After many months of hype and hope, the Las Vegas Mob Experience has opened at the Tropicana. We were there last night for their formal VIP opening event. If you want the quick version: Sazzy loved it, I was disappointed and the PA was non committal. Go figure!
If you remember when the Titanic exhibit was at the Tropicana, its in the same place. As you walk to the back of the hotel, you get a pretty good look at all the new stuff the Trop offers you!
The entrance to the Experience did a good job of looking like the Hollywood version of the Bowery. You and a small group are walked onto the docks of Ellis Island at the start of the depression. Everyone around you is dressed in 1920′s garb. Here you get the obligatory photograph before moving onto the origins of American gangsters; the streets of New York. You are introduced to a street vendor who makes his money by not selling newspapers… From there, he encourages to walk through several scenes from dark back alleys to street-side restaurants to the Vegas casino skim room to rooms containing real artifacts from infamous Vegas mobsters.
Sometimes the actors prompt you along, other times you are on your own to figure out if the particular room’s attraction is complete and you need to move on. Or not.
All of this is intended to giving you a look at where the mob came from, how it all worked and why Las Vegas became their shining moment as well as their own downfall.
The Las Vegas Mob Experience always pushed the fact that this was interactive. You have real character actors who get into your face, ask probing questions and make deals. As you move from one room to another, there is also commentary from film mobsters like James Caan, Mickey Rourke and Frank Vincent who appear as holograms.
And that’s where we differ on opinions. Sazzy loved to play along with the characters like a live version of a board game, I did not. If I am paying you $40, I want to be informed and entertained. I don;t want to be the entertainer. And don’t get up into my face, ok?? Some cultures find that rude and a huge turn off.
The worst offender was when we were in the catwalk room, above a fake blackjack table. As James Cann was telling us what was going on below us and what to look for in the chip scam, some character shmuck was trying to be all gangster and order us to do something else. Not sure what because the two were competing for attention.
Who Needs Facts??
With a long list of credential experts and families of the mobsters as consultants, you would think that maybe they would finally help set the record straight on a few Vegas mob legends. But that was not to be.
There are just too many well documented errors to list, but the biggest two are:
- One display tells us that Bugsy Siegal was sent out here to build the Flamingo! NOT!!. He was here to set up the sports betting wire. The Flamingo was a few years later and an after-thought. It was completely his screw up as well as his downfall.
- Another display proudly tells us that Anthony Spilotro was beat to death along with his brother, in a cornfield. Sorry Charlie… that was how they portrayed it in the movie “Casino”. Even during the making of the movie, it was already a known fact that he died elsewhere and the bodies were dumped in the cornfield. Killing them in the cornfield just helped move the storyline along.
English Only
Las Vegas is an international tourist destination. I have already heard from several tour operators writing this attraction off because it is strictly English. The displays, the actors and the famous goons all speak in English with no translations available.
Fun Time Had By All
Ok, it has some issues… But overall, everybody seems to agree that the Las Vegas Mob Experience is a really cool attraction. You have fun with Vegas history, get interactive with some shady characters while getting a new look at what made Las Vegas the city that it is. That is until I ask if they would see it for $40 a pop, then the room goes silent.
In My opinion…. if they fix these few little issues, it has a chance to survive a year or two… As it sits, look for it in the 2-for-1 kiosks really soon. Like next week.
Hopefully Oscar and gang can do a better job with the taxpayer funded Mob Museum downtown that opens later this year.
Go Ahead, Stalk Us