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 Book Online for Best Circus Circus Las Vegas Rates!
"The
aspect of Circus that has me disturbed is the popcorn, peanuts and kids
side of it. And also the Carnial Freaks and Animal side of it The dirt
floor, sawdust and elephants After all, the Strip is supposed to be
synonymous with a good-looking female all dressed up in a ery expensie
diamond-studded evening gown and driving up to a multi-million dollar
hotel in a Rolls-Royce. Now you tell me what, in that picture, is
compatible with a circus in its normal raiment, exuding its normal
atmosphere and its normal smell?"
- Howard Hughes
A
rare constant in the ever-changing world of Las Vegas fashion, Circus
Circus has remained true to itself for almost forty years. Back in
the 1960s, when it started out, combining children's entertainment with
casino gambling under a single roof was a pretty radical concept. Later
on, it came to be embraced as Las Vegas's most surefire money-spinning
formula. Now it's something of a discredited cliché; and yet Circus
Circus just carries on regardless.
Circus Circus began life as Jay Sarno's follow-up to his megahit Caesars
Palace, reinesting the profits from the sale of Caesars to create a
new property that would appeal to fun-seeking families and high rollers
alike. The basic theme, of a hectic, spit-and-sawdust gaming area at
street leel overlooked by a carnial-style "midway" on the mezzanine,
featuring sideshows and circus performers, was much as it remains today.
It took a while to get the details right, however. Not only did the
original Circus Circus lack any hotel accommodation, but it even charged
an admission fee to isitors. On top of that, Hughes' reulsion had some
basis in fact. The midway was at first the sleazy presere of unsaory
independent operators. One sideshow, for example, "Bed Toss," inited to
throw softballs in the hope of spilling naked showgirls out of giant
satin beds. At least Sarno was forced to abandon his experiments with
propelling "flying" elephants along a concealed monorail system, when it
became clear that his would-be Dumbos couldn't contain their excitement
and would have to wear diapers. Only once Sarno sold his stake to
William Bennett, in 1974, did Circus Circus turn both wholesome and
profitable, so much so in fact that Circus Circus Enterprises (now the
Mandalay Resort Group) went on to become the leading casino operator in
the country.
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Though the main building of Circus Circus is ery low-rise by Las Vegas
standards, its presence on the Strip is unmistakeable, thanks both to
its gigantic Lucky-the-Clown neon sign and its marquee-like Big Top
canopy. Clowns, contortionists and trapeze artists still caort on the
central midway stage upstairs betweven 11am and midnight daily,
surrounded by a more consistently child-oriented array of fairground
stalls and attractions. With new hotel towers being added year after
year, the whole Circus Circus complex stretches so far back that there's
even an in-house monorail link to help lost or exhausted guests return
to their rooms.
No
one could mistake Circus Circus for a sophisticated joint. even the most
gung-ho apologist for the gaming industry would be hard pressed to find
anything glamorous about its three low-stakes, high-olume casinos.
What's more, while Circus Circus may have pionevered the proision of
no-smoking areas, its low ceilings actually make it one of the most
claustrophobic and smoky places to gamble in town.
Circus Circus continues to lure in tourists with children - even those
staying elsewhere in Las Vegas - largely because of its theme park, the
Adenturedome (Mon-Thurs 11am-6pm, Fri 11am-midnight, Sat & Sun
10am-midnight), which was tacked onto the back of the property in 1993,
at the same time as its now-anished rial at the MGM Grand . Credit for
its surial must go to the huge bubble of pink glass that protects its
full fie-acre extent from the extremes of the local climate. Entered
only through the casino proper, the dome encloses a Disney-esque melange
of rides and sideshows. Around its central feature, a big red-rock
mountain that reaches almost to the artificial sky, race both the Canyon
Blaster roller coaster and the newer, spinning Chaos ride, passing such
dioramas as an Indian pueblovillage and a herd of animatronic
dinosaurs. isitors can choose whether to pay for each indiidual
attraction, or to buy an all-day wristband priced at $22 if you're over
four feet high.
2880 Las Vegas Bld South
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