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Caesars Palace

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Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Harrah's Entertainment. Caesars is located on the west side of the Strip, between the Bellagio and the Mirage.

Caesars has 3,348 rooms in five towers: Augustus, Centurion, Roman, Palace, and Forum. The Forum tower features guest suites with 1,000 square feet (93 m2) of space.


In the 1990s, David Copperfield was a headliner for several stints in the Circus Maximus Theatre.

Caesars Magical Empire

In mid-1996, a new venue known as "Caesars Magical Empire" was created on the property, showcasing major magicians such as Jon Armstrong, Lee Asher, Whit Haydn, Jeff McBride, Scott and Jenny Alexander and Alain Nu. This development coincided with the 1990s campaign to reinvent Las Vegas as a destination for family vacations, by creating attractions appropriate for children as well as adults. The "Empire" was an extravagantly-themed immersive dining and entertainment experience. Guests with ticketed reservations entered through the “Celestial Court” to the ”Chamber of Destiny,” which, through elaborate effects, appeared to be a magical elevator which transported them underground to a “subterranean catacombs.” In reality the guests didn't descend at all; the walls of the room were raised by a large electric winch and the floor of the room shaken by pneumatic actuators. "Roman gladiators" led the guests through winding dimly-lighted passages, assuring them of their safety, and then humorously pretending to have taken a wrong and dangerous turn.

The guests then arrived at the circular, domed, and ornately appointed Sanctorum Secorum, a central, 70-foot-high rotunda, from which other areas of the "Empire," such as the mirrored "Infinity Hallway," could be accessed. An audio-visual welcome from a heroic statue of Caesar was enhanced by music, a light show, and a 20-foot gas flame curling up from a fissure in the “rock.” A large vase seemingly floating in space near a statue poured a continuous stream of water into a pool. The guests were next divided and escorted to ten dining chambers, each seating 24 persons (for a total of 240 guests at each seating). In addition to a wait staff which interacted comically with the guests, magic was performed in each dining room by a sorcerer host. In one amusing trick, guests were given paper "menus" on which were images of a cow, chicken, fish and vegetable, and were instructed to tear one of the pictures as indication of their choice of a beef, chicken, fish or vegetable entre. The menus were then collected and seemingly all thrown haphazardly together, but nevertheless, each guest correctly received his or her chosen dinner.

After dining, the guests were free to visit one of two lounges, The “Spirit Bar” (flanked by two “Seance Rooms”) or the “Forbidden Crypt.” Additionally, they could see more magic performed in one or another of two incongruously-named-and-designed theatres: the 75-seat “Pagoda Theatre,” or the 150-seat “Great Sultan’s Palace.”

While the endeavor was popular and profitable, accommodation of several audiences of 240 diners each day at capacity was no match for the potential income from the enormous audiences which could be accommodated in a large concert space. Thus the six-year reign of the “Empire,” came to an end on November 30, 2002, after which the structure was razed to make room for a large concert hall created for singer Celine Dion.

References

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