Opening of Vegas Strip’s newest megaresort delayed but the party goes on anyway

Lisa Snedeker

Thursday, Aug. 17, 2000 | 9:17 a.m.

Aladdin officials were still scrambling late Thursday night to put the final touches on their $1.4 billion megaresort, leaving more than 600 invited guests and a crowd of at least 20,000 waiting to see if it measures up as the latest Strip fantasy.

Fire inspectors were still running tests that hotel officials blamed for the delay in their scheduled opening of the hotel and casino. Desert Passage, a 130-store retail mall adjacent to the new Aladdin, opened on schedule at 7 p.m.

Hundreds of Aladdin guests were sent to neighboring Las Vegas Strip hotels in the meantime.

"It's utter pandemonium," said Paul Walton, an invited guest from San Diego. "They invited the public to come in too early."

But Michael Goebel of Seattle waited patiently in front of the new resort, confident the delay would be short.

"They'll make it happen. This is Las Vegas. They always do," he said.

Along with the delayed opening, more than 2,300 uninvited Culinary Union workers showed up to protest that the resort is a nonunion employer. Some shouted "Shame on you," during a parade of camels, belly dancers and street performers in front of the hotel and an appearance by actress Barbara Eden.

Eden, 1960s icon of "I Dream of Jeannie" fame, offered celebrants her famous blink to officially open the Aladdin - although it wasn't open yet.

Aladdin Gaming LLC officials had hoped all would go smoothly and union protests wouldn't spoil their opening.

"It's negative when people have to walk across picket lines," said Bill Thompson, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, professor and gambling expert. "It looks bad for the city because it's in a critical location."

The Middle Eastern-themed hotel-casino marks the end of a series of megaresort additions that has remade The Strip since a late-1990s building explosion began.

It's planned grand opening drew a crowd estimated by police at 20,000 to 30,000, which snarled traffic up and down The Strip.

The resort, next to Paris Las Vegas and across the street from Bellagio, was built on the site of the city's original Aladdin, which was brought down a little more than two years ago with an implosion that rocked the area.

Unlike the midnight opening of its predecessor on March 31, 1966, there were no plans for a black-tie party - with most people in T-shirts and shorts this time.

Aladdin officials decided to forego the traditional VIP party that marked the openings of the construction boom that began in October 1998 with Bellagio and continued with last year's openings of Mandalay Bay, The Venetian and Paris.

"We really wanted to open for the public first," company spokesman Lynn Holt said.

The group of invited guests were to stay in 600 of the hotel's 2,567 rooms the first night. The remaining rooms are expected to be made available in phases during the next two weeks to allow hotel workers a chance to get acclimated.

Because construction was marked by overruns and infighting among Aladdin's owners - the Sommer Family Trust and high-end casino operator London Clubs International - questions surfaced whether the project had enough money and time to open on schedule.

Within the resort, PF Chang's China Bistro, a health spa and a 1,200-seat showroom are scheduled to open later this year.

The completely remodeled Center for the Performing Arts - the only portion of the original property that wasn't razed - will host Enrique Iglesias for its reopening Saturday.

Thursday night's scheduled opening is a celebration for the entire city, Thompson said, especially because another new megaresort on The Strip is not anticipated for at least two to three years.

"We still try to recapture the glamour era of casinos through the openings," Thompson said, referring to the lavish parties of the 1950s and 1960s that accompanied the building of modern Las Vegas.