Travel in Las Vegas

Have you ever been in a big hotel? Have you ever been in a hotel, that is not only big, but has absolutely everything you might need and is covered in luxury? No? Well, welcome to the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Mirage is a 3,044 room hotel and casino resort located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise,(though like most hotels on the Strip, it uses a Las Vegas mailing address). The casino is owned by MGM MIRAGE.

The Mirage is connected by a free tram to Treasure Island, its sister property immediately to the north. The marquee in front of The Mirage is the largest free standing marquee in the world.

The Mirage was built by developer Steve Wynn and opened in November 1989 on the former grounds of the Castaways hotel and casino, and was owned by Wynn's company Mirage Resorts (later MGM Mirage). It was the first resort that was built with the money of Wall Street through the use of junk bonds.

The Mirage was the most expensive hotel/casino in history, with a construction cost of $630 million. The hotel's distinctive gold windows get their color from actual gold used in the tinting process. It was reported that the resort would have to bring in a million dollars a day to pay off a 7-year construction loan. But in fact The Mirage did so well, the loan was paid off in just 18 months.

Its construction is also considered very noteworthy in that Wynn had set a new standard for Vegas resorts, and is widely considered to be the father of today's Las Vegas. Prior to the Mirage's opening, the city was experiencing a decline in tourism that began in the 70s, especially around the time the state of New Jersey legalized gambling and tourists (in particular those on the East Coast) began to frequent the casinos of Atlantic City. Also, this was a time when Las Vegas was no longer considered a fashionable destination, so a new, high-profile, project was necessary to jump-start the ailing industry. When it opened, The Mirage was the first casino to use security cameras full time on all table games.

From 1990 through 2003, the Mirage was the venue for the Siegfried & Roy show. The two headliners combined magic and the use of wild animals. The closing of the popular attraction in 2003, after Roy Horn was attacked by one of the white tigers used in the show, impacted the Mirage for a while. Siegfried & Roy's White Tiger Habitat keeps one of the white tigers always on view.

In 1993, the Mirage hosted an extended run of the Cirque du Soleil show Nouvelle Experience in a tent in the Mirage parking lot. It was during this time that Steve Wynn decided to invite Cirque to create Mystere for the soon-to-be-built Treasure Island resort next door. Finally returning to where they began in Las Vegas, Cirque has a permanent production at the Mirage, LOVE. ref

In 2004 Danny Gans took over the main showroom and marquee becoming the resort's main entertainment attraction. Gans will be leaving The Mirage in 2009 to star in a show at the Encore resort.

In December 2006 the Beatles-themed REVOLUTION ultra-lounge opened. It is the first time Cirque du Soleil was involved in the development of such a venue, although they do not operate it.

Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Harrah's Entertainment. Caesars is located on the west side of the Strip, between the Bellagio and the Mirage.

Caesars has 3,348 rooms in five towers: Augustus, Centurion, Roman, Palace, and Forum. The Forum tower features guest suites with 1,000 square feet (93 m²) of space.

In 1962, Jay Sarno, a cabana motel owner, used $10 million that had been lent to him by the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund to begin plans for a hotel on land owned by Kirk Kerkorian. Sarno would later act as designer of the hotel he planned to construct.

Building of the 14-story Caesars Palace hotel began in 1962. That first tower would have 680 rooms on the 34 acre (138,000 m²) site.

Sarno struggled to decide on a name for the hotel. He finally decided to call it Caesars Palace because he thought that the name Caesar would evoke thoughts of royalty because of Roman general Julius Caesar. Sarno felt that guests should feel they were at a king's home while at his hotel. It is called "Caesars" and not "Caesar's" because every guest is a Caesar.

Sarno contracted many companies to build the hotel, from the Roman landscapes it presents, to the water fountains that have been stages of various events and the hotel's swimming pools. On August 5, 1966, the hotel was inaugurated, with Andy Williams and Phil Richards providing entertainment; they both played Julius Caesar at a play that night. Two days later, Latin bandleader Xavier Cugat and flamenco guitarist Charo became the first couple to marry in the new establishment.

On December 31, 1967, Evel Knievel unsuccessfully tried to jump the hotel's water fountain with his motorcycle.

On July 15, 1969, executives lay ground on an expansion area of the hotel, and they buried a time capsule in the area, but the time capsule was stolen days later.

In 1973, the Del Webb company was contracted to build a 16-story building adjacent to the Palace. That project was finished in 1974.

