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Las Vegas News - (9/3/10) This week marks the second anniversary of the closure of Star Trek: The Experience. With the likelihood quickly fading that the promised new version near Downtown Vegas will ever really open, I can only offer you this link to a virtual tour of former attraction. It’s really a well done Slide Show of the attraction’s sets, with some audio clips from the attraction playing in the background. There are also photos taken behind the scenes of the Staff only areas.
    (8/25/10) FrightDome at the Circus Circus Adventuredome will feature not only the returning haunt themed to SAW, but has nabbed another big Hollywood production, and will offer a new haunt themed to My Bloody Valentine. Check out this story about Jason Egan, the creative force behind FrightDome and so much more here. Other attractions will include a Zombie Apocalypse scare zone and a Clown Evil Alley scare zone. He also comments on a new concept outside the Fright Dome… the Haunted 13th Floor Tour of the Circus Circus tower. This special tour of the 13th Floor (yes, it really has one) will take place daily from 2pm to 10pm throughout all of October. You’ll venture into 13 frightening rooms on the 13th floor… and tickets will cost $13.
    In other Vegas news, the Las Vegas Monorail has filed their reorganization plan as part of exiting bankruptcy, where it’s been proposed to remove $630 million debt from them, leaving the LVMonorail with just $18.5 million upon exiting. The monorail has never been able to meet the projections placed on it, and the failing economy just made a bad situation even worse. The LVMonorail does however make enough to pay for their operational costs. If the plan is not approved, the Monorail claims their only alternative would be to eventually cease operation altogether sometime between now and 2019.
    (8/4/10) The Tropicanna will open a new attraction this December called the Las Vegas Mob Experience. Currently the attraction is offering a small sneek peek at the new attraction that is said to be an interactive experience about the various aspects of organized crime that made Vegas famous back in the day. The final version is the attraction is said to offer you several possible experiences and endings based on the choices you make throughout your trip through the attraction so you never have the same experience twice.
    (7/7/10) MGM Mirage has launched a series of 5 different iPhone apps to help you get the most out of your Vegas vacation. Check out the details here about Vegas Reality as well as resort specific Apps for Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and NY-NY.
    (6/10/10) Terri Irwin, wife of the late Steve Irwin, says she hopes to buy land in Las Vegas soon as part of a plan to replicate the Australia Zoo experience in Sin City. The idea for the project actually came from Steve himself back in 2004. Once they secure a site and get investors on board, the project will move forward.
    (6/9/10) Las Vegas rides fans… June may be your lucky month. There is currently a promotion running at Buffalo Bills (out at Primm, the CA/NV Stateline area) where you can book a room any weekday in June and get two unlimited attractions passes. Nevada locals are also in luck as they can head out to Buffafo Bills and show off their ID any weekday in June to get a free unlimited attraction pass as well.
    (6/5/10) Ever wonder how they do maintenance work to the outer tip of X-Scream at the top of the Stratosphere Tower? Check out this video to see just how they get out there to work on it.
    (6/1/10) Remember the former location of Wet ‘n Wild in Las Vegas? Before the waterpark shut down the site was already proposed to become how to The Voyager, a giant wheel project that never materialized. Now there are signs on the site for a proposed Silver State Arena, a new sports arena complex project. Check out the official site here.
    (5/22/10) Screamscape has been told that the new Michael Jackson themed Cirque show will actually take the place of The Lion King at Mandalay Bay which will be ending it’s run by then.
    (5/12/10) Good news for Cirque fans planning a trip to Las Vegas this Summer. Cirque de Soleil has declared 2010 the Summer of Cirque and are now offering tickets almost all of their Las Vegas based shows for special low prices… as low as $50, which is about 50% off of the normal “full price” they’ve sold for previously. Take a look at the deals you can score here.
    As of this writing, they have deals for Mystere, Zumanity, KA, The Beatle’s Love, Criss Angel Believe and Viva Elvis. The only show not offering deals right now is O at the Bellagio which is still really the premier show in Vegas, even after all these years.
    (4/21/10) Cirque du Soleil and the estate of Michael Jackson have come to an agreement to create a new touring Cirque show based on the King of Pop’s music and dance starting in late 2011, followed by a new Las Vegas based show in 2012. According to the article the Vegas deal was signed with “MGM Mirage” though no specific hotel was mentioned. Still… I’ve got to wonder if they would be ready to retire any of their Vegas shows or if a new facility would be built at an existing property. I’ve also heard that the long running Lance Burton magic show at Monte Carlo will end it’s run in September 2010, so perhaps this may become the show’s new home. Of course the reviews of the Criss Angel show were always less than stellar as well, and Zumanity was never really a huge hit so anything can happen. Anyone know more?
    Meanwhile at Treasure Island, the former MGM Mirare property opened the new Gilleys Las Vegas location.
    (2/11/10) The Las Vegas Sun has published a list of the 10 Best Steakhouses in Las Vegas. While many are the kind of upscale places you would expect to find on a list like this, there are a few surprises, like the inclusion of Circus Circus.

