If you can imagine helicopters landing near Merlin the magician, then you have the tale of the Strip’s strangest helipad. According to MGM Resorts International spokeswoman Yvette Monet, The [executives] who owned Mandalay Resort Group had installed a helipad for their own use and convenience. I don’t know the technical term, but the helipad has since been ‘deactivated,’ upon our request," by the Federal Aviation Administration. It was on the southeast corner of the roof. An Excalibur spokeswoman added, "They don’t do any helicopter landings here."
On Sept. 1, 1979, Circus Circus activated a heliport just behind Adventuredome, perhaps on account of then (flamboyant) marketing director Mel Larson being a pilot, among many other things, who operated a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter painted in signature pink and white Circus Circus colors. The FAA still lists the facility as active, but there is no visual evidence of it. Either it was built over when Adventuredome was constructed in 1993 or was cannibalized to make room for the parking lots that are immediately behind the theme park, as far as we can tell.
Other defunct helipads include the Stardust Helispot, gone the way of the beloved casino (now the site of in-progress Resorts World Las Vegas) and the Hacienda Hotel Heliport. The latter is buried beneath the southeast hotel wing of Mandalay Bay. The Landmark Helispot, across the street from the Las Vegas Convention Center, has gone the way of its namesake hotel, imploded in 1995. The area is now surface parking.
There are two helipads that are next door to casinos, but not part of the property. One is an anonymous helipad just south of M Resort, the other is adjacent to Hoover Dam Lodge. The latter hosts aerial tours of the Hoover Dam area but is not affiliated with the casino-hotel. Yet another is up in North Las Vegas. Home of Adventure Helicopter Tours, it can be found at the intersection of North Fifth Street and Cheyenne Avenue.
On a tangentially related note, Vegas-based car collector Jay Ohrberg has done it before and is now trying to raise funds to once again build a helipad on wheels, the original having been damaged in an accident. In a recent guest column in the LV Sun for local blogger Robin Leach, he wrote: "I’ll start with two Rolls-Royces and after cutting them in half and them slicing them altogether, it will measure out at 110 feet, wind up probably having 50 wheels, a 25-foot lap pool and the helicopter landing pad, which proved really popular … We’ll keep it here on display in Las Vegas and eventually hope to put it in a casino as a tourist attraction on the Strip."
Ohrberg’s attempting to crowdsource the monster vehicle via Kickstarter and, if you chip in, he’ll give you a ride (but not a flight), although with only $30 pledged to date, he still has a long way to go, so don't hold your breath.
