Vegas casino adds VR to Big Apple coaster

The New York-New York Hotel & Casino will add a virtual reality experience to the Big Apple roller coaster, taking riders on an aerial adventure through the Nevada desert and over the Las Vegas Strip.

The new up-charge virtual reality experience,which opened this month, combines make-believe computer-animated visuals with the real-world twists, drops and G-forces of a 67-mph coaster.

The 3 1/2 -minute virtual reality experience will feature 3-D footage in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. The Big Apple coaster trains and track will be equipped with sensors that synchronize the visuals with the ride to reduce the chances of motion sickness while wearing the virtual reality headset.

The 4,777-foot-long ride is being billed as the longest coaster in the world equipped with virtual reality.

The new VR backstory begins in a secret research laboratory in the Nevada desert where government scientists study alien life forms. After boarding the coaster train, riders are charged with capturing an escaped alien creature before he and his minions destroy the Las Vegas Strip.

The VR experience does a fairly accurate job of rendering the Vegas Strip, but non-MGM properties get short shrift. The Tropicana gets turned into a parking lot and the mock Eiffel Tower is erased from the Strip.

The Big Apple roller coaster costs $20 with the virtual reality experience. Or ride the coaster without the VR headset for $15.