Harrah's Rio Vista Amphitheater in Laughlin

Harrah's Laughlin Rio Vista Ampitheatre, Laughlin, Nevada

Review and Seating Chart

We recently attended the Jeff Dunham show at the Rio Vista.  This was on June 15th so the temperatures were in the mid 100's during the day and didn't drop much lower by showtime. 
Seating in the red sections is in folding chairs on the floor (parking lot).    Seating in the yellow sections is bleacher seating.  

Our seats were in Section 101 (see the graphic above).  All of the seats have fairly decent sight lines, except for the handicap accessible ones.  They are close to the stage but almost parallel to it for seeing the show. Sections 201, 209 and even 202 and 208 are as good or better for seeing the stage than the deeper rows on the floor.  Except you are on metal bleachers with no backrest.   The best seats in the bleachers are the front row of section 201 and 209.   Seats on the floor start with Row AA and go back to Row EEE.  So, for instance, Row HH would be 8 rows back.  

Both the bleachers and the seats on the floor are very crowded. Too crowded.  On the floor there is perhaps less than a foot of space between the rows.  Your feet have to go under the chair in front of you and if anyone wants to leave the row, everyone has to stand up.  The chairs are laced together with plastic ties so they cannot be moved.  This does not allow any space.  

Chairs tied together

Not alot of room between rows or seats.  Shoulder to Shoulder

The chairs are very narrow even for an average size person.  Even worse for those above average. People are literally shoulder to shoulder unless there is a group of all thinner people together.  When the temperature is in the high 90's and it is near impossible to get up and out of the row without disturbing everyone this makes for an uncomfortable experience.  

We arrived at the Harrah's well ahead of the 8 o'clock show and figured we would eat and then go into our seats around 7:30.  Plenty of time to get a beverage, look at what they might be selling and get seated.  With the temp so high we didn't want to get in there too early.  

Many people must of had the same idea because the line to get in snaked from the theater all the way down to the side door of the Casino.  It took us nearly 25 minutes in the hot sun to get to the gate.  They only had a couple people at each gate and had to scan in every ticket.  The ticket people were moving very slowly and actually had to stop and scan the tickets of people who wanted to go back out too.  They should of had a separate line for people going out and reentry but we didn't see one.  The problem compounding this was that the portable bathrooms and the vendor selling T-Shirts, dolls, etc...were located OUTSIDE the gate.  We didn't want to lose our spot on the line to look at what they were selling or use the bathroom or even get a drink.  At least they did have a concession inside and outside the gate.   When we did get in the gate the line was too long for a drink and we figured the show would be starting soon.  

We found our seats by matching up the painted row numbers to the rows of chairs.  Chairs didn't seem to be marked with numbers so we had to count in.   Once in we didn't even get back out despite really wanting to get something to drink.    Then minutes before the show was supposed to start they announced it would be delayed to allow more people still in line to get in.   Certainly this is not the first show they have held there, though perhaps it is one of the only ones they have sold out?!  Still, this is no excuse not to be able to handle the crowds, provide better logistics and a better experience. 

The Harrah's website says the amphitheater seats 3000.  Perhaps they either need to expand it and provide more space in the seating or cut that back the number of seats to 2500 and give people more room.   They should want people to be comfortable and have easier access to the concessions and vendors.   If they cannot manage to do this they should also rethink summer time use of the venue. 

Have you been the the Rio Vista?  Did you attend the Jeff Dunham show?  What was your experience and how did you like it?  We would love to hear your review or comments.   Comment below or visit us on Facebook or our Website and contact us. 

The show itself was wonderful.  We enjoyed it.  The Rio Vista not so much.  

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Even one of Jeff Dunham's "dummies" pointed out the perfectly nice 

Hotel in the background with the Air Conditioning as place to hold the show!