Of the three, only The Rio’s VooDoo Zip Line, which looked the least likely to succeed, due to construction delays and missed fundraising goals, is the only one in operation currently (not counting the lower level of Slotzilla). It is open from noon to midnight, seven days a week. Bring a friend, because you have to ride in tandem. Pairs weighing more than 450 pounds combined (or individuals in excess of 300 pounds) aren’t allowed on the ride, nor are people four feet tall or shorter. A valid I.D. card and a signed waiver are necessary to go aboard and you can’t bring a camera. The 490-foot-high ride (not "over the Strip," as the Web site would have you believe) achieves a top speed of 33 miles per hour. According to Caesars Entertainment, the VooDoo Zip Line has already logged 13,000 riders to date.
Downtown, the much-delayed Slotzilla, originally slated to debut in "late-summer 2013" (see our mate VitalVegas’ blog, which chronicled the entire process in words and pictures), but which did not "zip" its first riders until April of this year, is running at or near capacity during evening hours, according to Director of Marketing Tom Bruni. The upper level, which will run the entire length of the Fremont Street Experience, is still "doing some testing … but we’re not going to announce an opening date," says Bruni, who has evidently learned a lesson from previous false-starts, but projects a launch in the next month: "Hopefully by Labor Day." Unlike the gravity-powered lower lines of Slotzilla, the upper ones will be mechanically propelled. Also, while riders on the lower level make their traversal in a seated position, top-level passengers will lie forward, in a stance that has frequently been likened to Superman in flight.
The first proposed casino zipline, however, remains mired in limbo. MGM Resorts International proposed a series of lines connecting Luxor and Excalibur back in February 2012. Fast-forward two years-plus and "the plans are definitely still under consideration." Why no action, then? MGM wouldn’t say, but it has a series of big-ticket projects already underway or planned for the Strip. There’s a joint-venture (with AEG) sports arena, a remake of the New York-New York and Monte Carlo Strip frontages, pedestrian mall The Park, and a potential music-festival venue at the far north end of the Strip. By comparison, the zip lines must seem small potatoes. In a 2012 interview, project consultant Greg Borgel told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Canadian developer Ziptrek Ecotours "has been chomping on the bit to get going. They have been wondering what is taking so long." It looks like Ziptrek is going to have to chomp some more.
At least all the bureaucratic hurdles have been cleared. The Clark County Planning Commission has given the ziplines its benediction, as has the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA’s hesitancy was due to proximity of the cables to McCarran International Airport and to the presence of a decommissioned helipad atop an Excalibur roof. With four ziplines in total, the course was so ambitious it would take two hours to traverse.
Then-Las Vegas Sun correspondent Rick Velotta described the proposed course thusly: "The plans call for a zip line from the northeast entrance of Excalibur to run northeast 500 feet to the roof of the pedestrian walkway at the southwest corner of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. A second line would start at the top of the Luxor and run northeast for 950 feet to the southwest corner of the Excalibur roof. A third line would start on Excalibur’s roof in the southwest corner of the resort and run 340 feet to a platform on the northwest corner of the Luxor’s east tower. A fourth zip line would run 1,440 feet from a platform on the southeast corner of the east Luxor tower to the roof of the tram station for the Excalibur."
Whew! That’s a lot of rigging and zipping. We understand why MGM might be studying the project closely but, after all this time, we think it might be time for the company to zip or cut bait.
