On Thursday 12 July 2007 I wrote a post about the Luxor attempting to become a resort without any identifiable theme.
http://royvegas.blogspot.com/2007/07/las-vegas-luxor-and-servile-media.htmlA few more thoughts
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Instead of trying to remove any identifiable theme, The Luxor ought to have tried to install an identifiable theme.
Previously I have made the point, perhaps too gently, that The Luxor, unlike New York New York, never fully implemented the Egyptian theme from which they claim that they now must rid themselves.
The Luxor's Egyptian theme, has been run in a sort of one dimensional manner; not unlike a haunted house attraction at a small amusement park.
Remember those haunted house rides, where you sit in a cart on a track, and travel through a dark 7-11 sized haunted house? The cart would go slowly in darkness until it neared "an exhibit" and then suddenly the exhibit lightbulbs would go on and illuminate a scary looking dummy that was protected by a fence of chicken wire. Then the lightbulbs would turn off and the cart would travel to the next terrifying exhibit.
It was fun, and if you were young enough it might have been scary, but it wasn't a haunted house. It was a house of scary themed exhibits presented in a hopefully suspenseful and startling manner.
That, in a way, is how The Luxor implemented the Egyptian theme. To be clear, I am not trashing The Luxor, and I do remember the excitement I felt the first time I saw and went inside The Luxor. I loved it from the outside, but they did not follow through on the inside.
The Luxor was decorated Egyptian, but I never felt that I was anywhere Egyptian. That distinction is important because THE PLACE IS A PYRAMID.
The expectation raised by seeing it from the outside, was not continued on the inside. I know they had (still have ?) their Egyptian attraction area, King Tut or whatever it was, and some other stuff, but that was not enough.
NYNY looks incredible on the outside, and it continues on the inside. The theme of New York City is saturated in the very design and details.
Luxor was decorated Egyptian, but saturated nothing. It never got deep enough.
The Luxor seeks to become a number one hot spot. A real adult place. I suppose they may well succeed, but it did not have to occur at the loss of Egyptian potential. As far as adult intrigue, the concept of a pyramid, and ancient Egypt, is loaded with potential.
Imagine how incredible The Luxor could have been.
You will have to imagine it, because the people who have managed the place did not.
