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Las Vegas News - (5/16/09) For any of you Disney fans with a trip to Vegas coming up in the near future, the new Lion King show is now open at the Mandalay Bay.
  (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.
  (5/1/09) Big news from the Vegas entertainment scene as the local news is reporting that popular Vegas headliner Danny Gans died in his sleep early Friday morning. Gans had just started new his gig headlining at Wynn’s Encore in February 2009.
  (4/29/09) I’ve got a few quick general notes about Vegas today. First off, Elton John held his last “The Red Piano” show last week. No replacement show has been announced yet but we’ve been told they may be in talks with a few performers right now, which is rumored to include Madonna. In other nearby news, the new pedestrian bridge has started to go up between Planet Hollywood and City Center. Across town, Hard Rock has finished work on The New Joint, their new and improved concert/performance venue which now holds twice as many people as before.
  (4/23/09) Vegas fans, take note… the Rio has some awesome room specials you might want to look into. While Rio is across the freeway from the strip, it has some of the best rooms in Vegas, so just make sure you have a car to get around. The dates are limited, but if you check the room rate calendar, you can get a room there for as low as $39 a night on the right day in April and May. Keep in mind that Rio is an all suite hotel too, and from personal experience, the rooms are awesome.
  (4/22/09) Guests to Las Vegas may be able to book themselves onto a new unique thrill ride of sorts over at Big Dig Las Vegas. According to their website, they’ll put you (yes YOU!) behind the controls of one of those massive earthmover construction beasts in a 10 acre sandbox environment where you can do just about anything you please. Your ticket to adventure starts at $150 and will include getting picked up at your hotel and taken to and from the site, a training and safety class on how to control the equipment, and then they let you go hog wild. Even better, they’ve got a little special something called the Agression Session, which they’ve posted a video of (see below) which involves the destruction, grabbing, tossing and running over of a fleet of spare cars that they put in your path. There is also a Dozer Race where you and a buddy race around while cluching cars in mid-air. You’ll have your choice of driving one of three vehicles of mass destruction: a Caterpillar DSK Tractor (standard Bulldozer), Cat Skid Steer (A dozer with a functional arm) and the Cat Hydraulic Excavator which has an extended 20 foot long arm.

  (4/10/09) While you should scroll down to check out the various updates on specific casinos and resorts in Las Vegas, you can also find a nice list showing off the status of virtually every project under construction in Vegas and those finished over the last few years posted to VegasTodayAndTomorrow.
  (4/9/09) According to this news report, tourism in Las Vegas is reported as being 8% down from the same time period as last year. Convention attendance is also reported to be down 35%, with the city reporting 15.7% less conventions overall. The good news is that the average room prices have dropped by 21.5%, which is great considering that it was only about 15 years ago that you could still get a decent room at many of the major casinos for $25-45 a night, back during Vegas’s brush with trying to be a “family” destination.
  (4/1/09) I’m not sure how news this is, but the Las Vegas Hilton is now offering a new show of interest to some called the Monster Circus. The show seems to be a mixture of a heavy metal concert mixed with cirque and circus acts, along with a number of dancers on stage. A long promo video featuring many of the songs and acts seen in the show was on YouTube and I’ve embedded it below for your enjoyment. Right now the website only lists performances through to the end of May, so this may be a limited run.

