Address: 3930 Las Vegas Blvd. So., Shop 101
Pricing: $20 before 6 p.m.; $30 after 6 p.m.; $100 VIP
Phone: (702) 632-7714
Hours: 10 a.m.to 3 a.m. daily
How To Get There:
From the McCarran International Airport, head east on Wayne Newton Blvd. Turn slightly left at S. Swenson St. After 1.5 miles, turn left onto E. Tropicana Ave. (Nevada State Road 593). Turn left onto S. Las Vegas Blvd. (Nevada State Road 604 S./The Strip). Make a slight right onto Mandalay Bay Road and then, almost immediately, a left. Located on Las Vegas Blvd. between Russell and Tropicana.
Parking:Valet parking (or Mandalay Bay West self-parking g
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Minus 5 is a great place to chill out
It’s 94 degrees in Las Vegas.. Do you know where your parka is?
Actually, it’s waiting for you inside Minus 5, the first permanent ice lounge in the United States. Located in Mandalay Place adjacent to Mandalay Bay, Minus 5 Ice Lounge is a true Arctic experience in the midst of the desert, an icy wonderland of intricately hand-crafted ice sculptures and architecture.
At this vodka bar, everything from the counter bar to the seating and chandelier are carved from ice. There's even an ice chapel (complete with stained "ice" windows) in the back where folks can get married in an "ice wedding" -- if they don’t get “cold feet,” that is!
"Our focus at Minus 5 is the art of ice,” said founder and president, Craig Ling, who created the concept and opened the first Minus 5 in 2002 in his native New Zealand. “We have our own ice carvers who change the lounge and sculptures every six to eight weeks. We can also tailor-make sculptures for any function or event -- anything from a company logo to an actual-sized replica automobile that you can sit (on). The possibilities for the Minus 5 ice experience are only limited by your imagination.”
Guests enter into the reception area of Minus 5, where they pay for their tickets and are greeted by women dressed in parkas and snow-white Russian trooper hats. There patrons are given parkas and gloves and booties if they want them. Stage 1 of the experience is the briefing room. Stage 2 is the lock, where people close one door and open another. Stage 3 is Minus 5 itself.
Guests spend 30 minutes inside Minus 5 -- which, true to its name is kept at “minus 5” degrees Celsius, or 23 degrees Fahrenheit. They can have cocktails or mocktails (for non-drinkers) and enjoy the ethereal blue-and-white atmosphere and the ice sculptures. (Because other beverages would freeze, only vodka is served in Minus 5.) Everything's made of carved ice: walls, the bar, seating in the lounge, some leaners and booth seats -- all made of ice! Even the glasses are carved from ice, made from imported New Zealand artesian water.
People can exit through the Minus 5 Lodge, a normal-temperature Aspen-style lodge bar that resembles a rustic mountain ski lodge. There they can enjoy a drink. But it’ll be a cold day when you won’t want to return to Minus 5.
- by Bobbie Katz, Las Vegas Reporter for HelloMetro
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