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Tags: Lolita's Cantina / Locals Vegas / Bad Service / Bars / Restaurants / Town Square / → All Tags

Does a Bar Stacked With Tequila Make Lolita's A Cantina?

The latest from our new contributor, Amanda. Last week she told us why she liked Carnaval Court. This week: why she doesn't rate Town Square newbie, Lolita's Cantina.

Lolita's Cantina might be the newest hot spot in Town Square but in my opinion, it's not living up to the hype, with serious issues as regards atmosphere, food and customer service.

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Tags: Geek Week / Lolita's Cantina / Holographs / Town Square / Happy Hour / Nightclubs / Technology / → All Tags

Now Presenting the Holograph Dancers at Lolita's

Don't forget it's Geek Week on VegasChatter! We're doing Vegas tech-stylee all this week. Today we have a guest post from one of our favorite Vegas Twitterers, @amandahimes, on the art of the Tweetup.

Ever wonder what sets Lolita’s Cantina apart from other hot spots in Sin City? Well, it's definitely not the food or décor which falls short of expectations. Instead, it's their dancers. But these aren't your average Vegas dancers.

Lolita’s Cantina is America’s first holographic nightclub. While that may sound like you will be able to get your groove on with a sexy go-go dancer without fear of rejection, you won’t.

Lolita’s utilizes Digital Illusions, LLC state-of-the-art fire retardant polymers and high-definition video that create an illusion second to none.

The life like illusions on stage never miss a beat, the performers never have to call in sick, and the performances will always be flawless.

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Tags: Deals / Room Rates / Mandalay Bay / THEhotel / Packages / → All Tags

Mandalay Bay's New Deal Will Leave Your Wallet and Your Stomach Heavier

We personally haven’t been able to touch a buffet since our epic seven in 24 hours stint a couple of months back, but we understand that those of you who aren’t similarly scarred are fond of the old all you can eat. So you might be interested in the latest deal from Mandalay Bay.

Stay two nights and as well as your room, the All Day Buffet package gives you two all day buffet passes to fill your little tummies with. Even better, the rates advertised are from $65 for Mandalay Bay, and $85 for THEhotel.

Obviously those rates are too much to hope for. Looking at availability this morning, there are a fair few $86 rates at Mandalay in August and a couple of $70s in September, but to get a $66 deal, you’ll have to wait till November 21.

As for THEhotel, there are a few $100 rates scattered through August (nice!) and some $96s in September. You can score a $90 room for October 31 or your $86 on 21 November.

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Tags: Deal or No Deal / Luxor / Room Rates / Deals / → All Tags

Free Airfare to Stay at Luxor? We're Not Sure It's Worth It

Last time we heard about Luxor offering free stuff to get people to stay there, we thought we’d been scammed, so we were more than a little suspicious when an email telling us to ”fly back free” popped into our inbox.

It is, of course, a little complicated. Basically, you have to book this offer, stay at Luxor and you’ll then qualify for a voucher for a plane fare for your next visit – which, again, you must spend at Luxor.

There’s also plenty of small print but basically, the voucher gets you a roundtrip ticket from “any major airport in the Continental US” to Vegas.

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Tags: Snapshot / Do Not Do / Mandalay Bay / Concerts / Hussong's Cantina / → All Tags

You'll Need a Hussong's Margarita to Cope With the Queues at Mandalay Bay

The line 30 minutes in

A word of advice if you’re thinking of taking up Hussong's Cantina on their Grub for Stub offer: leave plenty of time to do it.

We popped to Hussong’s for a quick margarita before the Rihanna concert at Mandalay Bay on Saturday. Nicely loaded, we headed over to the gig at 7.45 (the concert was due to start at 7.30), only to find the Will Call queue about twice the size of the Caesars check in line at 6pm on a Friday.

The upshot? We queued for a good 45 minutes, missed Ke$ha, who was opening, and finally took to our seats to find the place less than half empty – the other half of the audience being in the queue to pick up their tickets still. What a fun Saturday night!

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Tags: Food / Restaurants / Concerts / Mandalay Bay / Hussong's Cantina / → All Tags

'Grub for Stub' at Hussong's Cantina Before the Concerts

We've already told you where the best pre-show dinners are as well as what are this summer's hottest concerts but now there's an option for you to gnosh before you mosh at Hussong's Cantina. Or as they're calling it--Grub for Stub.

The restaurant is inviting concert goers with tickets to shows at Mandalay Bay or Mandalay Beach to show up early, park in valet at The Shoppes at Mandalay Bay and head into Hussong's with their ticket stubs. Upon showing the waiter their concert tickets, diners will get a complimentary appetizer with the purchase of an entree.

