A Destination All By Itself, Mandalay Bay Has Got It All
Written: Jun 26 '03 (Updated Dec 27 '06)
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Pros: The Beach, The Restaurants, The Nightlife, the Gaming
Cons: Rooms could be a bit nicer for the price
The Bottom Line: Done Vegas and want a relaxing and fun destination where everything you want is right there? Mandalay Bay is one of the best choices you can make on the strip
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| jps246's Full Review: MANDALAY BAY RESORT AND CASINO |
Want to go to Vegas, but not be bothered with the hassle of having to travel all over the strip to get everything that you need? Mandalay Bay is one of the best all-inclusive hotel-casinos on the strip. Once you’re there, you will have your choice of first-class restaurants, nightclubs, lounges, and best of all, your own tropical bay to relax in. Depending on the length of your vacation, and your experience with Vegas, there is enough to do so that you won’t even need to leave.
I wanted a trip to Vegas that wasn’t really about gambling, I wanted 3 days where I forgot about the crappy New England spring, I wanted to not worry about my job, I wanted to get as much of a tan as possible. What I found at Mandalay Bay, met all of those expectations and more. I went with my good friend, and my boyfriend and another friend were also out there (they were at a conference at Mandalay Bay, so my friend and I decided to go and just have a vacation while they were working).
The Hotel
Checking in at Mandalay Bay, is pretty much like your typical hotel check-in anywhere else. If you are taking a taxi or a shuttle from the Airport, you are dropped off in front of the main lobby, where the check-in is located. I did not drive, but valet parking is available, as is a self-park facility. However, it appeared that the self-park facility was quite a ways from the main lobby, so it would have been quite a trek with your luggage.
Our check-in was a bit slow because of a conference going on (and it appeared that all the attendees had shown up about 5 minutes before we got there and were already on line). However, even though they were obviously quite busy, the staff was still very courteous and pleasant and we had no problems checking in.
One fairly obvious flaw in the hotel design becomes apparent when you go to get to your room. There is an ‘elevator lobby’ located next to the main lobby. There are two halls of elevators, one for the first 17 floors, and another for the upper flaws. Each one has 6 elevators in it. From what I could tell, these are the only elevators to the rooms. When Mandalay Bay gets crowded, you can wait for what seems like hours to get to your room. I accidentally went to use an elevator as a conference event was letting out and people were literally waiting almost an hour to get to their hotel room (I finally gave up and went back to the casino to let everyone thin out). You can only imagine thousands of people trying to use 2 sets of elevators, all at the same time.
All of the hotel floors are laid out in roughly the same way, three different halls with rooms, radiating away from where the elevators are. They all look the same, so when you’ve been drinking a bit, I’m willing to bet, you’ll go down the wrong hall (of course, that wasn’t a personal experience!).
The rooms were quite nice. Mandalay Bay offers rooms with either king or queen size bed arrangements (one or two beds). The room is well sized. My friend and I had a room with two queen size beds (let me tell you what a joy it was to have a whole queen size bed to myself for a change). The room consists generally of a hallway from the door, which opens up into the main room with the beds. There’s a table and a small desk, two chairs, two closets, and an armoire holding the television. The bathroom is off of the main room and is broken up into a shower/sink area and then the toilet area (there’s a door for a separate little toilet room). The shower is a stand up shower and there’s also an oversize tub separately, should you feel like indulging yourself in a bath. However, Mandalay Bay does not provide bubble bath for their tubs (an omission on their part I think, almost every other hotel I’ve been in with an oversize tub provides it), so bring your own.
My boyfriend and his coworker were put in a handicap accessible room (I think they ran out of rooms for the conference, so they were trying to put people wherever they could, some supposedly were shipped off to the Luxor). The layout of the room was pretty much the same, except that instead of the oversize tub and a separate little toilet room, both the toilet and the shower were handicap accessible and everything was located in one large room.
The room has a color TV with a fair amount of cable TV stations. No movie channels are provided, however, you can order pay-per-view. There’s also the hotel telephone, along with an alarm clock. Full room service is available for those who would like it.
What was my impression of the room? You don’t go to Mandalay Bay to be in your room to sleep. However, with the price that they generally charge for their rooms, I would have expected a bit better. The rooms that I get in Foxwoods, have, on the whole, been of a higher caliber than these rooms. But the beds are very comfortable, the rooms are clean, and anyway, it’s Vegas, so who spends a lot of time in their room?
The Casino
I haven’t ever been impressed with Mandalay Bay’s casino. The design is fairly straightforward, pretty much a big circle with over 100,000 square feet of gaming space. It’s just that I’ve never liked it, and in general, don’t like gambling in Vegas, so I guess I have a bit of a biased view. It’s just that if I am playing a slot machine, I hate nickels, and there are so many nickel machines in Vegas that it’s actually a challenge to find a quarter machine or a 50-cent machine. I think I have gotten spoiled here at home with Foxwoods and Mohegan, #1 and #2 in size for casinos in the world and with so many quarter and higher slots, you couldn’t shake a stick at all of them.
