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MGM Grand Las Vegas

Coordinates: 36°06′08″N 115°10′10″W / 36.102220°N 115.169516°W / 36.102220; -115.169516
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This article is about the current MGM Grand in Las Vegas. For the first casino hotel with that name, see MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.
MGM Grand Las Vegas
File:MGM Grand logo.png
Address 3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
Opening dateDecember 18, 1993
ThemeHollywood/Cosmopolitian
No. of rooms6,852
Total gaming space171,500 sq ft (15,930 m2)
Permanent showsKÀ
Crazy Horse Paris
Signature attractionsLion Habitat
CBS Television City
Tabu
Rainforest Café
Studio 54
Notable restaurantsJoël Robuchon at The Mansion
Emeril's
Nobhill
Craftsteak
Casino typeLand
OwnerMGM Mirage
Previous namesMarina
MGM-Marina
Renovated in2005
WebsiteMGM Grand Las Vegas Website

The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a luxury hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip, which opened as a Hollywood themed resort. The MGM Grand Las Vegas is the second largest hotel in the world and second largest hotel resort complex in the United States behind The Venetian.[1][2] The MGM Grand was the largest hotel in the world when it opened in 1993.

Owned and operated by MGM Mirage, a publicly traded company, the 30-floor main building is 293 feet (89 m) high and features five outdoor pools, rivers, and waterfalls that cover 6.6 acres (2.7 hectare),[3] a 380,000 sq ft (35,000 m2) convention center, the MGM Grand Garden Arena, CBS Television City, and the Grand Spa. It also houses numerous shops and night clubs, 16 restaurants, and the largest casino in Clark County, which occupies 171,500 sq ft (15,930 m2).

The hotel rooms are located in several buildings including:

  • The main hotel building, with 5,044 rooms (4,293 rooms and 751 suites)[4]
  • The three The Signature at MGM Grand towers each with 576 suites (designed by Bergman Walls Associates)
  • SKYLOFTS at MGM Grand with 51 lofts
  • The Mansion at MGM Grand with 29 villas

It is one of the three[citation needed] large hotels in Las Vegas that has a 13th floor.[citation needed]

Located on the Tropicana - Las Vegas Boulevard intersection, pedestrians are not allowed to cross at street level. Instead, the MGM Grand is linked by overhead pedestrian bridges to its neighboring casinos: to the south across Tropicana Avenue, the Tropicana, and to the west across the Strip, the New York-New York.

Marina Hotel

The Marina Hotel, located at 3805 Las Vegas Boulevard, opened in 1975 as a 714 room hotel and casino. In 1989 Kirk Kerkorian bought the Marina Hotel and the Tropicana Country Club to obtain the site that would become the home of the MGM Grand. During that time, the Marina was known as the MGM-Marina Hotel.[5][6][7]

Ground was broken on October 7, 1991 for then new casino hotel complex. The Marina closed on November 30, 1991. The Marina hotel building still exists as the western end of the main hotel building.[5][6]

History

On February 23, 1993, MGM celebrated a "topping off" ceremony with the placement of the last panel of emerald green glass hoisted onto one of the 30-story hotel towers. A total of 5,005 green balloons were released, each containing a gift certificate valid for one complimentary stay in one of the rooms.

When the latest MGM Grand opened on December 18, 1993, it was owned by MGM Grand Inc. At that time it had an extensive Wizard of Oz theme, including the green "Emerald City" color of the building and the decorative use of Wizard of Oz memorabilia. After entering the casino's main entrance, you would find yourself in the Oz Casino and facing the "Emerald City". Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion were seen in front of the city. The "Emerald City" attraction featured an elaborate yellow brick road walk through. Complete with a cornfield, an apple orchard, the haunted forest as well as audio-animatronic figures of the Scarecrow, Dorothy, the Wicked Witch of the West, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. It would end at the door of the city, leading inside for a performance of "The Wizard's Secreats". The Oz Casino also featured the "Emerald City Gift Shop" and the "Oz Buffet". When the MGM Grand began its extensive refurbishment in 1996, the Oz Casino was the first to go. The Emerald City was completely demolished, the "Oz Buffet" became the "Grand Buffet", and the "Emerald City Gift Shop" was moved to a new shopping section of the casino. The store remained open until early 2003.

The MGM Grand was the home of the long-running production show EFX from 1995 until 2002.

Originally, the main entrance on the Strip was inside the mouth of a giant cartoon-like version of MGM's mascot, Leo the Lion, but this entrance feature was changed to a more traditional entrance; many Chinese gamblers avoided the casino or entered through the back entrance, due to the feng shui belief that entering the mouth of the lion was "bad luck."[8] In 1998, a large bronze statue of Leo was added above the entrance to keep with the MGM Lion theme, while not scaring away their more superstitious guests. The statue weighs 50 tons, and at 45 feet (14 m) tall, on a 25-foot pedestal, is the largest bronze statue in the U.S. [4]

Leo, the MGM lion bravely guards the entrance to the MGM Grand Las Vegas.

