Viva Las BAcon! The MGM Grand

Viva Las BAcon! MGM Grand

Trip Report Index (it’s long):

• Viva Las BACon! The second spin of the roulette wheel
• Heading to Birmingham Airport, EI277 Birmingham Airport – Dublin Airport
• HOTEL: Bewleys Hotel, Dublin Airport
• The DAA Lounge, Dublin Airport
  
• BA831 Dublin Airport – London Heathrow Terminal 1
• An Easy Heathrow Transit and the British Airways Galleries First Lounge
• BA295 London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Chicago O’Hare International
• Tick Tock, Tick Tock – an express connection in Chicago
• AA55 Chicago O’Hare International T3 to Las Vegas McCarran International
• HOTEL: MGM Grand
• HOTEL: Mandalay Bay and BAcon
• One Time Exception: The High Roller
• HOTEL: Luxor
• One Time Exception: A Nighttime walk down an every changing strip
• Back to McCarran Airport, The American Express Centurion Lounge
• AA1239 Las Vegas McCarran International – Dallas Fort Worth
• A quick rush across Dallas Fort Worth
• AA78 Dallas Fort Worth – London Heathrow Terminal 3
• Transit again, The British Airways Terminal 1 Domestic Lounge
• BA831 London Heathrow Terminal 1 – Dublin Airport
• Irish Transit, The Aer Lingus Gold Circle Lounge
• EI276 Dublin Airport to Birmingham Airport
• Another lovely slice of BAcon

 

After exiting the plane, there was an instant sight to see I was in Las Vegas.

Yes. Fruit Machines/Slot machines all around in the airport.

Welcome!

A ride in the shuttle train took me back to the main entrance of Terminal 1, and to the baggage claim area

I don’t have to do this for once!

Adverts everywhere…

From there, it was downstairs to the exit – and a choice. A wait for a Las Vegas Taxi or a Shuttle bus. Both queues were looking like hell, so I decided to go for the Shuttle Bus.

$8.50 later, I had a ticket… with a nice reminder on it.

Subtle… as a brick..

Thankfully, a shuttle bus was forthcoming quickly, so it was all aboard as the bus headed off to the strip.

No one got off here unsurprisingly.

Thankfully, the journey was short, and I was out of the shuttle bus (gratuity given… sigh), and off to the maelstrom that is the MGM Grand

Hotel: The MGM Grand

External shots done the next day..

Leo the Lion… readying for a cage fight.

Heading into the MGM Grand, I was confronted with a sea of humanity, going in different directions and no much order. Alas, I found the queue. And settled down to wait.

Yes, that’s the check-in queue *shudder*

The queue thankfully moved along and soon I was seen to. My room was confirmed, and I was moved from the booked West Wing (with the 10 mile walk that would incur to the North Towers (which would only be a 5 mile walk).

I swear this hotel could make money on having Sherpas to guide and carry stuff.

Entrance to the North Tower

Down the corridors

After negoitating my way around, I finally made it to my room on the 2nd floor.

First impressions were very good. This room was for starters a lot larger the the West Wing Room I was in last time

Bed

Desk

Seating

Entertainment Centre

Lots of options for plugging your own kit in.

The bathroom was well appointed too, with nice amenties and a proper bath in the bathroom.

I like the showbiz effect of the mirror.

On top of this, the room was cool, but I was able to set the aircon to “just right”. Considering I can’t handle heat over-well, this isn’t a bad thing.

I did have every intention to step out of the room and explore… but there were two things preventing me

1. I was pretty darn bead from a long day of travelling
2. I wanted to watch the Scottish Independence referendum result.

As a result, I crashed pretty hard, watching results come in.

By the time I awoke, the No vote had won, and I had seemed to been relaxed after spending most of an evening and night. Which is no bad thing at all in terms of my need for rest.

As for the view… Vegas hotels are famed for views. This room wasn’t.

I did do a wander out to the strip to get “fresh air” and some bits pre-BAcon, so I had a walk around the MGM too. Which reminded me why I needed really good shoes.

With the sun risen and me feeling remotely human, it was nearing 11am – check out time in Las Vegas (No midday check out for you!). Alas, everyone else was delaying checkout until 11am too, leading to some extremely long queues..

Check out was done using an iPad mounted system, which was rather sluggish (and thus, increasing the queues further – so much for technology being an “enabler”). Eventually I was checked out, and on my way to my next stop: The Mandalay Bay.

 

Overall: Vegas’s queues are legendary, but it didn’t stop the MGM Grand offering an excellent product compared to a previous outing here. The room was of a good size, with a very comfortable bed.. and did the job for a night’s rest. With a room like that, it would be good for more than a couple of nights rest… just a a shame about the view…

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