Bellagio Conservatory’s Summer Display is Spectacu-rawr

By Scott Roeben, on June 03 2022
5 min read 5 comments
Las Vegas Things to Do in Las Vegas

The Bellagio Conservatory is taking a walk on the wild side with its new display, “Jungle of Dreams.”

The seasonal display features 28 animal sculptures and nearly 10,000 plants and flowers.

There’s fauna to fawn over and flora galora, so let’s dive into the Conservatory’s whimsical new exhibit.

If you really want that flower, you have to pry, mate!

The animal kingdom is teeming with inspiration, at least until humans ruin everything, and the collection of beasts at Bellagio takes full advantage of the diversity of wildlife on Earth.

The East Bed of the Conservatory is the first guests encounter if they come in the main entrance. There are four giraffes and a gazebo. The gazebo is decorated with pineapples, which Bellagio says is a “symbol of hospitality in international cultures.” We’re pretty sure Bellagio is making a play for customers at The Cal and Main Street Station, but that’s just speculation.

Adult giraffes get about 30 minutes of sleep a night, which explains why you’ve never seen one solve a word jumble puzzle.

At the top of the food chain is the “King of the Jungle,” despite the fact everyone knows lionesses do most of the heavy lifting in lion prides.

The Conservatory’s West Bed (the section of the display farthest from the entrance) features a 20-foot-tall lion with a nine-foot-tall cub at its side.

The tallest lion is made from grass seeds, cut oat, wheat and barley seeds. So, basically, if you bake the lion, it’s a breadstick. If you let it ferment, it’s beer.

The lions are a focal point of the Conservatory’s summer display. You know, the mane attraction.

Nearby, there are two colorful flamingos. It’s wonderful to see two competing casino brands (the MGM Resorts logo is a lion, Flamingo’s logo is, well, a flamingo) making nice for the tourists.

Ironically, you can see flamingos at Bellagio, but not at Flamingo. Here’s why.

This part of the exhibit also has a waterfall, a toucan, parrots and an awesome treehouse, complete with furniture and other furnishings. Let’s just say the horticulture team at Bellagio puts a of time and thought into these displays.

That is an impressively large pecker.

Specifically, Bellagio says it took 10,000 person hours to create the “Jungle of Dreams” display.

We would love to live in this treehouse despite the giant hole in the floor.

The North Bed (which we refer to as “the casino side”) has an impressive collection of beasts as well.

This section has a number of monkeys, along with a boat called the Monkey Business.

Given our newest plague is called Monkeypox, monkeys could use a little positive P.R.

One of the monkeys is wearing a Thai crown for no apparent reason.

Thai crowns are all fun and games until somebody puts an eye out.

There are also blue herons. Herons aren’t typically blue, but these are blue because they’re holding their breath waiting for you to laugh at our Monkeypox joke.

There’s also a jaguar resting on a branch thinking about firing his manager because he doesn’t have a sweet nickname like “King of the Jungle.”

Jaguars are crepuscular, which means, “Brits pronounce this animal’s name with three syllables for some reason.

The North Bed has what we think are some new technological enhancements, large video screens. You can see the screens in this quick walk-through of the summer 2022 display at Bellagio.


 

Here’s another look at the video screens, providing an eye-catching sense of movement to an otherwise static display.

Behold, some of the only video screens in Las Vegas without sports on them.

The South Bed is the home of zebra, or possibly zebras, we can never remember how that works.

Once and for all, zebras are black with white stripes. In this case, the stripes are made of rose petals.

There are also some birds of paradise and a giant boa constrictor, which can only lead to trouble if you ask us.

Fun fact: Boas don’t kill through suffocation. They block their prey’s blood flow, causing circulatory arrest. We might have used “fun” a little too loosely there.

It’s worth noting none of the ponds have koi this time around. The South Bed’s pond has smoke, though, so that’s cool.

It was very considerate of Bellagio to keep the koi out of the smoking section.

It’s always fun to rattle off fun facts about the Bellagio Conservatory like we knew this stuff off our head rather than lifting it from a news release, so let’s go!

The zebra or zebras feature 120,000 individually placed rose petals.

And you think you have carpal tunnel?

There are 9,275 plants on display. For this display, the Conservatory went mostly with green stuff, rather than the usual colorful flowers. We like the change of greenery.

The lion’s mane uses 2,500 pampas plumes, whatever those might be.

There are 360 feet of palm tree trunks throughout the display, as well as 50 palm trees.

The numbers, of course, are less important than the impact, and this summer’s Conservatory display is captivating.

One of the best things about Vegas: No mosquitoes!

The Conservatory’s team makes sure every detail is perfect, while integrating myriad constraints we can’t even imagine. We trust there are plants they can’t use in case some bonehead eats them.

Plus, you have to try and not make anyone mad. We can just hear the North Atlantic right whale people now, “Hey, you can’t have lions and zebras without featuring a North Atlantic right whale! They are far more endangered!”

And please don’t get the tooth-billed pigeon people started.

Yes, the monkeys look like they’re ready to mate. Don’t make it awkward.

The summer display is perfect as-is, and it’s still one of the best free things to do in Las Vegas that doesn’t involve penicillin.

The “Jungle of Dreams” display can be viewed through Sep. 10, 2022. The Conservatory is open 24 hours a day.

The fall display runs Sep. 17 to Nov. 12, 2022. The Christmas (sorry, “holiday”) display opens Nov. 19, 2022 and runs through Jan. 7, 2023. The Chinese New Year display (sorry, “Lunar”) is open Jan. 14 to March 11, 2023.

On a related note, how in the hell is is almost 2023 already?

We hope you’ll make time during your next visit stop by the magical summer display at Bellagio’s Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. Our advice is the same as for a Las Vegas buffet. Do one pass through to take in the wonder of it all, then do another time through to take in the details and gorge yourself on happiness.

The Bellagio Conservatory is undeniably a feast for the senses.