Travel Reference
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Free Spectacles
Oh, this is going to sound so cynical, but with two exceptions, I think you
get what you pay for with Las Vegas' free shows. (And if you calculate the
cost of airfare and your hotel room into your own personal hourly rate,
you'll see that, in reality, these shows ain't so free after all.)
Best of the bunch are the Bellagio Fountains 555 , which explode
into a sound and spray show every half-hour from 3pm to 8pm on week-
days (noon-8pm weekends) and every 15 minutes after that until mid-
night. Set in the middle of a good-sized lake, the fountains consist of
1,200 custom jets, powered by compressed air. These powerful little water
guns are able to shoot 75-gallon streams of water up to 250 feet into the
air (that's nearly as tall as the hotel itself!). You may notice that these
sprays don't really splash, instead the water spirals forth in axisymmetric
laminar flows (no, I'm not making this up) that produce a remarkably con-
sistent stream, kind of like a laser light. It's super cool. Each show is cho-
reographed to a different piece of music, and, at night, lighting effects,
too. Because of all the water droplets in the air, the temperature will drop
a bit right around the fountains, a fun perk, especially in the summer
months. Simply the best free attraction in Vegas. I could stand for days
watching these darn fountains do their dance.
The next most famous shows on the Strip are the volcano at The
Mirage (which was designed by the same folks that did the Bellagio foun-
tains) and the Sirens of TI show at TI. The volcano, really an oversized
molehill with a constant waterfall that turns red and emits burps of fire
jets, “erupts” every 15 minutes from sundown to midnight. (One of the
best views of the volcano is from the balcony of the Venetian across the
street.) If you're passing by it can be a fun thing to see, but I don't think
it's worth planning your evening around. That goes double for the silly
pirates-and-sirens show, which requires an hour-long wait for a 15-minute
display of T&A mixed with a bit of swashbuckling. The storyline involves
a bunch of seamen tangling with sexy sirens and yes, the tall-masted ship
does float on that little lagoon, but that's about as exciting as it gets. I
really don't think this one is worth the wait, though if you must, the
shows are at 6pm, 8pm, and 10pm (but you'll have to get there at least
45 min. in advance to snag a spot).
can't be seen from the street; go to p. 125 for more on that). The most notable
thing about the Wynn? Probably its $2.7 billion dollar price tag, which I, person-
ally, don't think makes it worth seeing, despite all the hype.
Fans of Hunter S. Thompson who want to see the surreal side of Vegas won't
want to skip Circus Circus 5 . While not quite as frenetic a scene as it was in his
day, you'll still get a taste of the just plain weird Vegas of the '70s (and before).
After all, what's weirder than circus clowns (and they're all over the place here)?
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