This Yan gondola was originally built for Circus Circus in Las Vegas.It operates as a jig-back with two pods of five cabins each.The top of the gondola is near the park entrance.Loading area.Outdoor control pedestal.Unlike other Lift Engineering gondolas, this one has CWA cabins.The towers are all unique portal-style designs.Middle part of the line.The first two standalone towers are integrated into a water slide platform.The bottom terminal also supports water slides.A group of cabins at the drive station.This looks like an new Leitner-Poma bullwheel.Side view of the motor room with a nod to the circus origin of this lift.This terminal mimics many of Yan’s detachable designs even though it is not detachable.Big sheave assembly near the bottom terminal.Lower station overview.View up the lift line.Towers 2 A and B.Cabins passing T3.Middle section of the lift.Cabins pass at the halfway point.Top terminal loading area.Return bullwheel and lift line.Leaving the upper terminal.T6.Each cabin has two grips.Tower 3.View up at T2.Another view of the drive-tension station.Yan assembly.Drive cabinets in the motor room.
This lift is technically a relocation from Circus-Circuis (a hotel/casino) in Las Vegas, NV. But, from what I can tell, it may have never even been installed in Las Vegas, before coming to Denver.
The area around the lower terminal, called the “Big Top”, has a circus theme. The lift was installed at Circus-Circus but only ran for about a year and had very low hours when it was sold and relocated to Water World. A couple of other fun facts: the bucket at the very top of the lower terminal structure used to dump water on the cabins as they entered the terminal, and the cabins used to have automatic doors that were problematic and replaced with the current manual ones.
Glad that you could make it over there to take some more pictures of this unique lift Peter!
When would the lift have operated at Circus Circus? I can’t find any information on it, but its limited existence would definitely explain why it’s hard to turn anything up.
Lift has been repainted and renamed for the 2021 season, it’s now Alpine Springs Express.
This was done with a renovation of the drive terminal area, the circus theme is no longer and the waterslides over the lift were replaced.
They got rid of the whole circus theme for that section of the park. The gondola is no longer in the original Circus Circus colors either, it got a fresh coat of paint.
Are there any photos/videos of the ride when it was in Vegas? I’ve been trying to find ANYTHING about it at Circus Circus and haven’t had any luck whatsoever.
I don’t know for sure, but I think those are original to the lift. I’m not sure if it ever ran at Circus Circus, or sat unused, but that pink is definitely a carry over from Circus Circus. They were repainted a couple years ago, after these pictures were taken.
They removed 3 of the 5 cabins in each set for the 2025 season. It now only has 4 cabins total. I would assume they did this because of age and weight. (The lift is still very popular at the park) It also has a rebranded Colorado/Alpine theme with blue painted terminals/cabins.
Yeah, I went last week and it only had two cabins on each side, and the hangers were painted white and the cabins were navy blue. They also painted the drive terminal structure brown. I was in line for the ¨Voyage to the center of the earth” ride, and saw the other cabins and hangers still in the red, yellow and blue paint schemes, sitting in what looked to be a junkyard. The paint was rusting too. Does anyone know what happened? They don’t seem to be taking care of those cabins.
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Did all YAN gondolas have these giant hangers or was that just this one?
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Just this one.
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Whats up with the circus themed windows on the drive? That doesn’t fit within a waterpark
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This lift is technically a relocation from Circus-Circuis (a hotel/casino) in Las Vegas, NV. But, from what I can tell, it may have never even been installed in Las Vegas, before coming to Denver.
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It was indeed installed in Las Vegas, however the casino later denied that it ever existed
Video:
17:49
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The area around the lower terminal, called the “Big Top”, has a circus theme. The lift was installed at Circus-Circus but only ran for about a year and had very low hours when it was sold and relocated to Water World. A couple of other fun facts: the bucket at the very top of the lower terminal structure used to dump water on the cabins as they entered the terminal, and the cabins used to have automatic doors that were problematic and replaced with the current manual ones.
Glad that you could make it over there to take some more pictures of this unique lift Peter!
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When would the lift have operated at Circus Circus? I can’t find any information on it, but its limited existence would definitely explain why it’s hard to turn anything up.
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Lift has been repainted and renamed for the 2021 season, it’s now Alpine Springs Express.
This was done with a renovation of the drive terminal area, the circus theme is no longer and the waterslides over the lift were replaced.
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The Cabins are now multicolored instead of pink
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I winced when I heard “Yan Gondola” … but it’s fixed grip lol.
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I just noticed that there are no operator houses on the lift. Also why did they change the name from Funhouse Express to Alpine Springs Express?
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They got rid of the whole circus theme for that section of the park. The gondola is no longer in the original Circus Circus colors either, it got a fresh coat of paint.
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Are there any photos/videos of the ride when it was in Vegas? I’ve been trying to find ANYTHING about it at Circus Circus and haven’t had any luck whatsoever.
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Did this lift originally come with CWA cabins?
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I’d guess that YAN supplied their own cabins. But I’m not to sure about that.
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The only YAN cabins I’ve seen in Colorado were from the old Keystone gondola that lasted only a year or two.
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I don’t know for sure, but I think those are original to the lift. I’m not sure if it ever ran at Circus Circus, or sat unused, but that pink is definitely a carry over from Circus Circus. They were repainted a couple years ago, after these pictures were taken.
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Could you call this a “pulse tram”?
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It looks more like a “jig-back gondola” if that is even a thing.
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Any videos or pictures of this at Circus Circus?
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Are there any other Yan gondolas in the world?
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https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tcd6-river-run-1-yan-lift-engineering-5782.html
It looks like that’s it.
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Edit: This one is also removed and replaced with a doppie.
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Here’s some pictures of Keystone’s old Yan Gondola:
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Sorry, they didn’t pop up above. Here they are:
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That looks terrifying. As innovative as Yan was, that gondola is something that I’d rather avoid!
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RM.net just posted a whole bunch of photos of this lift at Circus Circus, Las Vegas. Apparently known as the “Grand Slam Tram”
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Thank you so much!! These are fantastic photos and the proof I was looking for that it actually existed in Vegas!
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They removed 3 of the 5 cabins in each set for the 2025 season. It now only has 4 cabins total. I would assume they did this because of age and weight. (The lift is still very popular at the park) It also has a rebranded Colorado/Alpine theme with blue painted terminals/cabins.
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Yeah, I went last week and it only had two cabins on each side, and the hangers were painted white and the cabins were navy blue. They also painted the drive terminal structure brown. I was in line for the ¨Voyage to the center of the earth” ride, and saw the other cabins and hangers still in the red, yellow and blue paint schemes, sitting in what looked to be a junkyard. The paint was rusting too. Does anyone know what happened? They don’t seem to be taking care of those cabins.
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