RESORT REVIEW

Wynn Las Vegas:
The casino where you're
not good enough

By Chris Baldwin,
Senior Writer

LAS VEGAS (Aug. 8, 2005) - Coming down the escalator from the parking garage, the way the little people who are not shelling out $179 for a weekday summer standard room customarily arrive at Wynn Las Vegas, the first sight that greets is the Ferrari-Maserati dealership.

Or more accurately, the line of people waiting to get into the Ferrari-Maserati showroom. These folks all bear the look of tourists like you. Many of them are families, with two or three kids. More the target audience for a mini van than a low-slung, two-seat fire engine red Ferrari that can go from zero to 60 mph in a matter of eye blinks. Can you imagine how those McDonald's Happy Meal drinks would fly? And forget about ever giving in to the kids incessant pleas for ice cream.

• Old-time gambling and new-age Tom Fazio golf making nowhere somewhere in Primm • The Falls: Top of the world pleasure puts on Vegas worthy show • Michelin Championship at Las Vegas on its death bed? Two dueling amateur tourneys bet on its impending demise • OB Sports fights against next-day, tee-time services in Las Vegas

Thankfully, Wynn had abandoned that $10 entrance fee charge to the Ferrari showroom by the time of this visit. The only price for getting in on this night was the feeling of slight ridiculousness at waiting in line to gawk at cars you could never afford as the supposedly more sophisticated Wynn visitors walked past.

Once you get to the front of the line, a man with the long locks of a samurai warrior, a trendy goatee beard and the requisite all black suit gives you a quick glance over as you wait behind the nightclub-like rope. Call him a Ferrari bouncer.

He's going to let you in. He lets everyone in. But he's going to make you feel slightly inferior, an amoeba to his Prada suit advanced life form, in the process.

That pretty much sums up the experience at Wynn Las Vegas. Steve Wynn's $2.7 billion new Strip casino-resort-homage to all things Wynn offers one and all a glimpse into the high life of Robin Leach's old world. While making you feel unworthy of it.

Walking past all the $25 minimum bet tables, the "casual" cafe that can easily set you back $75 for snacks for two, jewelry stores that would only be relevant if you were Ben Affleck shopping for J-Lo back in the day, it's easy to become acutely conscious of the limits of your own portfolio. After about 20 minutes in Wynn Las Vegas, my brother remarked, "This place is giving me the creeps. It's just too fancy."

This from the son of a judge who didn't exactly grow up in the hills of Kentucky.

A number of travel writers have compared Wynn Las Vegas to the Bellagio - Wynn's previous sold-off Strip innovator - but these are clearly two starkly different worlds. The Bellagio is one of the more inviting mega casinos on the whole Strip, its sky-shooting fountain show drawing every grandma from Kansas and mall worker from New Jersey. There are plenty of regular Vegas guys, restaurant and bar workers, who swear by the Bellagio poker room, frequent it like it's "Cheers" with no last call or limit.

It's difficult to imagine the same love building for anything at the Wynn.

The Bellagio is a rich friend who asks you in to enjoy a glimpse of the highlife, makes you feel like one of those lucky high school buddy hanger-ons in HBO's "Entourage." The Wynn is a stuffy socialite who glares as if it's going to fire the maid for somehow letting you into the dinner party.

Wynn doesn't just block off his $500-per-round Tom Fazio course from the street with a tall chain-link fence covered in a green tarp that makes even the smallest glimpse-in impossible. No, that's not enough. For visitors who walk into the small clubhouse eatery connected to the casino are met at the door and practically interrogated if they try to look down. (The eatery overlooks part of the course).

"Forget them," New York golfer Rick Shuester said after trying to grab a glance. "There's plenty of other places I can spend my money to play."

Shuester said he was considering shelling out the room fee (only Wynn Las Vegas guests can play) and $500 green fee to play on a future Vegas visit. But that was before his experience with the NFL offensive linemen-worthy blocking staff.

This Wynn philosophy is not limited to the golf course. The wall of flowing water that stretches probably 12 regular stories high and stands as the visual highlight of the hotel is down a long twisting staircase manned by women in black who decide if you descend. Legendary New York restaurateur Daniel Boulud has his new high-priced Vegas spot here and the water wall (no waterfall flows this softly) is largely for the benefit of its diners.

That's Wynn Las Vegas. If you drop a lot of dough here, you will get some amazing experiences. The rooms are big with 10-foot ceilings, a wall of glass and 42-inch plasma TVs standard. This is one area where it's ridiculous to compare the Bellagio to Wynn. The Bellagio's rooms don't have close to the wow and comfort factor found here.

The Wynn bathrooms are gigantic with a tub that could comfortably fit Shaquille O'Neal. The towels are fluffy enough to qualify as their own flock of sheep.

"Best hotel bathroom ever," said Los Angeles resident Sheila Montgomery, echoing the line of many a guests interviewed. "I could live in that bathroom."

Well, if you were Bill Gates you could. Even your average ho-hum millionaire's checkbook would not stretch too far on paying almost $200 a night in the Vegas summer low season.

Wynn Las Vegas 3131 Las Vegas Boulevard South Phone: 1-866-457-0062

Wynn's all-glass exterior wonder marks the far end of the luxury run of one end of the Strip. Some of its closest neighbors are some of Las Vegas' anything-but-hip casinos. That makes it great if you want to be isolated in your own world, but not so great if you want to walk and see the Bellagio, Venetian, etc. Bikini bull riding is offered every Thursday at one of the old casinos across the street, however.

Wynn Las Vegas is classy, there's no doubt about that. Coming in through the front door under the forest of colorful, flower-popping trees is captivating enough on first stroll. On second visit, not so much.

That's the real dilemma of the way Steve Wynn spent his $2.7 billion. He created a casino everyone will likely want to see once. But it's hard to imagine almost anyone falling in love with it.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.