So, with my partner Clare excitedly joining me, we settled down for an hour and a half’s worth of entertainment.

So how much did Viva Elvis entertain? Can I recommend it, and would I see another Cirque Du Soleil show? And never mind my cynical opinion, what about my better half’s?

Viva Elvis overview

Viva Elvis is a stage show performed by the astonishing acrobats of Cirque Du Soleil who bombard you with amazing acrobatic routines, and are joined from time to time by individual singers, guitarists and even a rock band.

The hour and a half show is interspersed with commentary from a fat Col. Tom Parker, who’s wheeled onto the stage to give a brief two minute intro to the next scene, and which neatly gives the performers time to setup the stage for the next part of the show.

And some of it takes some setting up – in particular, the huge platform needed for the Got a Lot of Livin’ To Do sequence, which weighs over 30 tonnes!

The show itself is meant to follow the life of Elvis, but in reality, Elvis is just a prop, with the most tenuous part of his life used a hook around which each section is hung. For example, the same Got a Lot of Livin’ To Do set features a series of 10 or so acrobats jumping around different platforms, all dressed as super-heroes. Why? because “Elvis loved to read Comic Books”!!

Yep, this is the depth of the tie-in with Elvis’s life. The show doesn’t exactly keep it real!

Is Viva Elvis entertaining?

I’m not a fan of the theatre or shows, and I’ve not been to too many circuses, either, so although I was looking forward to seeing the show, I had no idea what to expect, or how much I’d enjoy it.

As it turned out, I did enjoy it – mostly! Some of the sets were a bit dull – Don’t Br Cruel, King Creole and One Night With You were both boring and had very little to with either Elvis or Cirque du Soleil! But some of the more lavish sets, such as Bossa Nova, Viva Las Vegas and Jailhouse Rock were just brilliant to watch and very entertaining.

Without doubt, though, the best set of al was Got a Lot of Livin’ To Do. This alone made the whole experience worthwhile as the acrobats jumping around in perfect synchronisation was just mesmerizing. As I said, it had absolutely nothing to do with Elvis, but despite (or because of?!) that, it was simply breathtaking and well worth watching.

I won’t bother listing the contents of each scene – you can read about them all at the Viva Elvis Web site – but I will focus on whether I think it’s worth going to or not.

Is Viva Elvis worth watching?

At the end of the show, I felt I’d enjoyed myself – it was an hour and a half that was definitely fun and mostly entertaining. Parts of it were dull, but the parts that weren’t more than made up for it.

However, the price of the tickets is not cheap. We had good seats, but they were kindly provided us for free so long as I reviewed the show (hence this review!). Had we paid, they would have cost us between $99 – $179 (although you can get them for less if you use one of Vegas’s many cheap ticket booths that you can find up and down the strip. There’s seem to be a few by the M&M Store, for example, and another one at the Fashion Show shoppping mall).

I have to say, I would not have paid that much for the show. If I loved Elvis, it might have been worth the money, just because of the number of Elvis tunes throughout the show, but if you’re watching it for the Cirque acrobats, I think you’ll be disappointed.

Certainly reading reviews of other Cirque shows, there seems to be much more acrobaticalness (yeh, I just made that word up!) in many of the other shows, such as Mystere and O. There’s also much more, er, flesh, so if you’re looking for a more saucy evening, I’d go see one of those instead. With Viva Elvis, not only was everyone fully covered, everyone was dressed to look like Elvis – even the girls, which was just bizarre!

What was the venue like?

The venue was the theatre in the Aria, and this was absolutely stunning. It was simply huge, beautifully lit with superb acoustics and really comfy chairs. Looking at the height of the place was awesome, and you got a real feeling that something special was about to be performed.

If the Aria ever plays host to a singer or band that you love, it’d be a great place to see them, as the theatre was simply increrdible!

A second opinion

These are my thoughts, though, and I’m almost uniquely cynical about such things! What did Clare, my better half think?