When the MGM Grand opened, the intention was to create the first true destination hotel in the Las Vegas area by including the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park behind the casino. The plan was to make the Las Vegas Strip more family friendly by providing activities for children who were too young to be allowed to linger inside the casino. The theme park performed poorly, and did not reopen for the 2001 season. On December 5, 2002, MGM Mirage announced that the former theme park would be developed as a luxury condominium and hotel complex called The Signature.

A monorail was built to connect the MGM Grand to Bally's in 1995. The coming out party for the monorail on behalf of Bally's consisted of showgirls and guys from Jubilee helping the groups to the monorail. Characters from the Wizard of Oz greeted the groups on the MGM side. The track was later updated to became the southernmost section of the Las Vegas Monorail. The station was refurbished, the trains were replaced with Bombardier M-VI's, and the track was extended beyond the southern station to provide for track switching for the trains as well as a starting point for a potential future southern extension to the monorail line.

MGM Grand today, with sign promoting it as The City of Entertainment

In 2000, in an attempt to appeal to a more "mature" clientèle, the hotel underwent a major renovation and almost all traces of the "Oz" theme were removed. The theme is now more of the Art Deco era of classic Hollywood and the hotel started billing itself as The City of Entertainment. More recently, the resort has used the phrase, "Maximum Vegas" referring to the vast amount of activities MGM Grand offers its guest.

On April 26, 2000, MGM opened a new satellite registration/hotel check-in center at the McCarran International Airport. This is the first of its kind opened by a hotel company at any United States airport.[9]

In 2005, MGM opened the "West Wing," a renovation of the original Marina Hotel rooms.

Film history

Imitating the film Coyote Ugly, bartenders dance on the bar at Centrifuge besides the Sports and Race Book.

Media

A parody of the MGM Grand was featured in the BMX video game Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2. Leo the Lion was replaced with dragons.

The MGM Grand was among many casinos the MIT Blackjack Team gambled at in the book Bringing Down The House.

Signature attractions

The Lion Habitat in the MGM Grand
  • MGM Grand features a glass-sided lion habitat inside the casino area, in which up to six lions are shown every day. A see-through tunnel runs through the habitat for close-up viewing. The lions are owned by Keith Evans, a trainer of exotic animals, and do not live at the habitat, but at his ranch 12 miles (19 km) outside Las Vegas.[4]
  • The resort is home to Cirque du Soleil's production KÀ.
  • Crazy Horse Paris, renamed from La Femme in 2007, a production which "celebrates the artistry of the nude"[4] from the Crazy Horse in Paris, has its own theater at MGM Grand. All 13 ballet-trained dancers in the show are members of the original Paris troupe.[citation needed]
  • Studio 54 (Las Vegas), a recreation of New York's Studio 54 nightclub.
  • the Hollywood Theatre, home to America's first showing of Jerry Springer the Opera in 2007
  • From 1996 to 2000, professional wrestling event WCW Halloween Havoc was held at the Garden Arena.

SKYLOFTS at the MGM Grand

SKYLOFTS occupies the top two floors of the MGM Grand's main building. While it operates semi-independently of the main hotel, it effectively serves as the Grand's ultra-luxury penthouses. It is independent enough of the main hotel that the AAA Five Diamond Award[10] was bestowed exclusively on SKYLOFTS rather than on the MGM Grand as a whole. It is also independently a member of The Leading Small Hotels of the World. Amenities include a private elevator, a personal concierge and butler, a large entertainment system that extends throughout the loft, and a luxurious bathroom including a spa-like bathtub and a steam shower.[11]

The Signature at MGM Grand

The Signature at MGM Grand is a condo hotel project, at the MGM Grand, by MGM Mirage and Turnberry Associates teamed up to build the first three Signature at the MGM Grand towers which are now open. A maximum of five towers will be constructed on the site. The 38 story 475-foot (145 m) tall structures have 576 units each and were priced from $450,000 to $1.5 million. Signature is located on the property where the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park once stood. Each tower will have access to MGM Grand pools included.

Show venues

References

  1. ^ What's the largest hotel in the world? - Hotel Hotsheet - USATODAY.com
  2. ^ Business & Technology | Casino owner is tycoon most have never heard of | Seattle Times Newspaper
  3. ^ MGM Grand review on LasVegas.com
  4. ^ a b c d MGM Grand press releases Cite error: The named reference "pr49" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b "The Marina Hotel was Never Destroyed". vegastodayandtomorrow.com. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  6. ^ a b "Marina Hotel and Casino". Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  7. ^ "History of MGM Las Vegas Hotel". earlyvegas.com. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  8. ^ This superstition stems from the phrase "sending a sheep into a lion's [or tiger's] mouth", which implies that a person can be devoured and there is nothing anyone can do about it.[citation needed].
  9. ^ MGM Grand Hotel and Casino: Airport Check-In
  10. ^ AAA Five-Diamond Hotels 2007 - AAA Hotels & Resorts
  11. ^ MGM Grand Hotel and Casino : Skylofts Lofts Suites

36°06′08″N 115°10′10″W / 36.102220°N 115.169516°W / 36.102220; -115.169516

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