Spring break 2000 couldn't come soon enough. It had been a long, cold, and brutal winter in Michigan, and the Olin family needed an escape ... Las Vegas here we come!!!
Our adventure actually began in Detroit, where we visited the Henry Ford Museum and spent the night at the DTW Westin Hotel, before hopping an early-morning Northwest Airlines flight to Sin City.
In 2000, Vegas was in the midst of a make-over. It was trying to shed it's sleazy reputation, and most of the resort/casinos were developing family-friendly attractions in hopes of appealing to a broader audience. This re-invention from risqué, gambling mecca to family theme-park was motivated by a decades-long stagnation in revenues. Almost overnight, venues emphasizing family entertainment sprung up like weeds - the MGM Wizard of Oz Experience, Excalibur's Tournament of Kings, Treasure Island's Battle at Buccaneer Bay, Luxor's King Tut's Adventure, and a brand-new Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The Olins were primed and ready to enjoy them all!!
We stayed at the new Bellagio Resort Hotel and Casino (at the time, the most expensive hotel ever built) and watched the dancing water fountain show from our hotel room window every night. We visited the incredible Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, featuring works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Calder, and Warhol. We also visited the Bellagio roulette tables, where Dad taught the kids a lesson in gambling.
Perhaps the most unforgettable (albeit unlikely) part of the trip was the 'dam tour'. Hoover Dam, at that time (prior to 9/11), was wide open for public tours, and the Olin family drove all the way out to take the 'dam tour'. It was a heck of a 'dam tour' ... every 'dam' bit of it!!
We watched two Cirque du Soleil shows, Mystere and the 'O' Show. Both were fantastic. We saw Siegfried and Roy's white tigers. We literally purchased ten pounds of M&Ms at the brand new M&M Super Store.
Vegas in 2000 was a wonderful place to take a family vacation.
Not long after we departed Vegas, however, some accounting genius discovered that families didn't drop money in the casinos like the old customers did. By 2003, the Chamber of Commerce revamped its marketing campaign to 'what happens here, stays here'. All the family-driven entertainment disappeared in a flash.
In 2009, the movie The Hangover was released, portraying Las Vegas in its full debauchery. Casino profits soared. The old Vegas had returned with a vengeance. Burton Cohen, President of the Desert Inn Resort and Casino was even overheard uttering, "If there is a twelve-year-old in my casino, he'd better be shooting craps."
But for that ever-so-brief moment in time, when Tom and Tam Olin took their eleven and nine year-old daughters to Las Vegas ... it was wonderful!!
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