I've been promising you a blog for some time now so I guess I will tell you a little about my last trip to Vegas trip.

THURSDAY We got there late on Thursday night, got our room and dropped off our stuff before heading out to have dinner. No Criss sightings that night but to our surprise we did see Costa, JD and Dimitra leaving the Luxor. They were clearly in a hurry to leave. It looked like JD was ushering Dimitra out as fast as he could. Costa did look over at our group and smile - he's the chatty sociable one, lol....I think he would have stopped to chat for a minute if he could have. We weren't about to be rude enough to try to stop them. Instead, we went over and admired the merchandise in the BeLIEve store before it closed and about 10 minutes later we see that Costa has returned to the theater. This time he stopped for a quick minute to say hi to us and the other fans that were in the store. We had all wandered out into the hallway when we saw him. You could tell he was still in a hurry - probably off to meet Criss for something. We asked him how he was doing and if he was coming to Big Bear the following week. He said he wasn't sure. He was spear heading the new store opening and didn't know if he'd make it. He was in a rush so we said good night and off he went into the theater. We stayed in the hallway for a bit and chatted with a few nice folks who had seen the show that night...its always fun to meet new fans of Criss's or of BeLIEve and see what they think of the show. The rest of the night my friends and I mostly spend just catching up with each other. We don't get to visit much in person with each other except when we ARE in Vegas so there's always so much mischief to catch up with....

Now how did this pic happen? I just love these Egyptian Jackals... XD

Just hanging out with my BFF's....

Some views from our room....

FRIDAY EEEEP....what a great day it was for a loyal. We lounged around at the pool for a good part of the afternoon, did a little shopping and might have had, oh, a few of those "slushies", lol.

The pool at the Luxor....

It was perfect pool lounging weather....not too hot or sunny

Before we knew it it was time to get ready to go to dinner and the show. We ate at Company Bistro (BTW, if you are going up to the Luxor soon...they are offering two for one food item coupons in the coupon books). After dinner we wandered off towards the theater but it was still a little bit early. So, we went and sat outside the Luxor for a few minutes like we usually do (I don't smoke but my friend does and we often end up outside the Luxor doors relaxing and enjoying the comings and goings...nothing like a little people watching in VEGAS...lol). Low and behold....we see DAVE BARAM walking into the Luxor! He told us he was in town for one of his other clients (Paula Abdul) but was on his way to the theater to see Criss. We chat with him for a few minutes and he was kind enough to take pics with each of us.

This is my pic with Dave Baram before the show...

We ended up following Dave over to the theater since it was close to show time and went in and got our usual drinks (I always have to have a "Hallucination" at the show, lol) and then off to our seats....front row - eeeeep. The show has many more changes in...we saw it last in April and there are actually quite a few changes even since then. And more to come....Dave told us to come back in 3 weeks for even more changes. Its just so much fun to me....every time I've seen the show its been different....some of my favorite parts are gone, but maybe some of them will be back and there are some new illusions and new sequences to some of the older material that was in the show). One of the Ravens scared the CRAP out of one of my friends....he popped off the stage practically into her LAP! It was AWESOME...it was definitely a good show night, everything seemed to go very smoothly. And the crowd was definitely with Criss. Of course we had to give him a standing ovation....especially us Loyals in the front row! I'm being cagey about show particulars because I don't want to spoil it for anyone that's going to see the show so pardon me, lol.

We saw Tommy in the theater before the show began. He walks right by our seats and we are able to say hello to him and told him we were coming to Big Bear. He seemed pleased to hear that....and before he left he smiled at us and said..."see ya later"...hmmm....did he mean see ya at Big Bear? Or something else? Was that a hint? Our wheels were spinning a bit on that one, lol.

After the show we wandered back into the BeLIEve store. Mateo (Maestro) came out of the theater and we talked with him for quite a while. We have met him a few times before when we were in Vegas. He's such a nice guy...we talked about his Hawaii trip and the show of course. He told us that whole week they had been meeting at noon instead of at 5pm for the show since they were incorporating all the new stuff. Serge Denoncourt (the show's artistic director) was in town to oversee much of it and I was able to get him to sign my program as he was leaving the theater thanks to Mateo, who called him over. I also got one of the dancers (Eric Newton) to sign my program....he joined the troupe after the programs were printed but he is actually a principal dancer. He plays the role of the monster and sometimes is one of Criss's doubles....as well alternating a few other roles. Very nice guy. AND....a definite surprise...we seeLARS come out....the very tall usher (his real name is Abdelkhader). What a nice fellow....and much more handsome without his make up. He came over and chatted with us and Mateo for a few minutes and signed my program for me and took pics with us.

