The famous thrill ride "Insanity" at the Stratosphere has re-opened after an incident in which two girls were stuck on the ride for an hour. Details < a href="http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/11467745.htm">here.

In order to keep up with demand, McCarran International airport in Las Vegas has opened up a new 11 gate wing in it’s D satellite concourse. This will allow the airport to handle an additional 3.1 million travellers per year. The expansion comes just in time for the opening of the Wynn. More here.

MGM has hired Cesar Pelli, the designer of the Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, to design a 4,000 square foot Las Vegas strip hotel for them. The growth never seems to end in Vegas. Details here.

Here is an article in the New York Post about modern, minimalist design in Vegas. This is, of course, minimalism done Vegas style, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Steve Wynn’s next project, "The Encore," was originally intended to be a $900 million, 1,500 room hotel tower with a small casino. The new plan calls for 2,000 suites, a full casino, convention space, and a full suite of amenities.

Of course, as a consequence of the expansion, the opening date has been moved back. It was initially going to open in the second half of 2007, but that has been delayed to the first half of 2008. Source Comments (0)

Nobody knows for sure what plans are for New Frontier, but this article seems to have a few ideas. Pretty exciting stuff, if it’s true…

here is another good article about sustainability projects in Las Vegas.

For those of you who have been coming to the site for a while, you may have noticed the site name change. Las-vegas-vacations-guide.us is now LasVegasComplete.com.

Why the name change? Well, for two reasons:

1. When I created this site, it was intended primarily for folks on vacation. But as time went by, I realized that a lot of folks were coming here for business travel, and were turned off by the vacation-orientedness of the site. As such, I wanted the name of the site to reflect it’s versatility, and this domain was available.
2. I really wanted the name of the site to indicate the fact that the site is all encompassing when it comes to Las Vegas. LasVegasComplete seems to do the trick

Other than the URL and the logo, not much has changed. We still offer everything you could possibly want for your Vegas trips, and still have the lowest prices online for the vast majority of our featured hotels.

Enjoy the site, enjoy your trip, and please don’t hesitate to let me know what you think.

The Palms is building a brand new 40 story hotel tower with 347 rooms and a 520 foot condominium hotel and spa. There will be themed rooms, new clubs and restaurants, and even an 800 square foot studio. This is pretty major for the Palms, and very exciting for all of us. More details here.

Here’s a really interesting article about Oscar Goodman, Las Vegas’ Mayor, and his plans for the city. I find it amusing that the city’s mayor is so typical of the city itself.

Here’s an article about a subject near and dear to my heart: renewable energy. Apparently, PowerLight Corp. has received the go ahead to build a 3.1 megawatt solar power complex for Las Vegas. It’s good to know that Vegas is doing it’s part to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

The volume of spam that this blog has been receiving is quite disturbing. I had considered shutting off comments altogether, but I really want people to be able to discuss the various news items.

Thankfully, "Dr. Dave" has written an excellent plugin for Wordpress which appears to appropriately block spam. I’ve just installed it, and if it works ok, I’ll be able to leave comments enabled.

After a brief email exchange with my booking partners, the Las Vegas Vacations Guide can finally take reservations for the Wynn Las Vegas! I’ve been waiting for this forever and I’m quite psyched.

After a brief email exchange with my booking partners, the Las Vegas Vacations Guide can finally take reservations for the Wynn Las Vegas! I’ve been waiting for this forever and I’m quite psyched.

Yes, it’s finally happened! The Wynn is now taking reservations. Unfortunately, they’re not taking third party reservations yet, so I can’t offer reservations for them on this site yet. However, you can call and reserve, or go to their site.

As soon as they start taking third party reservations, I will add them to my list of featured hotels.

While the title doesn’t seem like a big deal, two things make it significant:

• This is a newly created position. Previously, casinos had been run almost haphazardly at the Hard Rock
• This guys credentials are extremely impressive. He’s run hotels before, and used to be a gaming industry equity analyst at Bear Stearns.

This Could mean really good things for the Hard Rock. Lots more details here

Among their recommendations: Michael Mina at the Bellagio, Mesa Grill Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace, and Shibuya at the MGM.

The full article is here

In 2002, the city of Las Vegas ceated an entertainment zone in it’s downtown area. In order to help finance development, it has just sold an old work card application center to developer Sunvest of Florida.

Sunvest will, in turn, build clubs, restaurants, and condos there. More cool stuff in Vegas! Woo hoo! More details here.

You know those ridiculous clocks with dice where the number should be that are all over Vegas? Well, the Review Journal actually has an article about them.

Nothing Earth shattering here. I just found it amusing…

The Las Vegas Sun takes a look at some of the unusual slot machines to be available at the Wynn Casino (opening in April, along with the resort itself).

I’m mostly a Blackjack guy myself, but some of these sound kind of interesting. There are tons of details in the article, if you’re interested.