LAS VEGAS AND SOUTH FLORIDA ...WHAT TO DO...I KNOW!
Domingo Ivan Casañas
March 19, 2006
Wow! I just got back from a fabulous vacation to Las Vegas and Florida. I must admit these are two “happening” places. As most know, Las Vegas is known for the Las Vegas Strip, casinos and the night life of night clubs and live shows.
Currently there are nine Cirque Du Soleil shows running. I had the privilege to review Mystere at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Vegas. The Cirque du Soleil is an international organization founded in Quebec in 1984. The creation, production, and performance are an artistic work, whose mission is to invoke, provoke, and evoke the imagination, the senses, and the emotions of people around the world.
The revolving stage for Mystere is excellent in my opinion because it gives everyone in attendance the opportunity to watch everything that is going on in a comfortable seat that reclines with plenty of leg room. The live music and singers sound magical, mysterious and with a fantasy sense. This show gives us freakish costumes, giant drums playing and giant people on stilts, turns and spins of giant aerial cubes, gravity-defying acts on the Chinese poles using just leg and arm power, plus so much more. The audience even makes friends with a heavy looking baby bouncing a ball and a comedian mingling with the crowd and making them part of the show. The acrobats are done with precision and are as light on their feet as they climb long poles performing great acrobatic moves. The difficult tasks are made to look so easy. The jugglers can juggle giant dice and much more. I found the show to be superb and in a very comfortable theater. I highly recommend you to check this powerful show out. (702) 894-7790
I also had the opportunity to review the Blue Man Group at the Venetian. I had heard so much about it from friends. This show combines music, comedy and multimedia theatrics with audience participation. This show is in no way competing with Cirque Du Soleil, one cannot compare apples to bananas. In this show the three Blue Men seem to make choices on where to take the show based on how crazy or wild the audience is. The early birds that buy the front row seats will be splattered with unidentified gooey material from the stage these theatergoers can put on a ponchos to protect themselves from the gooey stuff. The music, the unique instruments and the drumming make it a lively show. By the way don’t expect the Blue Men to speak…they don’t, their communication is thru their actions. The audience also experiences and participates with the toilet paper effect all over their bodies. I must admit the the audience loved this show based on their reactions, participation and vocal clarity. To me it is somewhat overrated and at times not as funny as the audience made it to be. (702) 697-1600
When it came to dancing Studio 54 at the MGM Grand has a large enough dance floors to boogie on down. With some Techno, & hip hop and more, live dancers on top of pillars, acrobats performing, wall walkers and confetti drop makes it for a worthwhile place to get down. (702) 891-7254
When it comes to Florida I really enjoy the Fort Lauderdale area. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino now has its own village in it full of night clubs. The Seminole is a major entertainment destination located on aprox 100 acres of the Hollywood Reservation of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. I had the opportunity to check out Pangaea night club that has plenty of dancing floors including outside under the stars seating. Different rooms with all the music you need to get your feet dancing. This village of night clubs gives the dancing feet all the choices you need for the night.
I was also able to check out Butterfly World near Fort Lauderdale in Coconut Creek, Florida. If you are a bug or bird lover this is the place to be! This butterfly and bird park in Southern Florida with thousands of flowers, tropical plants, waterfalls, gardens, and classical music is a unique, breath-taking site. You get to walk among the live exotic butterflies and birds in their natural habitat. With admission being under $20.00 it is definitely worth visiting. (954) 977-4400
With butterflies living only three days and as much as three months and with the average life span of about a week to 10 days it is very worthwhile to take a walk in their own natural habitat. For children it is also special to visit the Bug zoo, which will expose those bug lovers to the big brown cockroaches, the Giant African Millipede or the spiders just to mention a few. I found Butterfly world to be worth your while for the whole family!
When it comes to night clubs in Miami there are plenty some better than others. But the one on South Beach that is live and hot and where you can get some good food at the same time is: Mangos Tropical Café on Ocean Drive (305) 673-4422 with dancers on top of the bar performing merengue, salsa moves, with a dance room with the latest top salsa music upstairs, with another dance floor with live music downstairs and with the mojitos and good food Mangos is the place to be!
