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Las Vegas News of the Week |
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September 29, 2008 Vegas4Visitors Weekly by Rick Garman
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10th Annniversary Special: 1998-2008 Timeline
September marks the 10th Anniversary of Vegas4Visitors.com!
We started this site in 1998 with a few hotel and show reviews plus some basic information about the city. In the last 10 years, we have stayed at and reviewed every major hotel and quite a few of the minor ones, seen every important show and some that we’d prefer to forget, eaten at more buffets and steakhouses (and other restaurants) than our waistlines would like to think about, hit all the major attractions, and gambled in just about every casino in town.
Because we didn’t save everything from the very early days, it’s a bit difficult to come up with exact numbers but we estimate somewhere in the neighborhood of about 120 hotel reviews (including re-reviews), 150 restaurant reviews, 75 show reviews, over 50 attraction reviews, and over 350 of these columns.
A lot has changed in Las Vegas in the last 10 years, so we thought it would be interesting to go back and look at the timeline from September 1998 to now.
A couple of notes: this is not going to include every single moment of everything that happened in Las Vegas over the last decade. I don’t have that much bandwidth.
Also, the dates listed are based upon the best available information I could find, which is not to say that something might not be off by a month or so.
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September 1998
Vegas4Visitors.com launches
October 1998
Bellagio opens featuring more than 3,000 rooms and the soon to be iconic Fountains
March 1999
Speedworld at Sahara opens including roller coaster, virtual reality rides, and NASCAR café
Mandalay Bay opens
May 1999
The Venetian opens
July 1999
The Resort at Summerlin opens
September 1999
Paris Las Vegas opens
March 2000
The Showboat Hotel & Casino near Downtown is sold and becomes The Castaways
Blue Man Group show opens at Luxor
April 2000
Steve Wynn buys The Desert Inn
June 2000
Steve Wynn sells his portfolio of properties including Bellagio, Mirage, Treasure Island, and Golden Nugget to the MGM Grand corporation. The newly christened MGM Mirage is the largest casino company in Las Vegas
August 2000
The new Aladdin hotel opens on the same spot where the original Aladdin, which opened in 1966 and was imploded in 1998
The Desert Inn closes
September 2000
The Suncoast Hotel & Casino opens in the Summerlin area of northwest Las Vegas
October 2000
Station Casinos buys the Santa Fe casino on the north side of town and rebrands it as Santa Fe Station
The El Rancho Hotel (across from Circus Circus) is imploded
The Grand Adventures theme park at MGM Grand closes for the season and does not reopen the following year
December 2000
Terrible’s Hotel & Casino after an extensive remodeling and expansion of the former Continental at the corner of Flamingo and Paradise
January 2001
Station Casinos buys the Fiesta Rancho
Station Casinos buys The Reserve in Henderson and rebrands it Fiesta Henderson
Rick Springfield takes over the lead of the special effects laden show EFX at MGM Grand from David Cassidy
August 2001
The Maxim hotel and casino just east of The Strip closes
October 2001
The Guggenheim and Guggenheim/Hermitage Museums at The Venetian open
The main tower of the Desert Inn is imploded to make way for Wynn Las Vegas
The new Aladdin files for bankruptcy protection claiming more than $700 million in debt, making it the largest bankruptcy in Nevada history
November 2001
Palms Casino opens
December 2001
Green Valley Ranch Resort opens
The Tuscany hotel opens just east of The Strip
January 2002
Vacation Village, a small casino and hotel south of The Strip, closes
March 2002
The Resort at Summerlin is purchased and rebranded as a JW Marriott resort
May 2002
The Neonopolis entertainment complex in Downtown Las Vegas opens
July 2002
Lord of the Dance closes at New York-New York
November 2002
Caesars Magical Empire attraction at Caesars Palace closes
January 2003
The Tuscany casino opens just east of The Strip
Large Guggenheim Museum at The Venetian closes
The Cannery hotel and casino opens in North Las Vegas
February 2003
Mamma Mia! opens at Mandalay Bay
The Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas opens
March 2003
The Colosseum at Caesars Palace opens
Celine Dion opens at Caesars Palace
EFX Alive show at MGM Grand closes
A California man wins $39.7 million on a Megabucks slot machine at Excalibur, the largest single slot jackpot in history
May 2003
