SURF, DYLAN HEAD TO DESERT.

Byline: Robert Macy Associated Press 

Surfing waves 6 feet high in the desert. Bob Dylan. The Blues Brothers.

They're the latest attractions headed for the Las Vegas Strip as the city's newest megaresort - Mandalay Bay - undergoes finishing touches for its March 2 opening.

Hundreds of workers are swarming through the 43-story, $1 billion project, laying carpet, planting tropical landscaping and fiddling with ornate statuary.

``We're in pretty good shape,'' Glenn Schaeffer, president of parent Circus Enterprises Inc., said with one month until the opening.

He stepped over electrical cords and wound his way through a maze of construction equipment at the theme resort - part Polynesian, Bali and Caribbean - that will compete for the spotlight in the months ahead. The Venetian will open April 14, the Resort at Summerlin later in the spring, Paris-Las Vegas in September and the new Aladdin in the spring of 2000.

The new hotels come at a time when the visitor count is flat at about 30.6 million annually. Resort officials hope the new properties will boost the count, as did The Mirage in 1989 and Luxor, Treasure Island and MGM Grand in late 1993.

Schaeffer pointed out a bar where guests will be surrounded by an aquarium featuring black sharks, the Rum Jungle bar where patrons will walk through a wall of fire to enter, elegant restaurants overlooking an 11-acre lake and the 130,000-square-foot casino with intricate woodworking and other luxury.

Schaeffer said championship surfing will take place on the lake, where a machine will produce waves.

Music will be a key element of the 60-acre resort on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip.

On the back side of the hotel, workers were placing seats in the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center. A venue for major sports events and superstar concerts, the center will be christened April 10 with a concert by opera star Luciano Pavarotti.

Nearby, work continued on the 1,700-seat Mandalay Bay Theatre, which will feature the six-time Tony Award winning musical ``Chicago.''

And in the heart of the hotel, the Los Angeles-based House of Blues is completing a 2,000-seat theater that will feature the Blues Brothers - Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi and John Goodman - at a March 2 VIP grand opening party. Rock legend Bob Dylan will follow with a midnight concert.

In addition, a shopping mall of 1 million square feet is under construction between Mandalay Bay and Luxor, with the opening set for the fall of 2000.

The hotel is sold out for its opening, Schaeffer said. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts will manage 424 of the 3,700 rooms and suites. The Four Seasons will have its own entrance, pool and bank of elevators to the 35th through 39th floors, which will be Four Seasons exclusively.

Rooms in the Four Seasons will average about $200 a night, while Mandalay Bay will be closer to $110. Luxor, the pyramid-shaped neighbor, averages $85 to $90 a night. The average room price on the Strip is about $80, Schaeffer said.

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PHOTO (Color) Glenn Schaeffer heads the parent company for the $1 billion Mandalay Bay resort booked to open March 2 in Las Vegas.

Jeff Scheid/Associated Press