  (3/4/09) SciFiWire has announced that the first phase of the new Star Trek: The Experience may open on May 8th, though it will likely only feature a gift shop and restaurant at first.
  (3/2/09) Not only is Speed: The Ride open once again, but true fans can earn themselves free unlimited rides for the day if they can manage to eat a 2 foot, 6-pound burrito called The Bomb at the NASCAR Café. However there is a catch… if you can’t finish the burrito you’ve got to take a picture wearing a small pink t-shirt that says Weenie on it. The cost of the huge burrito is $19.95, but apparently if you manage to finish it you get it for free along with two all-day passes to the coaster and a t-shirt to help cover up your expanding belly. Come to think of it, maybe they should throw in some free Gas-X too, but that’s just an after-thought. Otherwise the official website lists a single ride ticket for $10 and an all day pass for $13.
  (2/12/09) According to this article tourism in Las Vegas was down a reported 4.4% in 2008 compared to the year before. Of course they still estimate that Sin City lured in 37.5 million guests over the year, but apparently the convention circuit portion of things seems to have been hit the hardest. This may not spell good news for IAAPA who will bring their show to Vegas for the first time in November.
  (2/10/09) I thought I was seeing things when I read this at first but apparently a brand new Hard Rock Café will open this July right on the Las Vegas Strip. The massive three-level restaurant will take up residence next to the Showcase Mall in the other Denny’s site. They say the outside of the building will feature a large lit-up guitar that will actually house the glass elevator, which sounds to me like they’re going to retheme the old coke bottle elevator. While it seems odd at first to build a new Hard Rock Café on the strip when they’ve had a successful venue just off the strip, they liken this development to the time when they moved the Hard Rock Café location in New York from 57th Street to a new location in Times Square where sales have tripled.
  (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.

Caesar’s Palace - (7/26/07) Ceasar’s has announced a series of new expansion projects that will add yet another giant 23 story tower, new pools, an expansion of the convention center as well as new restaurant and retails sites along the front of the casino at the corner of the Strip and Flamingo. You can see the artwork posted to Vegas Today & Tomorrow.

California / Las Vegas MagLev Monorail - (2/28/08) It’s been talked about for years and while I haven’t heard a peep about it lately, it seems the proposal to build a massive MagLev train that would run from Las Vegas to an Anaheim station near Disneyland is still alive. If the MagLev project becomes a reality guests would be taken from Disneyland to Las Vegas in less than two hours, traveling at speeds up to 300 mph across the desert. Unfortunately a rival plan called the DesertXpress (DX) is getting a lot of attention and would use a cheaper Diesel-electric train running at 125 from Victorville to Vegas. (Makes no sense to me since you’ve got to drive at least 90 minutes out into the middle of the desert just to get to Victorville and then your still looking at a 2.5 hour train ride.) MagLev is hoping to make a comeback however as new funding is set to open to them to make a new push for the $12 billion project.

Circus Circus Adventuredome - (7/1/09) Looks like the early reports were wrong and the ‘Dome has run the new Green train earlier this month.
  (6/29/09) Thanks to a reader we now have a good picture showing off the new Green and Off-White (kind of a teal color I’m told) painted train sitting on the Canyon Blasters’ transfer track. To date, no one has reported seeing the train put to use on the track yet however, but I would assume it is only a matter of time.
  (6/24/09) During a visit this week to the Adventuredome a reader snapped a new picture of the still closed Inverter site. They also thought they saw something interesting way back on the Canyon Blaster’s transfer track. It could have been the weird pink lighting inside the dome, but they swear that the one train sitting on the transfer track appeared to h ave been given a new green coat of paint. Can anyone else confirm this or get a picture?
  (6/23/09) A guest who stopped by the Adventuredome yesterday got a quick second to chat up one of the maintenance crew it seems. They were told that the plan is to have the Inverter back up and running by July 1st, in time for the busy July 4th holiday weekend.
  (6/19/09) According to some readers who have been staying in Vegas this week the Inverter is still down, but has mostly been moved back into the Adventuredome. Quite a bit of it, especially the fiberglass exterior, is still in pieces, though it looks like the main rider frame is back on the arm. When asking about the ride, our reader was informed that they expected to have it back up and running within the next two weeks.
  (6/18/09) Anyone been through the Adventuredome lately? I’m curious if the Inverter is still there or not as we were sent some photo taken in early May that show the entire main piece of the ride car moved outside of the dome, and had maintenance people checking it out intently. There was also another picture of that removed Rim Runner boat that was still sitting outside the dome (ground level) covered with a tarp as well.
  (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.
  (1/14/09) I’m not sure if this is a first step towards retiring the Rim Runner boat ride or not but according to the picture sent in by a reader, the #5 Boat has been dumped in the parking lot behind the Adventuredome. Upon closer inspection there are markings indicating cracks here and there as well as a note mentioning a major crack in the hull. It’s just a guess, but it looks like they’re set to scrap this boat at the very least, though previous rumors indicated that the entire attraction was likely to be retired this year. Anyone know more?
  (4/24/08) A Screamscape source tell us that the Circus Circus Adventuredome has pretty much shut down the Rim Runner shoot the chutes ride. Apparently the plan is to only run it on absolute peak days when the park is packed or to open it up if one of the park’s other major rides (ie: Canyon Blaster) ends up shut down for an extended amount of time. Things are likely to stay this way now through the end of Labor Day when they expect to start the removal process to take it out. 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.
  (1/11/08) Screamscape sources have confirmed to us once again that if you haven’t been on the Rim Runner at the Circus Circus Adventuredome, you may want to take your ride now before it’s too late. It looks like the rumors are true and Circus Circus is planning on removing the Rim Runner at some point in the next year to make way for that new rumored spinning coaster we’ve heard about.

