LAS VEGAS - At Las Vegas Boulevard and Mandalay Bay Road, the Strip seems to stop. A motel and a few businesses share 9.6 acres of land with overgrown weeds, piles of dirt, and chain-linked fences. That, however, could soon change. Developers propose a facelift that Clark County Commissioners are considering.
The proposal on the drawing board is an amusement park with at least eight rides, including a "Sky Wheel" nearly half the height of the Stratosphere. The attraction would attach to a 42-foot-high tent that would connect with a convention center and retail space.
Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who is also running for Las Vegas Mayor, says the proposal intrigues her.
"It complements if you really think about it," she said. "As you move down that corridor toward the university, depending on what happens with the university stadium being rebuilt, there could be a real synergy that comes into play there."
Still, Giunchigliani has some concerns. "I'm excited about it, but you have to make sure the neighbors around - even though the neighbors are casinos - you have to make sure there are pros and cons. We'd have to look at the traffic issue," she said. "Part of it needs to go into how do we reinvent the Strip?"
Some visitors say Las Vegas needs to become more family-friendly.
"It's funny, because we were having a conversation earlier," said visitor Tim Slater. "We have an eight-year-old, and we would never bring her here, because other than Circus Circus, there's not really much for kids to do from what we see. If that was here, it would give us a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of thing."
Others insist the Strip should remain an adult playground. "There's Disneyland, Legoland, SeaWorld, all the other places for kids," said visitor Carmen Aceves. "You take your family, take your kids to places like that. That's where amusement parks should be, not Vegas."
Commissioners and developers will likely consider these opinions if plans to build the amusement park move forward.
"I think number one, it gets us jobs. Number two, it could be a new way as a tourist draw. So, I'm willing to look at anything on the books as far as that's concerned," Giunchigliani said.
An amusement park on the Strip has been tried before. The MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park lasted seven years before closing because of poor performance. Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the proposed attraction during the first week of March.
