Built on 5 acres in a back parking lot nearly three decades ago, the Adventuredome at Circus Circus continues to serve as a reminder of Las Vegas’ initial attempt to reinvent itself when gambling revenues began to decline in the early 1990s.
Designed by architect Veldon Thompson, the insulated, 150-foot high, climate-controlled dome and its distinctive pink glass tiles (which reflected the searing desert sun and sometimes blinded motorists during rush hour traffic on nearby Interstate 15) became within 10 years one of the world’s most-visited amusement parks. In 2005, it set a single-day attendance record of 41,182. Sometimes if you build it, they really do come.
In recent years, major league sports have been taking their own Vegas thrill ride, shovels and earth-movers at the ready, in the hope that upturned desert will turn into dollars.
