If I could go back in time, I’d eventually get to the early 1990s, when my younger self visited Las Vegas for the first time. This was a time when my family had upgraded from taking road trip vacations to Florida with a pop-top Coleman camper to staying at hotels we booked using the Entertainment Book (yep, it’s still around). Our trip to Las Vegas was an exception, though, because we flew to get there and also because we were staying at The Mirage. Thanks to a friend of a friend who knew someone connected to Steve Wynn, we received a complimentary room. Additionally, we also received complimentary tickets to the Mirage headline show featuring Siegfried & Roy.
Needless to say, The Mirage holds a special place in my travel memories.
The Mirage
The Mirage opened on the Las Vegas Strip in 1989 and forever changed the city’s landscape. From the iconic volcano taking up valuable streetfront property to being the first mega-resort, the Mirage set the blueprint that casino properties in Las Vegas and around the world have been copying ever since.
Since 2006, The Mirage has also been home to The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil. We saw the show in 2017, and it was one of the only Cirque du Soleil shows that my wife Sharon and I liked. That might have been because the show heavily used The Beatles catalog and related imagery instead of the typical Cirque show, but it was the only show that we both said we’d eventually want to see again.
When Hard Rock purchased The Mirage from MGM Resorts in 2022, with plans to turn it into the Hard Rock Las Vegas, complete with a guitar hotel, they purchased the rights to the name for several years until the renovation was complete. Over time, parts of the old Mirage were going away, but it was expected that the hotel and casino would remain open.
Then, Cirque du Soleil announced that The Beatles LOVE would have its final performance on July 7, 2024. It was bad timing for us to make a trip to Las Vegas, but I could swing a quick visit just to see the show one last time. In fairness, I like Cirque du Soleil’s shows more than Sharon does.
Farewell Vegas Trip
I had two nights to stay in Vegas and see The Beatles LOVE one last time. I booked flights and a hotel and purchased tickets to the show. Then, in May 2024, Hard Rock announced that the Mirage would permanently close on July 17, 2024, to expedite the opening of the new resort. Besides seeing the show for the last time, this would also be a chance to say goodbye to The Mirage.
I arrived early for the show to give myself time to walk around. There were so many things I remembered from my original visit, as well as the times we’ve stopped in since then. I can recall going back to the front desk with the fishtank on that first visit and having my father tell the employee that if this was supposed to be the best hotel in Las Vegas, the room we received didn’t give that impression. I’m not sure if he added a $20 bill under the room key as he handed it back, but we did get a top-floor room with a view of the strip for the rest of our stay. I even remember eating at the California Pizza Kitchen (don’t judge, this was the ’90s).
During this trip, I put $20 in a slot machine to waste some time, and I’m not sure what happened, but after 10 minutes, I cashed out this voucher.
I used my winnings to pay for dinner at Otoro, where I had a great Dragon Roll and grilled pork belly.
Eventually, it was time for the show, and I headed to the theater.
The Beatles LOVE
The show is mostly the same as the last time we saw it, and I enjoyed it as much as before. There are no plans to revive the show elsewhere, as the theater at The Mirage was custom-built for Cirque do Soleil. Most of the tickets for the Tuesday night late show were taken so there’s obviously still an audience for the show.
The 90-minute production flew by and before I knew it, it was over.
But at least I got to see The Beatles LOVE again and visit The Mirage one last time before they both closed forever. Trips like these are made possible by having travel points, even if I had to scramble to find a flight home when American Airlines almost stranded me in Las Vegas.
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