Striding the Strip

The boys slept in a little after our big night out, but muddled downstairs and checked outā€¦relocating our luggage to the car, which would remain parked today.  The plan was to explore the Strip on foot, winding up at the Monte Carlo that evening, where we had tickets for the Lance Burton Magic Show.

We started by crossing the street back to New York, New York, because Spencer wanted to cash in the tickets she had won in the arcade yesterday for ā€œvaluable prizesā€ (i.e., plastic junk) and to take Eric for a ride on the Manhattan Express.  Of course I had to go again as well, but Kim isnā€™t a big fan of roller coasters so she volunteered to watch our daypacks.  Need to comment there are lockers where you can stash your stuff for fifty cents while enjoying the ride, which I used the day beforeā€¦a nice amenity.

After lingering a bit, we headed south to Excalibur and found where the free jester & juggling show was performed, only to learn that this had been cancelled ā€œsome time ago.ā€  Still interesting to troop through this medieval oriented casino, and we plodded further south to Luxor, in an attempt to see the featured ā€œtalking camelsā€ (robotic camels which speak, per our travel info).  The Luxor is the huge casino shaped like a pyramid, and the interior is resplendent in Egyptian design.

We were walking through the casino floor and I asked one of the cocktail waitresses where the talking camels where and she was clueless.  She exclaimed that she only parked in the back and came out on the gambling floor, so she didnā€™t have any idea what else was here!  So, I asked another one and she told us to take the elevator to level A.

Acquiring level A, we asked another attendant where the loquacious humped ruminants residedā€¦and learned that ā€œthey broke last year and nobody could fix ā€˜emā€ā€¦so yet another bust!  By now we were weary of chasing red herrings and I volunteered a portion of my winnings to get us all in to the movie short, ā€œPirates 4-Dā€ with Leslie Nielson.  It was great fun and at last we had some entertainment!

Afterwards we reversed course and steered north to the Monte Carlo, where we attempted to get our tickets for the Lance Burton show at the booth by his theater (Kim had purchased the tickets over the internet and printed out a voucher that we needed to exchange for the real McCoy).  Werenā€™t we surprised to learn that they couldnā€™t perform the exchange thereā€¦we called a toll free number and learned we had to visit a machine inside the Planet Hollywood at Caesarā€™s Palaceā€¦a twenty-five minute hike away!  Fortunately Eric had noted an arcade and we gave him some bucks for quarters to occupy his little sister and dashed outside.

I love walking and exploring with my wife, so this was actually an enjoyed detour.  We walked past Bellagio as the fountain show was unfoldingā€¦so it was rather cool.  People watching in Vegas is at times scary, but for the most part a real hoot and we had plenty to occupy our visual senses trooping up and down the strip.  Rendezvousing with the kids, we had dinner at a passable Chinese restaurant in Monte Carlo and returned to the theater.

Iā€™m pretty clueless about modern media, but Eric is tuned right in (he is majoring in journalism) and spotted Robin Leach (sp?) loitering outside the theater as we entered.  So now we were really keyed up --- I was truly in the grip of anticipation and can share that the motivation for seeing Lance Burton was due to reading reviews in TravBuddy!

It proved to be classic Vegas entertainment and Iā€™m glad we did it, but Iā€™m not so sure the performance was a good return on the exorbitant ticket price.  Lance is exceptionally talented, but the program had a bit too many of the old disappearing person tricksā€¦a bit redundant and I was looking forward to some more innovative magic.  We paid $75 a person, but I think the price might have been due to an amazing coincidence --- this performance marked the tenth anniversary of Lanceā€™s show!

Now we knew why Robin Leach was here, and the best part was that there were a boat load of other celebrities in attendance.  Best bit was when Lance called Robert Goulet up on stage, introducing him as a ā€˜master magicianā€™.  It was very apparent that Robert was completely surprised, and Lance pulled off a remarkable skit where he made it appear that Mr. Goulet was performing tricks!