We planned a 9am to 5pm day at the Aladdin. Our first adventure was to enter the Desert Passage from the Harmon Avenue entrance. Little did we know this would bring us right into the most dramatic section of the Desert Passage. On weekdays every hour on the hour, and weekends every half hour the Rainstorm arrives. It starts with a few rumblings of thunder and flashes of lightening. These build and intensify as sprinkles of rain progress to a downpour. The odd thing is the rain only falls in the harbor. OK, there is some overspray into the walkway, but no one gets drenched. There are 140 stores and 10 restaurants that make up the Desert passage. All store exteriors follow the desert metropolis theme. Even the restrooms are decorated with Arabic-Moorish style. In the Ladies, each stall had a tiled niche with scrolled plaster frame and a wrought iron guardrail to be used for your purse or packages. Our favorite stores were the Metropolitan Museum of Art Shope, Dept. 56, Hilo Hatties, Sur La Table, Discovery Channel Store, and Showcase Slots.

We found out that Las Vegas has a high population of relocated Hawaiians. This is evident in the Fremont Street area where some hotels have luaus, and many Hawaiian employees. On The Strip a replica of Waikiki’s International Market is tucked in near the Harley-Davidson Café. At the Aladdin there were three Hawaiian based shops. The first two are Hilo Hattie’s and ABC Store. The third is a restaurant called Cheeseburger Las Vegas. In Hawaii we had eaten at Cheeseburger in Paradise on two islands. All three restaurants were founded on the theory that what all the world really needed was a good five-napkin cheeseburger. We had lunch there for two for $30. Décor is Polynesian; the food is generous in portion and usually has some Hawaiian tie-in such as pineapple, coconut, or macadamia nut. My teriyaki burger had Mac nut coleslaw on the side.

Casino time! During the afternoon we discovered the joys of slot machines. After we spent our gambling allowance we returned to the Merchants Harbor. We bought coffee and enormous Napoleon pastries at the Merchant Harbor Coffee House. We enjoyed this $13 treat at a Harbor side table during a Rainstorm. It was amusing to watch the reaction of shoppers who didn’t know about the Rainstorm.

A few days later we returned to the Aladdin for a morning of casino play. This was followed by lunch at Max’s Café. This place was a good find. Five minutes before they opened a long line spontaneously formed at the hostess desk. I would say the word is out on this bargain. They had several $3.99 entrees on the menu. Their motto is "gourmet food cheap." The two of us were able to have a hearty main course and dessert for $22.00 total (including the tip).

We visited in November 2005. With more than 130 shops set in a climate-controlled dessert, what girl wouldn't be in heaven? The facade around all the shops looks like you are truly in the desert, with a "Vegas Sky" painted on the ceiling. There are affordable and exorbitant shops intermingled along this mall. This is where I fell in love with Sephora, by far the neatest cosmetic store I've ever seen. The greatest thing is that you can test EVERYTHING! Anyone would feel welcome in there, too, unlike Yves Chantre, where I feel like I need to be wearing my Prada to enter.

This is a really neat place to spend an afternoon. It is not as busy as the Forum Shops at Caesar's. There is entertainment along your journey in the Passage as well. There are contortionists, jazz pianists, acrobatic body balancing, and even a live rainstorm with thunder lightning, pouring rain, and a cloud burst! There is plenty to fill your tummy after a hard day of shopping, too. There is everything, from gelato and paninis at Aromi d' Italia to a cheeseburger at the Oasisi. If you are in the mood for more, check out the Spice Market Buffet, my best pick for buffets in Vegas. I liked this passage of shops; however, if you can only hit one mall in Vegas, let it be the Forum at Caesar's. This mall is a bit more budget conscience for those who spent it all at the black jack table, though.

The Desert Passage is a shopping mall which adjoins the Aladdin hotel. It forms a large circle of shops, restaurants with spurs off and is themed throughout as a North African market place. There are appox 150 shops, about 10 restaurants and even has a nightclub and theatre. It is approximately a mile long and pedicabs are available if you don’t feel like walking. (Men & women who have carriages on the back of their bikes ferry you around for the price of a tip.)

The ceiling is a sky mural, so you think you are outside (well, sort of), there are elephants coming out of the walls, ships "sailing" down the corridors and cobbled floors.

One section of the mall has an area called Merchants Harbor in which they recreate a thunderstorm – remember this is inside! The sound is quite realistic which thunder clapping getting louder & louder, until finally fading away. Streaks of lightening flash down from the sky and rain falls over an indoor river. This takes place every hour on the hour in the week and ever half hour at weekends.

This is a very nice shopping mall, one of the best in Vegas. There are many specialty shops such as the The Cheesecake Factory, Hawaiian shops, Surfing shops, health & beauty, photo, children’s, jewellery, memorabilia etc.

Well worth a visit, even if you are not actually staying at the Aladdin.

TIP: Take a walk round in the morning before it actually opens. You will hear all the sound effects of a market and people calling out across the balconies etc. It is a nice touch that you will miss during the day when it is busy and noisy.

As a mall, it's nice, but as a piece of art work it's fantastic. Each of the shops sticks to the stated themes on the exterior and the stylization throughout is extremely well done. It's a mile long and divided into several zones with a different theme.