The Eiffel Tower Experience: Great Views of Vegas
Written: Dec 21 '05 (Updated Jan 20 '07)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great views, quality replica
Cons: Not the real thing, $9 per person
The Bottom Line: An interesting Vegas experience but it doesn't compare to the real thing.
|
|
|
| modernmarvel's Full Review: Eiffel Tower Experience |
While we were strolling down the Strip in Las Vegas in December 2005, we couldn't help but notice the large Eiffel Tower replica which looms over the Strip spiking out of the Paris hotel. Of course, the romantic in me couldn't resist taking the elevator to the top to see what it was all about.
WHAT IS IT?
This attraction is a half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower. It looks almost exactly like the original down to the replicated rivets. You can take an elevator to the top to enjoy the view.
WHAT IS THE EXPERIENCE
There are billboards on the Strip that show two people from the neck down in an elevator. They are embracing and the man's hand is reaching for the stop button on the elevator. These two billboard headless people are clearly about to have an encounter of the sexual kind. Of course, sex sells and, while I didn't expect to get to push the stop button, I thought a trip to the top would be very romantic.
The reality of the Eiffel Tower experience is very different from the billboards. We had to wander around the casino in the Paris hotel for a while before we came upon the gift shop selling tickets to the Eiffel Tower experience. Once you stand in line for a bit and pay for your ticket, you exit the gift shop and go up an escalator. The escalator deposits you on a french country-style bridge that spans the casino. The bridge is not a necessary structure but it adds to the ambiance and gives the Eiffel Tower experience a place to line people up while still enticing them with the casino. When we visited, there was not much of a line, but is was a slow season in Vegas.
The staff people will take your picture on the bridge and, I assume they attempt to sell it to you later, but we never really found out where we could see the proof. You are then guided to an elevator. It looked like there were four elevators but only one was operating when we visited. There is a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower and I suspect at least one of the elevators serviced the restaurant.
The elevator is a triangle shape and, contrary to the billboard advertising, you are crammed in with many other tourists as will fit in the elevator. Try to stand in the front so you can watch the view through the glass doors on the way up. There were a couple of "guides" in our elevator that gave us some facts about the Eiffel Tower that we were visiting. We learned that the Eiffel Tower is an exact half scale replica and that the rivets were fake. The ride to the top is very quick so we didn't get too many facts. We were quickly herded off the elevator and into the crowded viewing space.
The viewing space consists of a 360 degree viewing deck with the elevator bank in the middle. For those with fear of heights, this may not be the best expereince. However, the viewing deck is almost completely enclosed in a metal cage so it would be impossible to fall, or even jump.
From the viewing deck, you get a fabulous view of Vegas. The Dancing Fountains in front of the Bellagio hotel put on a show that you can easily watch from the viewing deck. We visited at night and it was cool to see the lights of Vegas from that vantage point. Being surrounded by the metal cage and being in a crowd so dense it was hard to move detracted from the experience a bit. It was also quite cold and windy on the viewing deck since there is no shelter from the wind. However, we still enjoyed it quite a bit and took in the view from every angle.
Getting back down to ground level was easy. We had to wait about 5 minutes in a line until we were herded back into the elevator to return to the ground. All in all, we spent about 5 minutes waiting to go up, twenty minutes viewing and 5 minutes waiting to go back down. I thought I got my money's worth and would recommend it as something to check out while you are on the Strip.
COST OF THE EXPERIENCE
Tickets are sold from a gift shop in the casino. It cost us $9 per person to go in the Eiffel Tower. It looks like, based on what we saw others in line do, if you are staying in the Paris hotel, the experience is either discounted or free.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
I thought I got my money's worth and would recommend The Eiffel Tower experience as something to check out while you are on the Strip.
MY OTHER REVIEWS ON LAS VEGAS
Attractions:
The Strip
The Dancing Fountains in front of the Bellagio Hotel
The Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage Hotel
The The Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay
Places to Stay:
The Wynn
Harrah’s
The Venetian
The Holiday Inn Express
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
modernmarvel
|
 - Top 50 |
|
Location: Basking in the Sun
Reviews written: 504
Trusted by: 341 members
About Me:
Can anyone recommend a western family dude ranch for a vacation this summer?
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.