Circus Circus Las Vegas is a hotel and 101,000 sq ft (9,400 m2) casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MGM Mirage. Circus Circus features circus acts on a regular basis throughout the day. Circus Circus has the only RV park on the Strip providing additional accommodations in the 399 space park operated by Kampgrounds of America (KOA).
Circus Circus Las Vegas is the largest permanent big top in the world. The clown marquee at the entrance was provided by Young Electric Sign Company, and was constructed in 1976.
Circus Circus opened on October 18, 1968 by Jay Sarno, becoming the flagship casino for Circus Circus Enterprises.
At its opening, the $15 million facility only included a casino. Architects Rissman and Rissman Associates designed a giant circus tent shaped main structure, which was built by R.C. Johnson Construction of Las Vegas.
In 1974 ownership changed with the sale of the casino to William Bennett. The facility was expanded with hotel tower additions in 1973, 1975, and 1986, with additional tower additions and renovations following. The 1996-7 renovation changed the hotel's theme from the standard American circus to a Canadian Cirque du Soleil-style circus.
The hotel's West Tower rooms renovated looking similar to Excalibur's Widescreen Rooms.
The hotel's famous midway was featured in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.
In his journalistic novel of the early '70s, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson wrote, "The Circus-Circus is what the whole hep world would be doing Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war. This is the sixth Reich. The ground floor is full of gambling tables, like all the other casinos . . . but the place is about four stories high, in the style of a circus tent, and all manner of strange County-Fair/Polish Carnival madness is going on up in this space." When the Thompson work was adapted to film in 1998, the fictional "Bazooko Circus" was a thinly-veiled stand-in for the world-famed resort, which had refused permission for the filmmakers to shoot on their property.
The Adventuredome Theme Park and the Canyon Blaster roller coaster were featured in the 1999 movie Baby Geniuses. The theme park was known as Joyworld in the movie.
In ', Austin and Vanessa sneak into the Circus Circus.
In the 1992 movie Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, the over sized child Adam is shown laughing and smiling at the Lucky the Clown pylon.
The Midway was featured in the 1978 film, Corvette Summer, when Mark Hamill was being lured into a scam by a "salesman".
Circus Circus also offers:
Circus Circus Heliport - (FAA LID: NV48)