That depends on whether you're staying through the 8th or departing sometime early that day. If you'll still be in town at 4 p.m. on December 8, then you stand a good chance of seeing a volcanic eruption, as that's the scheduled debut of the new-and-improved attraction.
This will actually be the third incarnation of the Mirage's volcano, one of the more iconic of Las Vegas' attractions, which debuted with the hotel in 1989. Five years later, WET Design (the company responsible for the Bellagio fountains, among a host of other aquatic attractions around the globe), was approached to make the presentation more dramatic, which they did the following year when the existing theatrical presentation of a nighttime volcanic eruption was replaced by an enhanced version called "Cataclysm," which was created by incorporating water, fire, and lighting elements, programmed to build to an exciting eruption finale.
With the 20th anniversary of the property approaching and lots of improvements and upgrades afoot, apparently it was considered time to revisit the erupting attraction and, once again, the good folks at WET were called upon. The $25 million reincarnation they came up with will apparently run for 7 minutes, a full five minutes longer than the previous version, and will include the force of the 120 "FireShooters," which lie hidden beneath the three-acre lagoon and are poised to throw four-foot fireballs 15 feet into the air come show time. The largest FireShooter, housed at the peak of the volcano, will punctuate the performance with 60-foot-high eruptions, sending waves of heat through the air and across the audience (hmm, easy on the hairspray, ladies...)
Just as the Bellagio fountains are choreographed to a musical soundtrack, WET's new volcano spectacular will be accompanied by an exclusive musical composition by Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and tabla player Zakir Hussain. The pair studied the rhythms and myths of volcanoes for the commission and the resulting percussion-heavy piece is said to "lend the virtual tectonic activity a heightened sense of immediacy and drama" via the use of chants, percussion, and tribal instruments. For a preview and inteviews with the protagonists, who claim "it's gonna rock really hard; there's nothing like it anywhere," click here.
Below are images of the original (post '96) volcano and an artist's renditioning of the new '08 incarnation, courtesy of MGM Mirage/WET Design. Click on the thumbnails for larger versions.
