Jubilee Flotilla

[Gob]

Never mind, you'll have your own soon!

LAS VEGAS – Las Vegas is set to get a bigger American-style version of one of London's popular tourist attractions, the London Eye.

Next month, Caesars Entertainment plans to start digging to lay the foundation for a 550-foot-tall observation wheel behind the company's Imperial Palace and Flamingo hotels that it expects to open toward the end of 2013.

Taller than the 443-foot-tall London Eye wheel, the High Roller could give the Las Vegas Strip a new attraction and a potential boost as the tourist destination continues to try to recover from the recession.
The announcement comes as Las Vegas shows signs that it's coming back. It's had 16 consecutive months of increases in visitors, says Rossi Ralenkotter, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Gaming revenue for the Strip in June was about 7% higher than in June 2008, says David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, although hotel occupancy remains down.

The giant Ferris wheel will be the most visible part of a quarter-mile-long, $550 million, open-air entertainment district area called the Linq, which will include shops, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

The entertainment project is one of the biggest developments announced — and financed — since 2009. In May, local investor Howard Bulloch announced plans to build a 500-foot-tall Ferris wheel. Bulloch could not be reached Tuesday on the status of the project that had been planned to open next year.

"It would be the centerpiece of a trip for a lot of people," Caesars CEO Gary Loveman says of the High Roller and the Linq. "They're looking for the next thing to do."

The interest in building wheels and entertainment districts represents a distinct shift in the direction of development for Las Vegas, Loveman says.

[Lord Jim]

I'll bet if the had built a giant cowboy boot, the view from the top of that would have been quite stunning too....

The view from the outside....

Not so much....

[Scooter]

Sing - the official song of the Jubilee - Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth Band

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'd like to teach the world to sing

[Daisy]

I won't have a bad word said about Sir Gary of Frodsham.

[Andrew D]

It was pouring down rain for most of the festivities, and while the Royal Orchestra was playing from inside a boat, The Royal Choir was sent out there on an open barge....by the end they were completely drenched...(though those young men and women were real troopers...they didn't let the weather affect the the strength of their performance one bit.)

Would it have been so difficult to provide those kids with a canopy?

Choristers. Professionalism embodied.

[Sean]

I saw a clip of the concert last night. Liz, Charles and William were all sitting together in the audience. My first thought was that if those three were suddenly taken out by a bomb/sniper Harry would need a fucking good alibi...

[MajGenl.Meade]

er, Sean?

[dales]

If you watch Titanic backwards it becomes a heartwarming tale about a huge ship that leaps from the bottom of the ocean to save 1,500 people from drowning.

To see it leap from the Thames would be even funnier.

[Gob]

[Lord Jim]

LAS VEGAS – Las Vegas is set to get a bigger American-style version of one of London's popular tourist attractions, the London Eye.

Yes, well that rather proves my point doesn't it?

Las Vegas is a theme park....

It's the capital of Kistch...

Good place for that sort of monstrosity; it'll fit right in...



We're not erecting one on the Washington Mall...

[Gob]

[loCAtek]

Getting through the jubilee, with souvenirs;




...my BF has relatives, who were/are subjects of the crown vis the commonwealth in Central America;
and they said the Americas got Prince Harry. Woo. yay.