Well I just asked her, and she said pretty much the same as me: if you’re a fan of Elvis, you’ll love it; If you’re a fan of Cirque Du Soleil, there are much better Cirque performances on the Strip; and ultimately, we both loved the show, but would really have resented paying for it!

Conclusion

So in sumamry, then, I had a great time with Viva Elvis, and would like to thank Julian for the free tickets. But ultimately I was left a little disappointed, and very glad I hadn’t paid for it.

It has, though, left me wanting to see another, better, Cirque performance, so next time in Vegas, I’ll try to check one out, as it’s certainly a great way of enjoying the evening.

So that’s what I think? What about you? Have you seen Viva Elvis or any other Cirque performance on the strip? What were your your impressions, and what would you recommend?

There are lions at the MGM Grand hotel!! Real live lions! Not roaming around the casino floor but in a specially designed “Lion Habitat” in the casino.

The lions are apparently descendants from the original Leo The Lion who was MGM’s mascot – the lion you see roaring at the start of their movies. There are around 30 lions altogether, the majority being female and they actually live on a ranch just outside Las Vegas. Everyday, six or so lions are brought to the MGM where they spend the day prowling around their area. There’s a glass tunnel you can walk through so you can feel like you’re really getting close to the cats.

I was really excited to hear about the lions and was looking forward to seeing them, but I’ve got to say that it was a bit of a let down and I left feeling really quite sad.

Read why after the jump.

While I don’t doubt that no expense was spared in the development of the “habitat” I still can’t help but think that the animals would honestly rather be outside somewhere, hunting zebra and generally having nothing to do with mankind if they could avoid it. Instead, they’re placed somewhere where they have no privacy and have hundreds of people pressing their faces against the glass, desperate for a reaction from one of them. It made me think about the snake in the first Harry Potter book if I’m honest…

There are stories that the lions love their “habitat” so much that they don’t want to leave at the end of the day. Perhaps this is true. I’m sure they are treated as well as they can be, and MGM clearly state that the lions are there to be honoured and preserved, but I personally just question if such wild animals can be happy in captivity…

Still, if you’ve never seen a lion before – and you’d like to – this is a guaranteed chance to see a small pride together… but if you’re lucky enough to have seen lion before in the wild then this probably isn’t the thing for you. There’s something absolutely magnificent about seeing wild lion, not least because they’re so elusive, and seeing them padding around in a limited space behind thick glass just doesn’t have quite the same impact.

Walking up the strip to the Stratosphere hotel I was thinking to myself that the tower looked pretty high. The shapes at the top of the tower were just pinpricks and the faint sound of screams in the air could have been bird calls or similar.

Maybe…

Getting closer to the hotel I stopped thinking that the tower looked pretty high and acknowledged that it was definitely Very High Indeed (at over 1100 ft high I like to think I was right with that). Still, my excitement took me forward and had me nearly running to the ticket queue to get to the top and on the ride.

Exiting the lift on the observation floor was an amazing thing. The tower absolutely dominates the Las Vegas skyline and the view was just incredible. Seeing all the hotels laid out in front of you – almost like a little living map – is an incredible thing. And I was definitely right about the tower being Very High Indeed.

From behind huge glass windows I looked down on what is surely one of the best views of Vegas and started to feel just a little overwhelmed by the height of the place. After lots of view-admiring it was time to get in another lift and get up to the rides. Hurrah!

Unfortunately, when I reached the very top of the tower, where the rides are, reality hit home pretty hard and I realised that I had somehow found myself on top of a ridiculously high tower and was about to ridiculously go on a ride that would ridiculously throw me up even higher.

The Nerves had arrived….

A disappointingly short queue awaited us at The Big Shot. Never in my life have I ever wished for a longer queue on a ride, but this one had me nervous. Getting to the front of the queue and getting strapped into my seat happened in the (seemingly very short) blink of an eye and there I sat, for the longest few seconds of my life, waiting to be fired into the air like a missile, just hoping that the old adage “what goes up must come down” would be the case here, just with the added word “safely” at the end.

