When Excalibur debuted, on June 19, 1990, what at the time was the world's largest resort-hotel took its Camelot theme -- and the trend for free entertainment begun the previous year by the Mirage -- very seriously. In the castle's still-extant moat, each evening, from 6 p.m. to midnight, visitors could watch an hourly battle ensue down below from the safe vantage point of the drawbridge. It involved a 51-foot animatronic fire-breathing dragon waging battle against Merlin, who in turn defended the castle by shooting a series of fire balls at the scaly beast until it eventually slunk off back to its lair.
Apparently, it took the designers nine months, and multiple prototypes constructed from clay and foam, to create what was deemed to be a suitably lifelike and fearsome foe for the wily wizard and involved endowing it with "glowing yellow eyeballs, hand-painted scales, and a bloody red grimace". Having found a YouTube video of this spectacle, however, we have to say that the dastardly dragon today looks more like an ailing giraffe and as far as the menacing Merlin's concerned, we've seen more intimidating cuckoo clocks. (On a technical front, the dragon was built as much for for ease-of-manoeuvrability as fearsomeness and featured a detachable rubber neck, lest it should accidentally "swallow" something -- like a dropped camera, for instance.)
We understand that the show operated until 2004, having been awarded the ignominious accolade of "Worst Attraction" in the R-J's annual "Best of Las Vegas" awards in both 2002 and 2003. (Officially, its retirement was attributed to high maintenance costs, but Vegas' original family-friendly campaign was already running its course by this point.)
This isn't the only attraction that debuted with the castle, however. Guests who entered via the people-mover were also greeted in the atrium by a fountain/waterfall attraction that rose more than 30 feet above the Fantasy Faire below and featured puffs of colored smoke and water-spewing dolphins and frogs, not to mention a half-dozen lion heads atop, designed to disappear in the rainbow-clouds of mist.
The parking lot was patrolled by security mounted on horseback, garbed as Medieval knights, while other free attractions inside included a (completely anachronistic) Medieval Village, where guests were entertained by wandering minstrels, jugglers, and magicians, plus free ten-minute shows on the Court Jester's Stage (staged daily every half hour, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.)
The Fantasy Faire level was home two 48-seat motion simulators, dubbed Merlin's Magic Motion Machines, which featured "hydraulically actuated seats synchronized to the on-screen action," with a Dolby Five-Channel SR Sound System and 70 mm film photographed and projected at 60 frames per second (similar to IMAX technology). Bob Sehlinger's Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas described it as the "worst virtual ride" in town.
Commencing in 2004, however, a "de-theming" process commenced, similar to that undertaken at its neighboring Luxor sister property (to the extent that anyone can "de-theme" a giant castle or a pyramid, that is). The Dragon vs. Merlin show was one of the first casualties, to be followed by a wholesale removal of the faux Knights of the Round Table artefacts and the eclectic troupe of wandering entertainers. A modern-look upgrade of the hotel rooms followed, in conjunction with a takeover of Merlin's Theater by the Thunder from Down Under male revue and the replacement of the dreaded original motion-simulator rides by the "SpongeBob SquarePants" 4-D ride. Even the Merlin statue, which once looked out from a parapet balcony, was removed, only to be replaced by an ad banner for Dick's Last Resort restaurant.
Photo annotation: You can see the little "house" from which the wizard would emerge nightly for The Dragon vs. Merlin show, as a surviving vestige in the bottom right-hand area of the image below, which shows the de-theming in progress. Also note the replacement of the upper Merlin figure by that ad that we reference above.
