Although it opened in August 2000 as Las Vegas's first megacasino of the new millennium, the Aladdin really represented the last gasp - even the dying gasp - of the Strip's 1990s construction boom. A lavish $1.4-billion project, it was built from the ground up to replace its legendary namesake predecessor (1966-98), which was best known as the venue for Elvis and Priscilla's wedding in 1966. Sadly, however, the new Aladdin was beset by funding difficulties from the word go, with the beleaguered Planet Hollywood chain withdrawing from what was supposed to be a joint venture, and it found itself struggling to survive as soon as I Dream of Jeannie star Barbara Eden tore off the final veil. Finally tipped into bankruptcy by the terrorist attacks of September 2001 - the Middle Eastern theme didn't exactly help - it's said to be on sale for around $400 million, and it may turn out to be the casino that proves, for the moment at any rate, that there's a limit to the number of colossi the Strip can hold. Nonetheless, the Aladdin remains open, on the basis that once you write off the cost of building the thing, it's still worth collecting the day-to-day revenue it generates.
What's ironic is that the factors that have held the Aladdin back from making a profit mean that it's actually quite a nice place. Gaming analysts argue that the fundamental flaw is that you can explore the gigantic Desert Passage mall, with its upscale stores and restaurants; go to concerts at the 7000-seat Center for the Performing Arts; and get to and from the hotel rooms, without ever crossing the casino floor. Most visitors would consider those, and the overall lack of crowds, as conveniences, but without the subsidy of a successful gambling operation the Aladdin seems doomed to flounder.
The Aladdin 's facade is designed to resemble a "Lost City," perched atop an artificial cliff and topped by an extravaganza of Moorish domes, At Strip level, it's surprisingly hard to find your way into the property, and pedestrians are more likely to walk straight into the Desert Passage than into the casino proper. The basic floor plan of the whole ensemble is a giant figure of eight, with the twin circles formed by the Desert Passage, and the two holes in the middle being filled by the casino, closer to the Strip, and the Center for the Performing Arts further back.
While there are no paying attractions or novelties in the casino, it does have a few Arabian Nights flourishes, such as flying horses bursting from a mural, giant illuminated flowering trees, the large Aladdin's lamp that hangs over the central bar, and the Roc's Nest bar perched high above the action. Its upper floor also holds the London Club , a separate high-limit casino that under current Nevada regulations has to remain open to all comers, but is destined once the law books can be rewritten to become the exclusive, private preserve of high-rollers.
At over a mile long, the Desert Passage is a shopping mall on the same spectacular scale as the Forum and the Grand Canal Shoppes; its faux-blue "sky" is even capable of clouding over to deliver half-hourly "thunderstorms." The distinctions between its different areas, nominally themed to different countries, are mostly too subtle to grasp, but the general souk (marketplace) styling works well, and there are usually some eye-catching performers - belly-dancers, contortionists, musicians, and the like - at work in the open "squares" dotted at intervals along the double loop. The stores and restaurants too are interesting and diverse, which makes it a pity that, as disappointed tenants have charged, the sheer shortage of foot traffic makes the name "Deserted Passage" more appropriate. The fact that ownership of the mall and the casino are intertwined but not identical is partly responsible, in that the stores tend to be pitched at rather higher-end customers than the basically mid-range casino can attract.
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