Wynn Las Vegas
| Wynn Las Vegas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address | 3131 Las Vegas Blvd South Las Vegas, Nevada 89109 |
| Opening date | April 28, 2005 |
| Theme | Life Imitating Art |
| No. of rooms | 2,716 |
| Total gaming space | 111,000 ft² (10,200 m²) |
| Permanent shows | Le Rêve |
| Signature attractions | Luxury Sports Car Dealership Lake of Dreams |
| Casino type | Land-Based |
| Owner | Wynn Resorts Limited |
| Previous names | Desert Inn (which includes Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn, ITT Sheraton Desert Inn, and MGM Desert Inn) |
| Renovated in | none |
| Website | Wynn Las Vegas |
Wynn Las Vegas, is a casino resort located on the Las Vegas Strip, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The resort is named after casino developer Steve Wynn and is the flagship property of Wynn Resorts Limited. The resort covers 215 acres.
Wynn Las Vegas is one of the tallest buildings in Las Vegas, towering 60 stories over the Strip. It is located at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Sands Avenue, across from the Fashion Show Mall.
The 2,716 rooms range in size from 620 square feet (58 m²) to the villas at 7,000 square feet (650 m²) with a 111,000 ft² (10,200 m²) casino, a convention center with 223,000 ft² (20,700 m²) of space, 76,000 square feet (7,000 m²) of retail space.
History
The site was assembled by buying the Desert Inn Hotel and golf course for most of the land. The remainder was acquired by purchasing private residences that were generally located along Paradise Avenue. While some owners sold early on, others held out. This resulted in numerous legal actions between the various parties. In the end, the site acquired totaled 215 acres (870,000 m²).
Wynn Las Vegas LLC contracted with Marnell Corrao Associates on June 4, 2002 to design and build the resort. The original name for the project was "Le Rêve" but was changed to "Wynn Las Vegas" well before the project was complete. The original name lives on in the stage production. Built at a cost of US$ 2.7 billion, it was the largest privately funded construction project in the nation. This compares with the budget for reconstruction with the World Trade Center site which at that time was projected to be $1.7 billion.
The historic Desert Inn Golf Course was rebuilt while the hotel was being constructed. The course is now known as Wynn Golf and Country Club.
Early advertising for the resort featured exterior images of the hotel tower, with Steve Wynn standing on the roof, just above his signature logo. The initial commercial aired in some local spots during the 2005 Super Bowl, and eventually national spots as opening drew near. A "teaser" website for the resort included both the commercial and a "making-of" video.
Wynn Las Vegas, designed by Jon Jerde, opened on April 28, 2005, Wynn's wife's birthday, the 55th Anniversary of the opening of the original Desert Inn, and five years from the day Steve Wynn purchased the site. When it opened, the Wynn had many firsts and notable features, including:
- The first casino to combine the room key and the casino frequent-player card in one card
- The first casino to include a car (Ferrari-Maserati) dealership
- The world's largest distribution of HDTV, into hotel rooms using high-speed Cat-6 ethernet cables
- The largest installation of Voice over IP technology for hotel phones
It was also among the first casinos to install RFID tags inside chips to better detect counterfeiting.
Inspiration and Vision
Wynn purchased the Desert Inn hotel and casino to obtain property for his future dreams. The Desert Inn was imploded to make room for his new hotel project. Along the way, Wynn Resorts Limited was formed and continued development with Wynn being the controlling stock holder.
Wynn has stated that the major shift with this new resort is the concept of designing from the "inside out." In contrast to his previous hotels Bellagio, The Mirage, and Treasure Island, there is no Las Vegas Strip attraction to draw in the gawkers. Instead, visitors must venture inside to see what the hotel is all about. Wynn has said that "there is no franchise in a casual observer, there is a franchise in a guest."