City Center - (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.
  (4/10/09) VegasTodayAndTomorrow takes a long look at City Center and all the buildings that will make up this massive project.
  (4/7/09) According to the Wall Street Journal, MGM Mirage has hired Morgan Stanley to handle the possible sale of MGM Grand Detroit as well as Beau Rivage in order to generate the much needed cash to complete City Center in Las Vegas.
  (4/6/09) MGM Mirage is rumored to possible receive a “cash infusion” that will keep the City Center project on track, restoring some confidence to the whole casino market in general as stock prices on many rose at the sign of this welcome news.
  (3/29/09) Las Vegas fans will enjoy this week’s update to Orlando Rocks which includes nearly three pages of new pictures of City Center from all angles.
  (3/25/09) City Center, the massive construction project in the center of the Vegas Strip is at the center of a new dispute between the two equal partners behind it: MGM Mirage and Infinity World, a subsidiary of Dubai World. Infinity World has filed a lawsuit against MGM Mirage to protect their interests in the project based on the financial instability of MGM Mirage who has let the construction budget rise out of control and has been claiming that it may not be able to meet it’s financial obligations to the project. In short, to ensure the projects forward movement, Infinity World is being asked to pay more than their share of the costs to keep the project alive, and yet get nothing back in return... hense the lawsuit. While I don’t know how true this is, a Screamscape source did report in earlier this week that MGM Mirage is reportedly hemorrhaging money right now and is in a very bad situation. I guess buying up and merging so many of the Strips major casinos into one massive monopoly like company (MGM / Mirage / Circus Circus, etc...) wasn’t such a good idea after all.
  (1/13/09) Mark sent in two more pictures of the massive City Center development.
  (1/12/09) While living it up in Vegas over the weekend, Staff Member Mark sent in a few new construction pictures of City Center which really is going to have some interesting looking buildings from the outside.
  (8/5/08) Click out this construction updates for CityCenter, including this very twisted shot… and no this wasn’t damaged caused by an Earthquake. This strange bit of engineering was done on purpose as part of “The Crystals Mall” which also seems to have a monorail behind it.
  (6/24/08) A reader sent in four new construction pictures of the massive City Center project going up.
  (1/8/08) Orlando Rocks has added some new construction pictures of City Center.
  (8/13/07) City Center is tentatively scheduled to open Phase One by 2009, though I’m not sure what parts of the massive project are included in that. You can try to get a grasp on the size of this massive project by viewing the artwork at Vegas Today & Tomorrow.
  (8/22/06) Looks like the original story we had was correct because the local paper just confirmed that the Elvis-Cirque show will open in CityCenter by November 2009. The Elvis experience wont stop there however, since CKX (owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises) and Cirque are planning additional touring and permanent shows along with multimedia “Elvis Experiences” around the world at the rate of one new project opening each year between 2010 and 2015.
  (2/9/06) According to Vegas Today & Tomorrow the Project: City Center has expanded to 2,800 condo units from a previously planned 1,650, raising the cost to $6 billion. You can see lots of interesting artwork for this vast complex of buildings here.
  (11/12/04) MGM/Mirage has announced their intention to build a 4000 room mega-resort and urban development on the 66 acres of land they own between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo. They are calling it Project CityCenter and will will include three 400-room “boutique hotels”, 550,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space and a 1650 room luxury condo complex. They hope to have it completed by 2010.

Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino - 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.
  (6/8/07) The Cosmopolitan is scheduled to open sometime in early 2009.
  (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.

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 6 floors built up at the tallest point.
  (8/13/07) Echelon Place is still on track for a 2010 opening date. So far they are still in the ground work stage of the game.
  (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.

Fountainbleau - (4/10/09) A new construction update has been posted to VegasTodayAndTomorrow.
  (12/2/08) A construction update on the Fontainebleau has been posted to Vegas Today and Tomorrow, where the tower has finally been topped off.
  (8/13/07) Fountainebleau is expected to be complete sometime in late Late 2009. New concept artwork of what the finished condo hotel casino will look like at Vegas Today & Tomorrow.
  (5/4/07) According to new photos on Vegas Today and Tomorrow, Fountainbleau has started construction.
  (4/20/07) The $2.8 billion Fountainbleau 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.

Hard Rock Casino - (3/12/07) Morgans Hotel Group announced plans for a huge expansion to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino today. The expansion will add 950 new rooms, including a 15 story all suite tower, 60,000 square-feet of meeting space, 35,000 square-feet is new casino space, an expansion of the Hard Rock’s already impressive pool area, a new larger “Joint” live entertainment venue, all new retail space, a spa and more. Construction will begin this year and be complete by Summer 2009.
  (2/15/07) According to Vegas Today and Tomorrow the Hard Rock Casino has been sold to Morgans Hotel Group who will keep the name and wants to expand the resort into nearby vacant property. Details are expected to be announced in March.

