Las Vegas wants you to leave the kids at home.
After a failed effort in the 1990s to open up Sin City to all ages by adding theme-park-style attractions at a number of resort casinos, the city made a hard pivot away from that in 2003.
That's when the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority launched a new adult-oriented marketing campaign based on the "What Happens Here Stays Here" tagline. The idea of "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas" became viral and was reinforced in 2009 when "The Hangover," a movie about Vegas debauchery staying in Vegas, became a huge hit.
It's not that the Las Vegas Strip fully lacks family-friendly amenities -- MGM Resorts International's (MGM) Mandalay Bay has an all-ages pool/lazy river complex and Caesars' (CZR) new Horseshoe Resort just added an all-aged arcade -- but families are no longer the city's focus.
That's something that the convention authority itself has reinforced with its latest humorous ads, in which adults tell kids how terrible Las Vegas is. As the 20th anniversary of the "What Happens Here Stays Here" campaign approaches, the agency's new ad openly encourages parents to leave their children at home when they visit Sin City.
The ad ends with a phrase: "You can bring your kids to Las Vegas, but why would you?"
Essentially, the convention and visitors authority speaks for the big resort casino operators including Caesars and MGM. They'll tolerate families if mom or dad brings them along on a business trip, but Las Vegas clearly is leaning into its reputation as a playground where grownups go to do decidedly adult things.
That makes it interesting and a bit surprising that Walt Disney (DIS) has decided to plant its flag on the Las Vegas Strip.
Disney
Disney Brings a New Show to the Las Vegas Strip
Disney animation seems an odd fit for the Las Vegas Strip, but the Mouse House has partnered with Lighthouse Immersive Studios, the producers of the blockbuster Immersive Van Gogh, to develop what they're calling the Disney Animation Immersive Experience.
Tickets for the show, which will open on March 30 at Lighthouse Artspace Las Vegas at The Shops at Crystals, next to MGM's Aria resort/casino, have gone on sale.
"Creating iconic animated stories for all ages for nearly a century, Walt Disney Animation Studios will join forces with North America’s top creator of experiential projection exhibitions to present the music and artistry within Disney Animation’s canon of films -- from hits of today like Encanto, Zootopiaand Frozen, to all of the classics including The Lion King, Peter Pan, and Pinocchio. Audiences will feel like they’ve entered the incredible worlds of beloved Disney characters and become one with them," the two companies shared.
That sounds like a family-friendly show that would be a hit in many cities, certainly any tourist-friendly city. But for Las Vegas?
The show will run for 12 weeks and has an option for an extension.
Las Vegas Does Turn Kids Into Adults
Las Vegas lets adults have fun in ways many rarely get a chance to do at home when they're tied down by work, family, and the rest of reality. The city may not cater to kids or families, but it does have a lot of things that would appeal to all ages that are largely filled with adults.
Both Hershey's (HSY) (at MGM's New York, New York) and Mars's M&Ms have flagship stores on the Las Vegas Strip. Caesars has a huge candy store in the Linq Promenade (admittedly with a second-floor bar selling alcoholic candy-based concoctions), and there is the aforementioned new arcade at Horseshoe.
Disney has always been a family-friendly brand that does not produce R-rated movies while trying to appeal to as many people as possible.
Simply bringing a show to the Las Vegas Strip feels off-brand for Disney, but it's possible that the brand has become so entrenched that adults go see the show even though their kids aren't with them.
