As if there weren’t already enough reasons to get irrationally hysterical about the Encore opening

The marquee that once flashed “Cold Beers and Dirty Girls” has sat unplugged since the New Frontier’s closing on July 16, 2007. The empty lot where the casino and hotel once stood sits directly across from the Wynn Las Vegas and the $2.3 billion Encore Las Vegas, which opens Dec. 22.

The sign was taken by the request of Steve Wynn and we were happy to accommodate. The sign is being taken down by his design and development group -- we just gave them permission to come on the property,” said Joe McIntyre, construction manager of ELAD Las Vegas.

First off, at the first page, there is a neat little promo clip about the new hotel. But it is so big it takes a LONG time to load and even after waiting, it did not play smoothly, as it kept loading and pausing as it played. After ending, it went right to the site, and I did not have an option to rewind it to see it play smoothly.

An even bigger disappointment was the regular site itself. After waiting a long time for the opening promo movie to load, then seeing a choppy presentation, I had to wait again for the site itself to load. And what did I get for my trouble? Nothing. I could not access any of the links on the page. Instead if I tried to choose option like "Reservations" I saw only a warning window demanding I turn off my pop up blocker before I could see any more of the site.