Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas > Reviews (2)

This hotel is out of this world! This summer we did a fly drive starting in LA staying in some pretty nice places along the way. A week into the holiday we entered Las Vegas and found our hotel The Mandalay Bay situated at the south end of the strip just off route 15 next to the Luxor. However if you are flying in directly to LasVegas then the airport is just a stones throw away.

My jaw hit the floor firstly your struck by its beauty, this creation is coated top to bottom in 24 carat gold glistening in the sunshine, nestled amongst lush greenery and their very own 11 acre beach resort with pools a plenty, lazy river and wave pool.

We drove into the car park and parked up. We took our bags to the elevator and pressed for the lobby, valet parking is available but usually at a charge. Upon entering, the hotel is so plush and enormous things really are bigger in Vegas!, check in was a breeze the people on reception were friendly and helpful answering all the questions we had and then within 20 minutes we were in our room. The room was massive and comfortable with everything you would need for your stay, and the bathroom was unreal you could live in there! i didnt want to leave, the hotels for the rest of the trip were a bit of a come down after experiencing this.

After we settled in we took to exploring, well there were so many restaurants to choose from serving pretty much anything you could think of and there were shops selling pretty much anything you needed, it felt like you were in a shopping mall, but you were still inside your hotel! My favourite restaurants were:

-Red square, with its very own ice bar (the only one in Vegas) serving over 100 types of vodka your sure to have a good night here.

-Rumjungle, with its tropically inspired menu, things hot up after dinner ends when it turns into a hot little nightspot with music, entertainment and its very own volcano erupting you got it rum!

-Red, white and blue, this good old american eatery sells good old fashioned american grub for breakfast lunch and dinner.

There are so many restaurants to choose from you couldn't possibly eat at them all so choose carefully! alhough raffles cafe are open 24 hours and you get a great view of the beach area!

We then hit the casino level, 135,000 square feet with machines as far as the eye can see and tables surrounded by people with obviously too much money to loose! Not garish as you might think its set amoungst tropical greenery and flowing water. I prefered to stay on the machines as they varied from 1 cent to a couple of dollars a go, whereas the tables usually had a $15 minimum which is alot to loose on the turn of a card or roll of the dice! A great perk though was when you are sat gambling in the casino waitresses come round taking drink orders and as long as your gambling they are free!

Then it was off around the beach level surrounded by people sunning themselves, cabanas are available but reservations are needed. Until we found the shark reef which blew my mind.

Open daily 10 a.m - 11 p.m costing adults $15.95 and children $10.95 with under 4's going free. You start by walking through a jungle listening to a wand you are given at entry that tells you all about the animals your seeing including crocodiles and pirhanas, then you venture through glass tunnels surrounded by sharks and enter a temple of ruins with rays in a touch pool and jellyfish in a tube lit by a blacklight which made the glow purple as they bobbed about, then its off to the shipwreck where ur surounded by fish and sharks, and all this in the hotel! It was nice and relaxing a change to the hustle and bustle of the rest of Vegas, well worth a visit. If this wasn't relaxing enough for you then why not hit Mandalay Spa where you can be pampered using all the latest techniques in massage and body treatments, all at extra cost though unfortuately!

Then it was back to the room, swim shorts on and down to the pool, where we splashed around in the wave pool and gently bobbed around the lazy river.

After seeing what our hotel had to offer we walked the Vegas strip entering the other hotels and some were also very nice but this The Mandalay Bay was definately one of the best.

After dark is when Vegas really shines and i mean that literally! There is so much this hotel has to offer, you can sit and gamble if you want, dine at one of the many restaurants or you could head off to the house of blues where you can take in the sounds of ABBA in the hit musical Mamma Mia! showing Sunday - Thursady at 7:30 p.m or Saturday at 6 and 10 p.m at prices ranging from $40 - $100, or see acts such as Kelis and Placebo for around $20.

And if this isn't enough for you, you could head on over to the Luxor or Excaliber without ever going outside as the three are joined by walkways or shuttle!