Fremont Street Experience
More pictures from our trip to Las Vegas can be found below (yes, I'm still using the system). As I previously mentioned, this was my first trip to downtown Las Vegas itself (on previous trips I was either on the Strip, or east of the Strip). Fremont Street has received the Times Square treatment and is all prettified now - all that's missing is a Disney outlet. Although I don't have the capability to take good pictures at night (when the Experience can be Experienced), here are some morning pictures taken in the area.

Fremont Street Experience is five blocks of thrills in the heart of Las Vegas. Ten casinos. 10,000 slots. More than sixty restaurants. Uncountable bars and lounges. All under Viva Vision - the biggest big screen on the planet, 90 feet overhead, blasting state-of-the-art light and sound shows every night....

Dazzling Displays. Superior Sound. Viva Vision! Beginning June 14, 2004, the famous Fremont Street Experience Light and Sound show reached new peaks of technological wonder with a brand new creation: Viva Vision! Created by LG CNS Co., Ltd., the industry's foremost authority on dazzling, state-of-the-art light and animation display technology, this $17 million phenomena has delighted visitors with larger-than-life animations, integrated live video feeds, and synchronized music – all delivered on a high-tech overhead canopy that extends the length of more than five football fields! Once the Vegas sun has set, visitors can peer upward to experience over 12.5 million synchronized LED modules offering crisp, high-resolution images and astounding special affects [sic] – all synched to a lively sound-track fed through a state-of-the-art, 550,000-watt, concert-quality sound system.

Both first-time visitors and those who have witnessed and enjoyed the original Fremont Street Experience Light and Sound Show will be amazed by the technological wonders of this one-of-a-kind experience. Three brand new Viva Vision productions are currently airing nightly: “The Drop,” a mythical underwater journey created by Hollywood design agency, Imaginary Forces; “Area 51,” a peak at a fantastical alien world created by Fremont Street Experience's own design team; and “American Freedom,” a patriotic salute to the Red, White and Blue. As always, the shows are free and can be viewed from just about any angle along the five-block pedestrian promenade....

Here's the show that I saw on the evening of December 27:

"Area 51" takes viewers from Fremont Street deep into outer space for a brief moment of silence and celestial beauty filled with images of twinkling stars, comets and colorful gas clouds. Suddenly, the earth forces and alien armada enter the canopy from opposite ends and prepare for battle. . .