After departing the station, it's up the lift and into a tight left turn around a crest of the rockwork that envelopes the ride. Then, it's down into a screaming dive and through an upright loop. Different from other Arrow corkscrews, this layout offers a nasty speed bump with some air-time before zooming through the double-spiral. Classic Arrow Situation, right? Wrong.

Having seen only the three inversions, I foolishly allowed myself to relax and await that clack-clack-clack into the station--but instead, I found myself grabbing the bar in front of me as this screamin' machine began to buzz the rockwork towards the bottom of the mountain. Tighter and faster we rolled, picking up even more speed as the canyon walls closed in. Suddenly, enveloped by darkness, the train kicked in the nitro (where does it get this speed from?) and shot us out into the sunlit glow of the afternoon before winging by one more too-close-for-comfort rock face.

I wiped away tears caused by the wind whipping against my face at 55 m.p.h. as we pulled into the station. Dare I say it, this was even better than the original Arrow Corkscrew and a lot smoother too. A definite Must-Do when you're in Vegas, and the other attractions are pretty spiff as well.

Canyon Blaster was the first coaster on the strip and the first coaster to be housed under a roof. Those unique traits aside, this is a first-rate thriller that qualifies as a genuine "sleeper". The word is out--do this one, and raise your hands during that harrowing final run through the rockwork, if you dare.