Vegas 2006 - Day 4
Nov 9, 2006
We've come to the realization that our day would be planned by the precious Power Pass. Two attractions at Luxor, the Secret Garden, the Star Trek experience, and the Mapplethrope exhibit. One last freebie on the list was the "Viva Las Vegas" tickets that we get for free for staying at the Stratosphere.
Of course, the monorail doesn't quite go all the way to the Luxor. You have to get off and walk by "New York, New York" and take another monorail from Excalibur, and if I remember correctly, that monorail goes express all the way to Mandalay Bay and then comes back to Luxor. *sigh*
The Luxor, of course, is famous for the light on top of it's pyramid, the one that you can see from space. It's not much to look at in the desert sun though. Besides, we were there to see King Tut's Tomb and some sort of 3D/4D ride. The tomb was a replica of what they found in Egypt and was sort of interesting, though not "you would have paid $10 for this exhibit" interesting. The ride was a little better, but just a little, and definitely not worth the $10 I would have paid if it were not for the Power Pass. The 3D effects were pretty good, especially the falling down a mine shaft in an elevator, but then we were herded around like cattle, and the TV monitors where we received instructions from the characters in the ride recycled through their video so quickly that we could already hear it restarting as we were leaving the room. I wanted to go see "Pirates 4D" starring Leslie Nielsen, but unfortunately, everything that I've taken Anne to see with him in it has sucked, and not in that good "Jenna Jamieson sucks" sort of way. Naked Gun 33 1/3, Dracula - Dead and Loving it, and possibly, Spy Hard.
After the Luxor came The Mirage. We saw the freebie white tiger habitat with an actual freebie white tiger, but more importantly, the magic of the Power Pass allowed us to go into the Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. I almost drained my digital camera batteries taking pictures of playful dolphins and more playful dolphins, from above and below the water. I also wasted a lot of battery life trying to take non-fuzzy pictures of various large cats. They like to move a lot when they sense that the camera is on time. Overall, it was (and is) a beautiful oasis right in the middle of the strip.
We spent so much time at the Mirage that we couldn't make it back to the Stratosphere in time for "Viva Las Vegas!" I think that was probably a good thing. We also missed out using our 2-for-1 coupons for "Bite", the erotic show at the Stratosphere. I guess our next trip to Vegas will consist of Cirque and various erotic shows that we can get 2-for-1 coupons for.
So, instead, we took the monorail to the Hilton, home of Barry Manilow and The Star Trek Experience. (I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere, maybe a rendition of "Jean Luc" to the tune of "Mandy"?) We bought our tickets with the Power Pass (for Star Trek, of course) and then promptly got lost both figuratively and literally. I got lost in all the show and movie stuff, and then we couldn't figure out where the line up for the "rides" were. It took a Klingon to set us straight.
I have absolutely no idea which ride (Klingon or Borg) we did first, but each had its sure of excitement. The highlight was being beamed onto the Enterprise bridge, and then it was a normal simulator (every sit inside a box while it rocks from side to side) ride. Overall, with the possible exception of the Hoover Dam, this was actually one attraction that I would have paid the full price to see.
Strangely enough, the real highlight of the night was just outside the gift shop (because every ride/exhibit dumps you into the gift shop). It was the Star Trek themed restaurant. No, it wasn't the relatively generic items with the Star Trek names. It wasn't the ceiling covered with stars and various ships from the TV show and movies (though that was pretty good too). It was the drinks ... sort of. I got a frilly fruity drink, and got picked up by another Klingon about having a child's drink. Anne got the "mini" warp core. Her glass was the size of a volleyball, mostly of melon liquor and dry ice. The regular warp core is double that. She couldn't finish it, but she got it in a to-go cup, which impressed her so much that she took a picture of it when we got back to the hotel room.
Our final Power Pass trip of the day was to the Mapplethrope exhibit at the Venetian. Here, they really wanted to ensure that no one was taking picture, and beyond having bored looking guards walking amongst the photographs, they wanted us to leave our camera at the coat check by the door.
I wasn't as tired as when we went to the Ansel Adams exhibit, and this exhibit had an interesting theme, comparing the sometimes controversial work of Mapplethrope to those from a more classic era. Both Anne and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and actually spent quite a bit of time in that exhibit, reading each of the plaques.
Then we headed out to see the rest of the Venetian. We came across an interesting display of masks, and suddenly, we realized that we didn't have our camera and had to rush back to get the camera. The problem? The end of the exhibit doesn't take you back to the beginning where the coat check is. It takes you into .. *drum roll please* .. the gift shop.
