Out in the galactic vastness of the Internet, there is still a web page (yes page, singular, as opposed to "site") for Moon World Resorts, a company that pitched a lunar-themed hotel-casino for Las Vegas (or the Caribbean or the Middle East) back in 2002. The brainchild of British Columbia developer Michael Henderson, it would have been the most grandiose resort ever proposed for Las Vegas. Ten thousand hotel rooms, flanked by four replica lunar rockets, would be wrapped in a semi-circle around a colossal reproduction of the Moon itself. Two weeks after pitching the resort, Irish-born Henderson claimed that "the [consumer] interest to date has been remarkable!"
His enthusiasm was seconded by that of local blogger Robin Leach, who screeched, "This is awesome! Its [sic] got to be built, and it should be built in Las Vegas!" Henderson said he would "carefully review all interested global developers with a view to structuring a deal which will be in the best interests of the project's overall objective, that being to create the world’s most spectacular resort."
The following February, Henderson announced that the design for the resort was complete and its second phase would include a golf course, "capable of hosting a world-class PGA tournament." Spectators would be ferried from green to green via a surrounding monorail. As for that Moon replica, it was described as a 250-foot sphere, sitting within a moat. Inside would be a restaurant, private club, fitness center, lap pool, and spa. "In addition, the sphere will house eighty, 4000-sq-ft luxuriously appointed condominiums available for purchase by discerning clientele." A quarter of the 10,000 hotel rooms would also be on the market as timeshares. (Obviously, this was well before the Las Vegas condo bubble burst.)
The casino was to be no less colossal, with 12,000 slots and 600 table games. Amenities would bear such names as the Sea of Serenity Aquatic Center and Crater Wave Pool. In the middle of the latter would be the Lunar Lander Lounge, reached by glassed-in pathways that went under the pool itself. A moon-buggy driving course was envisioned, as was a rock-climbing wall. And when you wanted to relax after all that lunar activity, you could take in music at the Moon River Jazz Bar, although we wonder how the music would have been heard over its two-story waterfall. Then there was the indoor vineyard, tennis courts, winter-sports area … if you could think of it, Moon Resort & Casino seemed to have it.
Except financing, that is. The $5 billion project went into eclipse almost as soon as it was announced. When last heard from, it was to be designed by Johnson Chou, would have 50 restaurants, $100 million worth of wine, five resident shows, and a satellite-TV broadcast facility. Bristled Henderson, "When we soft launched the MOON project in October '02 the critics initially said it was too large, too ambitious, however they have changed, and now they see a comparison with Las Vegas where hotels are hitting the 7,000 room mark with over 25 restaurants and four showrooms under one roof. People are now beginning to understand that MOON is realistic and will definitely happen in the near future." Moon Resort dropped off the radar screen shortly afterward.
Henderson’s optimism continued to match his bravado in its galactic in scale, however, and two years ago he popped up again, saying he was "reviewing several global sites." (That one-page website is subtitled "Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East, South America".) He added, "We’re very close to success and will most likely be in a position to announce the location for the first project by April 2014. The planned opening date for the first MOON destination will be mid-2018. Our project has been refined over the years to become much more educational and environmentally conscious. With space tourism ready to blast off, our timing to bring the Moon to planet Earth for all to enjoy is perfect."
April 2014 came and went without any Moon Resort being announced and we suspect the project is too heavy a lift even for extravagance-mad destinations like Dubai, and we suspect a slick logo and extravagant artist's rendition are about as close as Henderson’s dream will ever come to getting off the ground.
More (nearly) successful was theme-park developer Gary Goddard’s counterproposal to the Fremont Street Experience. In 1992, Goddard pitched the idea of plunking a full-size Starship Enterprise onto downtown Las Vegas. "My concept was to do something so large and so epic, it would fire the imaginations of people around the world," Goddard recalled. As envisioned, the mock-spaceship would have literally dwarfed Glitter Gulch’s casino hotels (not to mention numerous world landmarks, including the Washington Monument, Great Pyramid, Statue of Liberty, and Big Ben).
"It would transform the downtown area," Goddard promised, "creating new jobs, stimulating growth, and would fill the hotels and casinos." He called it the Eighth Wonder of the world. To stabilize the top-heavy Enterprise in windy Las Vegas, a "dry dock" was designed to support the structure. "High-speed travelators" would whisk tourists around the giant edifice. Goddard recruited former NASA and Disney Imagineering designers, and budgeted the project at $150 million.
According to Goddard, the stumbling block was Mayor Jan Laverty Jones’ requirement that Paramount Pictures CEO Stanley Jaffe sign off on the deal. Accompanied by Jones and studio President Sherry Lansing, Goddard made a "spirited pitch" to Jaffe. The latter allegedly replied, "In the movie business, when we produce a big movie and it's a flop – we take some bad press for a few weeks or a few months, but then it goes away … If this doesn’t work – if this is not a success – it's there forever. I don't want to be the guy that approved this and then it's a flop and sitting out there in Vegas forever."
(A much more-modestly scaled Star Trek: The Attraction would eventually be built into the Las Vegas Hilton and be a huge success for Paramount, but that was several years later.)
So the Enterprise lost out to the Fremont Street Experience light show. Or at least that’s how Goddard tells the tale. He has since gone on to become a major developer of theme parks, especially in the Third World. Reflecting on Jaffe’s rejection – and giving himself a pat on the back – Goddard concludes by implicitly equating himself to Albert Einstein, who said, "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
