Mandalay Bay and Luxor Casinos, 2021

Yes, we are all used to the history here for my posts, but... mainly these are casino/hotels at the end of the strip during the buildup in the 90s when themes were king.

Arrival

I drove south down I-15 to the Russell Road exit and turned left a couple times to the free parking at the Mandalay. Easy, no stress, clean lot.

The Experience

The Mandalay Bay struck me as a place where you want to eat. They have food places coming out the wazoo and all of them look nice. I would say if you're looking for dinner, here you go.

Russian food, I imagine it's closed because breadlines are not social distancing safe

Flying wine ladies get this for you, the food is superb here but also very expensive

There are elegant design elements, but the details are kinda lacking. Feels super early 90s to me here.

Long wide spaces, much more inviting than downtown

Lighting accents, it's an attempt, but it doesn't seem like it transfers to the entire property or casino

Not sure what this has to do with the Asian motif

This is also the home of a huge convention center. Seriously massive.

This is over a million square feet of available space. Still not the home of the Consumer Electronics show though

Outside, it seems I am in Cambodia given their southeast Asian theme, interesting. I didn't get pictures of the pool not being a guest, but it is a very significant and serviced area where you can spend a lot of the day. It is a high focus of the property.

Styling of Burma on top and Khmer on the bottom

From the north, built in a form of an isotoxal star to not impede any room's view too much

Then I took an outside walk to the Luxor next door (I could have just walked through the connected causeway but you really don't get outside shots that way. Also the tram that services this area of the strip was closed)

Follow the obelisk (actually donât, it doesn't get you inside)

Come on in and um, well, spend money I think. Diablo cafe is a strange theme match

Besides the stunning architecture, I think the main focus here is actually the amount of things to do for shows and exhibits. Well yes, and gambling.

Interesting being welcomed by the guardian of the realm of the dead... I am not sure how I feel about that

The obelisk inside. Lights match music. Behind it is where Carrot Top performs. I cannot stand him

Fairly active, if not very imaginative, gaming floor

CRAZY. Look at that! Inverted slope interior, you can get vertigo looking at this even from the floor

Another interesting shot inside focusing on the obelisk

Seeing bits of the Titanic while inside a Pyramid seems to be just asking for curses to crush you

And a Mayan pyramid, because... my head hurts. But this is where Blue Man Group is, and they are pretty damn awesome

Modern mummies, I guess this does fit the motif pretty well

And there is food here, but it really doesn't seem to be the big focus. The huge buffet being closed makes it a difficult thing for the property I think.

There are options, but more reminiscent of a mall food court I think

Summary

If you're not looking to do much on the strip and are just wanting to hang out, swim and eat? The Mandalay is very aggressively priced for you to do that. With the airport actually right across the road, it's close, and Uber or the city bus is an easy option. Taxis will take you to California first then back to jack up the fares.

If you are looking into a more activities-based trip, like shows and displays, the Luxor is also very well priced. They are connected, you can stay in either. A 4 Seasons and Delano hotel are connected to all of them if you want a real luxury hotel experience in the complex.

I think I'm going to look at this area next time around, even if they are not Marriott properties.

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Mandalay Bay and Luxor Casinos, 2021

Arrival

The Experience

Summary

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