MATEO posing for a group photo with us....what a nice guy he is!

My picture with "LARS"....this one is actually from Saturday night

It was already a very awesome night and THEN....JD, Costa, and Dimitra come walking out of the theater. They were moving fairly quickly but didn't seem in the same kind of hurry as the night before so I called out to JD and asked if I could get a picture....he's the one person I didn't have a pic with. And he obliged! Costa and Dimitra also turned back and we were able to get pics with them again. I had a pic with Costa already and Mateo was joking around with him so I asked him to be in the pic as well. That seemed to really tickle Dimitra for some reason who kept teasing him to "do some magic", do some "levitatshun..." LOL. She was really cute about it. I got a pic with her as well....she seemed in such great spirits and it was great to be able to say HELLO to her again. What a wonderful lady!

Finally, after four trips to Vegas I get to meet JD and get a pic....

DIMITRA after the show....

MATEO and COSTA...."Magic hands" lol....

Costa was really funny taking his pic with my two friends...he was very happy to be a "Costa sandwich" and wasn't eager to let go, lol. And said as much...lmao. I think the show changes went very smoothly because everyone we ran into seemed to be in great moods. At any rate, the family went about their business and we stayed back chit chatting with Mateo for a while longer. Mateo had to be somewhere so he finally left for the evening and then it was just a few of us left chatting in the casino.

We look up in time to see Dave Baram heading BACK into the theater so I called over to him and he stopped by for a few minutes and chit chatted and we take ANOTHER pic wtih him (I was on a roll, lol...he prob thought we were nuts...we had just taken pics two hours ago with him). He is very nice though....very down to earth and genuinely friendly and seemed happy to chat with us.

Dave Baram posing for a group photo...

We let Dave go about his business and chat with one of the Luxor managers that we had met on all of our many previous trips. He always closes the BeLIEve store after the show. He told us why Criss did the straight jacket escape on the stage in April instead of hanging over the audience like he normally does...turns out the motor / track / harness system was screwing up and they decided as a safety to not use it until it could be replaced. At any rate, all was back to normal for this show...he did the escape above the audience like it should be done.

It is getting late now and we are contemplating what we want to do for the evening when we look up and....WE SEE CRISS!!! He looks good...very relaxed....and clearly in a good mood. Tommy and one of his body guards are with him. We walk over to him. I couldn't believe it when Criss said he remembered me and gave me a hug and kiss...I told him we were going to be at Big Bear and he scrunched up that cute face of his like he was concentrating and said something along the lines of..."I think my brother's gonna get there Saturday night...not sure. I won't be able to get there until Sunday."

By now there's a small crowd of folks waiting to talk to Criss and get pics and as usual, Tommy did the honors and took pictures for all of us before he and Criss headed off about their business. (Did I mention that I just LOVE Tommy....he is SUCH a sweetheart!)

What a great night that was. Who could have asked for more? We got to meet so many people just in that one night....I could have gone home then and done nothing else in Vegas and it would have been a great trip! We wandered off high in spirits and goofed around the rest of the evening. The Cat House and LAX were hopping as usual!

Criss and me after the show...do you see Costa in the background? Where did he come from? LOL....

SATURDAY We decided to go to Circus Circus and checkout the Mindfreak Superstore. Since we wouldn't be there for the store opening we were hoping to at least see the store front and we were heading over to Madame Tussaud's at the Venetian anyways so it wasn't much farther to go. What a suprise...when we got there, the windows were for the most part not covered up yet, the store door was open AND.... Costa, JD, Dimitra, and cousin George were all in the store!!! A couple of times JD or Costa would come out and grab fixtures and boxes from another area that was on the other side of the store. Dimitra looked so cute...she had her hair pinned up and she was busy hanging jewelry on one of the rotating dispaly racks. I would have loved to have taken candid pics of them working in the store but didn't...it felt a bit "stalker-ish" to me to do that, lol.

It is clear there is a LOT more work to do....there are of course great pics of the store out now that it is open but when we saw it there was hardly anything up....shelves were empty, counters were empty....boxes were stacked waiting to be unpacked. I imagine there were some long days and nights spent there getting ready for the big day to come.

Anyways, it is an awesome store front....same type of dark decor as Criss's black room....black wood exterior...eeep. Sigh....well guess I have to head ALL THE WAY down to Circus Circus again on my next visit to see it in its full glory. We admire the store front a little bit more, take a pic in front of it and then go to grab a bite to eat.

BFFs in front of the Mindfreak Superstore....

The other side of the store....

