Unfortunately, I'm too young to remember Fremont Street when it was still in the raw. I look at all of the great old neon signage here, now protected forever by a steel and LED canopy and feel very conflicted. While I'd rather see things the way they used to be, I know in my heart that many of these casinos might not have survived the last couple economic downturns if it weren't for the Disney-fication of the district. I still enjoy heading 'downtown' to visit some of the few remaining classic casino floors and love the 'real people' you get to see here. But the ziplining among the sea of celebrity impersonators and teenage kids makes me wish I could simply pass from one casino to the other without needing the ever-so-slight buzzkill of walking outside.
That said, the light show was pretty cool the first time I saw it.