After the film Honey, I shrunk the kids, about an absent-minded professor who accidentally shrinks his children with a machine he invented, became a huge success, a sequel was inevitable. As the title HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID suggests, now one of the children grows to giant proportions.
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| Honey, I blew up the kid, 0:19:47 |
Inventor Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) has further developed his machine that can shrink objects and is now working on a machine that can enlarge objects in a laboratory in Vista del Mar, Nevada. With his wife Diane (Marcia Strassman), he now has a third child, Adam, played by twins Daniel and Joshua Shalikar. Wayne wants to test his invention on Adam's toy rabbit but accidentally the toddler is touched by the machine’s laser beam.
Soon, Adam starts growing and gets bigger and bigger each time he is exposed to electricity. Even before Wayne can shrink him again, a giant Adam leaves the house and walks to Las Vegas.
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| 5100 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, 11 July 2023 |
The movie was filmed between 17 June and 10 October 1991. Locations include Simi Valley, California, and the Disney Studios in both Burbank and Orlando. In July that year, shooting took place in Las Vegas. Streets were closed off in the area around Fremont Street, the historic centre of the gambling city where many casinos are located. We have been here twice, first in September 1996 and again in July 2023.
Since 7 September 1994, Fremont Street is only open to pedestrians. The street received a canopy a year later, on which light shows can be seen. It is now known as The Fremont Street Experience. In 1996 shows were on at certain times only, now all kinds of adds are projected continuously. Fremont Street is first seen in the film when police cars drive down the street to warn people that a giant toddler is approaching. On the 1996 photo, the Plaza hotel can still be seen through the canopy in the background. Casino Sassy Sally's has been called Mermaids since 1999.
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| Honey, I blew up the kid, 1:03:54 |
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| Fremont Street, Las Vegas, 29 September 1996 |
Most striking is Vegas Vic at 25 East Fremont Street, a 40-foot (12 metres) neon sign portraying a cowboy. Vegas Vic was erected in 1951 to promote casino The Pioneer Club. Today, the location is home to a souvenir shop of the same name. As seen in the film when Adam walks up to the billboard, Vegas Vic originally moved an arm and greeted passengers with ‘Howdy partner!’ every 15 minutes. These features have been disabled for years. In July 2023, the billboard, now considered part of Las Vegas' cultural heritage, was completely restored.
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| Honey, I blew up the kid, 1:04:39 |
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| Fremont Street, Las Vegas, 10 July 2023 |
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| Honey, I blew up the kid, 1:04:59 |
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| Fremont Street, Las Vegas, 10 July 2023 |
In 1980, Vegas Vic got a female counterpart, Vegas Vickie, who also appears in the film. She moved her leg and advertised the Girls of Glitter Gulch strip club at 8 Fremont Street. She disappeared in 2017 when the club was demolished. Since 2020, a restored Vegas Vickie is on display inside the Circa, a resort and casino built on the site of the strip club.
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| Honey, I blew up the kid, 1:10:40 |
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| Fremont Street, Las Vegas, 29 September 1996 |
The scene where Adam walks down Fremont Street are obviously made with visual effects but his shoes and pants were recreated in enlarged form for the moments that are set on the street.
It is nice that a city preserves its history but this street mostly exudes past glory. Vagrants beg in designated circles. Half-naked ladies try to lure you to their strip shows and loud music is blaring everywhere.
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| Honey, I blew up the kid, 1:07:07 |
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| Fremont Street, Las Vegas, 10 July 2023 |
In between, Adam also strolls briefly to Circus Circus, a hotel and casino at 2880 South Las Vegas Boulevard. In reality, it takes an hour to walk here. We took a taxi but had to make quite a detour because of the preparations for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Many roads in and around the city were being renovated. The Circus Circus casino is shaped like a circus tent and opened in 1968. A 123 feet (nearly 40 metres) billboard depicting Lucky the clown as the mascot was erected at the entrance in 1976. After we took photos here, I found out the next day that we were on the wrong side of the sign. We went back the next day during the day to take a picture from Circus Circus Drive.
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| Honey, I blew up the kid, 1:07:02 |
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| Circus Circus, Las Vegas, 10 July 2023 |
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| Circus Circus, Las Vegas, 11 July 2023 |
Screenshots © The Walt Disney Company