Las Vegas Monorail - (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 - (9/4/08) We’ve finally found an update about the Las Vegas Wet project… but it isn’t good. According to the report posted to Casino City Times the company released a statement a few weeks ago that seemed to indicate that the pace of the project had slowed during the uncertain economy, just at the point where they were ready to actually buy some property. For now the company is looking into other options for their investment money, putting the Las Vegas Wet plans on hold until the credit market calms down. But they insist that they will be ready to act once the blue skies return.
  (8/14/07) Today we’ve got some big news finally about the massive Las Vegas Wet project from About.com. In addition to the already juicy details about the resort, indoor and outdoor waterparks and indoor sking area, Las Vegas Wet announced a new element. They will also offer an indoor American in Miniature park which will show off mini version of famous American icons. However this is in addition to the still cryptic 65 acre “internationally branded theme park” section that will be announced in the future.
  (6/11/07) I don’t know if this has been there all along and I just didn’t see it or if it was added not long ago, but the official description of Las Vegas Wet (click on Project and scroll down) now includes an area called The Beach which is desgined after San Diego’s WaveHouse and in addition to man made surfing wave, it will include an area to roller blade along the beach, entertainment on a boardwalk midway and “a classic wooden coaster”. This project just keeps getting better and better... now if only they would break ground already.
  (3/15/07) Las Vegas WET has announced that they are in final negotiations to purchase a 200+ acre site on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip to house the two hotels, retail sites and of course the indoor snow dome and waterpark attractions. While they wont point out the exact site yet, it is known that the only place you can still get a site so large would be south of the 215. This is a switch in location from the previous site they were in talks with when they realized the site simply would not allow for expansion over the year so they wanted something bigger. This will delay things a few months from the original plans to break ground by this spring. They also mention that there will be even more to Las Vegas WET when it opens because there are many aspects and attractions they have yet to announce as the project has grown in scope. For example, the indoor section of the waterpark has been expanded to an amazing 350,000 square feet which will make it the largest indoor waterpark in all of North America. We’ve been told to keep and eye on the website in the upcoming weeks for new announcements.
  (2/13/07) The huge Las Vegas Wet resort attraction just got a whole lot bigger according to an article at About: Theme Parks. The size of the indoor waterpark has now been boosted to 350,000 square-feet to become the biggest indoor waterpark in North America when it opens in 2009 or 2010. In addition to the over 8 acres of indoor fun it will also have 23 acres of outdoor waterpark fun in addition to all the other entertaiment and the indoor snow dome!
  (9/27/06) Last week I mentioned the amazing sounding Las Vegas Wet resort concept and this week I have the link to their official website, though it looks like sections are still under construction. The best way to see all the concept artwork for this amazing multi-themed area resort is on the middle right side of the home page is a link to click on called View Renderings” that will take you to see over twenty different pieces of artwork. I’d love to see something of this scale brought to life and I’m not surprised to see ThinkWell attached to the project either. They have become one of the top design firm for amusement concepts lately, involved with several projects around the world such as the proposed MGM Studios Park in Korea, iPort in Singapore and many more.
  (9/22/06) A huge $1.1 billion mega resort project under the name “Las Vegas Wet” is being planned that will include two hotels, a casino of course, a large retail area and anchored by a huge outdoor waterpark and a massive indoor snow park, all on a 100 acre site. They wont get specific about the location yet, they will only say that it will be on Las Vegas Boulevard (The strip) south of I-215 (south of the airport) which would put it on the outer southern end of Las Vegas as you drive in from California on I-15. The idea for the concept started out as a waterpark to replace Wet ‘ n Wild but due to costs involved, the project needed to get much bigger. The unique snow dome section will be a first in America. Though there are 40 such attraction around the world, most are located in Europe or Asia. You can read all about it here.

Luxor - (3/20/09) One of our readers attended a showing of Criss Angel Believe in Vegas the other day and sent in their brief report on the status of the show. For starters, they aren’t taking away everyone’s cell phones before the show anymore, just warning everyone a billion times not to use them at all. “Criss' much bashed singing is gone. Now, I was in the second row, and I honestly didn't see any trapdoors or wires, other than one wire used to pull a hankerchief around the room - obviously there and only partially visible. He performs many of the same illusions from his show and they are just as unbelievable done live. I didn't notice anyone leaving or seeming visibly disappointed; the most I heard were complaints that it was "strange" and "not enough like his show,"”
  (10/16/08) The new Criss Angel’s Believe show, a collaboration between Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil, has already been quickly bashed by the critics as being a complete waste of time. According to this article customers have been leaving the theater demanding their money back even, which doesn’t bode well for Cirque do Soleil. Previously Cirque could seemingly do no wrong in the Vegas market and has been slowing taking over the entertainment scene there for the past 15 years. Apparently at the end of the show Criss breaks into song, singing a version of his Mindfreak theme song, at which point some of the audience had just had enough and started to leave. Other complaints about the show involve the various wires and trapdoors used in the show being very visible, very poor low-level magic tricks and the fact that they were making everyone turn in your cell phone before entering the theater. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a new Vegas show slammed this hard before, so you’ve been warned.
  In other news a reader also just returned from a trip to Vegas where they told us that the In Search of the Obelisk ride was now closed down, with a construction wall fencing off the entire area now. Has the casino finally decided to pull the plug for good on this ride?

M Resort - (4/10/09) According to a report on VegasTodayAndTomorrow, the new M Resort opened to the public on March 1st. They’ve got a video and plenty of photos to enjoy. 
  (7/14/08) According to VegasTodayandTomorrow a new casino resort project called the “M Resort” will be built at the very extreme southern end of Las Vegas Blvd (The Strip) a little over 8 miles past the Mandalay Bay actually. The project is a partnership deal of sorts between the Marnell Architecture company and MGM-Mirage and they expect to open it sometime in 2009.

