On this show you will see the amazing Bellagio Water Fountain Show, as we filmed it from our prime suite with a “Billion Dollar View” from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. This is the best view of all the types of rooms that they have at Caesars Palace. From our room we had breathtaking views during the day and night that were overlooking the Bellagio Water Fountain show, Paris, The Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, The Paris Balloon, Planet Hollywood, The Horseshoe, The MGM Grand, Aria, The Cosmopolitan, and the Las Vegas Strip! At night the show runs every 15 minutes.
The Fountains of Bellagio are an absolute must-see when visiting Las Vegas. This iconic attraction is a mesmerizing blend of music, water, and light, creating a truly enchanting experience.
Fountains of Bellagio is a free attraction at the Bellagio resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It consists of a musical fountain show performed in an 8.5-acre man-made lake in front of the resort. The show uses more than 17,000 gallons of water in the air at any time, 1,214 water nozzles and 4,792 lights. The fountains shoot as high as 460 feet. So from our room at Caesars Palace we were actually looking down as the water was shooting up: Stages are sometimes built on the lake to host events, such as musical performances, that incorporate the fountain show. The Fountains of Bellagio opened on October 15, 1998, along with the Bellagio resort, both built on the former site of the Dunes hotel-casino. It was conceived by owner Steve Wynn, and built by the design firm WET. Work began on the fountain show in 1995, and it opened with the resort on October 15, 1998. The attraction was built for $40 million, making it one of the most expensive fountains in the world. The Fountains of Bellagio have appeared in numerous films. It is a signature attraction for Las Vegas, and one of the most photographed places in the United States. It was the largest fountain show in the world until The Dubai Fountain, also by WET, was opened in 2009. After leaving the Bellagio in 2000, Wynn would later include a water show at his Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace resorts. More than 240,000 fountain shows had been performed at the Bellagio as of October 2018. A new edition of the show, promoting the final season of Game of Thrones, was unveiled in 2019 and ran for two weeks. Scenes from the television show were projected onto a wall of water formed by the fountains, and new technology was installed to shoot flames up from the surface of the water. Music from the series was also incorporated into the fountain show. The shows are widely visible and are typically viewed from the sidewalk along the Las Vegas Strip. Shows are free and usually performed every half-hour from the afternoon until midnight. A terrace overlooking the fountains has become a popular wedding spot, with the show coordinated to begin as couples kiss.
The water is choreographed by WET to match accompanying music and songs, which are emitted by 183 speakers built into lampposts. Thirty additional speakers are used only for the bells of a bell tower. Upon its debut, the fountain show included music from composer Gerard Schurmann and choreography by Kenny Ortega. Choreography for the initial dozen songs took two months to complete, as each nozzle and light needed to be programmed individually. It can take up to a week to choreograph two minutes’ worth of music. The choreography for each song is stored on computers.Each show uses different music, and a variety of genres are featured, including pop and rock. The most popular song is “Time to Say Goodbye” by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. Other music includes “The Pink Panther Theme” by Henry Mancini and “Viva Las Vegas” by Elvis Presley. Some songs only play at the end of the year for the Christmas holiday. New songs are occasionally introduced into the catalog. Three were added in 2011, including “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” by The Beatles, “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, and “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller. It was the first time in six years that new songs were added to the show.
Electronic music was introduced in 2014, with three songs by Tiësto. Other new songs have included Cher’s “Believe” in 2018, and Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” in 2019. In 2022, the resort unveiled another new fountain show set to the music of boy band BTS. More than 160,000 people had seen the show within four days of its opening. In 2023, to mark its 25th anniversary, the resort debuted a new show featuring “Perfect Symphony”, by Ed Sheeran and Bocelli. The following year, a guest won the opportunity to choreograph his own show, which is set to “Beautiful Day” by U2.
Approximately 12 million gallons are used each year for the fountain shows, and the lake uses roughly 500 pounds of chlorine per day. Several restaurants at the Bellagio resort are situated to overlook the lake. The water temperature ranges from 50 degrees in the winter to 85 degrees in the summer. It is frequented by ducks, some of which have made it their permanent home.
The operating and maintenance team works in a hidden cavern known as the Batcave, located within a fake rock formation beside the lake. The Batcave contains four equipment rooms. The team consists of 30 people, including computer technicians, electricians, and welders. Due to the amount of time spent in the water, all team members are trained scuba divers.
Various items are thrown or dropped into the lake from bystanders, including food, keys, cellphones, lingerie, casino chips, military coins, foreign coinage, and wedding rings. The lake’s filtration system is capable of cleaning five million gallons per day. Every few weeks, a barge resembling an ice resurfacer is used to clean the lake’s bottom and retrieve foreign objects. Coins recovered from the lake are donated to charities. Approximately two tons of coins are recovered each year. There have been several instances of people jumping into the lake, including a homeless man who drowned in 2020. In 2004, to promote a Victoria’s Secret model tour, the lake was temporarily turned pink with the use of gels on the lenses of the underwater lights.
Stages are sometimes set up on the lake for events or musical performances that incorporate the dancing fountains. Britney Spears performed on the lake for the 2001 Billboard Music Awards, and Drake did the same during the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. Panic! at the Disco performed in 2018.
In a 2010 publicity stunt to promote his airline, Richard Branson rode a jet ski across the lake to reach a floating platform, where he served as conductor to the dancing fountains. A kabuki show by Shochiku was performed on the lake for several days during 2015. It used the largest stage ever built on the water, measuring 165 feet.
The Bellagio Fountain Club, a temporary facility consisting of bar, restaurant and nightclub space, was built in front of the lake to accompany the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023. The club is set to return each year in conjunction with future Grand Prix events. The fountain show was originally accompanied by more than 40 trees along the Strip sidewalk, providing shade to pedestrian spectators. The trees were removed to accommodate the Bellagio Fountain Club, and approximately 12 were returned following the facility’s initial dismantling.
In 2020, Las Vegas Weekly named it the city’s best attraction, writing, “Today, it’s impossible to imagine the Strip without it”. Emerald Pellot of Yahoo! also considered it one of Las Vegas’ top attractions.
Numerous films have featured the Fountains of Bellagio, including What Planet Are You From? (2000), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Lucky You (2007), Bolt (2008), The Hangover Part III (2013), Jason Bourne (2016), and Sharknado: The 4th Awakens (2016).
The Fountains of Bellagio also appear in the music video for “24K Magic”, in which singer Bruno Mars rides a jet ski across the lake while the fountains dance. In 2019, Celine Dion and James Corden performed on the lake, singing “My Heart Will Go On” while riding on a boat past the dancing fountains. The performance, reenacting a scene from the film Titanic (1997), was part of Corden’s Carpool Karaoke segment on The Late Late Show.
Free show times are: Mon – Fri 3pm – 6:30 every half hour; 7pm – 12am every 15 minutes. Sat – Sun 12pm – 6:30pm every half hour; 7pm – 12am every 15 minutes.
Below: view from our suite at Caesars Palace- overlooking the Bellagio Water Fountain show, Paris, The Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, The Paris Balloon, Planet Hollywood, The Horseshoe, The MGM Grand, Aria, and the Las Vegas Strip:
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