Going through it inoculates you against surprises in the rest of the city, which, we soon found out, has become a dressed-up version of a self it never had. We looked for the gaudiness, the sin, the vice, the neon that identified Vegas from the '60s to the early '80s. Most of it is gone except in coy snippets here and there, like the street peddlers handing out free catalogs of lushly illustrated girls making their way through college by way of private hotel rooms. Vegas is the most democratic city in America. No place is off limits.
Free entertainment is everywhere.
The Mirage has its erupting volcano. Excalibur has battling ships. The Venetian has its canal and gondoliers. Old downtown has a nightly light show. It would take several days to explore every major hotel on the Strip.