Circus Circus Adventuredome - (5/11/09) The local news has posted a reports on the history of the Circus Circus Adventuredome, but at the very end it mentioned that they are looking into adding a new coaster where “the rider’s legs dangle”. Adding an inverted coaster into the dome would be very interesting… but I think we’ll have to wait until the economy improves a bit before we see this move forward.
    (3/20/09) I’ve heard from a source that the plans to install a Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster into the Circus Circus Adventuredome may have been put on hold indefinitely. Apparently the park is making plans to keep the Rim Runner for now, but as always, this is Vegas and things can change very quickly.
    (4/24/08) If our sources are right, a deal has been signed with Gerstlauer to install a custom spinning coaster inside the dome instead that will open by Summer 2009.

City Center - (12/30/09) OrlandoRocks has posted a large photo update (about 100 pictures) showing off all of City Center. Check it out!
    (12/18/09) One of our readers (Photo Credit to David Wagner) send in a great new collection pictures taken at City Center last night showing off the fireworks from the grand opening of Aria. I’ve added this into the slide show along with the photos from last week, enjoy!

    (12/17/09) A video news report all about City Center has been posted to CNN, including footage of the new Elvis themed Cirque show.
    (12/11/09) We’ve got a bunch of new pictures of City Center to show off today, send in by Staff Member Mark, our West Coast associate.  Such an odd collection of buildings, though not all of them are open. Remember, the new Elvis show opens Dec. 18th.
    (11/27/09) Theme Park Review has posted a picture showing off a look at City Center taken this week after the crews had taken down the surface level construction walls for the first time.
    (11/10/09) A reader has sent us a few updates about the scheduled openings for many of City Center’s new hotels. The tell us that while Vdara is taking reservations for as early as December 1st, the nearby upscale shopping mall, Crystals, isn’t set to open until Dec. 3rd. The Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas is also currently taking reservations starting December 5th, meanwhile Aria is currently set to open on Dec. 16th.  City Center’s fourth hotel, The Harmon, wont open until late 2010.
    (11/9/09) Cirque du Soleil has put out a little bit of information about Viva ELVIS, the new show to open in City Center at the ARIA Resort & Casino next year. Check out the official website here.
    (4/15/09) While we all have been just referring to City Center as one giant massive project, the truth is that the complex will be made up from many different buildings and businesses, each who will have their own unique traits to offer. Case in point, lets talk a bit about Aria, which is expected to be one of the first hotels opens in City Center, and is already accepting advanced reservations at their official website, shooting for a grand opening in December 2009. Aria will offer 4004 rooms w/ 568 suites, a large 150,000 sq-ft casino, three pools, 16 restaurants, countless bars and a special nightclub. Aria will also be the location for the next Cirque Du Soleil show which will be themed to the king of rock ‘n roll... Elvis. You can also find out more about the entire City Center project at their own official website.

Cosmopolitan - ON HOLD - (4/10/09) VegasTodaAndTomorrow has posted a new photo update on the Cosmo.
    (1/17/08) The big news from Las Vegas today is that the massive $3 billion Cosmopolitan Resort project may be in trouble. Seems their lender just filed paperwork to foreclose on the property as their $760 million loan just matured. The project is currently under construction with a 2009 opening date, placed between the Bellagio and City Center. The owners are currently working to find new investors to fund the project.
    (12/8/04) A new $1.5 billion casino project has been announced near Bellagio on the Strip & Harmon. This 4 million square-foot project will feature twin 53 story glass towers housing 2400 time-shares, hotel and condo rooms. It will have a 70,000 sqft casino, 1,900 seat performance theater, plus 150,000 sqft of meeting/convention space in addition to an extra five story stucture to house an additional 300,000 sqft of retail space. The project is expected to open in 2008.

CSI The Experience - NOW OPEN - (9/17/09) One of our readers took the time to drop into the new CSI Experience at the MGM Grand yesterday and send in a brief review. Upon arrival you have the option of selecting to experience ONE of THREE different Crime Scenes only: #1 – A House Collided, #2 – Who Got Served? and #3 – No Bones About It.   The problem right away is what has caused the downfall of nearly every other Vegas attraction in the last decade or more… an absurdly high ticket price. A ticket to experience just one of the Crime Scenes will set you back $30. Upon leaving they are handing out a coupon good for the same day only, where you can try out one more at the discounted rate of $24. Our reader said that based on the experience, $15 for one and $30 for all three would have been a more reasonable price.
    As for the experience… after a trip through the Briefing Room where they explain to you how everything will work you are taken to the crime scene to search for clues, make your notes on a clipboard and try to figure out just what happened based on the evidence. Next up is a trip to the Lab where you go over what you and others have determined from the scene, as well as video playbacks from other investigators, some from the show itself. You’ll gather from test results here and move on to visit the Medical Examiner next who gives you the test results and evidence noted from the body, done by projecting video upon a plain white mannequin. After this you present your case to Grissom on a computer monitor to wrap things up. As for how it stack up in the end, “As a science museum exhibit (which this was), it's a really cool experience that gives you the feel of the show while creating an engaging, educational experience.  However, the way-too-high price for what you get keeps me from ultimately recommending CSI: THE EXPERIENCE.”
 

