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Wow Place #261: Talking Statues, Caesar’s Forum, Las Vegas
When it comes to travel, I love surprises. Good surprises. I’m not crazy about bad ones, like when the airline loses my bags, or a hotel misplaces my reservation. Good surprises are like when you’re walking around Downtown Orlando and realize, “What a surprisingly nice neighborhood this is.” Or, when you drive out to a little-known hiking trail like the Nakatsu Gorge in rural Japan, and discover a gorgeous waterfall grotto (Wow place #59) at the end of it. Or when, against your better judgment, you follow a tout from the train station to “his brother’s hotel” in central Madrid and it turns out to be a splendid, affordable inn with a fabulous view of the Plaza Mayor. A good surprise is when you either have a negative assumption that turns out to be false, or no expectations at all that somehow become more than you could have imagined.
I’m standing in the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas on a so-far, non-surprising day, admiring the way the vaulted ceiling of the shopping center recreates a late afternoon sky, right down to the light-blue sky and puffy clouds. Just to my right, a circle of Roman statues is gathered around a garish fountain—the kind of gaudy decoration you might expect to see in an over-the-top place like Caesar’s Palace. Suddenly, to my great surprise, the lights go down, music swells out of nowhere, and the statues begin to talk. And move. Why hasn’t anyone told me about this! It’s like the old Abe Lincoln animatronic show at Disneyland, but free!
Are the animatronics great? Not really. They’re probably not even as good as the Fall of Atlantis, living-statue show at the other end of the mall. To be perfectly honest, the Romans’ speech was so garbled, half the time, I couldn’t even make out what they were saying. To boot, every so often, the father/big king guy would make a bold pronouncement and this his jaw would kind of stop working, and his fingers would all go in different directions. This definitely wasn’t a multi-million-dollar Disney production. I’d day it was probably closer to the simulated tropical downpour at the Rainforest Café.
But for all its ramshackle hokiness, I absolutely loved it — less for the execution and more for the sheer surprise of it all. One second I was walking and shopping in a mall – an experience I generally I don’t care for – the next, I was transported…somewhere: if not to ancient Rome, then at least to a nearby theme park. And I never saw it coming. What an unexpected, cheesy, delightful surprise!
(The thing about surprises is you can’t “cultivate” them. That’s why they’re called surprises. You can’t plan them…they just happen. What you can work on is your reaction to them. “Good” surprises are a gift – they brighten your day, they remind you of the hidden mysteries of the universe. And even “bad” surprises offer an opportunity for learning and growth. So I say, be open to surprises, and perhaps create a few surprises this week for your friends and loved ones. The cheesier the better!)