New York - New York

After our short trip around the MGM, we headed across the strip to New York, New York.

The whole casino area is made up to look like downtown New York. Pretty fancy.

New York - New York had a large casino area, as well as a full working rollercoaster. The lines for the rollercoaster stayed pretty long so we skipped it for this trip.

The New York indoors are made to look like downtown New York, Central Park, etc. We didn't stay in here for very long, but it was still pretty cool.

Bellagio

The Bellagio is definitely one of the more upscale hotel/casinos in Vegas. We actually asked about the price of a room and were told the starting price was $260 per night. This was the cheapest price for a room on a Tuesday night. We decided not to ask about the penthouse.

These giant Bellagio signs were littered among the front and back sides of the hotel.

The Bellagio has a multi-million dollar fountain system that it uses for choreographed water displays throughout the night. We watched one that was run to the Pink Panther theme song. They actually made the fountains look like wagging cat tails. Impressive.

The inside of the hotel area was filled with fountains and reflecting pools like this one.

Huge hanging plants and blown glass flowers hang from the ceiling in the check-in area.

Another fountain and more flowers. Maybe if they cut back on the flowers and fountains, you could stay there for less than a week's salary.

The lake that the fountains are in is surrounded by shops and restaurants that give an excellent view of the show.

Luxor

The Luxor was by-far my favorite casino in Vegas. Not only was it one of the more lavish casinos, but it is also an engineering feat. Being an engineer myself... I was intrigued.

For those of you who don't know, the Luxor is the casino that is in the shape of an Egyptian pyramid.

A replica of the great Sphinx guards the entrance to the casino.

The walls (and everything else in the Luxor) are huge. Everything is engraved with detailed hieroglyphs.

A group of spitting goats? Just one of the many fountains in the Luxor.

Replicas of sarcophagi from ancient Egypt.

More of the Luxor's fountains. This goat isn't spitting though.

Liz and I pause for a moment to honor the great pharaoh with a group picture.

I won't bore you with facts from the Discovery channel, but these statues stand amidst the great interior space of the pyramid. Hotel rooms (1 deep) make up the outer shell of the pyramid. The walkway of each floor directly above the pyramid floor with nothing in-between. I imagine it's quite a sight looking down from the upper floors and seeing only the casino floor below.

Excalibur

The excalibur is more of a family destination than the other casinos. I felt like we were at Disneyland.

The outside of Excalibur bears a striking resemblance to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World doesn't it?

We came upon a caricature booth inside Excalibur. We sat for nearly an hour and watched two sisters get their caricatures done. This picture was one of the display models. Hehehe Michael Jackson as an alien... now that's good fun.

A suit of armor. I don't know if its a real antique or a cheap knockoff.

The inside of the Excalibur. It's kinda cheezy, but hey that's Vegas.