Different Trails

LAS VEGAS (Day 3 - part 2)

Delano is located within the Mandalay Bay complex. The hotel tower opened in 2003 as THEhotel but was rebranded in 2014. It's theme: modern architecture and striking art installations.

Instead of retracing our steps indoors, we decided to exit the building and make our way to New York-New York via streets. It was quite hot out! We made it to Excalibur then took the bridge over.

Mandalay Bay & Delano ... Luxor pyramid

Excalibur

Merlin's shack!

Opened in 1997, New York-New York Hotel and Casino featured scaled-down replicas of many of the city's landmarks. The hotel is actually one single building even though from its exterior it looks like separate skyscrapers. The buildings are roughly 1/3 the size of the originals. The tallest is the 47-story, 529-foot-tall Empire State Building (the real one is 102 stories). Other buildings representing the (mostly) 1940s skyline are the Chrysler Building, Manhattan Municipal Building, New Yorker Hotel and The Century.

The Big Apple Coaster (formerly the Manhattan Express) travels around the property's interior and exterior along a 4,777-foot track. It peaks at 203 feet high and reaches speeds up to 67 mph.

This is an enlarged replica of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. It commemorates the 370,000 Union Army soldiers and sailors from New York who served in the American Civil War. The original was completed in 1902. While many died in combat or from battle wounds, even more died from disease. It was not intended to be a “memorial of conquest' but rather to show the Nation's appreciation of those who saved it at a time of crisis.

The replica of the Statue of Liberty stands in front of the Main Immigration Building on Ellis Island. Compared to the original, it is 150 feet versus 350 feet and weighs 150 tons versus 27,000 tons. It's made of styrofoam coated with fiberglass and drywall versus iron supports and beaten copper.