Bellagio Conservatory Christmas 2012

While wandering around the Bellagio we usually end up in the Conservatory to see what magic the gardeners have brought. They change the decorations to match each season, and have quite a storage room of items, as well as a number of greenhouses to supply plants. There is usually a big tree for Christmas, and sometimes tall wooden soldiers and polar bears covered with carnations and penguins, lately they have added large toy trains with video cameras so that you can watch the train and then see yourself on the monitor as it goes by. I tried out the panorama setting on my new iPhone, it came out quite nice:


I'm surprised there is any floor visible, the crowds were so large and packed in. They sometimes have fountains that shoot big streams of water over the crowd, and several times had snow machines up in the top. We caught it one year when things were being changed, and I was surprised at how deep those areas are where the plants are placed, which lets them put really big boxed trees in.

More of our Christmas walk

When we stayed at The Hotel at Christmas we walked up the Strip to Caesar’s Palace. MGM seems to own most of the south end of the Strip, their hotel/casino/resorts (I never know which term is the best, here the big ones seem to be all three things at once) include the MGM Grand (of course), Aria, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York, Monte Carlo and City Center. On the southwest side Mandalay Bay is furthest south, with great views of the airport and up the Strip, the Luxor in the center and Excalibur on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. The three are run independently and have different atmospheres, but are connected by both a tram and walkways. We usually walk through all the casinos going in one direction then do the tram to bypass two and go right where we want on the other half.

We walked from Mandalay Bay through the upper walkway connecting to the Luxor; it’s called Mandalay Place and is a small shopping center. In the middle is my favorite burger place in town, Hubert Keller’s Burger Bar.


Good burgers, good fries, wide assortment of beers. You can get burgers from $6 up to $65 (with foi gras and special sauce), buffalo burgers, chicken, fish, wagu beef, almost whatever. You pick the meat (or a veggie patty), toppings, sauce, cheese, whatever, how you want it cooked, and the bun, so you get what you want. Or you can pick one of the pre-set ones, I like Keller’s favorite with thick fries. And great shakes.

Then through the inside of the Luxor pyramid and over into Excalibur. Built when Vegas was trying to cater to families and kids, the hotel is two big angles around the outside and inside is a fairytale castle.


That was taken from the bridge over Tropicana Avenue going to New York New York. From there we walked over to the Monte Carlo and took another tram through City Center to the Bellagio. I don’t know why they didn’t continue the tram to New York, maybe sometime in the future. Then they can cross Tropicana and join in to the Excalibur segment. Anyway, I like the view of City Center from the tram, which goes right through the middle of it.


Through the Bellagio casino over to the shopping arcade, which has new Christmas decorations this year.


Last time they had big trees made out of presents. Kind of dull this year.


Then across Flamingo to Caesar’s Palace. The view from Caesar’s courtyard is rather interesting, you can see Bill’s Gambling Hall (which will be replaced as part of the new Link center), Balley’s with the big poster of the back side of one of their showgirls, and the Eiffel Tower and Paris.

Boxing Day in Vegas

On Boxing Day (Dec 26 for you Americans) we thought that we’d get out of the house and walk the Strip, seeing the Christmas decorations and having lunch somewhere nice. We figured it was the slowest period of the year for Vegas, with people concentrating on family rather than fun. Well, we were wrong. It was no different than a typical Saturday, with lots of people everywhere. Our first thought on Christmas day was to go out for lunch, assuming that most places would be empty. But the waiters on Boxing Day said Christmas was packed. Oh well, no more slow times in Vegas.

We woke up to a nice crisp clear day, with stripes in the sky to the south, from planes flying from destinations back east out to LA.


Wanting to first hit the middle of the Strip, I parked in the Desert Passage parking garage. Well, that’s what it says on the back entrance, even if it’s labeled the Miracle Mile Shops on the front. That’s where I got my first indication of the crowds, from the fact that we had to go all the way up to level seven to find an empty space. We wandered through the mall, seeing how Planet Hollywood, the new owner of the Aladdin, was slowly converting it from a desert themed place into a standard mall. We did some shopping: I found a great sale on some square plates I have been wanting at Z Gallery. We then hit Paris for lunch on the balcony overlooking the Strip and the Bellagio fountains.
After lunch we walked back through the casino and over to Bally’s. The same company owns both, so there is a connection inside. Making it to the exit closest to the Flamingo corner we took the moving sidewalk through the old fashioned circles.


Going up the escalator to the pedestrian bridge we looked back at the activity over at City Center. Lots of cranes there, and several of them were moving, indicating workers going at it.


Entering the Bellagio at the Flamingo corner we walked through their shopping mall. Decorations this year were large fancy boxes, located at several wider spots along the walkways.
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Getting to the Conservatory, we found that the gardeners had left the center walkway with its overhead water fountains, and the big tree that was used last year in the back.


Over to one side of the tree were some larger ornaments around another fountain.


To one side was the penguin family, and the other the reindeer covered in walnuts. I wonder if they left the nuts on from last year or recovered them?


After wandering here we wanted some coffee and dessert, but found the chocolate place behind the conservatory packed. It’s the one with the overhead chocolate fountain and the marvelous pastries. Not wanting to wait, we thought of the sweet shop up at Wynn’s. So we drove up there, parking in the Venetian parking garage and walking through their lobby and checking out those Christmas trees. Over at Wynn’s we found a forest of trees and lights. But the sweet shop has been converted from pastries to sandwiches, so no dessert here.


Walking back through the Venetian canals we stopped at a pastry shop there, and finally satisfied our sweet tooths. (sweet teeth?) We took our time, and enjoyed watching the crowd wander by.

So see, we can fill up an afternoon, walk for miles, and not spend much money, and still have a good time.

Bellagio Conservatory Autumn setting

On Saturday we took E and mom to see the current display at the Bellagio conservatory. They change their display to match the seasons, and now they are into their autumn harvest mode. There are some standard items that they keep and re-use, but mix them up in different ways and add new ones. This year there is a walkway down the center, with arches overhead and those neat shooting fountains to walk under.


The fountains turn on and off, and I am always impressed how the water keeps to that nice sharp stream and doesn’t splash those underneath at all. (the silver arches overhead are the water fountains in the above photo.) I think our group is in most of these pictures, did you find E in that one? (hint – just the top of her hair there)

Further on in the larger back area they put up a two story wooden mill with a waterwheel.


As seen everywhere, the person on a cell phone, ignoring what is around her to talk with someone someplace else. Scattered around all over were pumpkins – large and small. E seemed fascinated with the ones that were bigger than her.


The above shot is looking back towards the entrance. Just to the right is a large tree stump carved to look like a woodland gnome or some other creature – look close and you can make out the face looking towards the big pumpkin.

Next to the mill was a little pond with metallic trees splashing water. Along side was a cornucopia spilling out different colors of apples.


Yes, the pumpkins and apples are real, the tree person is fiberglass, but there are lots of real trees and flowers and grasses scattered around.

Over all of this, up near the glass ceiling, were short arcs covered with red berries. They always try to put something overhead to make the displays more three dimensional


We probably will not make it back to the Bellagio until next month, when they should be in full Christmas mode. Yesterday I got tickets for us to see the Circ show Ka over at the MGM – there are some two for one ticket deals for locals during December, which used to be our slow month in Vegas, but now is not really. In talking to the ticket seller at MGM he said they were already close to 95% reservations for the whole month, sold out through the end of January already. Looks like even with the economy and housing not doing too well people still find some time and money to vacation. Thanks.