Posted on 05/16/2024 9:29:07 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
The Mirage Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, and its instantly recognizable volcano, is soon shutting down after more than three decades in business.
The 3,000-room resort will cease operations on July 17 as it undergoes a three-year renovation that wipes away any markings of the Mirage and its tropical theme.
Opened in 1989 by casino mogul Steve Wynn, the Mirage ushered in a era of luxe resorts for the Strip and was the first resort to have a sidewalk attraction with its volcano, prompting the Bellagio and Venetian to imitate the Mirage with its dancing fountains and canals, respectively.
“We look forward to the beginning of an exciting journey into a new era as Hard Rock Las Vegas will ignite the Strip with entertainment, innovation and world-class hospitality,” the Mirage said on its Facebook account, which has been flooded with memories in the comments.
In addition to the volcano, the Mirage was also home to other quintessential Las Vegas features like the Siegfried and Roy’s white tigers show and a Cirque du Soleil show set to Beatles music.
The resort will reopen in 2027 as Hard Rock Las Vegas, with a soaring 700-foot-tall hotel tower in the shape of a guitar, similar to its Florida property, with the volcano being destroyed to make space for new rooms.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
At the time Southwest was flying directly from Manchester, NH to Vegas. However, the only way to get that flight was to book a package through Southwest Vacations. Which is what we did.
It was a nice long weekend trip. Unfortunately, SW no longer offers that flight out of Manch. In fact it is very hard to get flights anywhere other than a few hubs out of Manchester anymore. So, now i have to go to Boston to go places.
Stuff from a few of the original places, such as Flamingo, Sands, and Dunes, command high prices. I don’t know if Mirage is famous enough to pick up some chips, glassware, etc.
Man, most of the hotels I stayed at in the 90’s are either gone, or going away.
Tropicana, Mirage, Dune, Sands...
I stayed at the Excalibur a month after it opened, which was pretty cool for a 19 year old US Navy sailor.
Nooooooo! Really?? OMG,Steve, thank you so much for spelling out the obvious! Perhaps “doing it again one day” might mean staying in the new, big guitar they are building. (... and yes, Steve, I know it’s not a real guitar.)
😆
We are not gamblers, so we find other things to do in Vegas. When the kids were young, the Sigfried and Roy zoo and the dolphin pool were just great. Overpriced , but great. I will miss this.
How do you know when you are getting old? All your favorite Casinos have been dynamited.
Because it is paid for - and until recently it was giving MGM $100 million/year in free cash flow.
In recent years it has taken a turn for the worse, so it may now finally be ready for the implosion - but with shakier economic times coming up MGM may be reluctant to push the button.
We went to one of their shows, maybe 20 years ago or more. Extremely entertaining. One of Marie's themes in the show was how she was getting old and slowing down.
Albany had that for years, then cancelled it. They are starting 4/week again in August, not that I fly there frequently. Although I am headed to the Utah Parks and may have reversed my flights if they had a direct to Vegas and then fly out of Salt Lake.
I stayed at Circus last year, as it was connected to the fairgrounds for a music fest. What a dump. Actually saw a woman in a wedding dress...I thought really? You got married HERE?!? Good steakhouse though, if Morton’s isn’t expensive enough for you.
Circus Circus was dump 35 years ago.
Smells like a grease trap...
Vegas ended when the cheap buffets went away. And last time I went it was full of SoCal violent ethnic people.
Relax, it was just a mirage.
I prefer the Vegas of the late 70’s and early 80s. Desert In. Was probably my favorite.
The Tropicana is also going (or may already be gone). Stayed there a couple of times back in the 90s.
Stayed at The Luxor five years ago. I felt I was in an episode of The Wire. I would not go back there.
Mrs Alaska went to Vegas for am 8-10 day stay for over 20 years {on the house, including the flights as well as limo service} so you know that she was a degenerate gambler.
She always loved the 3:00 AM cheap breakfasts [steak and eggs as a staple].
While overall she probably lost {I don't know because she used her own separate account} she did bring some big winners back from time to time {15-20 K range}.
We would go to the Casinos in NJ together, but I never went to Vegas with her {we preferred to go there alone}.
Our styles of gambling irritated each other {we both thought that the other one was playing too much}, so going alone eliminated the tension.
I've given up on casino gambling but she goes to a local casino 2-3 times a week and still loves the action.
There is nothing like Vegas in the states, but my favorite casino was in Monte Carlo, it wasn't that exotic, except it was where Cary Grant and Grace Kelly played in the movie "To Catch a Thief", one great old flick.
This hotel is a 5/10
If I am in Vegas, I am not in my hotel room....I am out and about. As long as the room is clean, not worn out, has AC and a decent shower, no stained bed linens(...ew....), got no drug dealers, or prosties knocking on the door, and easy parking, ingress, and egress I am ok...
Ridiculous to wait for 10 minutes for an elevator after walking 10 minutes from the parking lot for a room on the 45th floor.
Anyway, if you want to get something that doesn’t go away on its own....play around in Vegas...
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