We've come to the realization that our day would be planned by the precious Power Pass. Two attractions at Luxor, the Secret Garden, the Star Trek experience, and the Mapplethrope exhibit. One last freebie on the list was the "Viva Las Vegas" tickets that we get for free for staying at the Stratosphere.
Of course, the monorail doesn't quite go all the way to the Luxor. You have to get off and walk by "New York, New York" and take another monorail from Excalibur, and if I remember correctly, that monorail goes express all the way to Mandalay Bay and then comes back to Luxor. *sigh*
The Luxor, of course, is famous for the light on top of it's pyramid, the one that you can see from space. It's not much to look at in the desert sun though. Besides, we were there to see King Tut's Tomb and some sort of 3D/4D ride. The tomb was a replica of what they found in Egypt and was sort of interesting, though not "you would have paid $10 for this exhibit" interesting. The ride was a little better, but just a little, and definitely not worth the $10 I would have paid if it were not for the Power Pass. The 3D effects were pretty good, especially the falling down a mine shaft in an elevator, but then we were herded around like cattle, and the TV monitors where we received instructions from the characters in the ride recycled through their video so quickly that we could already hear it restarting as we were leaving the room. I wanted to go see "Pirates 4D" starring Leslie Nielsen, but unfortunately, everything that I've taken Anne to see with him in it has sucked, and not in that good "Jenna Jamieson sucks" sort of way. Naked Gun 33 1/3, Dracula - Dead and Loving it, and possibly, Spy Hard.
After the Luxor came The Mirage. We saw the freebie white tiger habitat with an actual freebie white tiger, but more importantly, the magic of the Power Pass allowed us to go into the Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. I almost drained my digital camera batteries taking pictures of playful dolphins and more playful dolphins, from above and below the water. I also wasted a lot of battery life trying to take non-fuzzy pictures of various large cats. They like to move a lot when they sense that the camera is on time. Overall, it was (and is) a beautiful oasis right in the middle of the strip.
We spent so much time at the Mirage that we couldn't make it back to the Stratosphere in time for "Viva Las Vegas!" I think that was probably a good thing. We also missed out using our 2-for-1 coupons for "Bite", the erotic show at the Stratosphere. I guess our next trip to Vegas will consist of Cirque and various erotic shows that we can get 2-for-1 coupons for.
So, instead, we took the monorail to the Hilton, home of Barry Manilow and The Star Trek Experience. (I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere, maybe a rendition of "Jean Luc" to the tune of "Mandy"?) We bought our tickets with the Power Pass (for Star Trek, of course) and then promptly got lost both figuratively and literally. I got lost in all the show and movie stuff, and then we couldn't figure out where the line up for the "rides" were. It took a Klingon to set us straight.
I have absolutely no idea which ride (Klingon or Borg) we did first, but each had its sure of excitement. The highlight was being beamed onto the Enterprise bridge, and then it was a normal simulator (every sit inside a box while it rocks from side to side) ride. Overall, with the possible exception of the Hoover Dam, this was actually one attraction that I would have paid the full price to see.
Strangely enough, the real highlight of the night was just outside the gift shop (because every ride/exhibit dumps you into the gift shop). It was the Star Trek themed restaurant. No, it wasn't the relatively generic items with the Star Trek names. It wasn't the ceiling covered with stars and various ships from the TV show and movies (though that was pretty good too). It was the drinks ... sort of. I got a frilly fruity drink, and got picked up by another Klingon about having a child's drink. Anne got the "mini" warp core. Her glass was the size of a volleyball, mostly of melon liquor and dry ice. The regular warp core is double that. She couldn't finish it, but she got it in a to-go cup, which impressed her so much that she took a picture of it when we got back to the hotel room.
Our final Power Pass trip of the day was to the Mapplethrope exhibit at the Venetian. Here, they really wanted to ensure that no one was taking picture, and beyond having bored looking guards walking amongst the photographs, they wanted us to leave our camera at the coat check by the door.
I wasn't as tired as when we went to the Ansel Adams exhibit, and this exhibit had an interesting theme, comparing the sometimes controversial work of Mapplethrope to those from a more classic era. Both Anne and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and actually spent quite a bit of time in that exhibit, reading each of the plaques.
Then we headed out to see the rest of the Venetian. We came across an interesting display of masks, and suddenly, we realized that we didn't have our camera and had to rush back to get the camera. The problem? The end of the exhibit doesn't take you back to the beginning where the coat check is. It takes you into .. *drum roll please* .. the gift shop.
posted by Frank Yao | 2:18 AM
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