During our stay in Las Vegas, we visited several museums. After those in our “to do list” like Madame Tussauds, Shark Reef Aquarium or the Titanic Museum, we tried a very famous and debatable exhibition: Bodies The Exhibition.
Bodies The Exhibition in Las Vegas: what is it?
Bodies is a very successful exhibition. Since its creation, more than 15 million visitors have seen it.
The objective of the museum is to show real bodies without their skin. You can see how the human being is made “inside”. Among the human parts, you will discover:
- A skeleton on a bicycle that shows the muscles working
- An elongated body cut into slices
- A muscular body of a person throwing a baseball
- Organs of people suffering from cancer or obesity
- …
This description is far from complete. From a single organ to a whole body (the museum has 13 whole bodies and 260 organs), from head to toe, Bodies The Exhibition is meant to be complete.
In which hotel can you see Bodies The Exhibition?
Bodies The Exhibition is in the Luxor Casino Hotel. Easily recognizable by its pyramidal appearance, this hotel is on the south side of the Strip between the Mandalay Bay and the Excalibur.
Note that there is a similar exhibit in another Las Vegas hotel (Bally’s).
How much does it cost to visit the Bodies exhibit?
The price of admission to Bodies The Exhibition is $32 excluding taxes.
For a child between the ages of 4 and 12, the price is $24. For a younger child, admission is free.
Audioguides are available for $5.
If, like us, you plan to see both Luxor museums (Bodies + Titanic), a special price of $42 for both tickets offers a great discount.
Check out the current price on GetyourGuide.
What are the opening hours of the Bodies The Exhibition museum?
From early September to mid-November, the museum is open from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The rest of the year, it is open from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Why were we not excited about Bodies The Exhibition?
The reviews we read about Bodies The Exhibition are excellent. Whether it’s on Google, TripAdvisor or other websites rating activities, I only see ratings above 4/5. Yet, we didn’t hate the tour, but we didn’t love it either.
Not having gone to medical school, I had never seen body parts cut up and displayed like that. The learning objective is partly fulfilled if you are interested in the subject. The signs give you a maximum of information.
The number of “parts” is high, so you see many limbs and organs in one visit. Some of them highlight health issues such as obesity and smoking. This serves an useful preventive purpose.
Nevertheless, I was not fascinated. I know that some visitors are a bit shocked by the sight of real emaciated bodies. This was not my feelings. Having worked in the police force in the past, I have seen some difficult scenes, so seeing Bodies The Exhibition was not a scary or upsetting experience.
However, despite the declared desire to teach the visitors the constitution of the body, it is more an exhibition mixing morbidity and voyeurism than of a scientific popularization. You see body parts, then body parts, then an entire body, then another… You come out of there with no more knowledge (or, we were bad students).
Of course, if you like the idea of taking a selfie with a dead body or trying to disgust your colleagues, it does the job, but otherwise…
Amélie shares my negative opinion of Bodies The Exhibition, so there are at least two of us who didn’t like the visit.
The positive reviews given to Bodies and our opinion are at odds. So, if you are hesitant to see the exhibition, the attractive price, especially if you also visit the Titanic museum, should convince you. Maybe you will end up satisfied like most visitors or maybe you will leave disappointed and questioning the interest like we did!
As a professional blogger, I take advantage of my flexible schedule to travel a lot. I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list!