SpongeBob takes guests under the sea in new Circus Circus ride — PHOTOS
Only a few weeks after broadcasting the Super Bowl to kids watching on Nickelodeon, SpongeBob SquarePants is back in Las Vegas.
Circus Circus has opened SpongeBob’s Crazy Carnival Ride, a $6 million dark ride attraction near the resort’s Adventuredome.
The roughly 6,000-square-foot ride brings customers through six scenes of the children’s cartoon hit through laser-controlled carnival midway games, animatronic characters and four-dimension elements like the smell of SpongeBob frying up Krabby Patties.
The ride, developed by Sally Dark Rides in a partnership with Paramount Global over the last year, brings another attraction to the family-friendly north Strip resort and the first dark ride (think Disneyland style) on the Strip.
“For us, it was really important to have something that is a very iconic ride, something that can appeal to younger kids but also older,” Circus Circus General Manager Shana Gerety said Friday at the opening. “There’s no age limit on Spongebob. Everybody knows SpongeBob.”
Tickets are about $20 each for the six-minute ride, which is separate from Adventuredome access. Circus Circus and Paramount are relying on SpongeBob’s globally recognizable brand to draw customers in.
“SpongeBob has spent 25 years entertaining children and their families all around the globe,” said Marie Marks, a senior vice president at Paramount Global. “SpongeBob has inspired toys, apparel, accessories, and even has his very own Tony Award-winning Broadway musical. Now he’s got his very own dark ride right here in Circus Circus.”
The ride is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to midnight on weekends.
McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.