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Vegas Retold

The history of Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino

Opened August 18, 2000

Planet Hollywood’s illuminated hotel towers, bright casino frontage and round ph sign at night in 2007.
Planet Hollywood’s hotel towers and casino frontage on November 2, 2007. This is the rebuilt Aladdin resort under its later name.

Larry D. Moore / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

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Original source photograph retained without editorial alteration. Responsive displays may resize and crop the presentation.

Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino occupies the resort that opened as the rebuilt Aladdin on August 18, 2000. It took the Planet Hollywood name in 2007 after a phased renovation. The earlier Aladdin, associated with Milton Prell and Elvis Presley’s wedding, was a different hotel-casino on these grounds; most of that property had been demolished in 1998.

Opening the rebuilt Aladdin

The new Aladdin arrived with a large hotel, casino, the Desert Passage shopping complex and a refurbished performing-arts theater. Its public opening was delayed until the morning of August 18. The theater was a surviving link to the old resort, rather than proof that the new hotel tower was the same building. It had first opened as the Aladdin Theater for the Performing Arts in 1976.

Bankruptcy and a new direction

Financial trouble followed quickly. The new Aladdin entered Chapter 11 in September 2001. A later company filing records OpBiz completing its acquisition on September 1, 2004, and planning to transform the property through renovation, Planet Hollywood branding and a memorabilia licence. That completed transaction is distinct from the earlier bankruptcy sale process.

Becoming Planet Hollywood

By 2007, the resort’s presentation had shifted from the Aladdin’s Arabian Nights theme to a film-and-celebrity identity. The operator’s tenth-anniversary account recalls the opening celebrations and reports another round of room changes in 2017. This was a reworking of the resort built in 2000, not another demolition of the hotel.

Company and theater changes

Harrah’s acquired the company owning and operating Planet Hollywood in February 2010, bringing it into the business that became today’s Caesars Entertainment. The older performing-arts venue continued to change too: in 2013 Caesars announced its renovation and AXIS name, with a Live Nation partnership and Britney Spears engagement. Current operator material calls the venue PH Live. It is distinct from the later Criss Angel Theater.

The continuing resort

Planet Hollywood resumed gaming operations on October 8, 2020, following the pandemic closure; hotel stays initially returned on weekends. That was a reopening arrangement for that period, not today’s schedule. The operator’s August 2026 fact sheet confirms the continuing hotel-casino at 3667 South Las Vegas Boulevard, surrounded by Miracle Mile Shops. The retained historical November 2007 photograph records the early Planet Hollywood exterior, including historical advertising.

  1. The two generations of Aladdin

  2. The delayed August 2000 opening

  3. The completed acquisition and planned conversion

  4. The 2007 brand and 2017 room changes

  5. The 2010 Harrah’s acquisition

  6. The theater’s continuing history

  7. The October 2020 reopening

  8. Planet Hollywood in August 2026

  9. The mapped site area

  10. The dated photograph

What remains uncertain

  • The 2000 rebuilt Aladdin and 1966 original Aladdin are separate property histories, connected by site replacement and a retained theater. The Planet Hollywood name is a later renovation/rename of the 2000 resort.
  • A planned August 17, 2000 opening was delayed; contemporary actual opening and primary company commencement date are August 18.
  • UNLV summarizes a 2003 bankruptcy sale, while the company filing records the completed acquisition on September 1, 2004. The completion date is selected, without treating court approval and closing as identical.
  • The retained performing-arts venue and the later Criss Angel Theater are distinct. Historical shows and the 2007 photograph do not prove current availability.

This site through time

Replaced Aladdin Hotel and Casino

2000

The original Aladdin closed in November 1997 and most of its buildings were removed in 1998. A rebuilt Aladdin opened on the grounds in August 2000, retaining and remodeling the performing-arts theater. That later resort became Planet Hollywood in 2007 through renovation and a name change. This is a rebuilt successor with a surviving theater, not an unchanged 1966 hotel renamed Planet Hollywood.

Historical source — UNLV PH-00184 Historical Note distinguishes original resort, 1998 demolition with retained theater/sign, August 2000 successor and 2007 Planet Hollywood name. Contemporary April 28, 1998 demolition report and August 18, 2000 actual opening report corroborate rebuilding. Caesars December 19, 2013 theater account traces the surviving venue to July 1976. Primary BH/RE 2004 filing establishes completed purchase September 1, 2004, correcting the institutional summary’s loose 2003 sale wording.

  • 2000 is the rebuilt successor’s opening year, not the original closure or demolition date.
  • The theater was retained and remodeled; this does not mean the old hotel tower or entire original casino footprint survived.
  • A later Criss Angel Theater is distinct from the retained performing-arts venue now called PH Live.
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