MGM Grand Las Vegas

MGM Grand Las Vegas

Number of rooms		6,276 (6,852 planned)
Theme		Old Hollywood / Art Deco
Gaming space		171,500 ft² (15,932.87 m²)
Permanent show(s)		KÀ Crazy Horse Paris
Signature attraction(s)		Lion Habitat CBS Television City Tabu Rainforest Café Studio 54
Notable restaurant(s)		Emeril's Nobhill Craftsteak Joël Robuchon
Owner		MGM Mirage
Date opened		December 18, 1993
Casino type		Land
Major renovation(s)		2005
Previous name(s)		MGM-Marina (remodeled)
Casino website		MGM Grand Las Vegas Website

The MGM Grand Las Vegas, which opened in 1993, is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, as a Hollywood themed resort.

Owned and operated by the MGM Mirage 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, a 380,000 square foot (35,000 m²) convention center, the MGM Grand Arena, CBS Television City, and the Grand Spa. It also houses numerous shops and night clubs, 16 restaurants, two food courts, and the largest casino in Las Vegas, which occupies 171,500 square feet (16,000 m²).

The hotel rooms are located in several buildings including:

• The world's largest hotel building, with 5,044 rooms (4,293 rooms and 751 suites)
• The three The Signature at MGM Grand towers each with 576 suites (only 2 open)
• SKYLOFTS at MGM Grand with 51 lofts
• The Mansion at MGM Grand with 29 villas

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.

History

In 1990 Kirk Kerkorian bought the Marina Hotel 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. The Marina closed on November 30, 1991, and ground was broken on October 7, 1991.

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.

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 lion, but this entrance feature was changed to a more traditional entrance; some Asian gamblers avoided the casino, due to the cultural view that entering the mouth of the lion was "bad luck." A large bronze lion statue was added above the entrance to keep with the MGM Lion theme, while not scaring away their more superstitious guests. The statue weighs 100,000 pounds, and at 45 feet tall, on a 25-foot pedestal, is the largest bronze statue in the U.S.

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 Las Vegas by including the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park behind the casino. The plan was to make Las Vegas 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.

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.

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, adding amenities such as flat screens, DVD players, and bathroom TVs.

Film

The MGM Grand was featured prominently in the 1996 boxing comedy The Great White Hype.

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.

Also, the MGM Grand was among many casinos the MIT Blackjack team went to 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 outside Las Vegas.
• The resort is home to Cirque du Soleil's production KÀ.
• La Femme, 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.
• Studio 54 (Las Vegas), a recreation of New York's Studio 54 nightclub.

SKYLOFTS at the MGM Grand

SKYLOFTS are luxury loft suites. It has been awarded the AAA 5 Diamond award and is a member of The Leading Small Hotels of the World. The lofts are filled with the latest technology and have flat screen TV's, DVD players and the entire loft is controlled by a Crestron Unit.

Amenities include:

• DVD players
• B&O TV's
• Wine Fridges
• B&O Sound Systems
• 24 hour Butlers, Concierge and Housekeeping

SKYLOFTS is the only hotel in the world to use the Maybach as their hotel car

Signature at MGM Grand

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. A maximum of five towers will be constructed on the site. The 38 story 475 foot 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.

Amenities include: