Elvis everywhere and other Las Vegas, NV Local Custom Tips

During my first trip to Las Vegas I saw Elvis a couple of times from a distance, but never heard him sing.
On the two most recent visits he seems to be appearing everywhere -- main MGM casino stage (free), a downtown hotel lounge act, in front of casinos like Stardust and Riviera. I even went to the Elvis Museum the last time I was in town and met a very young Elvis.
Elvis is alive and well in Las Vegas, some 25 years after his death. Long live Elvis!!

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Las Vegas they say is always "re-inventing itself" Don't expect something that was there on one trip to be the same on the next; and on the other hand, who knows what new wonders will materialize.
For example, one of my first trips in 1998 was with my 14-year-old son at the tale end of the "family Las Vegas." (Even though hardliners never did like the idea of kids in LV.)
We had a ball, but some of the kid oriented attractions are no longer there. For example, the MGM Amusement Park is no more.

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There's this thing that Las Vegas veterans refer to as "the $20 trick" which is where a person, when checking in, offers (sneakily) a $20 bill to the person at the desk with their credit card and asks, "is there any way I can get an upgrade" or something such, in order to get a better room with a better view without paying more (except the $20 "tip").
The message is mixed on how well this works. Apparently sometimes this works very well (though maybe if they'd just asked pleasantly the results would have been the same), and other times the desk person will say "sorry, we don't have anything" and then the person checking in keeps the $20.

I've never tried the trick, so am passing on hear-say information. I asked for a room with a view of the Strip at Treasure Island and I was told none was available by a rather snotty clerk, but didn't try the trick because I didn't care that much and, after all, I did get the room via an Internet special.

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Apparently the window washers at the Luxor pyramid, which has lots and lots of mirrored glass windows, actually rappell off the top (or maybe out a window) to wash the windows.

How do I know? We saw them from our very beautiful room in one of the Luxor Tower rooms when my son and I stayed there.
I guess it's not that surprising, just something I wouldn't have thought of.

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There's one change that is occuring in most casinos in Las Vegas I'm not so sure I like. It's the change from coin machines to ones where you get tickets with your money recorded that you either cash in or stick into another machine in the same casino. Some of the machines (5c and 25c) don't even take coins at all, you have to feed it bills.
Yes, its convenient (usually), and coins are dirty and I hear that sometimes if you hit a jackpot or the machine runs out of money it takes awhile for a casino person to come by and give you your money. (I haven't ever hit a big jackpot)
However, part of the fun for me is having all those coins come clanging out when I cash out, and carrying around a bucket of money when I'm winning. Not as convenient maybe, but more fun. Plus you don't gamble as fast ... it takes awhile to feed all those nickels back in!!! However, the coinless machines are spreading like wildfire, and by my next trip it will probably be hard to find the old fashioned video poker or slot machines.
I also don't like some of the machines that I found last time in some of the nicer casinos that were almost silent. Give me all the bells and whistles ....

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I'm not sure where this tip goes, so I will make it fit into here.
One custom that Las Vegas has is admiring Steve Winn, a creative businessman who started the trend of "classing up" Las Vegas, with the likes of such casinos as Golden Nugget (his first) downtown, then Mirage, and most recently Bellagio, now considered the classiest joint in town. However he sold Bellagio and is now in the process of creating a new joint, Wynn Las Vegas, at the site of the former Desert Inn (a upper echelon casino in its own right).
The latest word is that the new Wynn creation will open on April 28, 2005. At a cost of $2.5 billion and with Wynn at the helm, Las Vegas insiders are expecting previous "class" to be completely overshawdowed.

Most of my info comes from paying attention to Las Vegas Talk and from my latest addition of lasvegasinsider.com newsletter.

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Website: lasvegastalk.com

April 9, 2005

An update on the new Wynn hotel opening later this month, courtesy of the Everything Las Vegas newsletter, with their permission:

On April 28th, Wynn Las Vegas is opening. The Strip's new pre-eminent luxury mega resort is costing a whopping $2.7 billion. The 45-story hotel is 514-foot tall, arc-shaped, and is a chocolate-colored reflective glass Tower. It will have 2,698 hotel rooms and suites, an 111,000-square-foot casino, 16 restaurants, a three-acre pool, luxury spa, many high-end stores, and the Strip's only 18-hole golf course. It will also house an art gallery.

Each hotel room cost $750,000 to build. Each room will have floor-to-ceiling windows, European linen and flat screen TV's.

There are approximately 8,000 permanent employees, 2,500 of those are present Bellagio and Mirage employees, who previously worked for Steve Wynn, attesting to the high esteem Steve Wynn has.

An eight-story, 100-foot mountain in the front of the property will enclose a three-acre lake.
There will be 16 restaurants on the property.

The water-based, $24 million production show much like "O", will be housed in
the 2,080-seat, $70-million AQUA THEATER.
Water will surround the audience - above, below, and even around their seats.
In another 1,200-seat, $40 million theater, the Tony-award winning, unorthodox, Broadway puppet play "Avenue Q" will be presented.
Four nightclubs will be in the project.
Construction of the whole project is on time and on budget.

Grand opening is April 28th, 2005, which is Elaine Wynn’s birthday and 5 years to the day that Steve Wynn bought the old Desert Inn.
As the total cost has soared to $2.7 billion, -- Gary Loveman, CEO of Harrah’s Entertainment, after a tour of Steve Wynn's Wynn Las Vegas with other casino executives, said "This is the kind of place that God would build if he had the money."

(To receive the free email newsletter Everything Las Vegas, just send a request to mrvegas98@aol.com)

I'll add a photo after my next trip to LV.

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Phone: 1-888-320-Wynn
Website: www.wynnlasvegas.com
Other Contact: roomreservation@wynnlasvegas.com