After several long hours (in reality probably around 30 seconds) all the other crazy fools and myself were securely strapped into our seats, our legs nervously dangling beneath us, waiting for the ominous hiss of air that would mean we were about to be flung to the heavens.

The ride of your life

The ride itself I can’t tell you too much about as fear and adrenalin have made the memories a little hazy. It was over in probably less than a minute, but what a minute!! You are literally fired straight upwards, very quickly reaching a speed of 45mph – apparently this is more than 4Gs which would explain why I left my stomach at the bottom of the ride to be watched over by the people queuing to go next. The shooting upwards seems to take just milliseconds and the view at the top is just incredible if you can manage to keep your eyes open…

Then comes the drop.

The drop seems ominously slow after the speed of going up and as you can’t see below you you don’t know how far you have to drop until you reach the landing. Terrifying!

After the ride, with legs shaking, I was faced with the indignity of looking at the nervous wreck I’d become with the standard ride photograph. I don’t think I’d ever fully appreciated why rides are called white knuckle rides, but now I understand. I was holding on to the bars of my harness so tightly that my knuckles looked like they had been tippexed. I bought the photo. Even though my knuckles are white and my face is grey I wanted proof that I’d just gone through one of the most scary experiences of my life.

It took three pretty stiff cocktails downstairs in the bar for me to stop shaking like a leaf and for the first time in my life I declared that while I was glad I had done the ride, there was no way on god’s holy earth I’d put myself through that again.

As for the other two rides, the delightfully named Insanity and X-Scream, they look absolutely terrifying. If you want to read a review of those you’ll have to go elsewhere, this reviewer wouldn’t have been able to lift a pen again if she’d gone on either of those!

The Bellagio is one of the most famous hotels on the Las Vegas strip (if not the world), and for good reason. As one of the most lavish, luxurious hotels in the world, you could easily spend a full day in the hotel and still feel like you haven’t seen everything it offers.

The Bellagio is more than just its famous fountains – much more. Whether you’re staying in one of the 4,000 rooms or just visiting the hotel to see its grand opulence, here are ten things you have to see.

1). Thousands of glass flowers

First things first, make sure you look up when you arrive around 2,000 hand blown glass flowers decorate the ceiling in the lobby if youre a fan of glass flowers or not, this is definitely worth a look as its typical of the amazing attention to detail throughout this hotel.

2). Superb swimming pools

Relax the day away with a few hours by one of the 5 gorgeous swimming pools. Private cabanas are available on request for groups of up to 8 people and a poolside massage will convince you you’ve landed in Vegas Heaven. If you’re a fan of cocktails make sure you try the signature Bellagio Mojito from the Pool Bar, infused with fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and mint.

3). The famous fountain (no, not that one!)

If you like your chocolate and pastries, no visit to the Bellagio is complete without a visit to Jean Phillippe’s patisserie. Even if you can resist trying some of his amazing chocolate or cakes, you’ll be drooling over his chocolate fountain which stretches from the floor to the ceiling and has been verified by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest in the world.

4). Afternoon tea – how very civilised!

Enjoy the finer things in life with a traditional English afternoon tea in the Petrossian Bar and Lounge. Available every afternoon between 2-5pm, afternoon tea includes open sandwiches, freshly baked scones (served with clotted cream and jam, obviously), delicate pastries and an assortment of teas. Relax and enjoy your pot of Earl Grey while watching the world go by in the casino below.

Bellagio really doesn’t do Vegas like the rest of Vegas does, which is perfect if you don’t either!

5). The Bellagio Botanical Gardens – a real hidden gem

Continuing the theme of doing things differently, take a wander through the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and immerse yourself an amazing display of the best Mother Nature has to offer (combined with some Vegas showmanship, obviously!)

Flowers are replaced fortnightly to ensure they look at their absolute best and the whole area is re-landscaped five times a year. A vast array of flowers, plants, water features, bridges and gazebos make this a welcome haven of peaceful beauty in contrast to the madness of the strip outside.

