Circus Circus Adventure Dome – Pike’s Pass Return to Nevada page
(702) 734-0410
Cost: $5
Par: 43 (though 2 par listings were missing)
Difficulty: 2
Creativity: 1
Atmosphere: 1
Before stepping foot on this course, we knew it was going to be rough. Not only did we have a previous review that stated as such, but the course is in Circus Circus which, for any of you who haven’t visited Las Vegas, is not exactly The Bellagio. What we didn’t expect was the sheer terror we experienced while playing this course. By the time we were done all of us were on the verge of an anxiety attack and actually had to play blackjack and bet on the Breeder’s Cup to calm down. The course is located within the “Adventure Dome”, which we figure is only named that way because you will feel that your life is never in more danger that when you are in the dome. The dome is a strange red color, so with the natural light it casts a weird pink glow over everything (which comes through in some of the pictures below). Add the shrieks of children (presumably from the rollercoaster and other rides) echoing throughout the dome and the shaking of the floor and surroundings when the coaster goes by, it actually feels like you are standing in the middle of Hell. If you are a parent, please never subject your children to this place.
We’ll start with the one and a half redeeming factors – it was only $5 to play and the music, when we could hear it, appeared to be mostly Irish punk (Dropkick Murphy’s and Flogging Molly). After that it was all downhill, starting with the sign out front that was missing letters. The first thing you noticed when walking onto the course is the extremely close proximity of the rollercoaster. In fact there are parts where you could easily reach out and touch the track with your putter. Not only does that make for a distraction while putting (between the sounds, shaking, and utter fear that the thing will fall apart on you at any second) there are points where you look up and feel your life flash before your eyes and the coaster is bearing right down at you. The tension of being surrounded by the coaster, along with the quality (or lack thereof) of the course made us all want to leave by around the 6th hole (before we even headed up the stairs to the upstairs holes). By hole 14, most of us has broken out in the sweats and our muscles couldn’t relax. It took all of our willpower to finish the course and not run away screaming.
As for the holes themselves, they are awful. For all the money that is spent in Las Vegas, they could have spent more than $18 making all 18 holes. Starting with the first hole (which had a lovely dripping, unidentifiable liquid falling on it from the fake mountain above) all of the carpeting was warped and bunched. The understructure of the holes was squishy and all of the obstacles were the same (a rock/stump with a hole in it) and were not fastened down. The quality of the carpeting and foundation made it impossible to take a putt and have it go where you expected it to. The best course of action was to hit it by the hole and hope for the best. The cups were of varying depths and some included flags while others didn’t. The “rock” boarders of the holes provided very little bounce (and none of them were accurate) and in some cases they were loose or missing. The 18th hole was one where you putted up the ramp towards a main objective with two side pockets should you fail. The hole claimed to be a par 2, but didn’t tell you how to score it (we assumed a shot to the middle was an ace and to the side was a 2). On several holes (including the 18th hole, where you pressed yourself against the side of the party room and enjoyed the shaking of the wall as the rollercoaster rumbled by) there was very little space to stand if you were a right handed putter.
The theme of the course was also lost on us. It was a course named after a mountain pass, but had pirate themed items around it (including the pirate at the 18th hole) but was playing the aforementioned Irish punk music. Given where the course was, it would have made more sense if they had gone with a circus theme and creepy clowns would have fit right in with the other nightmares that surrounded the course.
The final verdict on this course is that we played it so that you never have to. Pat (who’s bright idea it was to play the course) felt compelled to buy everyone a beer after for making them lose at least two hours of their life to this course (if not more because of the lasting terror it inflicted).
Reviewed by: Pat, Will, Don, Marc, David & Putt
Reviewed in: 2010
Course Pictures (click to enlarge)
Map
Cost: ?
Par: ?
Difficulty: 4
Creativity: 3
Atmosphere: 4
We visited Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in June 2010,
and between the 10th and 13th we played the four minigolf
courses there.
Here’s the review of the second course played: Pike's Pass Miniature Golf -
Circus Circus, Las Vegas.
The holes on this 18-hole course were quite short and did allow for a few
Ace-opportunities. However, it's not the best course we've played to be honest.
The Adventure Dome itself and the Circus Circus hotel
are great though with some nice “Big Top” theming, and
playing minigolf with a rollercoaster going over your
head was a new experience!
The course was the 176th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf
Tour -
http://hamandeggerfiles.blogspot.com/2010/06/crazy-world-of-minigolf-tour-course_22.html
Reviewed by: Richard 'The Low-Roller' Gottfried and Emily 'Snake Eyes' Gottfried.
Reviewed in: 2010
Selected Course Pictures (click to enlarge – see Crazy World of Minigolf Tour post for more)
Cost: ?
Par: ?
Difficulty: 2
Creativity: 1
Atmosphere: 2
I went to golf this course and already, I knew I was in for one **** of a bad time. The holes are very uncreative, most of them are just putt straight and hope you make it in the hole type deals. Plus, you have the rollercoaster going over your head, so its extremely distracting. Most of this course will revolve around putting through basic obstacles, and I could of sworn I saw the same design twice. Also, the course doesn't have a par because a few par signs are missing. This course is a waste of time and money.
Reviewed by: Anonymous
Reviewed in: 2009