But I did play and I tried to be excited when I won something like a thousand nickels and got a $50 handpay…
The casino is very clean, well maintained and isn’t organized such that you’ll get lost in it. The staff is also very attentive. I was always able to find a waitress to get a drink and if I needed that handpay on the nickels, someone was always around quickly to take care of it.
The tables are also quite nice and Mandalay Bay offers the full compliment of games. There are often $5 tables (mostly during weekdays) and they do offer complimentary classes to show you how to play the tables.
If I liked gambling in Vegas, I’d like Mandalay Bay’s casino. As it was, it was a lot of fun to be there with friends and it was a great diversion when you needed to kill some time. You won’t win a lot on a nickel machine, but it sure takes a while to go through $10 in nickels…
Restaurants, Lounges, Nightclubs and Entertainment and Some Other Stuff
There are tons! (I’ll start with the ones I went to)
Rumjungle: Home of the Firepit, where you can eat as much as you want of tropically inspired dishes (with selections like sirloin, salmon, tuna, chicken, turkey, chorizo and more). This place is cool, from the ‘water walls’ to the wait staff, to the cooking and presentation. The food is excellent, I’ve never had a more tender sirloin roast than I had here and like I said, should you get the Firepit, it really is as much as you can eat. Pricey if you’re not used to Vegas prices, but well worth the money. Make sure that you make reservations, because it is quite popular. After 11pm, Rumjungle becomes a nightclub, however, especially on a Friday night, the club can get very crowded. Try going on a Thursday night.
Bay Side Buffet: Overlooking the pools and gardens outside, the buffet is very good. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Prices are a bit higher than other buffets, but the selection and service are outstanding.
House of Blues: Located right in the casino area, the House of Blues serves southern inspired dishes (expect seasoned and spicy). The hot and spicy buffalo wings weren’t that hot though, a bit disappointing. Prices are reasonable (especially considering it’s Vegas) and service is good.
There’s also 3950 (contemporary classic cuisine), Aureole (modeled after Charlie Palmer’s restaurant in NY with a 4-story wine rack!), Bleu Blanc Rouge, Border Grill, China Grill, Red Square, Shanghai Lili, Trattoria Del Lupi, Noodle Shop, and Raffles. In addition, there are three lounges throughout Mandalay Bay, serving various types of drinks and food.
Nightclubs include Rumjungle, Red Square and the House of Blues. The House of Blues also doubles as a concert location, hosting acts and big name artists from around the country.
Nightly in the Mandalay Bay’s theater, there is a production of “Mama Mia” playing. Tickets are generally available (but sell quickly, so book early). Everyone I know who has seen the play, has enjoyed it.
Concerts are also held in the Mandalay Bay events center and at the beach at Mandalay Bay. Recent and/or upcoming headliners include Boston, BB King, Meatloaf, Cyndi Lauper, and ZZ Top to just name a few. The B-52’s will be performing on the beach later this summer – that should be a fun show!
There's also a spa, a saloon, and several shops to chose from.
The Beach
You read right, there’s a beach at Mandalay Bay. This is what makes it worth it to stay there. As a hotel guest, you have access to the 11-acre tropical paradise that encompasses a wave pool with a beach surrounding it, several other pools, a lazy river, and plenty of secluded and relaxing spots in the sun or in the shade of palm trees and in the cooling mists that are provided throughout the area. There’s also a bar and grill type restaurant right in the pool area and there are waitresses that will serve you right on the beach. You really cannot get much better than that.
This was my favorite part of Mandalay Bay, and would be the reason I would go again. You can get up early, go have breakfast, and then spend the entire day at the pool. It is not like other Vegas pools, where’s it’s basically some concrete and a pool, this is a destination, a place you will want to spend some time. You want sun, lay on the beach and get as much sun as you want, just want to relax outside, pull up a chair underneath a palm tree with a good book and a nice drink and read your way through the day. It is great!
The Final Take?
If you have already ‘done’ Vegas and are just looking for a relaxing vacation destination where just about everything you want is located in one central area, I think that Mandalay Bay is one of the best choices you can make on the strip in Vegas. Between the restaurants, the nightlife, the casino and finally the pool area, I do not think that you can really go wrong. It is a great place to kick back with friends and significant others and just have a lot of fun and get all the relaxation you need.
It was just what I needed, I came back (to a rainstorm of course) with a great tan, a clear mind, and completely relaxed!
More Vegas Attractions & Information
THEHotel at Mandalay Bay / The Mirage Hotel & Casino / The Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino - TI - Treasure Island Hotel & Casino / Buccaneer Bay Pirate Battle at Treasure Island / New York-New York Hotel/Casino / Red Rock Canyon Recreation Area / Mandalay Bay Hotel/Casino / Excalibur Hotel/Casino / Circus Circus Hotel/Casino / Q Vegas Magazine (LGBT)
Recommended:
Yes
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