‘I’m really going to miss this place’: Las Vegas says goodbye to Mirage — PHOTOS, VIDEO

After 34 years, the “Oasis in the Desert” is disappearing from the Las Vegas Strip as The Mirage closed its doors forever on Wednesday.

The mood inside The Mirage early Wednesday was somber as staff, guests and Las Vegas locals all said their final goodbyes to the legendary property known all over the world. Smiles and laughter gave way to tears and hugs.

The Mirage is often referred to as the first mega-resort and is credited with ushering a new era of Las Vegas casinos. A focus on non-gaming amenities, such as entertainment, dining, exotic animals and free attractions, redefined the business model employed by Las Vegas casinos.

Elaine Wynn, former wife of Mirage developer Steve Wynn and the property’s co-founder, said The Mirage provided an opportunity to let imagination run wild.

“This is what we do in Las Vegas,” she said during a Wednesday morning press conference. “We reinvest, we refresh, and we keep Las Vegas as one of the most exciting cities in the entire world for that. We don’t let our buildings get too old, we just let the bosses get too old. Although the Golden Nugget was certainly a wonderful experience, Steve and the rest of us all craved and wanted desperately to join the other guys and gals up here on the Strip in order to do something really spectacular and innovative. And it gave us an opportunity, of course, to let the imagination run wild. And his imagination really did run wild.”

Last volcano show

While the Mirage’s famous volcano show typically runs every hour between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. each day, guests on Tuesday got an extra show. At exactly 11:30 p.m., the volcano erupted for one final three-minute show, and ended with a thundering applause from spectators outside the hotel porte cochere.

The iconic property was shuttered to make way for the construction of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas, which is tentatively scheduled to open in 2027. Hard Rock International, the South Florida-based hospitality, gaming and entertainment conglomerate owned by the Seminole Tribe, purchased The Mirage for $1.1 billion in 2022.

Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International and CEO of Seminole Gaming, the current owners of The Mirage, said Wednesday belonged to the loyal Mirage employees, but he hinted about some of the changes in store for the building.

“The number one question I get about this particular facility is what’s happening with the atrium and what’s happening with the villas,” Allen said Wednesday.

“But we’re not going to tell you what’s happening with the atrium, but we will tell you that the villas are staying. We know that as part of the legacy of this amazing building. We’ll certainly update the interiors and as we think about the iconic individuals, both celebrities and not, the businessmen, politicians and influencers that have stayed in those legendary buildings, we’ve got to do something that is very important to keep the heritage of this destination.”

Allen said work would begin Thursday on the transition.

Closure comes at a cost

The decision to close The Mirage will come at a cost. More than 3,000 employees — several of whom have been at the property since it opened on Nov. 22, 1989 — will be out of work. Union employees are receiving compensation packages tied to their seniority and years of service.

Employees like Jouquin, a bartender with 28 years at The Mirage, who said he was looking forward to a vacation.

“I’m taking my family to Mexico,” he said with a huge smile.

Last call was made just before midnight on Tuesday. With no more alcohol available, the crowd at The Mirage started thinning out. Most table games were shut down by 12:30 a.m. Just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, the last craps table at The Mirage was closed.

At 1:30 a.m., casino operations staff started asking slot players to cash out. By 2:15 a.m., the gaming floor at The Mirage, once the most vibrant and lively location in all of Las Vegas, was essentially empty. The doors of the Mirage were expected to be boarded up Wednesday night.

“I’m really going to miss this place,” said a table games dealer, who declined to give her name because she didn’t have permission to speak with the media. “A lot of the people here are like family to me,” she began before starting to tear up. “I can’t believe I won’t be coming back here anymore.

The new Hard Rock casino hotel will add approximately 1.1 million square feet to the existing footprint of The Mirage. The current hotel will be completely renovated while a 660-foot-tall guitar shaped hotel will be constructed closer to Las Vegas Boulevard.

When the new property opens in three years, Hard Rock officials estimate that close to 6,000 jobs will be available.

Richard N. Velotta contributed to this report.