Many top performers, such as Celine Dion, Liberace, George Burns, Diana Ross, Cher, Julio Iglesias, Judy Garland, David Copperfield, Gloria Estefan, and most notably Frank Sinatra have performed at the hotel.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix car race (a Formula One World Championship event) was held at Caesars in 1981 and 1982. After Watkins Glen race course was removed from the schedule after 1980, Formula 1 put an event in Las Vegas for the 1981 campaign. The new race was not popular among the drivers, primarily because of the desert heat. The track was laid out in the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel and was surprisingly well set up for a temporary circuit: wide enough for overtaking, it provided ample run-off areas filled with sand, and had a surface that was as smooth as glass. Its counter-clockwise direction, however, put a tremendous strain on the drivers' necks. When Nelson Piquet clinched his first World Championship by finishing fifth in 1981, it took him fifteen minutes to recover from heat exhaustion. The 1982 race was won by Michele Alboreto in a Tyrrell, but the race was not renewed for the following season due to poor attendance.

During the 1980s, the hotel opened an Atari game room that had over 60 Atari video game arcade machines.

In 1989, Robbie Knievel successfully completed what his father could not do years before by completing the fountain jump.

Several championship boxing matches were held in Caesars Outdoor Arena. Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Duran all headlined here, along with Larry Holmes against both Muhammad Ali and Gerry Cooney. England boxing captain Errol Christie was on the supporting bill with Hearns when he fought Duran. Also, three bouts between Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe were contested here, one of which included the infamous "Fan Man" incident which saw a parachuter with a fan attached to his back parachute down to the ring in the middle of the fight. Michael Moorer also won the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the World when he defeated Holyfield. The fight led to Holyfield's first of several retirements. Oscar De La Hoya also headlined several boxing cards here during the mid-to-late '90s, as did Shane Mosley.

The hotel's management wanted it to have a new, family-oriented atmosphere as the 1990s approached, a trend mirrored by many of the big Las Vegas resorts. This move was not strange to Las Vegas hotel owners, as most hotels there were planning to modernize anyway by adding more children features and making Las Vegas hotels seem more family friendly and less gambler oriented.

In 1992, The Forum Shops at Caesars opened; it was one of the very first venues in the city where shopping, particularly at high-end stores, was an attraction in itself. The fourth phase opened on October 22, 2004. It now has the 2nd built circular escalator in the USA. The other one is at the Westfield San Francisco Centre.

WrestleMania IX, one of the annual World Wrestling Federation spectacles promoted by Vince McMahon, was held here in 1993. The theme was "The World's Largest Toga Party".

In 1993, the NBC game show Caesars Challenge was taped here.

Magician David Copperfield was a headliner for several stints in the Circus Maximus Theatre.

Comedian George Burns had performed there a number of times in the early '90s and had stated that he wanted to perform there on his 100th birthday but could not due to failing health.

In the summer of 1996, a venue opened known as "Caesar's Magical Empire", showcasing major magicians such as Whit Haydn, Jon Armstrong, Jeff "Magnus" McBride and Lee Asher in a dinner theater. The show was profitable, but was eventually closed on November 30, 2002 to make room for Celine Dion's new venue.

Over the years, the hotel has been owned by various companies, including Sheraton and The Hilton International Corporation. Caesars Entertainment (originally known as Park Place Entertainment) bought the property in 1999 before it merged with Harrah's in 2005. That year, Caesars Palace was affected by a large flood.

Caesars has opened the Roman Plaza, an open-air area with a cafe on the corner, and the Colosseum theater, where Céline Dion (A New Day...) and Elton John (The Red Piano) are regular performers. The Colosseum was specifically built for Dion's show, A New Day..., a spectacular produced by former Cirque du Soleil director Franco Dragone. Dion's show was also notable for having some of the highest ticket prices for any show in the city, with seats as high as $220 each; nonetheless, the show regularly sold out.

On October 2, 2004, big-time boxing returned to the Palace, as Wladimir Klitschko and former Olympian Jeff Lacy headlined a card televised on Showtime.

Caesars Palace opened the Augustus Tower in August 2005. It stands 46 floors high and is perpendicular to the Strip.

In 2005, Harrah's Entertainment acquired Caesars Entertainment and became the owner of Caesars Palace.

On May 4, 2006, Mike Metzger became the first person to ever backflip on a motorcycle over the fountains.

As of December 2007, Harrah's Entertainment runs some of their corporate offices inside the Caesars Palace Resort.

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and entertainment. Although established in 1905, Las Vegas officially became a city in 1911. With the growth that followed, Las Vegas became the most populous American city founded in the 20th century, preceding the 19th century founding of Chicago. As the 28th most populous city in the United States, Las Vegas is one of the most populous cities in the American West.

