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This page last updated on 12/27/2017
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This past week we had another visit from our friend Jim Herring (Fig. 02) from Kansas. Always looking for something new to do, we decided to try out the new VooDoo ZipLine between two of the Rio’s towers. located atop the VooDoo Rooftop Nightclub, 51 stories above the neon of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, this open-air ride zips you and a friend 490+ feet over the Las Vegas Strip at speeds up to 35 miles per hour to the Rio's Ipanema tower, and back. 35 mph might not sound very fast, but take my word for it, when your feet are dangling in mid-air high above the cold, hard pavement with only a lap belt to protect you from the laws of inertia, it provides a significant “rush”.
The ride experience begins with check-in at the VooDoo ZipLine store on the second level of the Masquerade tower. From there, you head upstairs in an elevator to VooDoo Rooftop Nightclub where you get to enjoy a 360-degree view of the city (Fig. 01). If you have personal belongings and loose objects like sunglasses or backless shoes, you'll have an opportunity to store them in a personal locker. When you're up, you head past a gate and onto the ride (Figs. 03 & 04), where a ride operator straps you into the seat. Let me stress the strap part. It's one strap. A simple lap belt. That mere belt is the only visible safety device keeping you from plunging into a nearly 500-foot free-fall. These next few moments are the scariest. Downright terrifying, really. As you sit with your back to the Strip, on a seat that is only about 12 inches deep, you begin to wonder why you are doing this … when suddenly you're off, zipping forward through the air, and then back again to the starting point. For a couple of old guys like us, it was certainly an adrenalin rush. The picture in (Fig. 05) was taken on the return, which appeared to be nearly as fast as the ride down.
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