Attractions
Penske-Wynn Ferrari-Maserati Dealership
Wynn Las Vegas is the first casino to include a luxury car dealership. Brand new factory-authorized cars include the Ferrari and Maserati brands. Used cars are sold "as-is" and include other luxury car brands, with some cars on display ranging in price from little more that $100,000 to $1.6 million, such as the Aston Martin. The dealership also includes parts and other car-wares.
Non-buying guests of the resort can go into the dealership to take a look around. Costs of tickets were $10.00, when the resort opened, unless you are a Ferrari-Maserati owner, while kids got in for free. The Penske-Wynn is one of few car casino exhibitations around Las Vegas, including the Imperial Palace and Caesars Palace. However, the Penske-Wynn is the only dealership/exhibitation casino in Las Vegas.
A little known trivia fact is that the dealership is placed near the valet parking of the resort, so that people can look at the model cars while waiting for their own cars to arrive.
Lake of Dreams
In a departure from the trend established when The Mirage opened of providing free sidewalk attractions to draw in customers, Wynn Las Vegas is constructed so that visitors must enter the building to view the free attractions. The main attraction is a large, curtain waterfall behind a mountain that faces the strip. The waterfall falls into a 3 acre (12,000 m²) lake. Both the waterfall and lake have images displayed on them to produce a show called "Lake of Dreams". This show starts on the hour beginning in the afternoon. When the show is inactive, the waterfall creates an animated color sequence on the screen, which is very attractive at night.
The show can be viewed from the Parasol Up (a bar and viewing area), and can be viewed through a glass window with no audio. Or, the show can be viewed from down-parsel, with a larger view. Visitors can go to the platform at the Parasol Down bar to view the show with full-blast audio. Diners can also chose some restaurants around the resort to get a full view of the show while dining. Kids under 18 are prohibited from going to Parasol Down.
The Wynn Art Collection
The resort has on display much of Wynn's considerable art collection, which has been displayed at the Bellagio. The collection, which focuses primarily on 19th and 20th-century works by European and American artists, includes masterpieces by Édouard Manet, Andy Warhol, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, and Paul Gauguin. The centerpiece of the collection is Le Rêve, the Pablo Picasso portrait that was the working name of the resort project. Wynn reportedly purchased the painting for $42 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a Picasso. These artworks are on display at an attractive gallery space.
The collection was on display at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno while the Wynn Las Vegas was being constructed and was installed in the resort shortly before it was opened.
The gallery also had a adjuct gallery shop, simply called, "The Gallery Shop", it sells and features items and gifts from the artwork that is displayed in the gallery. Items ranged from calenders, books, posters, and much more.
The gallery, which had charged an entrance fee, closed shortly after the start of 2006 as a result of poor ticket sales. The space will be used for additional retail space, mostly an expansion of the retail area for Wynn, called Wynn Esplanade. The artwork from the former gallery are now scattered around the resort, with the centerpiece Le Rêve now hanging in the main hotel registration lobby.
Shows
Le Rêve
The first production show to open was Le Rêve. Le Rêve is set in a 1 million gallon water-oriented theatre where no seat is more than 40 feet (12 m) from the stage. This production, was created by Franco Dragone and is similar to the shows produced by Cirque du Soleil.
Le Rêve was the working name of the resort before it was changed to Wynn Las Vegas. "Le Rêve" means "The Dream" in French, and the name of the centerpiece painting that Steve Wynn owns, Le Rêve by Picasso.
Most recently, Wynn Las Vegas brought the rights to the show from Dragone, to make some edits and picks, including the logo. Wynn now owns all rights to the show, with Dragone still in the label.
Main article: Le Rêve
Avenue Q
Avenue Q, a puppet and people musical which enjoyed considerable success on Broadway was the second production show to open at Wynn. It debuted on September 8, 2005 in the 1,200 seat Broadway Theatre and closed on May 28, 2006.
