WEEKEND ESCAPE | LAS VEGAS
At Wynn's Las Vegas namesake, he's on par with himself
A visitor, lured by the name that launched the Bellagio, gives the hotelier's newest a spin. It's a resort that invites comparisons.
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Sitting at a waterfront steakhouse at the newest and most expensive Strip resort, indulging in a fabulous meal, we concluded that Steve Wynn did, indeed, build the finest resort in town.
It has an elegant casino, matchless dining, a fine art gallery, a gorgeous theater, opulent guest rooms, an impeccable staff.
But enough about the Bellagio.
Tonight we're at Wynn Las Vegas, curious whether the visionary who brought us the breakout Mirage in 1989 and the $1.7-billion Bellagio in 1998 had enough left in his creative soul to sculpt another masterpiece.
The short answer is yes, with an asterisk. There's a Bellagio feel at nearly every turn inside Wynn Las Vegas. (The exterior is a different matter.) But it's hard to call something a knockoff when it cost $1 billion more than the genuine article.
So it is with Wynn Las Vegas. Five years ago, Wynn cashed in his Bellagio chips, then bought and tore down the iconic Desert Inn to build his new resort. It was initially called Le Rêve ("The Dream," after a Picasso painting he purchased to display here), but for branding purposes, he gave it his own name. Today, Wynn's signature towers over the Las Vegas skyline.
Allowing two months to iron out any opening wrinkles, my wife and I drove across the Mojave Desert in mid-June to check out Wynn's dream.
From the outside, there's nothing Bellagio about the place. Architecturally, it is slim and graceful, wrapped in skin-tight bronze. It's coy compared with his earlier projects.
The Bellagio beckons with its extravagant dancing fountains, based on Wynn's onetime premise that if passersby are wowed by the outside, they'd be drawn inside. He used that strategy when he built the Mirage's volcano and Treasure Island's pirate ship.
Wynn now rationalizes that it's more seductive to hide the goods a bit. A 140-foot-high mountain, forested with 60-foot pine trees, shields what's called the Lake of Dreams from casual passersby, luring them inside.
Guests stepping into the Bellagio's lobby see Dale Chihuly's spectacular glass creations, and in the adjoining conservatory, dazzling seasonal floral displays. Wynn Las Vegas guests enter a bright but smaller atrium, passing through a grove of trees decorated with oversized floral ornaments. It seems kind of paltry.
The check-in was fast and flawless and peacefully removed from the casino floor. Guests queued up for the clerk of their choice, a method that rids the lobby of the maze of velvet ropes. We were offered a room with a view of the Strip but chose one on the back side of the 33rd floor — appropriate on this trip marking our 33rd anniversary.
Upstairs, we were rewarded with a spectacular view framed by a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the pool and golf course, desert and mountains to the east. The curtains parted at the touch of a button. We were arrested by the panorama, so much so that I almost didn't notice the 42-inch plasma TV hanging above the mini-bar.
Conveniently for sale
In short order we discovered that the room and bathroom, both spacious and beautifully appointed, doubled as a sales floor. Not only were the bathrobes and slippers available for purchase, but according to a price brochure in the room, we could also buy the TV ($1,700), the Andy Warhol prints ($175), the king-size down pillows, the comforter, the sheets and, in fact, the whole darn bed ($2,400).
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