MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada - Travel Photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

MGM Grand

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

The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a luxury hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip. 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.

on Las Vegas Boulevard

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).

lion in the lobby

When the latest MGM Grand opened on December 18, 1993, it was owned by MGM Grand Inc. At that time it had a chic, film influence 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 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 casino also featured the "Emerald City Store". When the MGM Grand began its extensive refurbishment and remodel in 1996, the Oz Casino was the first to go. The Emerald City was completely demolished and the "Emerald City Store" was moved to a new shopping section of the casino. The store remained open until early 2003.

The City of Entertainment

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

elevators

Originally, the main entrance on the Strip was inside the mouth of a giant version of MGM's lion, 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.

Wedding Chapel

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.

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.