MGM Mirage / Jean Project - (2/15/07) Just after we found out MGM Mirage was selling the three Primm casinos, we find out they have new plans to redevelop the two casino's they inherited from the Mandalay buyout at Jean, about halfway between Stateline / Primm and Las Vegas proper. Working with two Vegas developers, the plan is to redevelop the entire 166 acre property on both sides of the I-15 into a new community with affordable housing, commercial businesses, shops and eventually a new hotel-casino project.
  Currently the 303 room Nevada Landing casino on the west side of I-15 is already set to close down on April 18th and demolished to make way for the first phase of development. The 300 employees are being offered jobs at the bigger (811 room) Gold Strike on the other side of the freeway or transferred to other MGM Mirage properties. The Gold Strike will actually not only stay open but be expanded and renovated.
  When it came to choosing sides, it seems there is much more business driving into Las Vegas from California and the bigger Gold Strike was on the right side of the freeway to take advantage of this as well as being in a better physical state than the Nevada Landing casino. However even the Gold Strike may eventually close down in favor of whatever new casino project MGM Mirage has in mind down the line. As for other non core MGM Mirage properties, it seems they've also agreed to sell off the two casinos in Laughlin they acquired from Mandalay to another partnership for $200 million.
  In the Jean redevelopment, MGM Mirage will maintain 50% ownership and the remaining 50% will be split by the two developers (Subsidiaries of American Nevada Corp. and the Cloobeck Cos.). It's also worth mentioning that a new airport is currently proposed for land near the Jean site (Ivanpah Valley Airport) on the eastern side of I-15 that would fill in the gap between Jean and Primm.

MGM Mirage / North Strip Project - (4/20/07) The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that MGM Mirage has struck two separate property deals that will give them just over 100 acres of property covering the north of the strip connected to the existing Circus Circus property. First off they are paying $444 million for the empty 25.7 acre lot across the strip from the Sahara that has sat vacant forever. Then they’re paying $131 million for a small 7.6 acre site closer to Circus Circus. I’ve made a map to show everything off in the area and you’ll notice a small red sliver between this smaller property and Circus Circus which is apparently a Travel Lodge hotel which will likely be purchased in the future rather than be surrounded. This will give MGM Mirage control over this entire northern area of the strip, with the exception of the Sky and Hilton Vacation projects. The long term plan for this is perhaps create another mixed use project like the current Project CityCenter. The plan right now is to remodel and reinvest into the Circus Circus resort (more rides in the Adventuredome please!) and they will eventually close down the smaller Circus Circus Manor low-rise buildings as well as the RV Park to make way for future development of the property. The idea is to make Circus Circus the gateway to the new developments in much the same way that Monte Carlo is to Project CityCenter. Mix this all together with the announced sale and planned renovations of the Sahara, the Echelon Place projects, the proposed Fountainbleau casino and whatever may end up rising on the former Wet ‘n Wild site and it looks like the North End of the strip will be booming over the next decade.

Plaza Las Vegas - ON HOLD - (8/5/08) According to the latest headlines the Plaza Las Vegas project was put on indefinite hold earlier this year. At the time of the work stoppage the project had hardly done anything more than ground clearing.
  (8/28/07) Plans are moving forward to build the Plaza Las Vegas on the site of the New Frontier casino. The Frontier is currently closed and slated for implosion sometime this Fall so that the new Plaza Las Vegas, a copy of the famous Plaza in New York, can open by 2011. Plaza Las Vegas is a joint venture of Elad Group and IDB Group USA Investments Inc.
  (5/17/07) In a record shattering deal the New Frontier is being sold to an Israeli real estate group (El Ad Properties) for $1.2 billion. The plan is to close the New Frontier casino after the deal is finalized in about 90 days, and then demolish (implode) it to make way for a replica of New York’s Plaza Hotel. El Ad Properties owns the original Plaza since they bought it in 2005 for $675 million. The deal does not include the 7 acres being used to build the Trump International Hotel & Tower that the former owner co-owns with The Donald. Of course this means all previous plans to buld the Swiss themed Montreux casino resort are now canceled, which is unfortunate because Montreux sounded more interesting than the Plaza Hotel.

