Advertisement
Published: October 22nd 2014
Edit Blog Post
Elvis says "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas"
The Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas-sign with an Elvis impersonator next to it Las Vegas - can a place get crazier than that?
Las Vegas is a crazy fantasy world of 24/7 gambling, top end entertainment venues, luxury hotels and resorts with more or less bizarre themes. We were absolutely fascinated by the Strip and the gigantic casinos lined up there next to each other and we are so happy we went there and saw it.
In Las Vegas much of the action revolves around
the Strip, a section of the South Las Vegas Boulevard where the largest and most famous hotels and casinos are located. The casinos all have to make sure they have guests in their hotel. Because if the hotel is half empty then the casino is half empty and in the casino is where the big money are made. This is good news for visitors because rates for hotel rooms can if you are lucky be really low.
The hotels in Vegas are more than just hotels, they are entertainment centres. Some of the hotels have large theatres which allow them to hold shows and concerts. Some of the shows are the same as can be seen in many other cities in
Las Vegas is a crazy fantasy
Las Vegas is a crazy fantasy world of 24/7 gambling, top end entertainment venues, luxury hotels and resorts with more or less bizarre themes. the world, such as Mamma Mia and Rock of Ages, other shows are concerts with major stars. The musicians set up their concerts in Vegas night after night instead of going on a world tour. I can understand why a star would stay in Vegas and play. Instead of spending time and energy on touring the world they can stay in one place and make themselves comfortable there and let the world come to them. Stars who have had successful shows in Vegas include Elton John, Celine Dion and Elvis Presley.
The hotels are large and all compete with each other. The hotels have therefore come to compete with each other with the design of the hotel/casino complex.
Stratosphere has a 350 metre high tower with observation deck,
Excalibur is built like a fairytale castle,
New York-New York has a New York City 1940 theme and
Caesars Palace has a Roman Empire theme.
There are hotels along the Strip that really go to the extreme to make sure the visitors know they exist long before they even start booking their accommodation in Vegas.
Luxor, built to resemble the
Great Pyramid of Giza complete with a sphinx and everything, has on
Las Vegas by night
Las Vegas as seen from the observation deck of the Stratosphere's 350 metre high tower top of the pyramid a set of strong lamps which produce the strongest light beam in the world. The
Venetian runs a Venice theme complete with a canal with gondolas. Inside the Venetian they have an indoor copy of St. Mark's Square in Venice. In the Venetian they have painted the ceiling to look like the sky in the evening. The illusion was so good that we for a few seconds thought we were actually outdoors and that it was evening.
We don’t gamble but since we were there we had to try our luck at least once. We had heard about a slot machine in MGM Grand called Lion’s Share. Once there were 50 of these machines in MGM's gambling halls but as they became old they were replaced by other slot machines. But one of the Lion’s Share had never paid out its jackpot and according to Nevada gaming laws a slot machine of that kind can not be replaced unless it does. So MGM had to keep it until someone hit the jackpot. We tried a few times but didn’t win anything. We later read on the Internet that the jackpot in the last
Bellagio
Bellagio is one of the megacasinos along the strip. Bellagio's claim of fame is the pool with its fountains. We didn't manage to catch the fountain show of the Lion’s Share machines was hit only a month or so after we were there. Someone got lucky that day and won $2,4 million.
One of the older hotels in Las Vegas is the
Golden Gate Casino. It is off the Strip and is not one of the more famous hotels. But the Golden Gate Casino has one drawing card no other casino has. Just outside is SlotZilla, the largest slot machine in the world. SlotZilla is a thrill ride built in the style of a supersized slot machine. Although it is not much used as a slot machine it is functional and since it is the equivalent of a large house it does qualify as being the largest slot machine in the world.
Nevada has very liberal wedding laws and a consequence of that it has become a profitable business in Las Vegas to arrange weddings. It is possible to get traditional weddings of course but various theme weddings are also popular such as Elvis weddings and rock’n’roll weddings. But it wouldn't be Las Vegas unless they really pushed things to the extreme: you can get yourself a drive through wedding.
New York-New York
New York-New York has a New York City 1940 theme complete with copies of Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn and iconic Manhattan skyscrapers When Emma went to an outlet mall I went to the
National Atomic Testing Museum. In the deserts outside Las Vegas they used to test atomic bombs. More than 900 nuclear test have been conducted from the 1950-ies until today. The first years they made atmospheric tests but later they switched to underground tests. The mushroom clouds from some of the atmospheric tests could actually be seen from the hotels in Las Vegas and for a period the tests of the nuclear bombs were actually an attraction of their own in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas is not only extravagant shows, fabulous hotels and great winnings at the casinos. Most people leave Las Vegas with considerably less money than they came with, on the bridges they have attached high barriers to prevent people from committing suicide and many women "work" in the sex industry. We write "work" because in most cases it is more appropriate to say that the women "get abused in the sex industry".
We truly enjoyed visiting Las Vegas. But now that we have we also feel that there is no need to come back for at least 15 or 20 years.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 15; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0375s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Vegas
The city of lights that waste so much power. The land of cheap buffets and glitz. Not really America but a fun weekend. $2.4 mil would be sweet. That could pay for a lot of travel.