Twitter Users Share Mirage Las Vegas Memories in Emotional Goodbye

Posted on: December 19, 2022, 02:08h. 

Last updated on: December 19, 2022, 03:13h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Myths.

On Sunday, a day before MGM Resorts officially handed The Mirage over to Hard Rock International, the MGM’s Mirage Twitter account bade its followers adieu. It also asked them to reply with their most memorable moments spent there.

The Mirage
When Steve Wynn opened The Mirage in 1989, it was the most luxurious property in the history of Las Vegas. (Image: poolmagazine.com)

Hundreds of replies were received. About half the commenters name-checked attractions they will miss when the resort becomes Hard Rock Las Vegas. The most popular was The Mirage volcano, which is being removed to construct a guitar-shaped hotel tower. One Twitter user linked to a change.org petition to save the volcano, which currently has 10,050 signatures.

Next in popularity was Cirque du Soleil’s “The Beatles Love” show, which isn’t expected to survive the transition to the Hard Rock. Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat, which was permanently closed last month, came next. Twitter user @Nunney2584 reported her most memorable experience as being a “trainer for the day w/dolphins,” calling it “one of the best experiences of my life.” Until, she claimed, she found out later about “the hotel’s unfortunate record” with animals.

Siegfried & Roy’s magic show, which ran from 1990 until Roy’s attack by a white tiger in 2003, was another popular memory. Twitter user @PikaGaag wrote that she talked about seeing the show throughout her childhood. Then, for her 16th birthday, her parents “fulfilled that dream and the legends themselves came down before the show to meet me,” she wrote. “Rest in peace, Siegfried & Roy.”

Some remembrances were humorous. Twitter user @DavidLaRue79 claimed that, on his visit to the Secret Garden: “The Siberian white tiger was awesome, until he peed on me through the fence.”

Twitter user @timinvegas selected for his most memorable moment “celebrating with thousands of other LGBTQIA+ professionals at the 2022 @OutandEqual Workplace Summit!” He did admit that “the time I saw Beatles Love when I was on percs for a messed-up knee” took a “very close second.”

Tearful Goodbyes

Other followers responded with deeply personal tweets. Twitter user @mikesamonek recalled that “when my dad was sick and I was his caretaker, I took him to Vegas twice and we stayed at Mirage, and … generally had the kind of father/adult son late-life bonding experience that only exists in movies.”

Twitter user @CiaoArt reported a similar experience with his father in April 1994: “We stayed a week at The Mirage and had a great time. He hit a royal flush at one of the poker machines in the casino bar. A couple [of] months later, my dad passed away.”

Twitter user @ColoNative74 recalled seeing actor Chevy Chase being escorted in to shoot a scene for the 1997 movie Vegas Vacation.

Other followers took the solemn opportunity to express their anger over the sale. Twitter user @YepJustKatieC called it “such a travesty,” adding that “Hard Rock can bite me.” Twitter user @Prefer_Vegas wrote: “It should have been Excalibur or Circus Circus,” not The Mirage. “Or have it built from the ground up instead,” added @AlexJSpendlove, who posted a screenshot of a Facebook post from Diana Engelhardt calling the transition, “The dumbest idea anyone could possibly think of.”

A small minority of followers claimed to have not heard about the sale at all until MGM’s final Mirage tweet.

“What’s happening??” wrote @joefilm.

Well, @joefilim, one of the most heavily reported takeovers in Las Vegas history became official as of 6 a.m. Monday, December 19. The purchase of the Mirage from MGM Resorts by Hard Rock International was approved on Friday, December 16 by the Nevada Gaming Commission.

The resort is expected to continue operating under the name Mirage, which Hard Rock leased from MGM, for at least another year. No decision has yet been made about whether or when to close the resort during the transition.