MGM Grand Las Vegas

This article is about the current MGM Grand in Las Vegas. For the first casino hotel with that name, see Bally's Las Vegas.

MGM Grand Las Vegas
Address	3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
Opening date	December 18, 1993
Theme	Africa Hollywood
No. of rooms	6,852
Total gaming space	171,500 sq ft (15,930 m2)
Permanent shows	Kà Crazy Horse Paris
Signature attractions	Lion Habitat Tabu "CSI:The Experience" Studio 54
Notable restaurants	Joël Robuchon L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Emeril's Nobhill by Michael Mina Craftsteak Wolfgang Puck Fiamma Pearl Seablue Shibuya
Casino type	Land
Owner	MGM Resorts International
Previous names	Marina MGM-Marina
Years renovated	1996, 2005, 2012
Website	www.mgmgrand.com

The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the third largest hotel in the world and the largest hotel resort complex in the United States, ahead of The Venetian. When it opened in 1993, the MGM Grand was the largest hotel in the world.

Owned and operated by MGM Resorts International, the 30-floor main building is 293 ft (89 m) high. The property includes five outdoor pools, rivers, and waterfalls that cover 6.6 acres (2.7 ha), a 380,000 sq ft (35,000 m²) convention center, the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the Grand Spa. It also houses numerous shops and night clubs, 19 restaurants, and the largest casino in Clark County, which occupies 171,500 sq ft (15,930 m²).

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.

Ground was broken on October 7, 1991, for the new casino hotel complex. The Marina closed on November 30, 1990. The Marina hotel building still exists as the western end of the main hotel building.

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, one would find themselves 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 Secrets". When the MGM Grand began its extensive refurbishment in 1996, the Oz Casino was the first to go. The Emerald City was completely demolished, and the "Emerald City Gift Shop" was moved to a new shopping section of the casino. The store remained open until early 2003.

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." 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.

A statue of Leo, the MGM lion

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.

Poker Room in the MGM Grand

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" clientele, 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.

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

Beginning in October 2011, MGM began its "Grand Renovation" in which all of its rooms and suites in the main tower were fully renovated, along with the casino floor and other public areas. This has provided the hotel with a more modern appeal with its contemporary room design. The work was completed in September 2012.

Film history

• The MGM Grand was featured prominently in the 1996 boxing comedy The Great White Hype.
• The MGM Grand was one of the casinos that Danny Ocean and his crew robbed in the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven. A staged unification match between heavyweight champions Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko was prominently featured in the film.
• Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and his family play a game of Keno in the final scenes of Vegas Vacation alongside a character played by Sid Caesar. Keno is no longer offered at the casino.
• The MGM Grand's Wizard of Oz theme is referenced in the 1996 film Swingers as the friend of the waitress that Trent picks up works as "a Dorothy."

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.

Attractions

The Lion Habitat in the MGM Grand

• MGM Grand featured a glass-sided lion habitat inside the casino area, in which up to six lions were shown daily since 1999. A see-through tunnel ran through the habitat for close-up viewing where the lions would frequently lounge on top of the glass allowing visitors to walk under them. The lions were owned by Keith Evans, a trainer of exotic animals, and did not live at the habitat, but at his ranch 12 miles (19 km) outside Las Vegas. The lion habitat closed permanently in February 2012 as part of MGM's Grand Renovation.
• CSI: The Experience opened in the Studio Walk in September 2009. Here, guests try to solve one of three murder cases interactively, guided by touch screen stations, cast member videos, and realistic recreated evidence. The first stop is a debriefing room where Gil Grissom introduces the "new recruits" to their assigned cases. After observing the evidence at the crime scene, visitors go to lab areas where they analyze the gathered evidence. They then present their findings in Grissom's office, answering a test based on their analysis of the evidence. Finally, visitors receive a case summary and a CSI diploma.

Gaming

The MGM Grand has one of the largest gaming floors in all of Las Vegas, measuring 171,500 square feet (15,930 m²). There are more than 2,500 machines for gaming as well as 139 poker and table games.

The slot machines at the MGM Grand range from 1¢ to $1,000, and include progressive slots, video poker, and multi-game machines. There is a special High Limit Slots area that feature slot machines with payouts up to $500,000.

The race and sports book is a state-of-the-art betting area that features 36 60-inch plasma tvs along with 24 42-inch plasmas. Bets are offered on a range of sports including soccer, football, boxing, MMA and more. They are also the first room to offer what they call "SkyBoxes". These boxes can hold up to 10 guests and come with beverage servers and complimentary food.

Shows

• 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" 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]}
• The Hollywood Theatre, home to America's first showing of Jerry Springer the Opera in 2007. It served as the studio for Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza, which aired on GSN in 2011.
• MGM Grand Garden Arena hosts major concerts and sporting events.
• The MGM Grand was the home of the long-running production show EFX from 1995 until 2002.

Nightclubs and Pool Parties

• Studio 54 (Las Vegas), a re-creation of New York's Studio 54 nightclub (closed February 2012)
• TABU Ultra Lounge (closed April 2013)
• Vida!, a Latin-themed night club
• Wet Republic Pool Party, featuring eight pools and spa areas with the only salt water pools in Vegas, eight underwater speakers, six VIP bungalows, ten party cabanas, 18 day beds, 80 chaise lounges and a custom elevated DJ booth.

Restaurants

• Joël Robuchon
• L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon
• Emeril's New Orleans Fish House
• Nobhill by Michael Mina
• Craftsteak
• Wolfgang Puck
• Fiamma Trattoria
• Seablue
• Diego
• Grand Wok and Sushi Bar
• Stage Deli
• Shibuya
• Rainforest Cafe
• Studio Cafe
• Pearl
• Cabana Grill
• 'Wichcraft

Shopping

• Studio Walk
• Star Lane Shops
• Bernini
• Marshall Rousso
• The Watch Boutique
• Xclusiv

Amenities

• Pool
• Spa and Fitness Center
• Salon
• Lion Habitat
• CBS Entertainment Center

Hotel

The hotel rooms are located in several buildings including:

• The main hotel building, with 5,044 rooms (4,293 rooms and 751 suites) including the SKYLOFTS at MGM Grand with 51 lofts located on the top two floors of the hotel building.
• The three The Signature at MGM Grand towers each with 576 suites (designed by Bergman Walls Associates)
• 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]}

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 was bestowed exclusively on SKYLOFTS rather than on the MGM Grand as a whole. In 2009 the SKYLOFTS also received the coveted Forbes 5 Star Award which made it one of 44 hotels in North America to achieve such rating. SKYLOFTS also received the Forbes 5 Star Award in 2010, making it one of four 5 Star / 5 Diamond resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. SKYLOFTS 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.

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 all-suite units each and were priced from $450,000 to more than $2.0 million. Signature is located on the property where the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park once stood. Each tower has their own private pool with cabanas as well as access to MGM Grand pools. Additional guest/owner amenities at The Signature include a Starbucks, meeting rooms, exercise room, bar and restaurant.

Show venues

• Crazy Horse Paris Theatre
• Hollywood Theatre
• Kà Theatre
• MGM Grand Garden Arena

External links

• MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel, Resort & Casino
• MGM Grand Nightlife
• SKYLOFTS at MGM Grand
• The Signature Condos at MGM Grand