6). Cirque de Soleil

See the world-reknowned Cirque du Soleil performing “O”. In residence at the Bellagio since 1998, this is a spectacular show that is set in and above water and includes high diving, contortionists, trapeze and synchronised swimming.

There are two shows nightly and it’s not cheap, but if you’re a fan of Cirque du Soleil itis well worth a visit.

7). Glorious Food in Glorious Las Vegas

Whatever your tastes you’ll find a food place to suit you in the Bellagio – from the Italian Circo to the French Le Cirque, there’s a variety of high-end restaurants to choose from, as well as some more relaxed choices, such as the Cafe Bellagio.

8). Shop till you drop

Of course, in a hotel of opulence and luxury, you’d iimagine the shops would be a bit special, and you’d be right! Like most hotels on the Strip, the Bellagio has its own shops called Via Bellagio, but unlike many others, they’re all upmarket designer stores.

So do some top class window shopping (or spend your winnings!), with boutiques including Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Dior, Fendi, Prada, Tiffany & Co and Gucci.

Dahling!

9). Dance with the stars at The Bank nightclub

Luxury pervades the Bellagio, so of course it extends to its nightclub as well. Called The Bank, it opened recently, with Leonardo DiCaprio seeing in the New Year there (which may or may not attract you to the club, depending on your views of the pixie-faced actor!)

The Bank has light gold and glass accents and has three tiers of VIP seating. At the bottom is the dance floor where you can bust your moves to Hip Hop, House and “Top 40″ (is there a top 40 in these days of the download?!)

10). Of course, the fountains!

One of the best free shows in Vegas, the Fountains of Bellagio are a truly stunning visual spectacle. Spanning an 8 acre lake in front of the hotel, the regular shows (every 15 or 30 minutes depending on time of day) combine water, music and light to create a really unique and uplifting experience.

I’d recommend watching the show two or three times as it’s different each time – and it’s definitely worth watching from different vantage points and at different times of the day. Directly in front of the hotel gives you a great view, but it’s also worth watching them from the Bellagio’s lake-side bar patio the Fontana – and from a front-facing hotel room if you’re lucky enough to have one.

And if you want the best setting for taking pics, make sure you stand immediately in front of the hotel looking out towards the Strip – Paris Hotel is directly behind, so you get some superb shots of the fountains with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Absolutely stunning!

The Aladdin was rescued and so continued trading, but since 2007, it’s been turned into Planet Hollywood. It’s still the same building underneath, but it looks completely different from the outside.

So if you go to Vegas now, you’ll see barely a trace of the Arab-themed splendour that was the Aladdin, which was possibly the Strip’s biggest white elephant. To give you a taste of what it was like, I’ve added a few new photos of the Aladdin as it was to the Gallery, courtesy of Susan Jancso, a prolific writer, photographer and lover of Las Vegas. Susan will shortly be publishing a book on Las Vegas, and can be reached at mailto://amhirlap@sbcglobal.net if you want to find out more.

The pictures of The Aladdin can be found under a new section of the gallery called Old Vegas, which I’ll be adding to over the coming weeks.

I also have tonnes of new reviews to add, as I’ve just returned from yet another Vegas visit, so stay tuned!

When it became clear he wasn’t surfacing, several passers by dove in to rescue him. Minutes later the police arrived and helped drag him to safety, though it was clear from his screams that he was in some pain.

Bizarrely, I just happened to be there at the scene when it all took place. These pics and vids are from my trusty camera, which annoyingly ran out of memory towards the end. The whole thing was very surreal, particularly when the fountains suddenly burst into life. It was a beautiful night, gloriously warm, and the fountain display was particularly dramatic, but it was a discordant backdrop to the drama unfolding directly beneath me, especially when the man started screaming. Oddly, the crowd around me cheered as the fountains came to their stunning climax, with the rescue effort still in full swing.