The name Las Vegas is often applied to the unincorporated areas of Clark County that surround the city, especially the resort areas on and near the Las Vegas Strip. This 4.5-mile (7.2-km) stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard is mostly outside the city limits, in the unincorporated towns of Paradise and Winchester.

Las Vegas, billed as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for massive and lavish casino resorts, the unrestricted availability of alcoholic beverages (as is true throughout Nevada), and adult entertainment. Once officially referred to as Sin City, this image made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programs.

Las Vegas (English: "The Meadows") was named by Spaniards in the Antonio Armijo party, who used the water in the area while heading north and west along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas. In the 1800s, areas of the Las Vegas Valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas or meadows (vegas in Spanish), hence the name Las Vegas.

John C. Frémont traveled into the Las Vegas Valley on May 3, 1844, while it was still part of Mexico. He was a leader of a group of scientists, scouts and observers for the United States Army Corps of Engineers. On May 10, 1855, following annexation by the United States, Brigham Young assigned 30 missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led by William Bringhurst to the area to convert the Paiute Indian population to Mormonism. A fort was built near the current downtown area, serving as a stopover for travelers along the "Mormon Corridor" between Salt Lake and the briefly thriving colony of "saints" at San Bernardino, California. Las Vegas was established as a railroad town on May 15, 1905, when 110 acres (44.5 ha) owned by Montana Senator William A. Clark's San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, was auctioned off in what is now downtown Las Vegas. Las Vegas was part of Lincoln County until 1909 when it became part of the newly established Clark County. Las Vegas became an incorporated city on March 16, 1911.

Las Vegas' climate is an arid desert climate (Koppen climate classification BWh) typical of the Mojave Desert, in which it is located, marked with very hot summers, mild winters, abundant sunshine year-round, and very little rainfall. Temperatures in the 90s °F (mid-30s °C) are common in the months of May, June, and September and temperatures normally exceed 100 °F (38 °C) most days in the months of July and August, but with very low humidity, frequently under 10%. The hottest temperature ever recorded is 117 °F (47 °C) set twice, on July 19, 2005, at McCarran International Airport (the warmest ever recorded there) and July 24, 1942, at present-day Nellis Air Force Base. Winters are mild and usually are cool and windy, with the majority of Las Vegas' annual 4.49 in (114 mm) of rainfall coming from January to March. Winter daytime highs are normally around 60 °F (16 °C) and winter nighttime lows are usually around 40 °F (4 °C). The coldest temperature ever recorded is 8 °F (−13 °C) set on January 25, 1937, at present-day Nellis Air Force Base. Showers occur less frequently in the Spring or Autumn. July through September, the Mexican Monsoon often brings enough moisture from the Gulf of California across Mexico and into the southwest to cause afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Although winter snow is usually visible from December to May on the mountains surrounding Las Vegas, it rarely snows in the city itself. Although temperature and precipitation records for Las Vegas dates back to the early part of the 20th Century, official temperature and precipitation records for Las Vegas date back as early as 1937.

The major attractions in Las Vegas are the hotels. The most famous hotels line Las Vegas Boulevard South, also known as the Las Vegas Strip. Many of these hotels carry thousands of rooms and are featured on various themes. There are, of course, large casino areas in these hotels as well. There are many hotel casinos in the city's downtown area as well, which was the original focal point of the city's gaming industry in its early days. Several large hotels and casinos are also located somewhat off the Strip but adjacent to it, as well as in the county around the city.

The City of Las Vegas government operates as a council-manager government. The Mayor sits as a Council member-at-large and presides over all of the City Council meetings. In the event that the Mayor cannot preside over a City Council meeting, the Mayor Pro-Tem is the presiding officer of the meeting until such time as the Mayor returns to his seat. The City Manager is responsible for the administration and the day-to-day operation of all of the municipal services and city departments. The City Manager also maintains intergovernmental relationships with federal, state, county and other local governments.

A large number of the people who live in what they call "Las Vegas" actually reside in neighboring incorporated cities or unincorporated communities. In fact, of the approximately 1.8 million people who live in the Las Vegas Valley, approximately 600,000 actually live inside Las Vegas city limits. Approximately 700,000 people live in unincorporated areas governed by Clark County, and another 465,000 live in incorporated cities such as North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City. Las Vegas and most of the surrounding metropolitan area share a police department. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department provides most law enforcement services in the city and surrounding county after a 1975 merger of the Las Vegas Police Department and the Clark County Sheriff's Department. Incorporated cities in Clark County, as well as colleges, parks and schools have their own police departments that fall outside of Metro's jurisdiction.

A Paiute Indian reservation occupies about one acre (4000 m2) in the downtown area of Las Vegas.