Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 2 – The People and the Strip

Vegas is an amazing place to watch people. You’ll see glamorous people, trashy people, silly people, desperate people. You might see all of the above attributes (and more) in a single person over a few hours’ viewing. Somewhere, there are some very busy “Dorian Grey” pictures. “What happens in Vegas”, and all that.

Steve Wynn seems to own everything. He built the Bellagio (great fountains, but very adult, artsy-fartsy and classy: no kids allowed except registered guests) and now has a hotel named “Wynn.” (note the period). Like Trump, he thinks it enough to describe the offering in a single-word sentence that resonates with potential customers. Branding is an amazing thing. Oh, Wired picked up the story on this hotel, “Move Over Pyramids, Wynn’s Here”.

Speaking of Trump (the Donald), I read that he’s breaking ground across the street from Wynn. It looked like a residential tower, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t include hotel / gaming.

Speaking of Trump again; Ivana has lent her name to a high-rise called “Ivana”. See “Wynn.” branding notes above.

Walking the Strip is a treat, if the weather isn’t too hot. Note that one day it was still 107 at 6pm, so walks typically occur between casinos to get out of the heat. The bus runs up and down the strip at all hours of day and night, but it can be full at peak hours. It comes often, so is worth a shot if you’re on a budget.

The new monorail is a big bragging point for Las Vegas. Built and funded without public dollars it is a smooth, air-conditioned ride between the Sahara and the MGM, with stops at Bally’s, Flamingo, Harrah’s, the Convention Center and the Las Vegas Hilton in-between. Three dollars for a single ride, $10 for an all-day pass. The all-day pass is a bit spendy and cannot be shared, so we opted for the “ten rides for $20” package and took two trips en masse during the week.

Of course, Seattle is still fighting for our new monorail system. We keep voting for it, but it keeps not getting built. Amazing that we voted down two sports stadiums, twice, and they got built. Only in Washington.

This is part of five articles. While I saw / did enough for ten, these remained a part of my memory by the time I got to the keyboard. Links to all the articles follow:

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 1 – The Venue and the Kids

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 2 – The People and the Strip

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 3 – Sunrise on the Strip

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 4 – The Pink Chip

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 5 – I play Craps