After our wedding Sunday May 23rd, we headed out for Vegas the next day. Our ATA flight departed from O'Hare Airport at 9:30 on a chilly and cloudy Monday morning. After a 3-hour flight, we came out of the plane into a land of palm trees and hot pavement, with temps near 90. It was a delight to be someplace warmer than the gloomy Chicago we left behind for a week. Even as the plane was landing, we could already see our hotel, the new Mandalay Bay Hotel, the last hotel on the south end of "The Strip", just across from the airport. It's a beautiful hotel, with bronze-tinted windows shining in the sun from miles away. It was hard to get lost because we could see it from almost anywhere in Vegas and the surrounding highways. We stayed all the way at the top, on the 34th floor, in the House of Blues theme section.
During our time there, we explored all the hotels worthy of attention on the strip and off of it. We went to the Luxor, across the street from the Mandalay. That's the hotel in the shape of a pyramid with a Sphinx constructed in front of it. A monotrail tram transports guests from the Luxor to Mandalay and back. These trams go back and forth carrying passengers to their destinations. We saw "Imagine" at the Luxor Theatre, which is in the same type of show as the Cirque de Soleil at Bellagio, but a fraction of the ticket price (about $50 less). The performance involves amazing acrobatic performers, jugglers, and beautiful costumes. Our favorite scene had mermaids flying over the audience while acrobats swung from ropes suspended overe the stage.
Connected to the Luxor through a walkway is the magical castle-like hotel called Excalibur. Outside stands a figure of a knight in full armor, atop a horse. The towers of the castle come in a variety of bright colors, almost like a storybook fantasy place. Inside, there's the usual shops in addition to many billboard advertisements featuring a goof dressed up in a wizard costume encouraging everyone to dine or gamble at Excalibur.
We also got to see the newly opened Bellagio Hotel, which has a man-made lake in front of it. Every hour during the afternoon and evening, a series of fountains in the lake erupt while a majestic tune plays. Inside, the place is like a museum. In fact, it has a fine art gallery and a large greenhouse area with beautiful flowers. This hotel is an adults-only resort, so nobody under 18 is even admitted into the place. We took pictures of the Bellagio's interior.
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A few other hotels worth mentioning include the Monte Carlo, which has
a tram connecting it to the Bellagio. Not much to see inside, but there's
a group of Roman or Greek-style naked statues out in front. Of course,
Colleen had to take pictures of those. Elsewhere along the strip, there's
the Mirage and Treasure Island next to it. The
Mirage has a jungle-like setting around the hotel, with lots of trees
and exotic plant life. A waterfall roars in front of the building. Even
a family of ducks made themselves a home on the lawn in front of the waterfall.
It is also home to Siegfried & Roy's white tigers that are part of
their magic show. Only one tiger happened to be on display that day. He
was gone for a while and then came out, only to urinate before a crowd
of tourists waiting to see some tigers.
Treasure Island has a show they do hourly in front of the hotel. This is a re-enactment of a battle between the British navy and a band of pirates on a classic pirate ship, complete with the skull-and-crossbones Jolly Roger flag. There's an exchange of words followed by massive explosions on both ships, with the pirates ultimately sinking the British ship. The explosions are definitely real, as the wind carried the heat from the flames toward the audience gathered in front of the hotel. The pirate ship and its surroundings have become pretty scorched over time. We got to meet the pirate captain after the show and asked him about the pyrotechnics. He felt the heat too since he had to stand right next to the blast!
The New York, New York Hotel has plenty to show from the outside and inside. In front stands a replica of the Statue of Liberty. A real roller coaster zips and zooms above the statue and the building. The actual hotel consists of a cluster of colorful mini-skyscrapers like the Empire State Building and its accompanying architectural mates on the New York skyline. Inside, the old new York atmosphere is captured with the small deli shops like Greenberg & Sons and narrow streets, even a vandalized USA Today newspaper box. On the second floor there's an arcade similar to Dave & Buster's and a museum of Motown music.
