Madame Tussaud's Las Vegas

Recently, we spent an evening hanging out with "stars" from Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum here in Las Vegas. We attended a reception for the college that my husband graduated from, an alumni reception, which was held at the museum.

First we thought, what an UNUSUAL place for a college alumni reception. But when we got there, we were pleasantly surprised, and it turned out to be an amazing venue to hold this event! Two of the rooms were reserved for the reception, and in those rooms were some of the wax characters. How fun to "hang out" with the Rat Pack, Tony Bennett, Elvis, Siegrfied and Roy (AND their tiger), and even the mayor of Las Vegas and a showgirl!

When you moved into the other room, there were presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and also JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy, and even George Bush! Along with astronauts, and Oprah Winfrey, who could ask for more?

Once the reception was over, we were able to walk the entire museum and be thrilled by the likes of Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Hugh Hefner, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lopez, George Clooney, Lady Gaga, "Fergie", and even Barack Obama. Where else can you find all these stars assembled for an evening out?

Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum is definitely worth checking out when you are visiting Las Vegas. Not only can you look at and photograph the wax characters, but you are encouraged to touch them and interact. When you have your picture made with Johnny Depp (Jack Sparrow) you can reach into the chest right next to him and pick out a pirate hat to put on and a sword! We took our picture before we realized those "props" were there.

And when you take a picture with Hugh Hefner, look out for the "playboy bunny" ears you can put on when you sit next to him. It's a riot seeing people pose for pictures with these wax characters.

There is a feature when you touch "Elvis' " hand, he is supposed to "talk" to you, only it didn't seem to be working when we were there. Guess he just didn't have too much to say. You can stand right next to the tiger and Siegfried and Roy, and you can take the "microphone" right along with Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra and pretend that you are a member of "the Rat Pack."

One could certainly find themselves getting lost in a fantasy among the stars in this museum, that's for sure. Most of the figures really DO look like the real person, but a couple of the figures were there that people were asking "who is THAT?"

I did notice that the least popular characters to get pictures of were Larry King (suspenders and all) and the "Blue Man Group." I don't think I saw anyone photographing them, which was interesting. Maybe their "15 minutes" is up? Maybe not.

In the "Michael Jackson" room, you will see figures of him as a young boy, along with two other figures from different stages of his career. Now supposedly, you can sing and dance along with one of his songs and he will "judge" how you did, but we didn't encounter anyone brave enough to try that feature! The Michael Jackson exhibit was just recently put there, and is considered to be just a "temporary" exhibition, so if you are a big fan, you might want to get over there and check it out before he is gone! Or before "Michael has left the building."

In another room, there was a wax figure of American Idol judge Simon Cowell, where you could take the microphone and sing karaoke... there was a young lady doing that who must have had previous karaoke experience, because she really did do a good job!

I read recently that the exhibits are changed around from time to time, and new ones are added all the time, so it is definitely worth checking out. I heard that they used to have a wax figure of Harrison Ford outside of the museum (I actually do remember seeing that one)... but an overzealous tourist knocked it over and smashed his head into a million pieces... that had to hurt! OUCH! I'm sure they will find a new one to put outside.

You can interact with the figures and one fun thing to do is to "pose" yourself just like they are posed, that makes for some nice pictures. But please be careful not to damage them, so they will be there for years to come for others to enjoy.

If you have questions, one of the wonderful, polite museum workers will be more than happy to answer them for you. It was a fun trip among the stars, and I recommend it to anyone visiting Las Vegas. Go do some "name dropping" of your own, and most of all, have fun!