Elvis at Aria : A review

Elvis at Aria : A review Went down to City Center this weekend. 1. Parking. D-. On the ball Casinos 'get' that it is very important that people get in and out of Casinos easily. South Point and South Coast and Station properties have parking all over the place. On the STrip 'good' casino owners like Steve Wynn at Mirage and then Wynn have great parking structures. City Center Parking SUCKS (unless you know the secret). To park in the Aria, you CANNNOT USE the back way in, Frank Sinatra, unless you are an employee. So......you get to pull the "I'm an IDIOT to go this way" trap, and get on )#*%()#%*%(#*%* LV Blvd, just to BACKTRACK into the garage. Then OF COURSE, the MGM senior management screws you over, IP style, by having a bad parking garage that instead of giving you the option to whisk up to the upper levels you have to follow the donkeys looking for the next spot to open up. FURTHER aggravating this is that the first 3 levels have 10 feet open between each car. That's great......no door dings.......but NO )#*%(*%$# spots if this place every got busy.....so they may be ok. THEN when you finally park, you have to walk a bit in the outside heat, just to FINALLY get to where the Monte Carlo and Aria border is on the 2nd floor. So......... INSIDER TIP. Don't let the MGM managment' screw you over. From the South, exit I-15 to Frank Sinatra. Take that until you see the Monte Carlo. Park in the Monte CArlo surface lot, N end of property, walk past the poker room, bet the NFL week 1 (IF THEY EVER #)*%(*#%(%%*#*% put this up....HOW DOES JAY RUDE keep his job?????), and follow signs to Aria, it's almost the same walk as from the horrific ARia parking lot. Ambiance. B. The casino lighting has improved. Ees were generally nice and helpful. Had a drink in a high roller area, ok the coke set me back $8, but I liked the place. PAssed on the $300/person price fix (sounds fixed to me!) gourmet Japanese, went to Lemongrass Thai, it was pretty good. THus. Food. B. Elvis Show. B-. BUT ....value F. Good tickets are almost $200. I am constantly amazed how new shows BLOW IT by missing the most obvious points. Too expensive. Not enough Elvis. Needs 1 REALLY pretty girl in the cast. The sets are good, the dancing is good, I liked the Blue Suede Show sets, the Cowboy sets, the SuperHero Sets, and the huge Guitar. I give this a B+. MAjor weakness: the girls are capable dancers, they look fine, but there really aren't any 'lookers'. Contrast that to some of the magician helpers I see in some magic shows that single handily move all eyes away from the illusion. No such problem here. The PROBLEM IMO (and it's a BIG problem) is the music. There just isn't enough Elvis. You hear him on some songs, but it sure seems his tracks are only on maybe 1/3 of the time. I DID like the actor that told stories about him, and played his business manager. I did NOT like the fact (and call me an old out of touch prejudiced bad white dude) that I wondered what the heck they did picking the key female vocalists. If you are going to have a wedding cake and put a gal on top dressed as a bride, I think you have to scour the #$(*#$ planet to find a Priscella Presley lookalike who can sing a bit, not a very good singer only. I'm sure no other reviewer would say this, but I didn't think this worked at all, and I don't think I'm alone. I kept thinking "who are all these women, and why isn't Elvis singing more?" Caveat: Maybe I'm just a clueless out of touch. I did after all make fun of LeReve when it opened and they had the God Awful gay jokes of men liking other men and having fun. I'm sure the Gay Pride Police weren't happy with me, but I do note how much better LeReve is now, and the happy guys hugging each other have all exited. Caveat: The Elvis SHow IS good. And the clever sets and the acrobats and the rope tricks and the Elvis Music when playing was really good. But for that Price, I expect GREAT. And it was no surprise it was not sold out, about 90% full. Scale the female vocalists WAY back, play more Elvis, get a rocket girl, and this show would be a big hit.