|
Home
>> Luxor Hotel
The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, 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 towers. It opened on October 15, 1993.
It is located on the southern end of the
Las Vegas Strip, opposite McCarran International Airport.
The resort is flanked by the Mandalay Bay to the south and
by the Excalibur Hotel and Casino to the north; all three
are connected by free express and local trams. All three properties
are owned by Mandalay Resort Group, formerly known as Circus
Circus Enterprises. 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 (it
is considered by most to be a step up from the Excalibur,
but not nearly as nice as the Mandalay Bay).
The Luxor is arguably among the most recognizable
hotels on the strip because of its striking design. 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 137 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 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. 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 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).
The resort is home to some of the most popular
entertainment attractions in Las Vegas. The main level features
the RA Nightclub, as well as the main theatre, home to the
Blue Man Group show "Live at Luxor." The second
level, meanwhile, features additional attractions. An IMAX
theatre (the first in Las Vegas, according to the hotel) shows
a rotating selection of films; there is also an IMAX motion
simulator ride called "In Search of the Obelisk,"
which takes participants into a virtual archeological dig.
The "Pharaoh's Theatre" is home to "Midnight
Fantasy," a topless revue. 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.
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.
|