Casino MonteLago opens at Lake Las Vegas
A fire destroys most of the remnants of the historic Moulin Rouge hotel
June 2003
Planet Hollywood buys the bankrupt Aladdin Hotel & Casino
The Venezia hotel tower at The Venetian opens
July 2003
The Pirate Battle at Treasure Island closes
MGM Mirage sells the Golden Nugget to a couple of Internet millionaires
The Castaways goes bankrupt
August 2003
Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity opens at New York-New York
Las Vegas Premium Outlets opens near Downtown Las Vegas
October 2003
A tiger mauls Roy Horn during a show at The Mirage and the Siegfried and Roy show closes permanently
Sirens at TI, the replacement for the Pirate Battle, opens at Treasure Island
November 2003
The Westin Casaurina Hotel, formerly the Maxim, opens
December 2003
THEhotel at Mandalay Bay opens
The Las Vegas Hilton is sold by Caesars to Colony Capital
January 2004
Binion’s Horseshoe casino closes, is purchased by Harrah’s
The Castaways closes
February 2004
Elton John opens at Caesars Palace
Boyd Gaming and Coast Casinos merge
April 2004
Binion’s reopens
June 2004
MGM Mirage buys Mandalay Resorts Group including their hotels Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, and Circus Circus
An upgraded to the Fremont Street Experience canopy opens in Downtown Las Vegas
July 2004
The Las Vegas Monorail opens six months after it was originally intended to
Harrah’s buys Caesars Entertainment and its Las Vegas hotels including Caesars Palace, Bally’s, Paris Las Vegas, and The Flamingo
August 2004
The Algiers motel on the north end of The Strip closes
September 2004
The Las Vegas Monorail closes due to mechanical problems
October 2004
Wet ‘n Wild closes
Caesars Forum Shops expansion opens
November 2004
Cirque du Soleil’s KA opens at MGM Grand
The last remnants of The Desert Inn are imploded
December 2004
The Spa Tower at The Bellagio opens
The Las Vegas Monorail reopens
February 2005
Barry Manilow show opens at Las Vegas Hilton
The Golden Nugget is sold again, this time to Landry’s
March 2005
Binion’s loses its Horseshoe moniker
April 2005
Wynn Las Vegas opens
August 2005
The Augustus Tower at Caesars Palace opens
Avenue Q show opens at Wynn Las Vegas
Harrah’s buys The Imperial Palace
September 2005
The Blue Man Group show closes at Luxor and reopens shortly thereafter at The Venetian
October 2005
The Bourbon Street Hotel & Casino closes
November 2005
The Westward Ho closes
December 2005
South Coast Hotel & Casino opens south of The Strip
January 2006
The Castaways hotel is imploded
The Boardwalk Hotel & Casino on The Strip closes
The roller coaster at The Stratosphere closes
February 2006
The Bourbon Street Hotel & Casino is imploded
Hooters Hotel and Casino opens
Hairspray show opens at Luxor
The Lady Luck hotel in Downtown Las Vegas closes
April 2006
Red Rock Resort opens
May 2006
The Boardwalk Hotel & Casino on The Strip is imploded to make way for CityCenter
Avenue Q show closes
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is sold to Morgan’s Hotel Group
June 2006
Hairspray show closes
Phantom: The Vegas Spectacular show opens at The Venetian
July 2006
Cirque du Soleil’s Love show opens at The Mirage
South Coast hotel sold, rebranded as South Point
November 2006
The Stardust closes
December 2006
Harrah’s Entertainment is bought out by a private investment group; acquires Barbary Coast
February 2007
The Barbary Coast Hotel & Casino closes for a few days so Harrah’s can rebrand it as Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall
March 2007
The Stardust is imploded
Spamalot show opens at Wynn Las Vegas
The Sahara is purchased by an LA nightclub impresario
April 2007
Aladdin name retired, hotel rebranded Planet Hollywood
June 2007
The New Frontier is sold to Elad Properties for a record $1.2 billion
July 2007
The New Frontier closes
Binion’s sold again
November 2007
The main hotel tower of The New Frontier is imploded
White Tiger Habitat at The Mirage closes
December 2007
Celine Dion’s show at Caesars Palace closes
Palazzo opens
January 2008
A blaze damages the Monte Carlo; hotel is closed for several weeks
February 2008
Bette Midler show opens at Caesars Palace
April 2008
Trump International opens
May 2008
Cher show opens at Caesars Palace
The Guggenheim Heritage Museum at The Venetian closes
July 2008
Spamalot show closes
August 2008
Eastside Cannery hotel opens
September 2008
Star Trek attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton closes
Vegas4Visitors.com celebrates 10 years.
Thank you to everyone who has joined us on our remarkable journey over the last decade. We couldn’t have done it without readers like you!
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