Sahara - (8/5/08) The Sahara has announced a new expansion project that, like the Luxor, will seek to remove all of the Arabian themeing from the resort. Unfortunately in the small piece of concept work showing a very white pristine new exterior look, there also doesn’t appear to be any sign of Speed: The Ride, which makes me think that the coaster’s future may be in jeopardy.

Tropicana - ON HOLD - (5/9/08) While the expansion plans at the Tropicana may be on hold for now, I did manage to come across artwork showing off the new proposed boat ride on the American Scenic website where they name it Journey to Paradise. While the official description never mentions the Tropicana by name, only that it was a Gary Goddard project for a “Las Vegas Casino”, the actual page URL gives it away by calling the page file “TROP.Html”.
  I took the liberty to overlay the artwork over an aerial image of the Trop to show off just where things appear to be going, and it looks like the plan is to demolish much of the existing front area of the casino as well as the older lower-level hotel wings along the North-East side. The Journey to Paradise boat ride would begin well within the existing resort area and head off to the west and up a lift hill to an upper level, through various “Scenes of Paradise” and a “Caverns” scene out near the street corner before turning and plunging down what I would assume is an open air drop that goes under the current bridge to the MGM Grand. From there you work your way back into the main resort area and take a final plunge back down to main level before the ride ends.
  (5/7/08) In a shocking bit of news the new owner of the Tropicana has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It seems a nasty chain reaction of events transpired after their Atlantic City casino was stripped of its casino license about five months after the new owners purchased it. That casino is in the process of being sold right now it seems, but the owners say it’s business as usual at the rest of their casinos, including Las Vegas location. While nothing was mentioned about the huge renovation project in the works for the Vegas location, our sources tell us that for the moment, it looks like everything has been put on hold until they work through the Chapter 11 proceedings.
  (3/20/08) From the huge artwork seen at IAAPA, we know Gary Goddard Entertainment was working with the Tropicana on a major overhaul to the resort that would include some kind of 4D boat ride. The Tropicana how last a little more information on their website about the various changes on the way in 2011. The casino overhaul will include over 600,000 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibit space, 10,224 remodeled guest rooms to be complete by 2012, a 100,00 sq. ft. casino, 250,000 sq. ft. retail mall, the “World-Famous Folies Bergere” show as well as a second theater that will feature another “must-see” production. As for that boat ride… they describe it as a “First of its kind water attraction ride combining 3D imagery and 4D technology”. 
  (11/20/07) It’s been confirmed that the Gary Goddard artwork I mentioned seeing at IAAPA promoting a 2010 project going into Las Vegas will indeed be part of the new transformation of the Tropicana casino. They are calling it a 4D Boat Ride experience and only a small part of the overall project, so I’m really curious about what this will be like.
  (5/4/07) The new owners of the Tropicana casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City have changed the name of their company to Tropicana Casinos & Resorts Inc. A few more details were dropped about the planned expansion of the Las Vegas Tropicana that they hope to complete by 2010. The expanded Tropicana will have 10,000 rooms, a 600,000 square-foot convention facility, five towers (including a revamp of the original Paradise Tower), 100,000 square-feet of casino floor, a 200,000 square-foot retail mall, three spas and fitness centers, parking for over 6,100 cars, a refurbished Tiffany Theater (1,000 seats) for the Folies Bergere show and a new 1,500 seat theater for headliners and special events. They are also planning a must-see signature feature of the resort, a “water attraction that includes a meandering 3-D adventure with a heart-stopping finish sure to excite and refresh visitors.” Almost sounds like a water ride of some kind, doesn’t it? Anyone know more?

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.