Of course we had to go past the store on the way back and stop to admire it again. JD has stopped working to talk to a young girl and her family who are there to celebrate the girl's birthday at Circus Circus. She is a huge Criss fan but had no idea there was a store going in there! Can you imagine the grin on her face as she stood there talking to one of Criss's brothers on her birthday! They finally leave and as JD turns to head back into the store I ask him real quick if he would be a t Big Bear and he said he would be there Saturday night. We did offer to help out with the store (LOL) but he thanked us and declined - what a goof....he was SO serious about it - SURELY he knew we were mostly joking....lmao (although we WOULD have helped if he had said yes LOL).

So now we're off to Madame Tussaud's...what a blast. We took pics with Simon Cowell and Hugh Hefner...and of course Criss. And there might have been a few others along the way, lol. Criss's wax figure IS pretty cool...its near the end of the exhibits, in the "vegas" room. We took tons of pics of it...I got a few close ups of his hands too, lol....they have all his rings right down to his tattooed crown ring.

You might know THIS guy....

Move over HEF....you're hogging the couch, lol....

Hmmm....what were we thinking about?

EEP....its CRISS!

Check out the detail on his hands....

After Madam Tussaud's we walked back to the Luxor, showered, changed, had dinner and then bummed around the casino. No Criss sightings on Saturday....BUT....we did see a few more of the dancers including Elena (who plays KAYALA) which was cool. I havn't run into her outside of the show before but she was clearly in a hurry to be somewhere so we didn't bother her...rats...would have cool to get her to sign the program. Another time.

It was obvious watching everyone exiting the theater that the dance crew and theater staff was so looking forward to their weekend...it was the cast's"friday night" and you could tell...everyone, store personnel, dancers, ushers, the photographers, even some of the security guys just seeme d to be in that "TGIF" mode and we heard "Have an awesome weekend" many times. Mateo didn't come out that night but we did see "LARS" again...he was goofing around with some of the security guys from the show but came over and took another pic with us and he said he was glad the week was over... they had put in a lot of extra rehearsal time that week. Everyone started to leave and the hallway was mostly deserted except for us chit chatting. I visited with a few really nice folks from Mexico that were there hoping to see Criss but it was clear he wasn't coming out at that point and that he had other plans, lol.

We wandered off and goofed around a bit in the Casino before heading out to the North Entrance to hang out there for a bit while my friend smoked and chit chatted about the day. We've been there so often that we've actually met several of the security guards out there and we visited with one of them for a while. He told us he thought Criss's lambo and rolls royce were no longer parked there because the Luxor was not posting 24hr guards there anymore. If its true, I couldn't blame Criss for not wanting to leave those beautiful cars out there unguarded!. Anyways, one thing led to another and next thing you know it was 3:30am and we were about to head off to bed. All of a sudden my friend's eyes got HUUUGE and I turn around to see Criss, and a few others heading into the Luxor. We were of course intrigued but its private time for Criss so we just give them space...no pics, no yelling at them, lol. But it was a good ending to the eve....off to bed with Criss's image fresh in my mind, lol.

SUNDAY - its almost time to leave. Sigh. We pack, drop off our bags at the valet, go to eat and just goof around at the Luxor and as often happens during our last few hours in Vegas we end up sitting outside again just enjoying the weather and visiting before we all have to say good bye again. All of a sudden we see Joaquin Ayala (one of the MF consultants) walk into the Luxor. No chance to say hello or get a pic...again rats...its the 4th time I've seen Joaquin at the Luxor but he has always been "busy". Anyways, we go back to visiting and just as we were about to stand up to head back to get our luggage and leave for the airport...here comes Criss and Joaquin....they walked RIGHT past me...I had my back to them but they were so close to me walking out the door I'm told I could have leaned off the seat and bumped into them. Anyways, we watch as they get into a car and take off. What a nice send off. Its time to head out to the airport and go home. Sigh.

It was a busy Criss-filled weekend, lol. I think his family is gonna be there for a while...in addition to the store opening and Big Bear filmings they are finally supposed to be starting Season 5 production on Monday (this from Dave Baram's mouth). Maybe the production office will FINALLY open. IF you're planning Criss oriented Vegas trips this seems to be the time to do it, lol...new store, tons of show changes, family in town, production...EEEEP. What's a LOYAL to do?

Anyways....Ciao for now! MWAH!!!

Gondolas at the Venetian...well actually these were in the waterway between the Venetian and the Palazzo....very cool...

At the Palazzo....aren't these cool?

Entertainment at the Venetian

More of the walkway between the Venetian and the Palazzo...