Gambling, casinos, show rooms. That’s all that Las Vegas has to offer for BYU and Utah fans heading down for the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl this weekend, right?
Wrong, and by a long shot. Sin City is typically known for its nightlife or party scene, but that's not to say that this city — established in 1905 — isn’t rich with history and attractions that bring other avenues of fun to the city. In fact, there are plenty of options for the casual traveler to check out during their time in Vegas, providing more for the entire family than meets the original eye.
Here are just four of the things (there are plenty more) that you and your family can check off of your bucket list while visiting Las Vegas over the opening bowl weekend.
1. M&M’s World — Maybe you crave the popular chocolate-coated candies themselves, or maybe you are just a fan of the clever commercials with the red and yellow M&Ms that always seem to bicker. Whatever the case may be, you and your kids will have a great time at M&M’s World, located right next to the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino.
Inside, you immediately feel the sense of the chocolate goodness that is the M&M. As Vegas.com puts it, you are walking into “chocolate heaven” upon entering the candy factory. The colors, the smell of the chocolate, the upbeat music, M&Ms surrounding you at every turn: this is any child’s dream.
You can even work your way up through different levels to try various activities throughout the factory. On the main level, you can personalize and add customized tags to mugs, charms, souvenirs, etc. On the second floor, you can browse through 22 featured M&M colors all while searching through candy dispensers.
Moving up to the third level, the factory steps up its level of customization by providing the option to personally customize actual M&Ms. So whether you are trying to impress that special someone or truly trying to entertain the kids, what says “Merry Christmas” more than some personalized red and green chocolate-covered candies? Probably a lot of other things, but this helps.
Finish off your trip to the M&M factory with a move in the M&M theater, free to everyone who visits. It runs for 10 minutes and it plays throughout the day, so if you missed it the first time, don’t worry, they’ll show it again shortly.
This really is a great place. It is one of the few places in Las Vegas where it truly does not matter what your age is when you walk in, you’ll absolutely walk out with a smile on your face, and maybe a few M&Ms in your pocket.
2. The Mob Museum — There are many American venues that would be appropriate for a museum dedicated to organized crime. But why not Las Vegas? The mob didn’t come here after the city was long established; the mob came here to establish the city. Of course, Vegas hardly held a monopoly on gangsters and guns.
It only takes a few steps into the self-guided tour at The Mob Museum, located in a former federal courthouse and also known as the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, and one will encounter a brick wall that was once in a nondescript Chicago garage.
On Feb. 14, 1929, seven members of Bugs Moran’s gang were gunned down by members of the Al Capone gang in an event that would be forever known as the St. Valentine’s Massacre. It was a time when Prohibition had turned gangsters into celebrities and neighborhood bars into speakeasies. And after Prohibition was repealed, the mob got into … well, what didn’t they get into? They had their hands in just about everything from vices such as gambling to clean businesses such as produce — in other words, any place where money was to be made.
High-tech and hands-on in almost every way, the museum allows visitors to play the roles of both mobsters and government agents. They can “fake” shoot a tommy gun and take “fake” target practice as a federal law enforcement officer would. Ever been in a police lineup? There is a chance to do so here, behind one-way glass. You can’t see who is on the other side, but they can see you just fine. And for a minute or so, you are Lucky Luciano.
Or possibly Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano. And how did wise guys like Basciano get their colorful nicknames? Step up to a computer terminal for a lesson in creative moniker making. Vinny Gorgeous was called that because of his tidy grooming habits and the beauty salon he owned called Hello Gorgeous.
The courtroom is the museum’s centerpiece. It was in this courtroom that some of the famous Kefauver Hearings that investigated the mob in the early 1950s took place. A multimedia video presentation affords visitors a seat in the house.
3. Gondola ride at The Venetian — 5,913: that’s how many miles separate Las Vegas from the real-life Venice in Italy. But you can get a small Italia taste by stopping by the Venetian, a hotel-resort that highlights the lifestyle in Italy with buildings and shops of a typical Italian street on the inside.
Taking it a step further, the Venetian has inserted a Grand Canal, in which customers can take a ride in an authentic Venetian gondola, either inside or outside of the venue. You’ll go through the “city streets” of Italy, going under bridges, sailing by shops and listening to your personal singing gondolier. What’s more Italian than that?
This is good for the entire family, too, or maybe just a romantic getaway for just mom and dad. You can pay for a private ride for two that will run around $84 per ride, while bringing the kids (up to four) will reduce the price to just $21 per person. Depending on how hopped up on sugar the kids are from the M&M factory, this may factor in your decision on whether or not to include your kids in your “vacation” to Italy.
And if anyone is looking to get hitched in the city famous for impromptu weddings, these gondola rides are a popular spot. Whether it’s the romanticism of the environment or the tradition of couples kissing underneath every bridge, these gondola rides lead to a number of marriage proposals, a common event at the Venetian.