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Tags: Closings / Fleur de Lys / Hubert Keller / Top Chef / Mandalay Bay / → All Tags

Fleur de Lys Closing Por De Tapas

This comes as a bit of a shock to us but Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay will be closing in August. Top Chef Master Hubert Keller and his crew will remain as the restaurant re-opens before the end of the year as a casual, world tapas restaurant. Your guess is as good as ours right now what world will mean since we remember when tapas were Spanish.

The announcement is disappointing as Fleur de Lys was one of our favorite special occasion restaurants. Not only is the food excellent but the restaurant interior is unique and relaxing with floor to ceiling curtains and walls covered in stone and fancy floral sculptures.

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Tags: Freaky Friday / Snapshot / Criss Angel / Luxor / Magic / → All Tags

The Luxor Really Wants Us To Believe

You know, if we didn’t know any better, we’d think someone was trying to give us a subliminal message or something. Because this is what we received when we checked in at Luxor last week.

The key to our room: Criss Angel Believe. The folder that the key came in: Criss Angel Believe. And what’s that, a nice welcome letter from the Luxor peeps to those of us checking in? Naw, it’s a note from Criss Angel, asking us to come and experience “an amazing evening of mind-blowing illusions” (if he’s meaning the one that should have given us the impression our room was clean, then someone needs to tell him, that illusion aint working).

On the back are some celeb quotes. Celine, calling it entertaining. J Lo, saying it’s a “beautiful, spectaular, emotional, magical journey” (did she maybe say that when she was pregnant and the hormones were going wild?). Gene Simmons calling it an “imaginative spectacle”. And good old Robin Leach’s verdict: “The Greatest Magic Show in the World” (sic).

Criss signs off:

Are you ready!?

No, pet, not quite yet we’re not. Not quite yet.

Tags: VegasChatter Reviews / Luxor / Cheap Vegas / Gross Vegas / Video / → All Tags

The Ancient Egyptian Theme Appears to Stretch to Luxor's Cleaning Techniques

Way back when (well, March, anyway), we had an email offer from the ”new Luxor” promoting rooms from $36. And seeing as we’ve always, always wanted to stay in the pyramid (despite one of our besties staying there for her honeymoon and deeming it “chavvy”), we booked it immediately. “New Luxor”? We didn’t care about that. We just wanted to walk like an Egyptian for a night. And finally, that night came around last Thursday.

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Tags: Snapshot / Luxor / WTF / Photography / → All Tags

Luxor and Excalibur Have Lifted the No Photos Rule

Get flashing while this is gone

You may have spent the day before MD Weekend putting the final touches to your GTL, but ever devout to the cause of testing out cheap beds, we spent ours watching Carrot Top on loop on the inhouse TV channel at the Luxor.

During our sojourn, we saw a few things we hadn’t been expecting. Carrot Top dressed as a woman, for one. People awake and sober at 8am, for another. Questionable marks on the bathroom wall, for a third.

But there was also one thing we’d expected to see, but didn’t: the "don’t you effing dare take any pictures in here" signs.

They weren’t out the back, they weren’t out the front, so we asked a Luxor person what had become of them, and she said they’d been taken down for the foreseeable future. “We all told them that it was stupid, because all the signs did was make people take more pictures,” were her exact words. We couldn’t agree more.

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Tags: Attractions / Cloud 9 Balloon / Photo Ops / Family-Friendly Vegas / → All Tags

Cloud 9 Balloon Got Ripped in Vegas and Is Still Recovering

Remember that big white orb that was floating high over the Strip earlier this year? The Cloud Nine Balloon that had been “flying” tourists above Vegas via a tethered float was grounded in March after two severe wind incidents. We were disappointed we hadn’t gotten to ride it before its collapse.

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Tags: Gay Vegas / Pool Parties / Pools / Luxor / → All Tags

Luxor Is Tempting You With Its LGBT Pool Party On Sunday

Columns. Palm trees. Pyramids. Think they're trying to tell us something?

You know what we’ve been missing with the Liquids and the Rehabs and the Wet Republics? A good old gay Vegas pool party. Luckily, Luxor is stepping in this weekend and launching its 2010 season of Sunday afternoon LGBT pool parties.

The name? Temptation Sundays (could do better). The time? 1-7pm. The place? Luxor South Pool.

This is not your standard boring pool party, though – it’ll be a themed fest every week (themes like Cowboys of Summer and King and queen of the pool.

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