I went to the Encore grand opening tonight. Getting there took a little longer than I expected. I sat through 3 cycles of lights on Spring Mountain, waiting to turn onto the strip. I don't know how many cycles of lights it took to get inside the Encore property. It took about 50 minutes to get from my house to stand in line to get in. Once I parked and went down the elevator, there was a very long line that wrapped through the meeting/convention room hallways. It took until 9:05 to get inside the casino. (grand opening was at 8:00pm) They only let a certain number of people in and once it was full, nobody came in until others came out. The whole time I was standing in line, I was thinking, "I don't like crowds and I don't like lines". Soon it was like a bad gambling situation where I had so much invested that I might as well stick it out to the end.

The place is very nice. There is a lot of red and a lot of butterflies. It is relatively small in the downstairs public areas. It's not incredibly different than the Wynn in layout. There is a square casino in the middle and long aisles around the sides with shops, restaurants, and other facilities on the other side of the aisles. The floors in the aisles are mostly smooth polished stone. There are sections of carpet and sections of tile inlays laid out to form a butterfly. There are a lot of interesting light fixtures. Most of the aisles have a high arched ceiling that probably lets in sunlight in the day. The ceilings in the casino area are much lower. The pool area is very pretty and well decorated. It was closed at the time although there was enough lighting to see the beauty.

There is at least one bar across the aisle from each of the 4 sides. I started out on the aisle on the north side of the building. It runs from the parking garage to the strip. The north side is where the main entrance is. This is a long aisle that partially runs down the side of the pool area, then the casino.

On the main entrance side is the Lobby Bar which is slightly elevated a few steps. It is just about red enough to drive you to drinking. It is a nice area with a bar and lots of tables. I saw some people eating hot hor d'oeuvres in there. They had a breakfast menu posted that was mostly muffins and croissants. This same side of the aisle also had Swim, a swimsuit shop, the check in area which was very red, a cashier, another entrance and Sinatra in the corner. Sinatra was having a "private function" and no one was allowed within 50 feet of the entrance. Okay, fine.

Turning down the aisle there was the high limit room, a regular old casino bar with maybe 10-15 stools, and high limit table games and maybe another regular bar. Then there was the strip side entrance. It had a big lobbyish area with a lot of trees. Then there was Switch. This is a restaurant where the ceilings and walls change every 20 minutes. It's kinda bizarre, it kinda cool, it's interesting to watch the change. Maybe that's what the rich people have been asking for. As cool as it is, the reasoning is beyond me. There is a bar in front of Switch that just has bar stools. It is decorated a little more than the bars in front of the high limit room, probably so it will blend in with the walls that form Switch.

The third side of my walk had the Southside Bar and Wazuzu. The Southside bar is mainly a long bar with just a row of small tables in front of it. Wazuzu is a restaurant that has oriental food. I think there is supposed to be another restaurant on that side, but it wasn't open. This same aisle continues past the casino, a small section of the pool area as it turns into a shopping esplanade, and continues on toward the LeReve Theater....I think. I would have to get back in line to re-enter if I went too far down that shopping mall.

The fourth side aisle just had one big bar across the whole length, called the Eastside Lounge. It seemed kinda casual on this night. Behind the bar was a lounge area that was long and about 3 or 4 tables deep. Beyond the lounge was the pool area. The Eastside lounge was mainly brown, off white and wood colors.

The gaming area was pretty red with red felts, red carpet and light colored ceilings. The light fixtures were all red. The northwest end was mostly table games. The south side was mostly low denomination machines. The southeast side was mostly dollar slots/vp. I did not study pay tables of the video poker. Most of the bartop machines were $1, 2, 5 dollars. The big Eastside bar had some 25 cent VP but it was not a standard software load. The graphics package was different than what I've seen in the past. It reminded me of the graphics on those VP machines where you sit at them like a desk with a lot of elbow room and the screens are vertical. I saw no keno and no sports book.

Random thoughts...
The place is really small if you are just doing a walkthrough. If the place was as empty as some of the other casinos get on a weekday I think it would seem tiny. I made two rounds of seeing everything and watched two switches at switch and was out in an hour. This included two bathroom breaks, a ginger ale from the gift shop, and a bottled water from the gift shop. And I took a couple of hundred pictures. No gambling though.