One of the main reasons why Avenue Q closed was, according to Steve Wynn, estate land and money. Wynn contracted with Spamalot to perform at Wynn Las Vegas. However, in order to house Spamalot, a third theater needs to be built. The only room left for the theater was on the skirts of the golf course, and in the middle of the convention spaces, of the planned Encore expansion tower. Since Wynn did not want to invade the golf course, or cut between the convention spaces of Encore and Wynn Las Vegas, Wynn was forced to terminate the Avenue Q contract. Wynn was quoted, "Avenue Q was making money, but not enough money."
Spamalot, based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is set to replace Avenue Q. The Broadway Theater will be replaced by the Grail Theater.
Nightclubs
Le Bête
This nightclub catered to high-rollers and tourists and included an attractive entrance with dog feet. The club was unsuccessful with this focus, and Wynn closed Le Bête. When the venue reopened, it was called Tryst, and included with a huge terrace with lakeside views and featured local nights. See below.
Tryst
The original full-scale nightclub on the property, Le Bête, was temporarily closed during a redesign to improve performance. Le Bête reopened as Tryst [1] in 2006, with a popular weekly event called Retro on Sunday nights.
Tryst was named as one of the hottest nightclubs on the Strip by critics. It has been debated whether the club's name was meant to allude to a kind of love affair, (see Tryst), or the dance move of the same name. Steve Wynn himself later confirmed on his website that Tryst was indeed an allusion to an intimate romantic interlude.
Tryst rivals competing clubs designed by the Light Group for The Mirage and Bellagio, and is the flagship of the hotel's nightlife scene.
Lure
Lure is the second nightclub and ultra-lounge of Wynn Las Vegas. It is one of two nightclubs that opened with the resort. Its counterpart club was the failed Le Bête, which has since been reopened as Tryst. Lure is what one would call a "casino club", as it is located near the casino floor. Guests can take a break from the action and go in to cool off a bit. Casino clubs have proven successful for some resorts. Lure has been acclaimed by critics as one of the "hippest" clubs in the city. While Le Bête's successor, Tryst, has overshadowed Lure, the club has a strong and loyal following and is one of the most popular ultra-lounge style clubs in the city.
Amenites
Wynn Golf and Country Club
The Wynn Golf and Country Club is the only golf course on the Las Vegas Strip. It was designed by Steve Wynn and Tom Fazio, who previously worked together on the Shadow Creek Golf Club, also in Las Vegas. Use of the course is restricted to hotel guests at a cost of $500 per round.
Future developments
Spamalot
The Broadway Theatre is being renovated for the Las Vegas production of Spamalot, a Tony Award-winning comedic musical based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, scheduled to open in 2007.
Encore
On April 28, 2006, the resort celebrated its one year anniversary by breaking ground on a second hotel tower. Called Encore, the tower will be a $1.74 billion, 2,054 room hotel project adjacent to the existing resort and on the remaining frontage of Las Vegas Blvd. Originally envisioned as an expansion of Wynn Las Vegas, Encore will be a full-scale resort and is set to open between Thanksgiving and Christmas, 2008.
Wynn Golf Course redevelopment
The land of which the Wynn Golf Course currently sits on is becoming increasingly valuable in the wake of rising land prices on the Las Vegas Strip. Wynn has said he will eventually replace the golf course with a massive mixed use resort project similar to Project City Center. It is expected to include several boutique hotels along with a large central lake feature.
External links
- Wynn Las Vegas Virtual Tour
- Wynn Las Vegas 2005 Superbowl Commercial (In multiple format)
- CNBC Reports Steve Wynn's Big Bet (In Windows Media Player format).
- NBC's Today Show with Steve Wynn's Story (In Windows Media Player format).
- NBC's Today Show Steve Wynn Interview 04/28/2005 (In Windows Media Player format).
- NBC's Today Show looks at the new Le Reve show at the Wynn Las Vegas (In Windows Media Player format).
- NBC's Today Show looks at gourmet restaurants at the Wynn Las Vegas (In Windows Media Player format).
Sources
| South end |  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West side casinos | |||||||
| East side casinos | |||||||
| Former casinos | |||||||
| Other attractions |
| ||||||
| Transportation | |||||||
| Related | |||||||
