Amusement Park News

There's a new and unusual carousel turning heads in Las Vegas right now.

Located in Area 15's Zone 2, that's Looper, a merry-go-round that offers a surreal spin on the nostalgic.

The ride features a series of handmade creatures that are not quite from this world: a sea dragon, a futuristic lizard with horns, an alternative version of a hippo. The artists who created this special ride are a part of Chance Rides 65th anniversary year. Chance's history of making carousels makes it only fitting that the company create a new and visionary version of their classic amusement park ride. And placing it in an outpost of inventive attractions was key to the experience.

According to Jay Aguilar, the vice president of sales and marketing at Chance, creating the Looper Carousel pushed the company to create an attraction very different from a typical carousel while still paying homage to it. He calls its design “futuristic, postapocalyptic,” but the vibe of the ride is very much that of a fun fantasy.

He says that the experiential, slightly surreal ride features “hybrid carousel figures…[such as] a turtle with goggles and a shark with a kind of mechanism on the inside of its body.” He calls them a mixture of inventive wildlife and “half-robots.”

The carousel is a Chance 36-foot Dentzel-style, and features techno-style lighting rather than traditional bulbs. The music it plays is pure techno too, rather than a traditional carnival style. The ride lasts five minutes; the experience is an immersive one with its larger-than-life creatures and vibrant lighting. Riders under 48” must be accompanied by an adult; however, the ride is suitable for all ages to enjoy.

The concept was first discussed by Area 15 and Chance in 2022. The goal was to plan an experience that fit with and expanded upon the often-psychedelic storytelling behind the attractions of Area 15. Using non-traditional colors and unique lighting for the ride was essential.

The ride includes what would on a standard carousel be 30 horses and two chariots. Aguilar says the wildly hybrid figures and carousel design make it the most unusual thing the company has ever done. The resulting look and feel of the ride was specifically what the Area 15 creative team requested.

“We have done 100% customized carousels before, but with Area 15, they literally picked out figures from the catalog we have, and we did the add-ons - the goggles, the structure, the mechanical elements,” Aguilar asserts.

Area 15's vice president of creative, AJ Annunziata noted that working within the boundaries of the carousel medium was both key for the design of the attraction and the most challenging aspect of it. Many ideas were discussed about creating original characters for the ride, but Annunziata noted that developing them would have derailed timely completion.

So, instead of completely reinventing the wheel - or in this case, the carousel, “we focused on finding smart ways to adapt what already existed.”

Chance worked with Area 15 to alter its traditional carousel character forms, keeping in mind the various storylines of Area 15 itself to conceptualize the visuals of the ride.

Annunziata relates that “The narrative is that this was once a normal carousel, but prolonged exposure to Particle A15 caused the forms to grow and distort. On top of that mutation, we layered faux wear and tear, graffiti, and physical modifications to reinforce the story.” The result is exciting and far from routine.

As vibrant and fun as the carousel is by day, at night, the lighting's neon and LED colors makes the carousel figures themselves seem to glow. The electronic music extends the ride experience aurally.

While guests can ride the inventive Looper Carousel as a part of several different experiential packages available at Area 15, it is also possible to take a spin as a single ticket attraction for $5.

Annunziata stresses that the most sought-after carousel figures are Mojam the Hippo, Fizlix the Sea dragon, and Snorb the goat, each located along the outside ring of the carousel. Each of those characters are “packed with expressive story details.” There are hidden design elements that make the simple act of choosing which character to ride an “interactive moment for the guest.”

Initially, some riders found it hard to believe that a Chance carousel could be quite so wild, but delighted in the personalized customization of the characters calling them whimsical and intense.

The carousel fits in well within Area 15's Zone 2, also called The Terminals, the same section of Area 15 that houses Universal's Horror Unleashed experience with four different haunted house mazes, spooky live entertainment, and themed bars and dining. Also in this zone is the Interstellar Arc spaceship, another interactive experience; an escape room experience, the Game Depot carnival-style game arcade, and the Big Game Show contestant experience.

Since opening in September 2020, Area 15 has continued to add new attractions that push the envelope on engaging and visitor-involving amusement. As to Chance Rides, their classic carousel, typically available with five standard scenery packages and optional features, has definitely taken “optional” to new heights with Looper.