Viva Las Vegas!

Wow this is, like, really late, but I just wanted to tell you all about my trip to Las Vegas! -yayz!- For those of you in the dark, instead of regular presents for Christmas, my dad arranged a trip to Las Vegas for a weekend so we could go see......wait for it.....The Phantom of the Opera!!!!! In case you're wondering, Phantom is one of my favorite musicals/movie. I know practically all the words to all the songs, (Except "Masquerade", the lyrics are confuzzling. *my word!*) and, although I reluctantly admit it, I sometimes sing them in the shower. Wow, I really don't have a life do I? Don't answer that question. *fierce expression*

Anyhoo, (I like that word xD) I was allowed to skip school for a Friday, major bonus! We arrived in Las Vegas, and we drove to the hotel, which was the Luxor. For those of you who don't know, that's the pyramid one that Criss Angel, literally, hovered over I don't remember when on his TV show. It's really cool at night 'cuz it lights up on the outside. Criss Angel also has a new Cirque du Soleil show there, but we didn't get to see it. But we saw the playing card he through at one of the doors and now the card is in the glass. Freaky. Here's a pic of it:

He has a weird signature. But more about Criss Angel later. After we checked in the hotel and got our stuff to the room, I changed my outfit for the show, which included wearing heels. Why, oh why, didn't I ask dad if I could get new boots?! I now have scars from the blisters those blasted shoes inflicted on my poor foot. We also broke one of the casino laws, hehe. My dad just HAD to have his shoes polished, so I had to wait there in the casino where the shoe polisher guy was. The law was that anyone under 21 cannot loiter in the casino. Oh well. The Phantom show was at the Venetian, so we drove over there to kill time wandering around the hotel shops and stuff until the show. We ended up eating at this awesome place called the Grand Lux Cafe. Oh. My. God. You have not eaten spinach and cheese dip until you eat it there! We had the waiter leave the dip there after we got our entrees 'cuz we wanted to keep eating it. *drools over memory of dip* After filling our stomachs, we ventured forth up the escalator to the shops at the Venetian. In case you didn't know, the Venetian actually has a little "river" running through it, like in Venice with the canals, and you can get gondolas rides. Pretty cool. We walked past all the high end shops where a button costs $50, then we found this awesome store called David & Goliath Stupid Factory. It's a store that only sells tee-shirts, pj sets, and random stuff like pencil bags and pins that have funny sayings on them with cute pictures. Google it. It's amazing!

We made our way back to the theater, and browsed the Phantom Boutique. I wanted to get the monkey music box, but it was, like, $75. We decided to come back later after the show. We also bought some bandaids for my mangled heels. Here's a pic of the sign in front of the theater entrance:

And here's one of the mosaic floor that I thought was pretty cool:

Here's a picture of a picture that was displayed next to the doors:

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, that's what the inside of the theater looks like. Those people you see in the booths on the sides are actually mannequins, but when we first sat down in the theater, there were large pieces of cloth draping over the booths, and I just happened to be able to see a women, whom I thought was real, sitting in one of the booths. After a few minutes I glanced up again, and she hadn't moved. I showed my dad, 'cuz I was getting a little worried, but after looking at her again, and seeing she still hadn't moved, we concluded they were either robots or mannequins. I felt like an idiot after that, but at least I showed concern for the woman, even if she wasn't real!

We proceeded to watch the show with awe and enthusiasm. Well, I did, not sure about my dad. Once I actually think he fell asleep. The overture at the beginning was my favorite part because it shows the chandelier coming together because the chandelier is actually split into 4 parts, and as the music plays in the overture, the pieces slowly come together after swinging around above our heads in a little dance, then rise up to the ceiling. It's REALLY COOL!! 'Cuz the theater was specifically made for just the Phantom show, so when the chandelier falls in the show, the chandelier actually FALLS, but not all the way obviously, otherwise they would have some very dead audience members and also very angry relatives, then you get the lawsuits and the death threats....yeah. BTW, Raoul was HAWT! xD

Oh, I forgot to mention something. Included in our viewing of the show, afterwards we got to GO BACKSTAGE!!!! Our tour guide was named Bobo! That's such a cool name xD! Obviously that's not his real name. Hey, Bobo, if you ever read this, how can I get a job there?! And we got to meet the guy who played the Phantom! Awesome! He wasn't Anthony Crivello, who I thought was gonna be there, and who also won a Tony award, and they didn't have the usual Christine either, but it was still cool. I guess Christine left early 'cuz she wasn't there when we were back there. But I also met Raoul!! Now he's my friend on Myspace!! *yay!!* For safety purposes, even though I did get a picture with Raoul, I will not put it on here. Sorry.

There's a better picture. Just for the record, I didn't take it. OMG, I can see our seats from here! We had second row seats, and somebody didn't show up in the front row, so no one was sitting in front of us, so better view! Yay! Here's a pic of the famous boat that the Phantom ferries Christine in to his underground lair:

Obviously it's not a real boat, but it looks like it from the front and when it's gliding across the stage with mist swirling around it. The reason it's plugged in is because it's charging. Bobo told us that once a stage manager actually piled a few people and himself onto the boat, drove it to a fast food place across the street, parked it, then drove it back to the theater. He also said once they got in trouble for doing donuts on the stage with it, lol. Oops, sorry Bobo. That picture doesn't really flatter your legs. Hehe.

Wow, this post is getting really long.

After our lovely tour, we left, realized the Phantom Boutique was closed, drove back to the Luxor, and fell asleep. The next day we didn't have anything to do, so we just drove to different hotels and explored them. We went back to the Venetian to go to the Phantom store. I got a tee-shirt that has "Phantom" written across it in sparkly letters. Sparkly!! xD. I got my mom a mug. Wow, I'm such a thoughtful daughter. We also went to New York New York, 'cuz I wanted to ride the roller coaster, but it was too windy outside, so it was closed. GRR you Mother Nature! jk. We also went to Circus Circus. (What is it with the names being double?) Being in that hotel rekindled my fear of clowns. The only reason we were there is because that hotel has an indoor mini theme park, the only good ride being the 20 second long roller coaster. -.- I realized I no longer like the place after we left. For lunch we went to this one place my dad always went to on his business trips to Vegas called In 'n' Out Burger. The cool thing about the place is there's only 4 things on the menu, and even though it's always packed, people get their food fairly quickly. And it was yummy! ^^ We also went to the Criss Angel store at the Luxor! And I got a cool necklace with his emblem thingy on it. Another yay!

The next day was the day we had to leave, and just my luck, I got really sick. During the flight, I think I threw up a total of, maybe, 15 times? It was awful, and it wasn't motion sickness, 'cuz I've never thrown up on a plane before. Stupid fish. But I got to stay home from school the next day, again. Yay!

Wow that post was loooooooooong.