Echelon Place - ON HOLD - (1/13/09) I’ve added a current photo showing off Echelon… where there really isn’t much to see at all and wont be until the project gets moving again.
    (12/2/08) The Las Vegas Sun has confirmed that the construction holding pattern on the massive Echelon project will stay in place most likely through to the end of 2009. Over the next few months they will go over alternative plans like scaling the project back or opening it in phases.
    (8/5/08) According to the latest headlines in Vegas, the struggling economy is now started to affect some of the new construction projects on The Strip. Boyd Gaming has reported that they have put an 8-month hold on construction for the $4 billion Echelon Place project being built on the former site of the Stardust. Construction will not start again until Spring 2009 at the earliest which will delay it’s scheduled 2010 opening by at least a year.  According to the latest construction photos posted to Vegas Today & Tomorrow, the project was still at a fairly early phase of construction with only about 10 floors built up at the tallest point.
    (1/6/06) Boyd Gaming has announced a $4 billion plan to demolish the old Stardust and replace it with a 63 acre hotel/casino complex called Echelon Place to open in 2010. It will include four different hotels, 5,300 rooms in total, a 140,000 square-foot casino, theaters, shopping areas, convention space and more. Anchoring the project will be Echelon Resorts, two hotels (3,300 rooms) that will contain the casino and 24 different restaurants and bars. The other two hotels will be the Delano Hotel Las Vegas and Mondrian Hotel Las Vegas. The Stardust will continue to operate through the 2006 season and no date to close it has been given.

Fontainebleau - (1/22/10) According to Bloomberg, Carl Icahn has made the only qualified bid to purchase the stalled Fontainebleau casino project. Currently the casino sits at about 70% completion and was set to go up for auction this week, but that was just called off following Icahn’s bid to purchase the project. They estimate that $2 billion was already poured into the casino before they filed bankruptcy and up to $1.5 billion more is likely needed to finish it.
    (11/1/09) According to the WSJ, the Fontainebleau project filed bankrupcty back in June after pouring over $2 billion into the unfinished project. They say that it will take another $1.2 billion to finish it, making the project very unattractive to anyone looking to rescue it, though there are those looking to take it over, with a possible late 2010 date to open it.
    (4/10/09) A new construction update has been posted to VegasTodayAndTomorrow. Construction has slowed due to the economy, though the structure is near completion. No word on when it might open.
    (4/20/07) The $2.8 billion Fontainebleau casino project across the street from Circus Circus has sold 20% ownership in the project to Australia’s largest gaming company. This puts the 63 story, 3,889 room casino much closer to becoming a reality.

Harrah’s Giant Wheel - (7/23/09) Harrah’s has also come up with a new development, a sort of retail walkway that would take over a space between their Flamingo and O’Sheas casinos. Named “Project Link”, perhaps the biggest thing planned for it is the building of a massive 600 foot tall Giant Wheel at the back end of the project. Yes… the back. I’m not sure what kind of view you will have of items on the backside, but at 600 feet tall you’re sure to have a good look around when your on the top half.

Las Vegas Monorail - (1/15/10) It seems like only a matter of time, but the Las Vegas Monorail has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to restructure their debt. While the monorail makes enough money to operate, it only has enough extra cash to pay off some debts, claiming that they’ve been hurt by the 30% drop in convention visitors.
    (6/25/09) Check out this interesting article about the Las Vegas Monorail, where they mention that while the system makes enough money to cover it’s operational costs, they are not making enough to pay back the large debt from the system’s creation. Could a government bailout for the Las Vegas Monorail be on the horizon?
    (11/7/08) According to a posting from over the summer at the Monorail Society, the expansion plans for the Las Vegas Monorail are being shorted by one mile and taking a much more direct route straight to the airport from the MGM Grand down Tropicana. The revised plan would also remove three of the previously proposed stations that would service the Hard Rock, UNLV and the Thomas & Mack Center, but by cutting a mile of rail from the the budget, the savings should be enormous.
    (1/5/07) Clark County has approved the first leg of the 3.5 mile extension of the Las Vegas Monorail to McCarran Airport that will be funded entirely by private investors. The new line will include stops at Terminal 1 and 3 as well as a detour over to stop at the Hard Rock and Thomas & Mack arena. Construction will begin in 2008 and completed by 2011, granting many guests to Las Vegas with a direct door to door route from the airport to their casino destination without the hassle of taxis or rental cars.
    (2/9/06) The city has now put it’s support behind a huge expansion of the Las Vegas Monorail line that will favor building the expansion to McCarran International Airport first along with a new western route around the strip that will run close to I-15 from the Excalibur / Luxor area all the way past the Fashion Show Mall and then over to link up with the existing line near the convention center. All said and done the expansion may triple the overall length of the system and cost $1.3 billion ($500 million for airport run, $800 million for the western line expansion). If everything is approved and goes well, construction could start as early as 2007 and could open by 2010, just in time to serve the new Project: City Center and Echelon Place developments. You can see what the first draft of the proposed route looks like at Vegas Today & Tomororw.

