On our March trip to Las Vegas, our first stop was a Tix-4-Tonight booth, where we were able to pick up some heavily discounted ticket to Cirque Du Soleil's Zumanity.

Zumanity has been running at the New York- New York Casino for ten years and although it was easy to find discounted tickets, the theatre was extremely, if not completely full. I don't think that the popularity is waning and the crowd reaction was very favorable.

Zumanity is Cirque Du Soleil's "sensual" and "sexy" show. It's eighteen plus, has a fair bit of nudity and a ton of sex related jokes. It's not for prudes, however nothing was too extreme or even gratuitous. I think that most people can handle it, if they go into the show with an open mind and good sense of humor.

The posters are almost more risqué than the actual show.

In the lobby, there was a heart shaped bed with red satin sheets. Valentine's Day sexy!

The red theme continues into the theatre. Here is a picture of us with the stage in the background taken after the show.

Truthfully, I'm not a huge fan of the Cirque Du Soleil productions. This is my fifth one ( I've also seen O, KA, Believe and Love). Of those, I thought O was dreadful and Love was outstanding, with the other two falling somewhere in the middle. Zumanity moves into my #2 spot, just because it was a lot of fun and different. The sets and costumes are less fancy and it isn't as "showy" as the other Cirque productions, but what it lacks in spectacle, it makes up for in entertainment value.

You must arrive for the preshow. A big reason that I disliked O was the clowns and the sense humor. Zumanity has a much less subtle sense of humor, relying more on dialogue and improvisation with audience members, than it does on physical comedy, like O. This appeals to me. Several characters wander in the audience, including two busty twins passing out chocolate covered strawberries and a horny couple cruising unsuspecting ticket holders. If you're in the front section, there is a fair chance you might be forced to interact. This is not limited to the preshow.

The master of ceremonies is a drag queen who calls herself the Mistress of Sensuality. She invites the audience to keep an open mind as the show proceeds with a series of acts. Some have a semi-story, like an aerial act of a woman who dreams of a man other than her husband. There is a beautifully choreographed scene with two naked women diving and swimming in an oversized fishbowl. The most memorable and impressive was a male contortionist. He was amazing. He could bend his body in the most impossible way and then just as everyone in the audience is cringing, he would give a big grin to assure us that he was okay.

Zumanity was a surprise. I was not expecting it to be so darn fun. It's creative, hilarious and filled with unexpected moments. It's a worthy addition to your next Las Vegas vacation.

When we bought our tickets for Criss Angel: Believe, at the Tix-4-Tonight booth, we saw that the tickets for CSI: The Experience, were really inexpensive. We didn't have too many activities booked up during our four day weekend, so it seemed like a good time to check this attraction off of our Las Vegas bucket list.

Located in the MGM Grand, CSI: The Experience is an interactive crime solving attraction based on the hit television series. Just to make it seem a little more seedy and creepy, the entrance is located at the bottom of a dark escalator.

Neither of us are fans of the show. Fans of the show will probably enjoy the video introduction featuring cast members and also the handful of props that they have on display. I enjoyed looking at a charred body that they had from an episode featuring a factory fire. Creepy!

We had read reviews and we were prepared for the crimes to be fairly easy. There are three crime scenes and we were assigned to the second crime scene, which according to internet reviews, is the best one. We were given a clipboard with paper to make notes and sketches. The page also had questions regarding the crime that we had to answer as we walked through the exhibit.

After watching an introduction video, we were sent to our crime scene. Our scene featured a female body sprawled on the ground near a dumpster behind a hotel. She had tire marks across her back and her purse had spilled open to reveal a headshot picture and a mysterious white powder. We took notes at the crime scene before moving on.

There is no gore, as all of the bodies are dummies without any realistic features. We couldn't get close to the crime scene, as we were behind a plexiglass wall. This actually made it difficult to see some of the details that we were expected to note.

After viewing the crime scene, we walked into several rooms to examine evidence. There is no specific order to the stations, so we walked to the stations that were free. Luckily, we visited the exhibit on a slow day. I imagine that it's a nightmare when it's crowded. We examined various tire tracks, we looked at the victim's last text messages, we viewed lab sampled of flies found on the victim's body and we heard the autopsy report.

Viewing the crime scene and going through the evidence stations took about fifteen minutes. The next step was to sit at a computer station and file an official report. After answering questions, we watched a video to see if we had correctly solved the crime. We had, it was super easy.

Once our report was filed, we could dress up in CSI gear and do a photo session with various backdrops and we could collect our diploma for correctly solving the crime. Of course, all of these cost extra. We could also pay a small fee to go through the exhibit again and do the other crime scenes.

There are several problems with CSI: The Experience. First, it's just too darn easy. Start to finish, we were at the exhibit for less than thirty minutes. Second, even if we had wanted to pay to do another crime scene, it was ruined, because while sitting at the computer monitors, it's impossible to tune out the other computers and you hear the resolutions for the other scenes. Third, all of the nickel and diming left a bad taste in my mouth. Even with our discounted tickets, this exhibit is grossly overpriced. It should have included entry to all three crime scenes ( made harder to solve) and have those crime scenes set in their own rooms, so overhearing info is impossible. If it had been set up like this, I would have left feeling like I received value for money. As it is currently set-up, this attraction is an epic fail.

Las Vegas March 2015- Zumanity

Las Vegas Christmas 2014 - CSI: The Experience