, 11/21, edition of the Las Vegas Sun which can be accessed through the talkvegas homepage links.

Beth

Beth,
I don't understand....while the MGM is selling off it's rides in the theme park, others are erecting new rides else where? Go figure?

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Lee-PA
Moderator, What's New Forum
lee@talkvegas.com

a ride in vegas that doesn,t go ninety miles an hour?? kewl!

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D.A.G.SEATTLE
furdoo3@aol.com

DAG,
I just don't see the point of the worlds biggest farris wheel? Or the worlds largest snow cone, or the worlds slowest merry-go-round.
Seems to me, the draw won't be there for this. While you like the idea of a ride that doesn't go 100mph upside-down and loop de loop, but the question remains....will anyone ride the thing to make it a worth while attraction? While I'll ride farris wheels, I ain't gonna take time out of a vegas vacation to ride on one! <S>

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Lee-PA
Moderator, What's New Forum
lee@talkvegas.com

free booze and a great view?? people pay eight bucks to go up the paris tower,ten bucks to ride a boat in a mall.it would be a one time do for me

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D.A.G.SEATTLE
furdoo3@aol.com

I must be too late, as I did not find the article. Could you give a bit more info, please.

You know, Lee, I don't understand it either. A few years ago in Chicago, they decided to totally renovate our Navy Pier downtown on the lake. They put in a convention center, new restaurants, shops, IMAX, an open-air theater, an enclosed Shakespeare theater, a grand ballroom - and to top it all off, a big fat ferris wheel. It goes so slow you can actually walk on and off without it stopping. In my opinion, the worst thing about it is that it's an eyesore. We have a beautiful city skyline here but the ferris wheel just doesn't fit. I really hate it. And I don't see what the attraction is.

Likewise, if they stick a huge ferris wheel at the south end of the strip, it's going to be an eyesore there as well. Perhaps the pilots can use it for target practice as they land the planes coming in from the west!

John H,

Hope the following from the Las Vegas Sun helps to give you that extra info. you wanted. Take note they are planning on the inclusion of observation booths making it just somewhat different than a ferris wheel. Why not just build an observation tower and charge to go to the top such as the Stratosphere or the Eiffel Tower at Paris?

Guess combining the ferris wheel idea with an observation tower, they are hoping people think they are getting more for their money.<s>
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World's largest Ferris wheel planned for Strip
LAS VEGAS SUN

A Las Vegas company is putting together plans to build "Voyager" -- which it calls the world's largest Ferris wheel -- somewhere on the south end of the Strip.

Outland Development LLC has contracted with Premier Rides of Millersville, Md., to build the $40 million, 518-foot ride. Outland executives hope to open the attraction in mid-2002.

"We want to be the eighth wonder of the world," said Gregg Giuffria, president and chief executive of Outland.

The attraction, being billed as an "observation wheel," would have 35 enclosed, air-conditioned observation booths, each capable of holding 16 people for a 24-minute ride. At 518 feet, the wheel would be taller than anything in Las Vegas except the Stratosphere tower -- and 68 feet taller than the "London Eye," currently the world's largest Ferris wheel.

Premier Rides, the designer and manufacturer of the ride, is the developer of "Speed," the 70 mph roller coaster located at the Sahara hotel-casino.

Giuffria said financing has been lined up for the project, though the company is still finalizing agreements with equity and debt investors. Also yet to be finalized is the location of the ride, but Giuffria said Outland has narrowed the search to several south Strip sites. Once both are in place, construction could begin, possibly by the middle of next year.

Outland is a venture between Giuffria, former chief executive of Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts Inc., architect Veldon Simpson and Richard Hannigan, president of Las Vegas-based design and construction firm Synthetic Systems Inc.

Simpson is the designer of a number of noted Las Vegas Strip casinos, including the MGM Grand, Luxor and Excalibur.

As president of Full House, Giuffria oversaw the company's efforts to build a $300 million Hard Rock hotel-casino in Biloxi, Miss. -- efforts which have been under way since 1998, but have yet to materialize. Full House also operates slot operations at a racetrack in Delaware, and developed an Indian casino in Oregon. Giuffria left the company in July.

At one time, Giuffria also owned the rights to "Telnaes," a slot machine patent that allowed traditional reel slot machines to produce millions of different symbol combinations -- the key to developing slots with huge jackpots such as "Megabucks." Giuffria sold the patent to Casino Data Systems and became CDS' vice president of corporate development; from this position, he helped negotiate the sale of the Telnaes patent to International Game Technology.
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[This message has been edited by Beth (edited 15 December 2000).]