Las Vegas Wet - ON HOLD - (7/6/09) There has been a small update over at the Las Vegas Wet website. The old website has been completely removed, along with all the old concept artwork, and now the only thing they are showing is a new home page with a 2012 opening date. Is this a sign of new activity on the project once again, or a sign that the project is going to be scaled back or altered in such a way that the old artwork and promotional material had to be removed? More when we find out.

Star Trek: The Experience - ON HOLD - (10/7/09) According to this article, the plans to rebuild a new version of Star Trek: The Experience at Neonopolis are still alive and well. Things are still moving along, but it seems they have no set timeline as to when we may see anything open just yet.
    (7/23/09) Sure to please Trek fans with Blu-Ray players, the upcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection mentions that there is a 7th bonus disc called Star Trek: Evolutions. This disc will include 7 special features, three of which are all about Star Trek: The Experience. They include “Farewell to Star Trek: The Experience”, Klingon Encounter and Borg Invasion 4D.
    (5/6/09) According to Gizmondo, the new version of Star Trek: The Experience attraction going into Neonopolis isn’t expected to feature any kind of attraction until at least 2010 at this point. However to this news post at LasVegasVegas what little bit of the attraction that they had hoped to open this week will now have to be delayed a bit, though no specific date has been given, so it could be a week, a month or even next year.
    (11/10/08) Good news for Las Vegas fans as it has now been confirmed that Star Trek: The Experience will reopen in a new home over at Neonopolis in the downtown area. While no big details were given, they did state that both the Simulator ride, the 4D theater, museum of the future, shops and restaurant / bar would make the move. It was also hinted at that we could see some changes as well as “significant upgrades.” More on this as we find out.

Stratosphere Tower - NOW OPEN - (4/22/10) The Stratosphere held a grand opening ceremony for their new SkyJump controlled freefall plunge attraction. It’s a long way down from the top of the Strat… so you’ll be screaming for probably the entire 855 ft plunge… assuming you haven’t passed out from hyperventilation first. The Strat also picked up a new Guinness World Record for having “the world’s longest commercial decelerator jump”. For comparisons sake, the SkyJump in New Zealand is 627 feet. Ticket prices start at $99, but it goes up quick if you opt in for extras like a take-home video of your amazing feat.

    (1/11/10) An update about the Sky Jump attraction coming to the Stratosphere can be found here.
    (12/23/09) A new attraction is being planned for the Stratosphere that is going to make you poop your pants. They’re calling it the Sky Jump and instead of a “ride”, this time you’ll be making a controlled jump from the top of the Strat down to the ground far far below. A similar attraction has been running for a few years in New Zealand where riders drop 629 feet in just 11 seconds, but the drop from the Strat will be quite a bit taller. Pending approval of the $3.6 million attraction, it sounds like they are planning to have it up and running before the end of 2010. I’ve embedded a video showing off the New Zealand attraction below. (WARNING - There are a few ‘bad words’ added into the video through YouTube’s annoying Annotation bubbles, so you might want to turn that feature off. I would have picked a different clip, but the footage of this particular one is by far and large the best clip of this particular attraction.

Tropicanna - Las Vegas Mob Experience - (8/4/10) The Tropicanna will open a new attraction this December called the Las Vegas Mob Experience. Currently the attraction is offering a small sneek peek at the new attraction that is said to be an interactive experience about the various aspects of organized crime that made Vegas famous back in the day. The final version is the attraction is said to offer you several possible experiences and endings based on the choices you make throughout your trip through the attraction so you never have the same experience twice.

Viva - (8/5/08) Station Casinos has announced their own huge multi-casino mega-resort called Viva which will redevelop the site of the Wild Wild West Motel & Casino property off I-15 and Tropicana. The 110 acre site, when completed over a multi-phase construction period, will feature at least three casinos, 3 hotels, starting with about 5,200 rooms at a cost of over $10 billion, making bigger and most costly than the $8 Billion CityCenter.