Luxor Las Vegas

Luxor Hotel
File:Luxor hotel logo.gif
Address	3900 Las Vegas Blvd South Las Vegas, NV 89119
Opening date	October 15, 1993
Theme	Ancient Egypt
No. of rooms	4,407
Total gaming space	120,000 ft² (11,148 m²)
Permanent shows	Carrot Top Fantasy
Signature attractions	IMAX
Casino type	Land-Resort
Owner	MGM Mirage
Previous names	None
Renovated in	West & East Towers (1,948 rooms) in 2006
Website	luxor.com

The view inside the Luxor. The large black shape is the IMAX theater.

The Luxor Hotel is a hotel casino located on the famed Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, and was one of the resort city's first fully-themed megaresorts. Ground was broken for the Luxor in 1991, the same year that construction began on the Treasure Island and the current MGM Grand. It has an Ancient Egyptian motif and contains a total of 4,407 rooms lining the interior walls of a hollow pyramid and contained within two twin ziggurat towers. It opened on October 15, 1993.

Location & History

The Luxor is located on the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip, opposite the McCarran International Airport. The resort is flanked by the Mandalay Bay to the south and by the Excalibur to the north; all three are connected by free express and local trams. All three properties were built by Mandalay Resort Group, formerly known as Circus Circus Enterprises. In June 2004, the Mandalay Resort Group was purchased by MGM Mirage, adding this hotel to its vast array of properties on the "Strip". It can be considered the "middle child" of Mandalay's south strip properties, both in terms of age (it opened in 1993; the Excalibur opened in 1990, while Mandalay Bay opened in 1999) and level of luxury.

When the resort opened, it featured a more heavily Egyptian-themed interior, including a river that encircled the casino with a ferry that would carry guests to their inclinator core at the corners of the pyramid. The ride was then turned into a river ride that passed by many pieces of ancient artwork after people complained that the ferry service took too long. Most of the ancient Egypt theme and the river ride were taken away as part of a campaign to tailor the property towards more upscale tastes in 1995. According to the unofficial, albeit popular, ghost story, the Nile River attraction was removed becase guests kept seeing ghosts of the three workers killed during the Luxor's construction whenever the river passed through dark tunnels.

The resort has been home to some very popular entertainment attractions in Las Vegas. The main level featured the nightclub, RA, which closed indefinitely on July 22, 2006. From 2000 to 2005, the Luxor Theatre was the home of the enormously popular performance-art show Blue Man Group, which has since moved to The Venetian. On February 15, 2006, the main theatre became the home of the musical Hairspray. The final Hairspray show was on June 11, 2006.

In 2006, MGM-Mirage began renovating Luxor. Rooms in the East and West Towers have been refurnished. Two upscale restaurants, Isis and Sacred Sea Room, closed. The RA nightclub, which had previously been one of the most successful in the city but had been seeing reduced attendance in recent years, was shuttered. Advertising at RA's former entrance currently promotes that LAX, a Los Angeles nightclub, will be opening a Las Vegas branch at the hotel. Also advertised yet unopened is a restaurant named Aspen 702.

Illusionist Criss Angel signed a deal in 2006 to film episodes of his TV series Mindfreak at the hotel. Angel currently has a production office and store in the Luxor. In 2008, Criss Angel will star in a new magic-themed Cirque du Soleil production at Luxor.

2007 Explosion Incident

On May 7, 2007, the Luxor Hotel parking garage was the site of a vehicle explosion which killed one of its employees. Local authorities believe the victim, who worked in a business inside the hotel, was the target for this killing. The hotel was not evacuated, and the parking structure where the explosion occurred suffered no damages. Investigations into this incident is ongoing. .

Design

The light of the Luxor

The Luxor is among the most recognizable hotels on the strip because of its striking design. Designed by renowned hotel architect Veldon Simpson, the main portion of the hotel is a 350-foot-high (106 meters), 30-story pyramid of black glass (in comparison, the Great Pyramid of Giza tops out at 450 ft, or 138 m). The hotel is marked by a large obelisk with the name of the property in lighted letters, while the porte-cochere travels underneath a massive recreation of the Great Sphinx of Giza.

The tip of the pyramid contains a fixed-position spotlight that points directly upward – it is the brightest beam in the world, and is visible from anywhere in the Las Vegas valley at night, and can be seen at flight level from above Los Angeles, California, over 275 miles (440 km) away. The beam can also be seen from outer space. At ground level, on clear nights, the beam could also be seen as far south as Laughlin and even as far north as Mesquite or Beatty. It is directly straight ahead on US-93 in Arizona, north of Kingman, before reaching the Hoover Dam. In the spring, the bright light attracts huge numbers of moths into the light beam, creating a phenomenon that has been likened to snow. The beam is currently powered by 39 Xenon lamps operating at 7 kilowatts each at an hourly operating cost of $53 (lamps, repairs, and electricity costs). The beam's output is rated at 41.5 gigacandela. This translates to 30.2 billion lumens.

Guest Rooms and Attractions

The guest rooms are situated on the outer walls of the pyramid and are reached by riding in so-called "inclinators" that travel along the inner surface of the pyramid at a 39-degree angle. Open hallways leading to the rooms overlook the atrium, which is the largest in the world at 29 million cubic feet (820,000 m³).

Sphinx guarding the hotel entrance

An IMAX theatre (the first such theatre in Las Vegas, although in 1979, Caesars Palace opened an Omnimax Theater, the precursor to IMAX) shows a rotating selection of films; there is also an IMAX motion simulator ride hosting a variety of rides, including "In Search of the Obelisk," which takes participants into a virtual archeological dig and ReBoot, based on the animated series. The "Atrium Showroom" is home to multiple shows: "Fantasy" (a topless revue), comedian Carrot Top, and the movie/attraction "Pirates 4D". The attractions level also features the "King Tut Museum", an authentic replica of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The reproduction is based directly on the descriptions of the tomb recorded by Howard Carter, who discovered it in 1922.

Hotel Name and Usage in Recent Culture

The hotel is named after the city of Luxor (ancient Thebes) in Egypt, the site of the Valley of the Kings, Karnak and Luxor Temples, and scores of other pharaonic monuments — but no pyramids.

This destination hotel is commonly viewed as one of the finest examples of 1990s Postmodern architecture, and appeared on the cover of renowned architecture scholar James Steele's book "Architecture Today".

A carbon copy of the Luxor appeared in Las Venturas in the video game Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas named "The Camel's Toe".

A portion of the 1998 music video Gettin' Jiggy With It by Will Smith was shot in the foyer of the hotel.

Some stunts on Fear Factor were held at the Luxor, including sliding down the exterior.

External links

• Luxor Hotel website
• Photos of Luxor hotel casino
• Aerial image
• Photos of moths in Luxor beam
• Google Earth 36°05′43.62″N 115°10′25.86″W
• Luxor - User reviews, expert advice, articles and more information on the Luxor Hotel
• Info from travelers who stayed at the Luxor

References

36°05′44″N 115°10′33″W