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Las Vegas News of the Week

 
September 29, 2008
Vegas4Visitors Weekly

by Rick Garman


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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