The MGM Grand is a great hotel to stay at while in Vegas. It is located mid-strip, and is really close to New York New York, Hooters, and Excalibur. I have stayed there twice; once in the Deluxe Tower, and once in the smaller, but awesome West Wing. The Deluxe Tower room was nice enough, similar to many rooms in Vegas. It reminded me a lot of the Paris Hotel in the way the tower is laid out in reference to the elevators and halls. Several strip hotels have this ‘Plus’ or ‘X’ configuration. The rooms are spacious, clean and comfortable. The beds were very soft, and in our room, which had two queen beds, we counted 8 pillows. It is a total art deco theme straight from the 20’s and the bathroom fixtures reflect the feel of new indoor plumbing with the elaborate silver styling. You can usually expect to pay anywhere from $200 - $350 per night on a Friday or a Saturday night.

The smaller and ultra modern West Wing is very near the West Wing Bar, sort of over by the Rainforest Café. There are only a few floors of rooms, and it is essentially one long hallway. When we first checked in to our room there, we got in sort of late on a Friday night, and were given room 2557 or 2559, I can’t remember… Anyhow, as soon as we walked in the room, there was an instant techno beat sound emanating from the walls, I called and had our room changed. Apparently, the rooms at the very end of the corridor butt up to the West Wing Bar. So, if you do stay in the West Wing, make sure your room number is not ending in _555, _557, and definitely not _559. The evens are on the other side of the hall, and I do not know if they have the same issue. Once we changed rooms, however, I could not have been more pleased. The room was small, but so modern. The headboard was a red vinyl, the lamps were tall tubular things, and even the wall art was a strange series of circles and polished wood. The bathroom was the best. There was a huge glass door and glass walls that surrounded and separated the toilet. It sort of looked like there were two showers, but one was the loo. The sink area was all glass and metal shelving. There was even a TV screen embedded behind the mirror. The one drawback was that there was really no view to speak of. Since the West Wing is not a tall part of the hotel, there are no views of the city nor the strip. If I had to go again, I would choose to stay in the West Wing, but the regular Tower rooms are nice as well.

The Casino is large, and the choice in restaurants is varied. There are many great, and expensive, choices for dinner, but not as many options for a nice breakfast or lunch. There is a food court on the Studio Walk that includes a Starbucks, (one of three on the property) Mc Donald’s, Nathan’s Hot Dogs, a Chinese place and a pizza place for fast food. If you walk further down the Studio Walk, there is a great sandwich place called ‘wichcraft, and a Mexican cantina. There are also a couple of really nice places to eat, one is Italian, and one Japanese, but they are mostly open for dinner as far as I could tell.
I will write more about the Casino and food choices in another article, but suffice it to say that you could very ell spend your entire weekend just hanging out in the MGM Grand. I have done it, and would do it again.