Of course, I can’t leave without telling you about the great Cuban food at the corner restaurants and bakeries along the Miami and Hialeah area. When it comes to checking out the sights and soaking up the rays and getting wet South Beach will do it all for you. Hope you have some new insights to some places to go in your next vacation.
By: Domingo Ivan Casañas
Currently there are nine Cirque Du Soleil shows running. I had the privilege to review Mystere at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Vegas. The Cirque du Soleil is an international organization founded in Quebec in 1984. The creation, production, and performance are an artistic work, whose mission is to invoke, provoke, and evoke the imagination, the senses, and the emotions of people around the world.
The revolving stage for Mystere is excellent in my opinion because it gives everyone in attendance the opportunity to watch everything that is going on in a comfortable seat that reclines with plenty of leg room. The live music and singers sound magical, mysterious and with a fantasy sense. This show gives us freakish costumes, giant drums playing and giant people on stilts, turns and spins of giant aerial cubes, gravity-defying acts on the Chinese poles using just leg and arm power, plus so much more. The audience even makes friends with a heavy looking baby bouncing a ball and a comedian mingling with the crowd and making them part of the show. The acrobats are done with precision and are as light on their feet as they climb long poles performing great acrobatic moves. The difficult tasks are made to look so easy. The jugglers can juggle giant dice and much more. I found the show to be superb and in a very comfortable theater. I highly recommend you to check this powerful show out. (702) 894-7790
I also had the opportunity to review the Blue Man Group at the Venetian. I had heard so much about it from friends. This show combines music, comedy and multimedia theatrics with audience participation. This show is in no way competing with Cirque Du Soleil, one cannot compare apples to bananas. In this show the three Blue Men seem to make choices on where to take the show based on how crazy or wild the audience is. The early birds that buy the front row seats will be splattered with unidentified gooey material from the stage these theatergoers can put on a ponchos to protect themselves from the gooey stuff. The music, the unique instruments and the drumming make it a lively show. By the way don’t expect the Blue Men to speak…they don’t, their communication is thru their actions. The audience also experiences and participates with the toilet paper effect all over their bodies. I must admit the the audience loved this show based on their reactions, participation and vocal clarity. To me it is somewhat overrated and at times not as funny as the audience made it to be. (702) 697-1600
When it came to dancing Studio 54 at the MGM Grand has a large enough dance floors to boogie on down. With some Techno, & hip hop and more, live dancers on top of pillars, acrobats performing, wall walkers and confetti drop makes it for a worthwhile place to get down. (702) 891-7254
When it comes to Florida I really enjoy the Fort Lauderdale area. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino now has its own village in it full of night clubs. The Seminole is a major entertainment destination located on aprox 100 acres of the Hollywood Reservation of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. I had the opportunity to check out Pangaea night club that has plenty of dancing floors including outside under the stars seating. Different rooms with all the music you need to get your feet dancing. This village of night clubs gives the dancing feet all the choices you need for the night.
I was also able to check out Butterfly World near Fort Lauderdale in Coconut Creek, Florida. If you are a bug or bird lover this is the place to be! This butterfly and bird park in Southern Florida with thousands of flowers, tropical plants, waterfalls, gardens, and classical music is a unique, breath-taking site. You get to walk among the live exotic butterflies and birds in their natural habitat. With admission being under $20.00 it is definitely worth visiting. (954) 977-4400
With butterflies living only three days and as much as three months and with the average life span of about a week to 10 days it is very worthwhile to take a walk in their own natural habitat. For children it is also special to visit the Bug zoo, which will expose those bug lovers to the big brown cockroaches, the Giant African Millipede or the spiders just to mention a few. I found Butterfly world to be worth your while for the whole family!
When it comes to night clubs in Miami there are plenty some better than others. But the one on South Beach that is live and hot and where you can get some good food at the same time is: Mangos Tropical Café on Ocean Drive (305) 673-4422 with dancers on top of the bar performing merengue, salsa moves, with a dance room with the latest top salsa music upstairs, with another dance floor with live music downstairs and with the mojitos and good food Mangos is the place to be!
Of course, I can’t leave without telling you about the great Cuban food at the corner restaurants and bakeries along the Miami and Hialeah area. When it comes to checking out the sights and soaking up the rays and getting wet South Beach will do it all for you. Hope you have some new insights to some places to go in your next vacation.
By: Domingo Ivan Casañas
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