Including the recent opening of Palazzo on the Strip, Las Vegas has a busier-than-usual year in store. Expected casino openings in 2008 include Cosmopolitan, Cannery East and Aliante Station, as well as the Trump Tower and Palms Place condos. There's also a full slate of scheduled expansions and redevelopment. Forming what's being called Las Vegas' fourth wave of growth will be the 2009 openings of M Resort, Encore, Fontainebleau, and the massive CityCenter, followed in 2010 and beyond by Echelon Place, Crown Las Vegas and the MGM-Dubai World megaresort planned for the west side of the north Strip.

Together, 50,000 or so new rooms are slated to be built on the Strip over the next five years, and these are just the major projects that have been announced.

Trailer Station: If you blinked, you missed it. The shortest-lived casino in Las Vegas history opened for a total of five hours last week in a move necessary to keep a gambling license current. Station Casinos opened a trailer holding 16 working slots in the center of the expansive vacant lot that used to be Castaways. The action extends the license for two years, during which time Station will decide on whether or not to build on the site.

Mamma Mia!: Due to popular demand, the most successful Broadway show to date on the Las Vegas Strip will be extended through Jan. 4, 2009. It was announced a year ago that "Mamma Mia!" would end its Vegas run this summer.

Wrong Paris: A previous column item indicating that Alain Ducasse would take over as head chef at the Eiffel Tower restaurant at Paris Las Vegas was in error. The famous chef has established a restaurant in the real tower, in the real Paris.

Q. Is there a time line for the makeover of the Sahara?

A. Though not mentioned in the roundup above, the Sahara figures to be one of the next casinos to announce big plans, given the stated intentions of its high-powered Los Angeles-based owners. Stay tuned.

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