So whether you are there to entertain the kids or for a romantic “getaway” with the spouse, the Venetian is the perfect place to spend a portion of your weekend during the bowl weekend.
4. Serendipity III — Everyone has heard of Serendipity III, a restaurant located in between Second and Third avenues in New York City. It’s even appeared in the romantic comedy movie back in 2001 called — you guessed it — Serendipity.
But Serendipity is not exclusive to NYC, anymore. In fact, the famous restaurant has opened up a location at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, making it one of the more popular hot spots on the strip. From the foot-long hot dog to — my personal favorite — the triple-decker grilled cheese to The Hangover omelet, this hotel-resort offers everything you’d want, and then some, as a food connoisseur (you can pretend to be one over the weekend).
But the best thing this restaurant may have to offer, and that’s saying something, is its Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. The name alone gives one the sense that this is not your ordinary hot chocolate, but you find out that Serendipity blends together 20 different kinds of chocolate into a perfectly blended drink that you will soon not forget.
And as if that’s not enough for you, make sure you use all of the winnings from your family related activities in Vegas to splurge on one of the restaurant’s more expensive items in the Golden Opulence Sundae. The $1,000 and Guinness World Record breaking sundae is covered in, get ready for it, 23-karat edible gold leaf, making it the “most exclusive chocolate in the world.”
You don’t have to go for the gold, literally and figuratively, when visiting Serendipity III, but the popular dessert destination is a must-see during your weekend in Vegas.
5. Fountains of Bellagio — If you’ve ever been to Vegas prior to the BYU-Utah bowl game, you’ll know what the Fountains of Bellagio are. Located right in the heart of the strip, you really can’t go wrong by visiting these free water shows outside the Bellagio resort, and all free of charge.
Every 30 minutes (or 15 minutes depending on the day and time of the week), a combination 1,214 jets shoots water 460-plus feet in the air to provide one of the best aerial water shows you may ever see. If those numbers weren’t impressive enough, the jets are accompanied by up to 30 different songs, as the water essentially is dancing to the music.
There’s a song and performance for everyone at the Fountains of Bellagio, as well. Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and the Beatles have all been used to create shows, and most recently, the Bellagio added a new EDM show for the first time in history to appeal to the younger generation.
According to Vegas.com in regard to the fountains, “the array of musical genres are so diverse it's like having a jukebox (remember those?) in the middle of a sprinkler system on steroids.”
There may not be a better way to describe the Fountains at Bellagio, and for free of charge, this stop is a no-brainer for travelers in Vegas.
6. The Neon Museum — If any city was to have a museum devoted to neon, it would have to be Las Vegas. In downtown and along the Strip, neon signs bloom in profusion like desert weeds. In the daytime, they are dormant; in the nighttime, they are live onstage, singing and dancing and just showing off.
The Neon Museum extends the boundaries of the definition of a museum. The museum’s marketing director Dawn Merritt stresses that this site is a museum, not a collection.
“It is an ongoing issue that people don’t recognize our signs as a museum and feel compelled to touch them,” Merritt said.
Management also refers to this enterprise as a neon boneyard, not a neon graveyard. The vintage signs here are not waiting for burial. They are here to be displayed.
The conglomeration of signs is displayed along a walking path shaped like an S outside the former La Concha Motel, whose lobby serves as the museum’s visitors center. Guided tours take visitors past relics at rest. There are the iconic signs that, thanks to film and television, are well-known even to those who have never set foot inside the city limits. There is the massive Binion’s Horseshoe sign, with its basic block lettering that once dominated Fremont Street. There is the sign that announced the Stardust, with its famous angular, atomic font. And there is the base of the curvilinear La Concha Motel sign.
But neon art takes all forms, and in Vegas and the surrounding area, it was utilized far beyond the lodging and gaming industries. The long-sleeved, smiling, formal dress shirt named Mr. Happy Shirt bounced up and down as he advertised Steiner’s Cleaners, known locally as the dry cleaner to the stars, on Tropicana Boulevard.
According to our guide, Danial Mente, there are more styles and motifs in neon art than one might imagine. Those meandering lines that look like they were meant for a maze in the smiling duck identifying Ugly Duckling Car Sales are designed in a neon design called channeling, in which metallic channels hold the chemical-filled glass tubes to keep the colors vibrant. And not all “neon signs” are neon. Different gases produced different colors. If sign designers wanted a shade of lavender blue, they would go to argon.
The bowl game between Utah and BYU this weekend provides a great opportunity for Utah tourists to explore Las Vegas and what it has to offer. While on the surface it seems like the city is all about bachelor parties and throwing back drinks, there's much more history and family fun to be found in Las Vegas than orginally meets the eye.
Twitter: @GriffDoug