Botero, the steakhouse is located in the mall. XS, the nightclub is in the mall. I think both of them have pool access. XS was closed and is due to open New Years Eve. I wasn't dressed nice enough to stick my head into Botero.

Botero and Switch are kinda expensive, per my wallet. Plan on 20 dollar apps, 50 dollar steak, and 10 side dishes. Add in salad, drinks, dessert, taxes, and tips, and you can expect a full meal deal to push $150 without trying too hard.

The landscaping uses an awful lot of pine trees. I know Steve wants them so his customers can't see the TI, Fashion Show, empty Frontier lot, Eschelon project, or the cheapness to the north. I think the pines take away from the beauty.

The inside isn't a lot better. Fake trees, fake grass, and fake flowers are all over the place. There are some real things in the mix so that you can't make a blanket statement and say it's all fake. It has more plastic leaves than Palazzo.

As I drove up to the place, there were two separate lines outside to get in. One on the strip entrance and one on the north side. Both lines were huge. I guess I was lucky to get in a line that was inside. There were still lines when I left. I can't imagine standing out in 40 degree weather with strong gusty winds and good chance of rain waiting to get in. The other inside line was via the Wynn. I understand it was a very long and slow line.

The Encore parking garage is far away from the strip on the back side of the hotel. As I said, from there, you enter the main north hallway. If you park in the Wynn garage, you can enter the Wynn as usual, or you can enter through the Encore esplanade, very near XS and Botero, and maybe closer to the casino than the Encore garage. Valet is on the north side entrance only.

The news media is not allowed to take pictures inside. Steve wants everyone to come see for themselves. OTOH, I took all the pics I wanted, including the gaming areas and nobody said squat to me.

I'm sure there will be more thoughts later.

JMT,
Thanks for the update/review of the Encore! I hate big crowds, and long lines, so I would have bagged it for a less full day. But it's nice to read about all the new happenings, as they happen. Thanks for taking yet another one for the team!

Yes, Joe, thanks for the review. Looks like I won't be rushing to see it anytime soon, especially if there are crowds.

I really did take one for the team on this one. It was very much out of character for me. I justified it to myself by thinking it was mid week, in a slow time of year, in a bad economy, bad weather, less than ideal location, and my trip to see the volcano was so disappointing. I can't imagine the crowds staying that high very long. While it is a nice place to visit, it isn't a gambling paradise and it would only be a dining destination if your meal is to be a very expensive event.

Encore is a very nice property. While it looks like a twin to the Wynn tower, it is taller. According to my stats, it is also taller than Palazzo and Trump.

I did put photos on a personal gallery that I cycle photos on. It doesn't show captions. There are a lot of pics in the hallway of the meeting rooms as I was standing in line. There are pics of Switch with the change of walls in progress. There are a lot of shots of the pool area taken through walls since the pool area was closed. There are lots of pics of light fixtures which is one of the main things that Steve Wynn likes about the place. There are lots and lots of duplicate shots while testing different camera settings and software adjustments.

You can view the album at

http://gallery.me.com/joemarktaylor

There are also pics of the Mirage volcano.

Nice review, JMT. Thanks. Muchas gracias. Merci beau coup. And all those other languages I don't know. Nice pics too. Thanks, muchas gracias, etc..

I heard that strollers, wheelchairs and mobility scooters were not welcome at the Encore, unless the user of same was a registered guest. Did you see any signs to that effect, Joe?

No.

If you recall, when Bellagio opened up, there were lots of signs and attempts to keep strollers out. It did not work.

The when the Wynn opened, the rumors were heavy and I saw one small sign about strollers. Again, it did not work.

I thought about the stroller issue on opening night and observed several strollers. Registered guests that night wore special tags and lanyards that allowed them full access without waiting in lines and none of the stroller families that I saw had these markings.

Also I saw no signs posted that addressed this. I do not recall seeing any wheelchairs or mobility scooters in the casino nor did I see any being turned away.

I do recall seeing a ramp that went down into the Eastside lounge area. I assumed it was designed with ADA in mind. I know I saw other ramps for elevated areas.

I got an e-mail "offer" from them - the cheapest suite was $339, which is about $338 more than I want to spend.