Mel McGowan of bizarrely named Visioneering Studios sketches the broad outlines of an “immersive, interactive, experiential, multi-sensory journey.” (What you talkin’ about, Willis?) If the following is a demonstration of the technology that’s to be employed …
… I fear that something cheesetastic is in the offing. And here, ladies and gentlemen, are the stars of our show:
It’s the First Family of The Family. If my name were Meyer Lansky II, I’d give serious thought to changing it — although it probably gets him better tables in restaurants and keeps people out of his face. (I never thought I’d describe Nancy Spilotro as “cute” but she’s the sprightliest of the ladies on parade.)
My suspicion that Oscar Goodman‘s long-sought downtown Mob Museum is going to be better (more historically serious, less whiz-bang) and a worthy companion to the Atomic Testing Museum at UNLV has hardened into a certainty. However, with the Tropicana Las Vegas as its Strip pied-a-terre, McGowan’s Mafia amusement park is sure to do heavier foot traffic.
I don’t know if this MOB exhibit will work or not but I give Alex Yemenidjian credit for trying something different to get more people to go to the Tropicana. That machine gun in the middle video is pretty cool looking though (as long as the machine gun is not pointing at me).
They look like “ordinary people” to me. I hope their contributions are behind the scenes, except maybe heavily edited audio/video recordings of their mob stories; I’d be more interested in seeing the historical objects they supply. BTW, I wonder if this introduction would have been more effective if the “mob folks” had worn period costumes, and been driven up in 1930s “gangster cars”?
I like the light show, but I hope they project different ones from time to time, or it would quickly get boring. BTW, what would that be like for the guests in the rooms that the show is projected against?
I agree that the Downtown museum will probably be (more historically serious, less whiz-bang). Let’s hope that it draws more people downtown. Oscar probably knows more about the “professional” lives of the mobsters than the Trop families members do about their forbears (and their associates), and he undoubtedly has some impressive souvenirs of his own.
The Trop even went to the length of recladding the north face of the Paradise Tower (covering up the old checkerboard pattern) to serve as a giant projection screen. It’s been that way a while now so I’m guessing we’ll see a lot more of these big sound-and-light displays. They’re certainly preferable to building wraps … especially ones that feature Criss Angel.
Awesome! This is exactly what Las Vegas needs… bringing back the excitement and “cheesiness” of themes and special attractions. Especially important since you can gamble almost anywhere now. To have attractions that you can only see in one place in the world is what will bring people to Vegas. I would love to see the re-themeing of Las Vegas as well as a return of the classic, intimate, maître d’ seating, type showroom.