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For awhile now I’ve shared some of my experience visiting various casinos and what to expect; to expand upon this I’ll be sharing some of my experiences enjoying the, well, experiences of places like Las Vegas.
I wanted to start by selecting something that I had put off for a few trips but ultimately got to do at the end of 2019, and actually did twice – taking a trip up The Strat tower to their Observation Deck.
The Deck is up on floors 108 and 109, which are somewhat arbitrary as there’s not actually 109 floors in the tower, but instead help mark that the deck is that high.
One thing that’s nice about the deck is there’s both indoors and outdoors components. If you have a healthy fear of heights, you can avoid stepping outdoors and stay within the inside portion, where you have 360 degree views. Given The Strat’s placement at the northern end of the strip, this means views of both the strip and downtown Las Vegas, for instance.
You can also step outside, where there’s an outside viewing deck. This is unfortunately not a full 360 degree experience (although you can see plenty) because of the placement of thrill rides.
Yes, thrill rides. There’s a number of thrill rides placed at this height, all of which intend on using the extremely tall structure to enhance the feeling of the various rides, which are designed to dangle you or otherwise ensure you really feel the height you’re at. These are ticketed attractions, and include The Big Shot, X-Scream, Insanity and SkyJump Las Vegas.
I mentioned earlier that I did two viewings from the observation deck. I did one during the daytime, and one at night. The perspective does change pretty dramatically from one to the other.
Daytime viewing allows you take in not just the obvious man-made attractions such as the strip and downtown, but also lets you see the mountains beyond.
By comparison, a night time visit puts the lights of Las Vegas more firmly on display, allowing you to see all of the lights of the city, and in particular the hotel/casinos, in full living color.
Both certainly have their appeal, and it does show an interesting contrast between the two!
I purchased my tickets for the Observation Deck through Vegas.com, which routinely offers deals for those who wish to take in experience like this; it can make it more affordable to buy your tickets in advance, and give you something to look forward to doing while in Las Vegas!
Is there an experience you have really enjoyed participating in while in Vegas? Share in the comments below!
