The wine tower at Aureole in Mandalay Bay.
Every January, the hungry Las Vegas economy feasts on the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and its more than 100,000 attendees. State-of-the-art technology feeds us innovative CES product exhibits—and theatrical, unique-to-Vegas ones, too. Here’s our roundup of must-sees while you’re at the Vegas show.
Make dinner reservations from your TV. Samsung will be showcasing a unique lineup of hospitality TVs. CES 2012 visitors can get acquainted with this product line in Samsung’s huge CES exhibit area—as well as at six properties along the Strip: The Bellagio, The Cosmopolitan at City Center Las Vegas, Excalibur, Luxor, Monte Carlo, and New York, New York. Samsung screen sizes range from 40” to 52,” and offer Full HD. The most advanced models empower guests to make reservations for dining, shows, or spa treatments, and to customize in-room settings such as lighting, temperature and window curtains.
Drink wine, Mission: Impossible style. In between days at CES, experience the local-spectacle wine tower. It’s at the Four-Star restaurant Aureole in Mandalay Bay. Order, and then “Wine Angel” Daphne Lucas levitates in a 42-foot-high column to retrieve the bottle. Acrobatic service—and quick, too, thanks to a Mission: Impossible-inspired harness and a Dewey decimal system that organizes about 6,000 bottles in the backlit display tower.
Open your door steps before you reach your room. Got at least $139 per day? LEED Gold Certified Aria at City Center will reward you. Customize your in-room environment using a touch-screen panel designed by Control 4. Wake-up calls are simple (alarm beep) or theatrical (curtains open grandly to loud music). It’s up to you. A tech console delivers electricity, video, audio, and data including Ethernet for secure Internet use. An RFID key opens the door just before you reach your room.
See water act like fireworks. Along the Strip, high-tech light-and-music fountains by WET Design cascade, dance, explode and spin. Steven Burkholder, systems integrator, engineering and architecture, says that WET technicians often need to invent and manufacture their own components—customized lights, electrical panels, etc. See their creations at Bellagio, City Center and The Mirage.
Take in a light show. Updated in 2009, spectacle meets small-scale. Every half hour from 6 to 9 p.m., for the price of an evening cocktail, take in the Lake of Dreams open-air light show at the North Show Terrace and the South Show Terrace at Wynn Las Vegas. In 2009, Las Vegas-based Fisher Technical created a system of winches to move two white spheres around the Lake of Dreams, an installation that debuted in 2005.
Unwind in a smart spa. The Arctic Ice Room at Qua brings the cool. Caesars’ European-style spa is the perfect spot to recharge during those CES days, with the relaxing sensation of falling “snow” made of skin moisturizer, hot baths, and the soothing sound of sprinkling water.
Photo courtesy of Aureole
