A love letter to The Mirage, the hotel that changed the world — and my life

17.07.2024 - 12:38 / thepointsguy.com

I didn't know it the first time I stepped foot (or rolled, really) into The Mirage, but the stroller I was sitting in was entering hallowed ground in the hotel world. I was 4 years old, it was 1996 and my parents had just driven my brother, my grandma (Magaw, as we called her) and me from the Texas Panhandle to the Las Vegas Strip to celebrate Christmas in style.

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We weren't staying at The Mirage.

In fact, we were on the far end of the Strip at the MGM Grand, but I can still remember, if just for a fleeting second, how magical it felt to enter that larger-than-life space. Above me, the glass atrium felt like a spaceship; people from all walks of life floated by in every direction, slot machines were dinging and rattling, coins were jingling in large plastic buckets, and — as far as the pictures show — I was enthralled.

But the thing I remember the most were the fish, a giant wall of them, full of more shapes, colors and designs than any little boy from rural, cotton-growing, "Friday Night Lights" West Texas had ever seen. That was the moment when I fell in love with The Mirage — and hotels as a whole.

Now, flash forward a quarter of a century, and my love for The Mirage hasn't changed. Though I may have ditched my stroller and OshKosh B'gosh overalls, every time I visit Las Vegas, it's essential for me to walk under that big glass dome and say hi to those fish. Most recently, it's been while I'm in line to check in to the hotel instead of gawking from a distance.

But sadly, The Mirage has changed — and as of today, it's actually no more. July 17, 2024, will go down as the day The Mirage closed its doors forever, set to reopen after a massive transformation into the Hard Rock Las Vegas.

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When The Mirage opened its doors for the first time back in 1989, three years before I came into existence, it changed the world — at least the hotel world.

Set on 77 acres, Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn set out to build a megaresort. And he did. At the time, it was the largest hotel on the planet, and it redefined what a resort could be with its sprawling size, seemingly endless dining options, toned-down but visible theme (technically Polynesian, in case you were wondering) and overall sense of luxury.

It also opened up Las Vegas as a family-friendly destination thanks to its over-the-top erupting volcano, Siegfried & Roy's magic show featuring white tigers, and the chance to temporarily escape the mundaneness of everyday life to feel like you and your family entered a tropical paradise hidden in the middle of the Nevada desert. A mirage, if you will.

Since that