Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

THE TOP ATTRACTIONS 183
view—will be dining on mice when you drop by). Outside is a pretty garden
demonstrating how attractive more desert-appropriate plants (in other words,
those requiring little water) can be. You just wish the local casinos, with their
lush and wasteful lawns, would take notice.
On the UNLV campus, 4505 Maryland Pkwy. & 702/895-3381. Free admission. Mon–Fri 8am–4:45pm; Sat
10am–2pm.
MGM Grand Lion Habitat Kids Hit this attraction at the right time and
it’s one of the best freebies in town. It’s a large, multilevel glass enclosure, in
which various lions frolic during various times of day. In addition to regular
viewing spots, you can walk through a glass tunnel and get a worm’s-eye view of
the underside of a lion (provided one is in position); note how very big Kitty’s
paws are. Multiple lions share show duties (about 6 hr. on, and then 2 days off
at a ranch for some free-range activity, so they’re never cooped up here for long).
So you could see any combo from one giant male to a pack of five females who
have grown from cub to near adult-size during their MGM time. Each comes
with a trainer or three, who are there to keep the lions busy with play, so they
don’t act like the big cats they are and sleep the whole time. But obviously, photo
ops are more likely to occur as the more frisky younger set tussles, so what you
observe is definitely going to depend on who is in residence when you drop by.
(And of course, actually seeing anything depends on how many other people
think this is a two-star attraction; hordes of tourists are often pressed against the
glass, preventing you, not to mention your kids, from doing the same.)
In the MGM Grand, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S. & 702/891-7777. Free admission. Daily 11am–10pm.
Neonopolis It’s hard to get visitors Downtown, but if you are genuinely
looking for activities that do not have to do with gambling, this $100 million
open-air restaurant, shop, and entertainment complex (with an 11-screen movie
theater) provides plenty of motivation. Located right at the Fremont Street
Experience, where Fremont Street meets Las Vegas Boulevard South, it’s basically
a big, open-air mall, but one that is powered by Jillian’s, a national chain
that specializes in creating little urban entertainment centers (they are behind
the similar Metreon in San Francisco), with a state-of-the-art arcade (as well
stocked, from air hockey to virtual-reality games, as we’ve ever seen), bowling
alley, billiards, two bars, a nightclub, and a restaurant all in one tidy package. It’s
not a 24-hour joint, but the hours are long enough that nongamblers can amuse
themselves here while the gamblers in their party are doing their thing. The cafe
has an extensive menu (from hamburgers to jambalaya) with most items in the
$4-to-$10 range and as tasty as you could want from such a place. It’s too close
to the Fremont Street Experience not to go and has too much to offer not to
stay, but it is too noisy, thanks to happy kids and teenagers, to want to stay too
long, depending on where you fit in those demographics.
450 Fremont St. (at Las Vegas Blvd.). & 702/678-5777. Sun–Thurs 11am–1am; Fri–Sat 11am–3am.
Race for Atlantis IMAX 3-D Ride Kids Following the trend of virtualreality
theme-park rides, Caesars Palace joined forces with IMAX to create the
Race for Atlantis. If you’ve never been on a virtual-reality ride, you will enjoy it,
but the production values pale when compared to Star Trek: The Experience (but
then again, that’s also twice as expensive).
This experience begins as you walk past a giant statue of Neptune and his
chariot drawn by wild-looking sea serpents. The stone hallway appears to lead