As the man was stretchered off into a waiting ambulance, an old man in a wheelchair on the side of the street suddenly launched into a full-on religious sermon, telling us all to repent our sins or else.

He never quite said “or else the fountains of Hell will strike you down, too”, but he might as well have!

It’s my first day in Vegas, and if this is a sign of things to come, it’s going to be a pretty eventful week! Hats off to the guys who jumped in and rescued in him, though. They undoubtedly saved his life, as he was knocked out cold by the fall, and was laying there unconscious on the bottom of the lake.

You can see the videos of the rescue after the jump.

Looking at the video of the fire, it had the potential of being a catastrophe, as it really seemed to take hold of the roof. This must have been a nightmare for the Monte Carlo’s owners, MGM Mirage, not only in terms of bad publicity, but also because it was their MGM Grand hotel that caught fire back in 1980. That time, the fire killed 80 people and injured over 700 – this time, however, nobody was even injured.

The automatic sprinklers did their job, confining the fire to the outside of the building and preventing it from taking hold. This, combined with the smooth evacuation of the building (which is no mean feat, given it has over 3,000 rooms, most of which were occupied), helped ensure there were no injuries, and MGM Mirage deserve recognition for their fire policies, which clearly work.

Even more confusingly, Las Vegas Sands spokesman Ron Reese said the company was planning a “soft opening” of the Palazzo “sometime at the end of December,” but that “…we are focused on a grand opening celebration on January 18.”

Er, right. So presumably the Palazzo will be open for business fully from January 18th, but the foyer will be open on December 20th so the company can claim it met its 2007 opening deadline.

Whatever, the fact that they managed to get the Palazzo open in such a short time is impressive enough, as is the building itself. There will be a grand opening celebration on the nights of January 17th and 18th 2008 as well, which should be spectacular.

[Source: LVBusinessPress]

Fortunately TI aren’t giving up on the idea of nightclubs altogether. Instead, they’ll be replacing Tangerine with another nightclub that will open on New Year’s Eve. Apparently the reason behind Tangerine’s imminent demise is too much competition from the likes of Tao, Pure, Moon and Jet.

There’s a simple answer to that – get a better DJ! Meh!

[Source: LATimes]

But the Crown Las Vegas really does intend to be the most outlandish of all, as it’s set to rise some 1,888 feet tall – that’s 700 feet higher than the Stratosphere!

The people behind the Crown Las Vegas, PBL, have just filed papers recently with the Clark County planning commission outlining their plans for the super-huge hotel. These plans include a 142 floor monstrosity that would dwarf everything all around it.

More details after the jump.

Featuring 5,000 rooms and tonnes of retail, restaurants, gaming, spa and convention center space, the Crown Las Vegas would be the tallest building not just in Las Vegas, but in the whole of the US, rising some 400 feet above the Sears Tower in Chicago (the current tallest).

Unfortunately for PBL, their plans could be scuppered by the FAA, who are worried that the building would be a flight hazard to planes landing at McCarran airport. Really? You mean pilots taking off and landing wouldn’t see a 1,888 feet tall building?! Should we be worried about this?!

Aside from this, there’s also the thought that the hotel itself might not be that profitable. Hugely tall buildings need to transport visitors from their rooms to ground level (and, of course, casino level) quickly. If you don’t do this efficiently, you get disgruntled guests, not to mention guests who can’t actually get to your casino.

Even a hotel as (relatively) small as Circus Circus can take up to 20 minutes to get out of the building. Actually, it can take longer than that. During my stay last year, three of the lifts had broken down, leaving just one lift for the entire tower. After waiting 10 minutes, I gave up and used the stairs, which took me another 15 minutes! Imagine doing that in a tower that’s 1,888 feet tall?!

Whether PBL get permission to build their monstrosity to the height they want to remains to be seen, but it seems they’re serious about building it, so one way or another, the Stratosphere could soon have a seriously tall neighbour!

[Source: LasVegasLogue]